Great Audiobooks – Détails, épisodes et analyse

"The wrongdoing of one generation lives into the successive ones and... becomes a pure and uncontrollable mischief." Hawthorne's moral for "The House of the Seven Gables," taken from the Preface, accurately presages his story. The full weight of the gloomy mansion of the title seems to sit on the fortunes of the Pyncheon family. An ancestor took advantage of the Salem witch trials to wrest away the land whereon the house would be raised... but the land's owner, about to be executed as a wizard, cursed the Pyncheon family until such time as they should make restitution.

Now, almost two centuries later, the family is in real distress. Hepzibah, an old maid and resident of the house, is forced by advanced poverty to open a shop in a part of the house. Her brother Clifford has just been released from prison after serving a thirty-year sentence for murder, and his mind struggles to maintain any kind of hold on reality. Cousin Judge Jaffrey Pyncheon is making himself odious by threatening to have Clifford committed to an institution. And after all these years, the deed to a vast tract of land, that would settle great wealth on the family, is still missing.

One bright ray of sunshine enters the house when cousin Phoebe arrives for an extended stay to allow unhappy matters in her end of the family to sort themselves out. While she lightens the lives of Hepzibah and Clifford, she also attracts the attention of a mysterious lodger named Holgrave, who has placed himself near the Pyncheon family for reasons that only come clear at the end of the story.

The real crisis arrives when the Judge, who strongly resembles the Colonel Pyncheon who built the house so many years ago, steps up his demands on Hepzibah and Clifford and unwittingly triggers the curse.

"The wrongdoing of one generation lives into the successive ones and... becomes a pure and uncontrollable mischief." Hawthorne's moral for "The House of the Seven Gables," taken from the Preface, accurately presages his story. The full weight of the gloomy mansion of the title seems to sit on the fortunes of the Pyncheon family. An ancestor took advantage of the Salem witch trials to wrest away the land whereon the house would be raised... but the land's owner, about to be executed as a wizard, cursed the Pyncheon family until such time as they should make restitution.

Now, almost two centuries later, the family is in real distress. Hepzibah, an old maid and resident of the house, is forced by advanced poverty to open a shop in a part of the house. Her brother Clifford has just been released from prison after serving a thirty-year sentence for murder, and his mind struggles to maintain any kind of hold on reality. Cousin Judge Jaffrey Pyncheon is making himself odious by threatening to have Clifford committed to an institution. And after all these years, the deed to a vast tract of land, that would settle great wealth on the family, is still missing.

One bright ray of sunshine enters the house when cousin Phoebe arrives for an extended stay to allow unhappy matters in her end of the family to sort themselves out. While she lightens the lives of Hepzibah and Clifford, she also attracts the attention of a mysterious lodger named Holgrave, who has placed himself near the Pyncheon family for reasons that only come clear at the end of the story.

The real crisis arrives when the Judge, who strongly resembles the Colonel Pyncheon who built the house so many years ago, steps up his demands on Hepzibah and Clifford and unwittingly triggers the curse.

Benjamin Franklin's life was like a full five-act play—prophetic prologue and stately epilogue, and swelling scene imposed upon swelling scene, until the tallow chandler's son, rising from the humblest levels of human fortune to the highest by uninterrupted gradations of invincible success, finally becomes the recipient of such a degree of impressive homage as has rarely been paid to anyone by the admiration and curiosity of mankind. 

(From the Introduction.)

The People that Time Forgot is a science fiction novel, the second of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Caspak trilogy. The first novel ended with the hero writing a manuscript of his adventures and casting it out to sea in his thermos bottle. 

The second novel begins with the finding of the manuscript and the organization of a rescue expedition. (Adapted from Wikipedia.)

This 1912 book remains among the most widely-used and well-written introductions to philosophy in English. It was aimed to be an accessible introduction to philosophy for the average shopkeeper in England in 1912. Despite its accessibility It has engaged scholarly philosophical commentators on a range of issues raised in the work. 

Above all it conveys in easy and witty manner the philosophical frame of mind to those that have never encountered it before. It was almost immediately, and remains today, a classic. 

This 1912 book remains among the most widely-used and well-written introductions to philosophy in English. It was aimed to be an accessible introduction to philosophy for the average shopkeeper in England in 1912. Despite its accessibility It has engaged scholarly philosophical commentators on a range of issues raised in the work. 

Above all it conveys in easy and witty manner the philosophical frame of mind to those that have never encountered it before. It was almost immediately, and remains today, a classic. 

This 1912 book remains among the most widely-used and well-written introductions to philosophy in English. It was aimed to be an accessible introduction to philosophy for the average shopkeeper in England in 1912. Despite its accessibility It has engaged scholarly philosophical commentators on a range of issues raised in the work. 

Above all it conveys in easy and witty manner the philosophical frame of mind to those that have never encountered it before. It was almost immediately, and remains today, a classic. 

Published in 1869, The Innocents Abroad humorously chronicles what Twain called his "Great Pleasure Excursion" on board the chartered steamship Quaker City through Europe and the Holy Land with a group of American travelers in 1867. The five-month journey included numerous side trips on land.

The book, which sometimes appears with the subtitle The New Pilgrim's Progress, became the best-selling of Twain's works during his lifetime, as well as one of the best-selling travel books of all time.

The excursion was billed as a Holy Land expedition, with numerous stops and side trips along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, notably:

• train excursion from Marseille to Paris for the 1867 Paris Exhibition during the reign of Napoleon III and the Second French Empire
• journey through the Papal States to Rome
• side trip through the Black Sea to Odessa
• culminating excursion through the Holy Land

Twain reports the voyage covered over 20,000 miles of land and sea.

The book is full of Twain’s cutting wit and insight as he guides us along the bumpy and often dangerous journey.

No need to buckle up. Just take it slow, and steady... like the journey itself. (From Wikipedia.)

Published in 1869, The Innocents Abroad humorously chronicles what Twain called his "Great Pleasure Excursion" on board the chartered steamship Quaker City through Europe and the Holy Land with a group of American travelers in 1867. The five-month journey included numerous side trips on land.

The book, which sometimes appears with the subtitle The New Pilgrim's Progress, became the best-selling of Twain's works during his lifetime, as well as one of the best-selling travel books of all time.

The excursion was billed as a Holy Land expedition, with numerous stops and side trips along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, notably:

• train excursion from Marseille to Paris for the 1867 Paris Exhibition during the reign of Napoleon III and the Second French Empire
• journey through the Papal States to Rome
• side trip through the Black Sea to Odessa
• culminating excursion through the Holy Land

Twain reports the voyage covered over 20,000 miles of land and sea.

The book is full of Twain’s cutting wit and insight as he guides us along the bumpy and often dangerous journey.

No need to buckle up. Just take it slow, and steady... like the journey itself. (From Wikipedia.)

Published in 1869, The Innocents Abroad humorously chronicles what Twain called his "Great Pleasure Excursion" on board the chartered steamship Quaker City through Europe and the Holy Land with a group of American travelers in 1867. The five-month journey included numerous side trips on land.

The book, which sometimes appears with the subtitle The New Pilgrim's Progress, became the best-selling of Twain's works during his lifetime, as well as one of the best-selling travel books of all time.

The excursion was billed as a Holy Land expedition, with numerous stops and side trips along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, notably:

• train excursion from Marseille to Paris for the 1867 Paris Exhibition during the reign of Napoleon III and the Second French Empire
• journey through the Papal States to Rome
• side trip through the Black Sea to Odessa
• culminating excursion through the Holy Land

Twain reports the voyage covered over 20,000 miles of land and sea.

The book is full of Twain’s cutting wit and insight as he guides us along the bumpy and often dangerous journey.

No need to buckle up. Just take it slow, and steady... like the journey itself. (From Wikipedia.)