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08/07/2024

Popular Superstitions, and the Truths Contained Therein

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Psychology, Social Science (Culture & Anthropology)
Chapter: 16 | Listen:

“In the following Letters I have endeavoured to exhibit in their true light the singular natural phenomena of which old superstition and modern charlatanism in turn availed themselves—to indicate their laws, and to develop their theory.” (from the Preface of the book) In 14 letters, British physiologist Herbert Mayo (1796-1852) is giving the reader an overview of popular superstitions of previous times, like vampirism, somnambulism or even ghost sightings, and exposing how in previous times they were treated with fear, ignorance and intolerance, often leading to crime, while he endeavours to give rational explanations for the phenomena with the goal to find treatments and cures for the afflicted. – Summary by Sonia [chương_files]

Compilation de Pensées, Textes et Poésies

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Essays & Short Works, Philosophy, Poetry
Chapter: 27 | Listen: 3

Comme l’indique le titre, ce sont différents pensées de l’auteur, sur la vie, l’être humain, aussi la vie politique, avec deux textes, “De la Monarchie selon la Charte”, et “Réflexions politiques”. Chateaubriand, homme de lettres si talentueux et homme politique, Pair de France, fut un très ardent défenseur de la liberté d’expression, de la monarchie représentative et de la Charte constitutionnelle du 4 juin 1814. Louis XVIII souhaitait rassembler les Français, bonapartistes, républicains et nostalgiques de l’Ancien régime. Puis il y eut les “Cent-jours”, en 1815. > Louis XVIII est réfugié à Gand, puis rentre et la Seconde Restauration est établie. Son neveu, le Duc de Berry, est assassiné en 1820. Voir, à ce sujet, le livre audio : “Mémoires, lettres et pièces authentiques touchant la vie et la mort du Duc de Berry”, de François-René de Chateaubriand, très intéressant, documenté, sur le plan de l’Histoire de France. Ces deux Livres audio se complètent. La nature a aussi sa place, ici, avec le joli recueil de dix poésies: “Tableaux de la nature”. – “Nous verrons” est un poème ironique, sur le temps, l’humain, et la politique, les gazettes… – “Les Tombeaux champêtres” sont une élégie imitée de Gray, 1796, Londres. L’auteur y fut en exil. Suivent des textes poétiques: – sur la Révolution, la profanation des tombes royales de la basilique Saint-Denis, Napoléon, Condé et son descendant, le jeune Duc d’Enghien mort en 1804 exécuté dans les fossés de Vincennes, choc absolument intense pour les Monarchistes, écrit en 1812; – […]

Captures

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Published 1900 onward, Short Stories
Chapter: 19 | Listen: 6

Brief plot lines of these 16 stories by Nobel Prize winning author John Galsworthy: 01, 02, 03 “A Feud” The breaking of an engagement ignites a feud. 04 “The Man Who Kept His Form” Ruding’s financial prospects disappoint. He adjusts. 05 “A Hedonist” Still single at 55, Vaness declares his love to a woman, 26. 06 “Timber” Hirries takes a celebratory afternoon walk in his forest. 07 “Santa Lucia” Old Trevillian recalls a past attraction begun at a casino. 08 “Blackmail” Money given to a needy woman leads to a blackmail threat. 09 “The Broken Boot” An impoverished actor chances upon an old acquaintance. 10 “Stroke of Lightning” Besotted by an extramarital relationship, Frank goes to extremes. 11 “Virtue” Mellesh pays a “working girl’s” fine and tells his wife. 12 “Conscience” A staff writer refuses to continue to ghostwrite. 13 “Salta Pro Nobis” Terrified as her execution for treason nears, she dances. 14 “Philanthropy” A writer tries to cope with an insufferable alcoholic. 15 “A Long-ago Affair” When 16 he was infatuated with an attractive widow. 16 “Acme” A destitute author writes a movie script for his own amusement. 17 “Late–299” Released from prison, the doctor goes about with a “peculiar smile”. 18, 19 “Had a Horse” Jimmy, a bookie, accepts a racehorse in payment of gambling debts. (Summary by Lee Smalley) [chương_files]

Sésame et les lys

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Essays & Short Works
Chapter: 9 | Listen: 3

La préface est écrite en 1906, par Marcel Proust, il s’agit de ce texte très célèbre et passionnant : “Sur la lecture”. Puis suivent deux conférences de 1865 de John Ruskin avec en 01: Sésame, et, en 02 : Les lys., traduites en français par Marcel Proust en 1906. Lecture, littérature, l’importance de lire, et aussi des propos sur l’éducation. De jolies références à La Bible, Shakespeare, W. Scott, La Chevalerie … etc… Notes de bas de pages non lues. ( Christiane Jehanne) [chương_files]

Common Sense (version 3)

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Political Science
Chapter: 6 | Listen: 4

Common Sense is a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1775–76 that inspired people in the Thirteen Colonies to declare and fight for independence from Great Britain in the summer of 1776. In clear, simple language it explained the advantages of and the need for immediate independence. It was published anonymously on January 10, 1776, at the beginning of the American Revolution and became an immediate sensation. It was sold and distributed widely and read aloud at taverns and meeting places. Washington had it read to all his troops, which at the time had surrounded the British army in Boston. In proportion to the population of the colonies at that time (2.5 million), it had the largest sale and circulation of any book published in American history. Common Sense presented the American colonists with an argument for freedom from British rule at a time when the question of whether or not to seek independence was the central issue of the day. Paine wrote and reasoned in a style that common people understood. Forgoing the philosophical and Latin references used by Enlightenment era writers, he structured Common Sense as if it were a sermon, and relied on Biblical references to make his case to the people. He connected independence with common dissenting Protestant beliefs as a means to present a distinctly American political identity. Historian Gordon S. Wood described Common Sense as “the most incendiary and popular pamphlet of the entire revolutionary era”.(from Wikipedia) [chương_files]

G.K. Chesterton in The British Review

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Essays & Short Works
Chapter: 4 | Listen: 3

Four articles/essays written by G.K. Chesterton for “The British Review”. These were published in 1913 and 1914. (Summary by Maria Therese) [chương_files]

Mistress of Shenstone

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Published 1900 onward, Romance
Chapter: 12 | Listen: 6

For those of you who enjoyed The Rosary by Florence Barclay, this one will come in as a close second. When Lady Myra Ingleby learns by telegram that her husband has been killed in the war, the sadness if not true grief that assails her along with the stress it involves, leads her towards a nervous breakdown. Her doctor convinces her that the best and only cure is for her to go away for a month, under an assumed name, preferably to a small seaside town. And there at the Moorhead Inn, begins a beautiful, spontaneous romance that will keep you in suspense and pull at your heart strings. – Summary by Celine Major [chương_files]

Old Peabody Pew: A Christmas Romance of a Country Church (Version 2)

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Published 1900 onward
Chapter: 4 | Listen: 5

A charming tale of a small New England congregation preparing for Christmas and the unexpected arrival of a woman’s long held hope. – Summary by KevinS [chương_files]

Bread

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Published 1900 onward
Chapter: 35 | Listen: 1

Bread by Charles G. Norris reads like a working class Great Gatsby with a tragic female main character. The author is said to have influenced F. Scott Fitzgerald. There is a kind of cadence to the writing, and arc to the story where this can be felt in both similarity and contrast. It follows the life of a woman from young adulthood to middle age between the years of 1905 to 1922 in New York City. She is a stenographer, has chosen the then taboo path of a “wage earner” as opposed to that of mother/wife/homemaker. The descriptions of the inner workings of a publishing house in a time when the printed word was still the apex of information technology are vivid. The social and domestic situations are touching and emotionally telling of how, however much things change, they also stay the same. The metaphor of “Bread” is quaintly heavy handed. “Dedicated to the working women of America”, Norris gives us the “straight dope” in this depiction of life in New York City in the early 20th century. – Summary by WildShimmeringPath [chương_files]

Preface to Politics

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Political Science
Chapter: 13 | Listen: 3

This is the first book in the bibliography of Walter Lippmann, written three years after emerging from Harvard where he studied under the pragmatists Santayana and James. Although the work is a century old, the reader of today may still find in it, with its focus on practical human needs, a refreshing view towards the fundamental purpose (and persistent flaws) of politics, and indeed government itself, just as relevant and meaningful today as when it was written. (Summary by David Martin.) [chương_files]