Arts Podcasts
Librivox: Watsons, The by Austen, JaneJoin Now to Follow
This fragment of a novel was written by Jane Austen in 1804 and remained untitled and unpublished until her nephew James Edward Austen-Leigh printed it in his A Memoir of Jane Austen in 1871. The title is from him. Mr Watson is a widowed clergyman with two sons and four daughters. The youngest daughter, Emma, has been brought up by a wealthy aunt and is consequently better educated and more refined than her sisters. But when her aunt contracts a foolish second marriage, Emma is obliged to return to her father's house. There she is chagrined by the crude and reckless husband-hunting of two of her twenty-something sisters. (Summary from Gesine and Wikipedia)
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Librivox: Zwei Märchen by Storm, TheodorJoin Now to Follow
Die Regentrude Einen so heißen Sommer hat es schon seit hundert Jahren nicht mehr gegeben. Das Gras vertrocknet auf den Wiesen und das Vieh verdurstet. Mutter Stine ist sich sicher, die Regentrude muss eingeschlafen sein. Ihr Sohn Andrees und die junge Maren machen sich zusammen auf, den Feuerteufel zu überlisten und den Weg zur schlafenden Regentrude zu finden. Hinzelmeier Der kleine Hinzelmeier ist gar nicht erstaunt darüber, dass seine Eltern immer jung und schön bleiben. Als er fast erwachsen ist, erfährt er das Geheimnis seiner Familie und macht sich auf in die Welt, um ein Handwerk zu lernen und jenen geheimnisvollen Garten zu finden, in dem eine Rosenjungfrau auf ihn wartet, die auch ihm ewige Jugend und Glück bringen kann. (Summary by Hokuspokus)
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Librivox: Short Story Collection Vol. 035 by VariousJoin Now to Follow
LibriVox’s Short Story Collection 035: a collection of 20 short works of fiction in the public domain read by a group of LibriVox members.
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Librivox: Love Letters of Abelard and Heloise, The by Abelard, PierreJoin Now to Follow
Heloise was a strong-willed and gifted woman who was fluent in Latin, Greek and Hebrew, and came from a lower social standing than Abelard. At age 19, and living under her uncle Fulbert's roof, Heloise fell in love with Abelard, who she was studying under. Not only did they have a clandestine affair of a sexual nature, they had a child, Astrolabe, out of wedlock. Discovered by the Fulbert (who was a Church official), Abelard was assaulted by a hired thug and castrated, and Heloise entered a convent. Abelard was exiled to Brittany, where he lived as monk. Eventually Heloise became abbess of the Oratory of the Paraclete, an abbey which Abelard had founded. It was at this time that they exchanged their famous letters, presented in this book. The letters, originally written in Latin, are passionate both in the remembrance of lost love, and the attempt to reconcile that love with their respective monastic duty to remain chaste. The tension between these two poles generates a huge amount of emotional electricity. (Summary by J. B. Hare)
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Librivox: Sammlung kurzer deutscher Prosa 007 by VariousJoin Now to Follow
Diese Sammlung umfasst jede Art von deutschsprachigen Texten aller Genres, egal ob Fiktion, Non-Fiktion oder Lyrik. In dieser Sammlung finden sich: 01. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832): Bassompierres Geschichte von der schönen Krämerin aus Unterhaltungen deutscher Ausgewanderten. "Ein erotisches Abenteuer." 02. Jules Verne (1828-1905): William Dampier oder der König des Meeres im 17. Jahrhundert. Ein Kurzbiographie aus dem Sachbuch "Die Entdeckung der Erde. Bekannte und unbekannte Welten." 03. Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893): Ein Feigling."Was in der Seele eines Menschen vorgeht, der sich am nächsten duellieren will." 04. Klabund (Alfred Henschke) (1890-1928): Die Grille. Groteske aus dem Band "Kunterbuntergang des Abendlandes". Was tut eine Grille, der der Stoff ausgeht? Stoff kaufen natürlich... 05. Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893): Die Hand. "Welche Bewandtnis hat es mit dem schaeurlichen Souvenir, einer abgeschlagenen Hand, die mit einer eisernen Kette an der Wand befestigt ist?" 06. Alexander Sergejewitsch Puschkin (1799–1837): Der Postmeister. "Das Schicksal eines Postmeister und seiner schönen Tochter." 07. Alexander Sergejewitsch Puschkin (1799–1837): Der Schneesturm. "Ein schwerer Schneesturm verhindert die Trauung zweier Liebender." 08. Martin Luther (1483-1546): Von der Stadtmaus und der Feldmaus. "Fabel über Reichtum." 09. Gustav Meyrink (1886-1932): Die Urne von St. Gingolph. aus. "Des deutschen Spießers Wunderhorn". "Ein Traum über eine Urne in einem verlassenen Park." 10. Gottfried Keller (1819-1890): Die misslungene Vergiftung. "Von einem geizigen Apotheker und seinem hungrigen Lehrling." Summary by Didier, Dirk Weber, Hokuspokus, Regina Bode
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Librivox: Sea Fairies, The by Baum, L. FrankJoin Now to Follow
In 1910, Baum hoped to end the Oz series and follow with a new series about a little girl named Trot and her sailor companion, Cap'n Bill. The Sea Fairies (1911) was the first book in the projected series and took Trot and Cap'n Bill under the sea where they had adventures with mermaids and other fantastic creatures. It was followed by Sky Island (1912) and then Baum returned to the Oz titles. He brought Trot and Cap'n Bill to Oz in the Scarecrow of Oz (1915). (Summary by Judy Bieber)
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Librivox: Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The version 2 by Fitzgerald, F. ScottJoin Now to Follow
The curious Case of Benjamin Button, a 1921 short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, now a major motion picture, features Benjamin Button, who, born as an old man much to the dismay and chagrin of his father and family Doctor, ages backwards until he leaves this world as a newborn. (Summary by Mike Vendetti)
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Librivox: Auld Lang Syne by Burns, RobertJoin Now to Follow
LibriVox volunteers bring you 11 recordings of Auld Lang Syne by Robert Burns. This was the weekly poetry project in honor of Gung Haggis Fat Choy, a cultural event originating from Vancouver, Canada, celebrating the timely coincidence of Robert Burns Day with the Chinese New Year. January 25th, 2009 marked the convergence of the 250th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns and Chinese New Year's Eve. (Summary adapted from Wikipedia.)
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Librivox: Trials and Confessions of a Housekeeper by Arthur, T. S.Join Now to Follow
Is housekeeping such a trial? Mrs. Smith thinks so and confesses all in this merry account of her escapades and near disasters! (Summary by Kehinde)
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Librivox: Mary Louise by Baum, L. FrankJoin Now to Follow
The Bluebird Books is a series of novels popular with teenage girls in the 1910s and 1920s. The series was begun by L. Frank Baum using his Edith Van Dyne pseudonym,then continued by at least three others, all using the same pseudonym. Baum wrote the first four books in the series, possibly with help from his son, Harry Neal Baum, on the third. The books are concerned with adolescent girl detectives— a concept Baum had experimented with earlier, in The Daring Twins (1911) and Phoebe Daring (1912). The Bluebird series began with Mary Louise, originally written as a tribute to Baum's favorite sister, Mary Louise Baum Brewster. Baum's publisher, Reilly & Britton, rejected that manuscript, apparently judging the heroine too independent. Baum wrote a new version of the book; the original manuscript is lost. The title character is Mary Louise Burrows. In the first books of the series, she is a fifteen-year-old girl with unusual maturity (though the other girls in her boarding school find her somewhat priggish). She is suddenly confronted with the fact that her beloved grandfather is suspected of no less a crime than treason against the United States. With the help of old and new friends of Mary Louise … the truth is uncovered. The novel features a federal agent named John O'Gorman; he is assisted by his daughter Josie, a young woman he has himself trained to function as an investigator. (The Josie O'Gorman character, despite preceding Nancy Drew by more than a decade, is much less traditionally feminine.) (Summary from Wikipedia)
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