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Chaucer's famous and important work is predicated upon the premise that a group of Christian folks from various occupations, familiar in the Middle Ages and a goodly number of them in the Church, are on a pilgrimage to worship at the burial site of Thomas Becket in the Cathedral at Canterbury. The host suggests that to pass the time each traveler tell a tale. So, we are entertained by quite a variety of stories, almost all of which, though, have a moral purpose. Of course, Chaucer and his folk spoke an English that is between the Anglo-Saxon beginnings, which is totally foreign to us, and the ...

Fresque sociale qui décrit les conditions de vie des mineurs au XIXème siècle, Germinal est le treizième roman de la série des Rougon-Macquart. Le roman retrace la vie d'Etienne Lantier, jeune mineur amoureux de Catherine Maheu, et de son combat pour une société plus juste. (résumé par Nadine) Germinal is the main book in the series "Rougon-Macquart" and describes the inhumane conditions in French mines in the 19th century.NOTE: Due to a recording issue in the original file, file 6 was replaced August 19, 2024 and has a different voice for part of the recording.

Originally published in serial form in 1879-80, “The Brothers Karamazov” is recognized as one of the very greatest masterpieces of world literature. It is the last and finest novel of Fyodor Dostoyevsky, who died before writing a planned sequel. The story is organized initially around the efforts of adult sons to deal with their cantankerous and exasperating father. More important, they also have to deal with the problem of how to live in a world where it is difficult to be sure of the truth — whether that be “truth” about others, about oneself, or about deep questions such as faith,...

If you’ve ever studied German (and maybe even if you haven’t), you’re likely to find this short essay to be hilarious. Published as Appendix D from Twain’s 1880 book A Tramp Abroad, this comedic gem outlines the pitfalls one will encounter when trying to wrap one’s mind around the torturous German cases, adjective endings, noun genders, and verb placement.(Summary by Kara)

The Brothers Karamazov (Russian: Братья Карамазовы) is the final novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky, and is generally considered the culmination of his life's work. The book portrays a parricide in which each of a murdered man's sons share a varying degree of complicity. The Brothers Karamazov is a passionate philosophical novel that explores deep into the ethical debates of God, free will, and morality. It is a spiritual drama of moral struggles concerning faith, doubt, reason, and modern Russia. Since its publication, it has been acclaimed all over the world by ...

The Aeneid is the most famous Latin epic poem, written by Virgil in the 1st century BC. The story revolves around the legendary hero Aeneas, a Trojan prince who left behind the ruins of his city and led his fellow citizens to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. The first six of the poem’s twelve books tell the story of Aeneas’ wanderings from Troy to Italy, while the poem’s second half treats the Trojans’ victorious war upon the Latins. This is the recording of J.W.MacKail's prose translation. (Summary by Leni)

Troilus and Criseyde is a poem by Geoffrey Chaucer which re-tells in Middle English the tragic story of the lovers Troilus and Criseyde set against a backdrop of war in the Siege of Troy. It was composed using rime royale and probably completed during the mid 1380s. Many Chaucer scholars regard it as the poet's finest work. As a finished long poem it is certainly more self-contained than the better known but ultimately uncompleted Canterbury Tales. Criseyde, the daughter of the seer Calchas, lives alone in Troy after her father abandons the Trojans to help the Greeks. Eventually she catches ...

Noted macabre poet Charles Baudelaire later in life wrote this collection of brief sketches, what he deemed "little poems in prose". He thus employs his rich, romanticist skills in service of creating dream-like passages of ethereal beauty and dark turns of fate. His words may be both kind and cruel in turns but is always entrancing. Also included is an extensive biography of Baudelaire by James Huneker. (Summary by Ben Tucker)

Pride and Prejudice is the most famous of Jane Austen’s novels, and its opening is one of the most famous lines in English literature - “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” Its manuscript was first written between 1796 and 1797, and was initially called First Impressions, but was never published under that title. Following revisions it was published on 28 January 1813 by the same Mr. Egerton of the Military Library, Whitehall, who had brought out Sense and Sensibility. Like both its predecessor and ...

Please note: this recording contains strong language."1601," wrote Mark Twain, "is a supposititious conversation which takes place in Queen Elizabeth's closet in that year, between the Queen, Ben Jonson, Beaumont, Sir Walter Raleigh, the Duchess of Bilgewater, and one or two others ... If there is a decent word findable in it, it is because I overlooked it." 1601 depicts a highfalutin and earthy discussion between the Queen and her court about farting and a variety of sexual peccadillos, narrated disapprovingly and sanctimoniously by the Queen's Cup-Bearer, an eyewitness at "the Social ...

Eneas, príncipe de Dardania, huye de Troya tras haber sido quemada ésta por el ejército aqueo, llevándose a su padre Anquises y a su hijo Ascanio. En el camino, su mujer Creúsa se pierde definitivamente y su fantasma dice a Eneas que no vierta amargas lágrimas por ella, pues le estaba aparejado por el destino una esposa de sangre real. Juno, rencorosa con la estirpe troyana, trata de desviar por todos los medios a la flota de supervivientes de su destino inevitable, Italia. Las peregrinaciones de Eneas duran siete años, hasta que llegado el último es acogido en el reino emergente de ...

These letters were arranged in two volumes by Albert Bigelow Paine, Samuel L. Clemens's literary executor, as a supplement to Mark Twain, A Biography, which Paine wrote. They are, for the most part, every letter written by Clemens known to exist at the time of their publication in 1917. They begin with a fragment of a letter from teenaged Sam Clemens to his sister, Pamela, and conclude with a letter to his attorney two weeks before his death.These letters give us some degree of insight into the evolution of Twain's style of speech and prose over the period of his lifetime; they are a small ...

More than eight years before the novel opens, Anne Elliot, then a lovely, thoughtful, warm-hearted 19 year old, accepted a proposal of marriage from the handsome young naval officer Frederick Wentworth. He was clever, confident, and ambitious, but poor and with no particular family connections to recommend him. Sir Walter, Anne's fatuous, snobbish father and her equally self-involved older sister Elizabeth were dissatisfied with her choice, maintaining that he was no match for an Elliot of Kellynch Hall, the family estate. Her older friend and mentor, Lady Russell, acting in place of Anne's ...

Charles Bovary, médecin de campagne, veuf d'une mégère, fait lors d'une tournée la rencontre du père Rouault et de sa fille, Emma. Après leur mariage, Emma reste insatisfaite et rêve d'une nouvelle vie. Son premier amant lui donne le goût du luxe et fait miroiter un avenir à deux avant de l'abandonner. Une fois remise, Emma continue à faire de folles dépenses, qui peu à peu la mènent à la ruine et au déshonneur. (Résumé par Nadine)

Emma is a novel about youthful hubris and the perils of misconstrued romance....As in her other novels, Austen explores the concerns and difficulties of genteel women living in Georgian-Regency England; she also creates a lively comedy of manners among her characters. Before she began the novel, Austen wrote, "I am going to take a heroine whom no one but myself will much like." In the very first sentence she introduces the title character as "Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich." Emma, however, is also rather spoiled, headstrong, and self-satisfied; she greatly overestimates her own ...

This book of poems, written between 42 en 39 BC, was a bestseller in ancient Rome, and still holds a fascination today. Held to be divinely inspired not only by the Romans themselves, but by the Medieval Catholic church, The Eclogues is one of the most beloved collections of Latin short poetry. (Summary by Caeristhiona)This recording is done in the original Latin, in the form of a dramatic reading: in each eclogue, every character is read by a different Librivox volunteer. Two eclogues are included twice - giving you a "Choice of Voice" !

A jealous husband sets out to murder his wife's lover, setting in motion an unstoppable series of events. Witness to the murder is a train driver who struggles to resist his uncontrollable desire to kill women. - Summary by Aaron Hackett

This epic about French coal miners and the burgeoning labor movement is considered one of Zola's finest novels. - Summary by Matt Pierard

Arthur Conan Doyle first published his memories of his many various adventures around the world and his relationships with such famous figures of the age including Oscar Wilde, Empress Eugenie and Prime Minister Arthur Balfour to name a few, in The Strand Magazine between October 1923 and July 1924. This memoir was later formed into a book and published in September 1924.

This short novel of Twain’s, from 1903, is told from the point of view of a loyal and beloved family pet. Themes of heroics, valor and heart-wrenching tenderness fill this work. The story is also filled with happy events as well as sad ones and is ultimately about what dogs are to us … best friends. A Dog’s Tale is quintessentially Twain. (Summary by Aaron Elliott)