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Leo Tolstoy's classic story of doomed love is one of the most admired novels in world literature. Generations of readers have been enthralled by his magnificent heroine, the unhappily married Anna Karenina, and her tragic affair with dashing Count Vronsky.
Prince Lyov Nikolayevitch Myshkin is one of the great characters in Russian literature. Is he a saint or just naïve? Is he an idealist or, as many in General Epanchin's society feel, an "idiot"? Certainly his return to St. Petersburg after years in a Swiss clinic has a dramatic effect on the beautiful Aglaia, youngest of the Epanchin daughters, and on the charismatic but willful Nastasya Filippovna. As he paints a vivid picture of Russian society, Dostoyevsky shows how principles conflict with emotions - with tragic results.
When Prince Dmitri Nekhludov is called for jury duty on a murder case, he little knows how the experience will change his life. Faced with the accused, a prostitute, he recognizes Katusha, the young girl he seduced and abandoned many years before, and realizes his responsibility for the life of degradation she has been forced to lead. His determination to make amends leads him into the darkest reaches of the Tsarist prison system, and to the beginning of his spiritual regeneration.
War and Peace is one of the greatest monuments in world literature. Set against the dramatic backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars, it examines the relationship between the individual and the relentless march of history. Here are the universal themes of love and hate, ambition and despair, youth and age, expressed with a swirling vitality which makes the book as accessible today as it was when it was first published in 1869.
A young man commits all types of sins, but only his portrait shows the ravages of his life. Oscar Wilde's Faustian classic. Gothic horror at its best.
To the Lighthouse is at once a vivid impressionist depiction of a family holiday, and a meditation on a marriage, on parenthood and childhood, on grief, tyranny, and bitterness. Its use of stream of consciousness, reminiscence, and shifting perspectives gives the novel an intimate, poetic essence, and at the time of publication in 1927 it represented an utter rejection of Victorian and Edwardian literary values.
Leo Tolstoy's classic story of doomed love is one of the most admired novels in world literature. Generations of readers have been enthralled by his magnificent heroine, the unhappily married Anna Karenina, and her tragic affair with dashing Count Vronsky.
Prince Lyov Nikolayevitch Myshkin is one of the great characters in Russian literature. Is he a saint or just naïve? Is he an idealist or, as many in General Epanchin's society feel, an "idiot"? Certainly his return to St. Petersburg after years in a Swiss clinic has a dramatic effect on the beautiful Aglaia, youngest of the Epanchin daughters, and on the charismatic but willful Nastasya Filippovna. As he paints a vivid picture of Russian society, Dostoyevsky shows how principles conflict with emotions - with tragic results.
When Prince Dmitri Nekhludov is called for jury duty on a murder case, he little knows how the experience will change his life. Faced with the accused, a prostitute, he recognizes Katusha, the young girl he seduced and abandoned many years before, and realizes his responsibility for the life of degradation she has been forced to lead. His determination to make amends leads him into the darkest reaches of the Tsarist prison system, and to the beginning of his spiritual regeneration.
War and Peace is one of the greatest monuments in world literature. Set against the dramatic backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars, it examines the relationship between the individual and the relentless march of history. Here are the universal themes of love and hate, ambition and despair, youth and age, expressed with a swirling vitality which makes the book as accessible today as it was when it was first published in 1869.
A young man commits all types of sins, but only his portrait shows the ravages of his life. Oscar Wilde's Faustian classic. Gothic horror at its best.
To the Lighthouse is at once a vivid impressionist depiction of a family holiday, and a meditation on a marriage, on parenthood and childhood, on grief, tyranny, and bitterness. Its use of stream of consciousness, reminiscence, and shifting perspectives gives the novel an intimate, poetic essence, and at the time of publication in 1927 it represented an utter rejection of Victorian and Edwardian literary values.
War and Peace is one of the greatest monuments in world literature. Set against the dramatic backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars, it examines the relationship between the individual and the relentless march of history. Here are the universal themes of love and hate, ambition and despair, youth and age, expressed with a swirling vitality which makes the book as accessible today as it was when it was first published in 1869.
The first authorized, unabridged release of this timeless classic and exclusively available from Recorded Books. Ulysses records the events of a single day, June 16, 1904, in Dublin, Ireland.
For thousands of years, Homer's ancient epic poem the Iliad has enchanted readers from around the world. When you join Professor Vandiver for this lecture series on the Iliad, you'll come to understand what has enthralled and gripped so many people.Her compelling 12-lecture look at this literary masterpiece -whether it's the work of many authors or the "vision" of a single blind poet - makes it vividly clear why, after almost 3,000 years, the Iliad remains not only among the greatest adventure stories ever told but also one of the most compelling meditations on the human condition ever written.
Big Brother is watching you.... 1984 is the year in which it happens. The world is divided into three superstates. In Oceania, the Party’s power is absolute. Every action, word, gesture and thought is monitored under the watchful eye of Big Brother and the Thought Police. In the Ministry of Truth, the Party’s department for propaganda, Winston Smith’s job is to edit the past. Over time, the impulse to escape the machine and live independently takes hold of him and he embarks on a secret and forbidden love affair.
One of Jane Austen’s most beloved works, Pride and Prejudice, is vividly brought to life by Academy Award nominee Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl). In her bright and energetic performance of this British classic, she expertly captures Austen’s signature wit and tone. Her attention to detail, her literary background, and her performance in the 2005 feature film version of the novel provide the perfect foundation from which to convey the story of Elizabeth Bennett, her four sisters, and the inimitable Mr. Darcy.
What is life? What is my place in it? What choices do these questions obligate me to make? More than a half-century after it burst upon the intellectual scene - with roots that extend to the mid-19th century - Existentialism's quest to answer these most fundamental questions of individual responsibility, morality, and personal freedom, life has continued to exert a profound attraction.
Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich is a small book with singular depth of insight. The book was published in 1886, breaking a nine-year literary silence after the publication of Anna Karenina. It is considered to be one of the great explorations of death and dying in all of Western Literature. No author in so few words summons so many emotions into the reader's soul. This masterpiece has been paired here with another of Tolstoy's short novels, Master and Man, which too examnes the human response to mortality. Together these two stories will ultimately offer encouragement to the spiritually hungry.
Very well read and annunciated, the narrator captures the atmosphere well in both stories. It goes without saying that Tolstoy crafts his short stories masterfully, resulting in a throughly enjoyable audiobook
I have always loved Ivan Ilyich, but Mr. Vance's narration actually moved me to tears.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful
I guess it should come as no surprise that Tolstoy is awesome? Both these stories are amazing and moving and human and wow. First thing I've even read/listened of Tolstoy, I think I need to check out some more.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful
Both stories, but particularly The Death of Ivan Illyich, are amazingly fresh and relevant. Simon Vance brings the characters to life.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful
Where does Tolstoy rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
This book has an important message. It is commonly read in high school, but I am happy that I waited until 52 years. I understand the meaning behind the book better than a teenager would because I have witnessed death, watched how others lived their lives, and thus, understand a bit more about the overall message.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
If you could sum up Tolstoy in three words, what would they be?
Superb understanding of the human mind.
What other book might you compare Tolstoy to and why?
Of course, Anna Karenina is the masterpiece. Tolstoy understands how people think and why thay act as they do.
Which character – as performed by Simon Vance – was your favorite?
Ivan
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
My attention was rivited on the audio and I felt compelled just to sit and listen to the naration was completed.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
This narration was one of the best I have ever heard. I am going to now look up what other books he has narrated and get them because of Simon Vance. Really incredible job. Five starts for him. Four stars for the book because it was a little depressing.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful
If you could sum up Tolstoy in three words, what would they be?
Human Character Revealed
Would you be willing to try another book from Leo Tolstoy? Why or why not?
I would read anything written by Leo Tolstoy!
What does Simon Vance bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
Articulate and Well Spoken
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
A feeling of understanding - Tolstoy's statement is not always complimentary to his protagonist moral judgement.
Any additional comments?
Be the one who rises above in all situations!
These two short books are the type of thing they'd assign to you in a literature class and then ask you to write an essay about something like "the meaning of life according to Ivan Ilyich" or ask you on an exam "did the protagonists learn to value life only when they were about to die?" The Death of Ivan Ilyich is exactly about that. We hear about his unexciting and uninspiring life, and what he wants out of it all along, and how it turns out and how he dies, and his thoughts while he is sick and in decline. The part that resonated with me the most is the description of the awkwardness of paying condolences to someone - this indeed was a good description. The "moral" of the story, apparently having to do with what should be the most important values in your life, is quite cliche. The second story, takes some time to set up the death of Vasili Andreevich Brekhunov, a land-owner, but it is his stubbornness and greed that puts him and his worker in danger, and, again, at his very end, he realizes that his wealth is not the most important thing in his life. It seems a bit late, though, since he leaves a widow and orphan, and Nikita, whom he saves as it turns out, has a pretty dreary depressing life, anyway, and would have accepted death without too much upset. The first story is drearier, because you have to listen to Ivan's physical complaints about his illness. I did not particularly enjoy these stories - they are pretty depressing, without much more than that to them. Simon Vance, however, is superb, as always, and I hope to listen to him in a more engaging book.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful