Showing results by narrator "George Doyle" in All Categories

A playful and moving book of essays by a "born storyteller" (Seattle Times) who invites us into the miraculous and transcendent moments of the everyday When Brian Doyle passed away at the age of sixty after a bout with brain cancer, he left behind a cult-like following of devoted readers who...

In "Socialism: Utopian and Scientific" (1883), Friedrich Engels explains that Marxism is scientific socialism. Engels claims that whereas utopian socialism is idealist, reflects the personal opinions of the authors and claims that society can be adapted based on these opinions, scientific socialism derives itself from reality. It focuses on the materialist conception of history, which is based on an analysis over history, and concludes that communism naturally follows capitalism.

"The Strenuous Life: Essays and Addresses" is a collection of Theodore Roosevelt's published commentaries and public addresses on what is necessary for a vital and healthy political, social and individual life. Roosevelt states the main point of his speech in the opening remarks: "I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor and strife.

"Phaedo", also known to ancient readers as "On the Soul", is one of the best-known dialogues of Plato's middle period, along with the "Republic" and the "Symposium". The "Phaedo", which depicts the death of Socrates, is also Plato's fourth and last dialogue to detail the philosopher's final day. In the dialogue, Socrates discusses the nature of the afterlife on his last day before being executed by drinking hemlock.

"Essays: The Second Series", is a series of essays written by Ralph Waldo Emerson, published in 1844, concerning transcendentalism. This audiobook contains nine essays: "The Poet", "Experience", "Character", "Manners", "Gifts", "Nature", "Politics", "Nominalist and Realist", "New England Reformers". Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of his age. He was a champion of individualism and a prescient critic of society.

"The Metamorphosis" (1915) is a novella by Franz Kafka. The story begins with a traveling salesman, Gregor Samsa, waking to find himself transformed (metamorphosed) into a large, monstrous insect-like creature. The cause of Gregor's transformation is never revealed, and Kafka himself never gave an explanation. The rest of Kafka's novella deals with Gregor's attempts to adjust to his new condition as he deals with being burdensome to his parents and sister, who are repelled by the horrible, verminous being Gregor has become.

"The Perfect Wagnerite" is a philosophical commentary on Richard Wagner's "Der Ring des Nibelungen". According to Shaw: "I write this pamphlet for the assistance of those who wish to be introduced to the work on equal terms with that inner circle of adepts... The reason is that its dramatic moments lie quite outside the consciousness of people whose joys and sorrows are all domestic and personal, and whose religions and political ideas are purely conventional and superstitious."

Hawthorne published several short stories in various periodicals, which he collected in 1837 as "Twice-Told Tales". Much of his writing is placed in New England, many works featuring moral allegories with a Puritan inspiration. His fiction works are considered to be part of the Romantic movement, and more specifically, Dark romanticism. His themes often center on the inherent evil and sin of humanity, and his works often have moral messages and deep psychological complexity. This edition contains 40 short stories.

"Common Sense" is a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies. Written in clear and persuasive prose, Paine marshalled moral and political arguments to encourage common people in the Colonies to fight for egalitarian government. 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.

The Grimm Brothers rediscovered a host of fairy tales, telling of princes and princesses in their castles, witches in their towers and forests, of giants and dwarfs, of fabulous animals and dark deeds. Together with the well-known tales of "Rapunzel", "The Goose-Girl", "Sleeping Beauty", "Hansel and Gretel" and "Snow White", there are the darker tales such as "Death's Messengers" which deserve to be better known, and which will appeal not only to all who are interested in the history of folklore, but also to all those who simply love good storytelling.

Many of the tales collected in "Mosses from an Old Manse" are allegories and, typical of Hawthorne, focus on the negative side of human nature. Hawthorne's friend Herman Melville noted this aspect in his review about Hawthorne and his "Mosses": "This black conceit pervades him through and through. You may be witched by his sunlight, transported by the bright gildings in the skies he builds over you; but there is the blackness of darkness beyond."

"Ethan Frome" is a novel by Edith Wharton, set in the fictional New England town of Starkfield. There a visiting engineer tells the story of his encounter with Ethan Frome, a man with a history of thwarted dreams and desires. The accumulated longing of Frome ends in an ironic turn of events. His initial impressions are based on his observations of Frome going about his mundane tasks in Starkfield, and something about him catches the eye and curiosity of the visitor, but no one in the town seems interested in revealing many details about the man or his history -or perhaps they are not able to.

The narrator, an elderly, unnamed Manhattan lawyer, already employs two scriveners to copy legal documents by hand. An increase in business leads him to hire a third: the forlorn-looking Bartleby. At first, Bartleby produces a large volume of high-quality work. But one day, when asked to proofread, Bartleby answers with what soon becomes his perpetual response to every request: "I would prefer not to."

"Tess of the d’Urbervilles" (1891) is a novel by Thomas Hardy. Tess Durbeyfield is the oldest child of John and Joan, uneducated peasants living in an impoverished rural village in Wessex, during the Long Depression of the 1870s. One day, her father is given the hint that they may have noble blood and that they are successors of a noble Norman family D'Urberville. Tess' fortune is changed after one accident and she decides to visit Mrs. D'Urberville, a rich widow who lives in the nearby town, and "claim kin".

"The Republic" (380 BC) by Plato is a Socratic dialogue, concerning the definition of justice, the order and character of the just city-state and the just man. As Plato's best-known work, it has proven to be one of the world's most influential works of philosophy and political theory, both intellectually and historically. In it, Socrates along with various Athenians and foreigners discuss the meaning of justice and examine whether or not the just man is happier than the unjust man by considering a series of different cities.

"Boule de Suif" (1880) is a famous novella by Guy de Maupassant. The story is set in the Franco-Prussian War and follows a group of French residents of Rouen, recently occupied by the Prussian army. The ten travelers decide, for various reasons, to leave Rouen and flee to Le Havre in a stagecoach. Sharing the carriage are Boule de Suif or "Butterball", a prostitute; a strict Democrat; a shop-owning couple from the petty bourgeoisie; a wealthy upper-bourgeoisie factory-owner and his wife; the Comte and Comtesse of Bréville; and two nuns.

"The Prince" (written in the beginning of the 1500s) is a political treatise, sometimes claimed to be one of the first works of modern political philosophy, in which the effective truth is taken to be more important than any abstract ideal. It was also in direct conflict with the dominant Catholic and scholastic doctrines of the time concerning how to consider politics and ethics. Machiavelli dedicated "The Prince" to the ruling Medici of the time, leading some today to still speculate whether the book was a satire.

"A Christmas Carol" is the first, and the most famous novella by Charles Dickens in the "Christmas Books" series. Scrooge, an old miser, is "a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner". He hates Christmas, calling it "humbug". The tale begins on a "cold, bleak, biting" Christmas Eve in London, exactly seven years after the death of Scrooge's business partner Jacob Marley.

"Master Flea: A Fairy-Tale in Seven Adventures of Two Friends" is a humorous fairytale fantasy novel by E. T. A. Hoffmann first published in 1822. Set in the city of Frankfurt am Main, the novel follows the story of Peregrinus Tyss, who becomes entangled in the conflict between supernatural characters in bourgeois form over Dörtje Elverdink, in reality princess Gamaheh of Famagusta.

"Notes from the Underground" (1864) by Fyodor Dostoyevsky is one of the first existentialist novels. It presents itself as an excerpt from the rambling memoirs of a bitter, isolated, unnamed narrator, who is a retired civil servant living in St. Petersburg. The first part of the story is told in monologue form, or the underground man's diary, and attacks emerging Western philosophy, especially Nikolay Chernyshevsky's "What Is to Be Done?"