European Literature

Anna Karenina

• UNABRIDGED (35 hrs and 40 mins)
• By Leo Tolstoy
• Narrated By Maggie Gyllenhaal
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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.

The Prince

• UNABRIDGED (4 hrs and 1 min)
• By Niccolò Machiavelli
• Narrated By David McCallion
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In an attempt to appeal to the Medici family during the Italian Renaissance, Machiavelli outlines the way to acquire and retain political power, and how great men should behave in a princely government. The book is divided into four parts - types of principalities and state, proper conduct of a prince as military leader, personal conduct of a prince, and the disparity of Italy's political situation. Many listeners will be able to see principals that Machiavelli advocates for are still used in many political systems today.

The Odyssey

• UNABRIDGED (13 hrs and 26 mins)
• By Homer, Robert Fagles - translator
• Narrated By Ian McKellen
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The great adventure story tells of Odysseus, a veteran of the Trojan War, who - through a landscape peopled with monsters, sea nymphs, evil enchantresses, and vengeful gods - makes his tortuous way home to his faithful wife, Penelope. Shipwrecked numerous times, faced with apparently insurmountable obstacles, offered the temptations of ease, comfort, and even immortality, Odysseus remains steadfast and determined. Themes of courage and perseverance, fidelity and fortitude.

Don Quixote

• UNABRIDGED (36 hrs and 9 mins)
• By Miguel de Cervantes, John Ormsby (translated by)
• Narrated By Roy McMillan
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The most influential work of the entire Spanish literary canon and a founding work of modern Western literature, Don Quixote is also one of the greatest works ever written. Hugely entertaining but also moving at times, this episodic novel is built on the fantasy life of one Alonso Quixano, who lives with his niece and housekeeper in La Mancha. Quixano, obsessed by tales of knight errantry, renames himself ‘Don Quixote’ and with his faithful servant Sancho Panza, goes on a series of quests.

The Count of Monte Cristo

• UNABRIDGED (52 hrs and 45 mins)
• By Alexandre Dumas
• Narrated By Bill Homewood
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On the eve of his marriage to the beautiful Mercedes, having that very day been made captain of his ship, the young sailor Edmond Dantès is arrested on a charge of treason, trumped up by jealous rivals. Incarcerated for many lonely years in the isolated and terrifying Chateau d'If near Marseille, he meticulously plans his brilliant escape and extraordinary revenge.

The Modern Intellectual Tradition: From Descartes to Derrida

• ORIGINAL (18 hrs and 45 mins)
• By The Great Courses
• Narrated By Professor Lawrence Cahoone

What is reality? Ask yourself whether you can actually know the answer, much less be sure that you can know it, and you've begun to grapple with the metaphysical and epistemological quandaries that have occupied, teased, and tormented modern philosophy's greatest intellects since the dawn of modern science and a century before the Enlightenment.

All Quiet on the Western Front

• UNABRIDGED (7 hrs and 9 mins)
• By Erich Maria Remarque
• Narrated By Tom Lawrence
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The story is told by a young 'unknown soldier' in the trenches of Flanders during the First World War. Through his eyes we see all the realities of war; under fire, on patrol, waiting in the trenches, at home on leave, and in hospitals and dressing stations.

War and Peace

• UNABRIDGED (61 hrs and 8 mins)
• By Leo Tolstoy
• Narrated By Frederick Davidson

Often called the greatest novel ever written, War and Peace is at once an epic of the Napoleonic wars, a philosophical study, and a celebration of the Russian spirit. Tolstoy's genius is clearly seen in the multitude of characters in this massive chronicle, all of them fully realized and equally memorable.

Crime and Punishment

• UNABRIDGED (22 hrs and 6 mins)
• By Fyodor Dostoyevsky
• Narrated By Constantine Gregory
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A century after it first appeared, Crime and Punishment remains one of the most gripping psychological thrillers. A poverty-stricken young man, seeing his family making sacrifices for him, is faced with an opportunity to solve his financial problems with one simple but horrifying act: the murder of a pawnbroker. She is, he feels, just a parasite on society. But does the end justify the means? Rodion Romanovitch Raskolnikov makes his decision and then has to live with it.

War and Peace, Volume 1

• UNABRIDGED (30 hrs and 22 mins)
• By Leo Tolstoy
• Narrated By Neville Jason

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.

Ulysses

• UNABRIDGED (27 hrs and 16 mins)
• By James Joyce
• Narrated By Jim Norton
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Ulysses is regarded by many as the single most important novel of the 20th century. It tells the story of one day in Dublin, June 16th 1904, largely through the eyes of Stephen Dedalus (Joyce's alter ego from Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man) and Leopold Bloom, an advertising salesman. Both begin a normal day, and both set off on a journey around the streets of Dublin, which eventually brings them into contact with one another.

Les Misérables

• UNABRIDGED (67 hrs and 52 mins)
• By Victor Hugo
• Narrated By Bill Homewood

Les Misérables is set in Paris after the French Revolution. In the sewers and backstreets, we encounter "the wolf-like tread of crime", and assassination for a few sous is all in a day's work. We weep with the unlucky and heart-broken Fantine, and we exult with the heroic revolutionaries of the barricades; but above all we thrill to the steadfast courage and nobility of soul of ex-convict Jean Valjean, always in danger from the relentless pursuit of the diabolical Inspector Javert.

The Insulted and the Injured

• UNABRIDGED (13 hrs and 16 mins)
• By Fyodor Dostoyevsky
• Narrated By Alastair Cameron

At its heart, The Insulted and the Injured is a story of human tragedy and suffering, but it is also a love story. Narrated by a fictitious young author, Vanya, this book tells the story of Natasha and her lover, Alyosha, who also happens to be the son of the cruel Prince Valkovsky.

Out of Africa

• ABRIDGED (2 hrs and 57 mins)
• By Isak Dineson
• Narrated By Julie Harris

Danish countess Karen Blixon, known as Isak Dineson, ran a coffee plantation in Kenya in the years when Africa remained a romantic and formidable continent to most Europeans. Out of Africa is her account of her life there, with stories of her respectful relationships with the Masai, Kikuyu, and Somali natives who work on her land; the European friends who visit her; and the imposing permanence of the wild, high land itself. Stage and television actress Julie Harris delivers a reading that is emotionally charged and reflective, recreating Dinesen's lively appreciation for the land she loved so much.

The Brothers Karamazov

• UNABRIDGED (37 hrs and 55 mins)
• By Fyodor Dostoevsky, David Magarshack (translator)
• Narrated By Gabriel Woolf

The Brothers Karamazov is the final novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky and is generally considered the culmination of his life's work. Published in November 1880, Dostoevsky spent nearly two years writing the novel set in 19th-century Russia. Fydor Karamazov, a mean and disreputable landowner, has three sons, Dmitry, a profligate army officer; Ivan, a writer with revolutionary ideas; and Alexey, a religious novice.

Dante's Divine Comedy

• ORIGINAL (12 hrs and 20 mins)
• By The Great Courses
• Narrated By Professor Ronald B. Herzman, Professor William R. Cook

Professors Cook and Herzman provide you with an illuminating introduction to one of the greatest works ever written. One of the most profound and satisfying of all poems, The Divine Comedy (or Commedia) of Dante Alighieri is a book for life. In a brilliantly constructed narrative of his imaginary guided pilgrimage through the three realms of the Christian afterlife, Dante accomplished a literary task of astonishing complexity. In these twenty-four lectures, as you follow Dante on his journey, you'll learn how medieval literature offers insights into fundamental questions.

Crime and Punishment

• UNABRIDGED (20 hrs and 29 mins)
• By Fyodor Dostoevsky, Constance Garnett (translator)
• Narrated By Anthony Heald
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In this intense detective thriller instilled with philosophical, religious, and social commentary, Dostoevsky studies the psychological impact upon a desperate and impoverished student when he murders a despicable pawnbroker, transgressing moral law to ultimately "benefit humanity".

Thérèse Raquin

• UNABRIDGED (8 hrs)
• By Emile Zola
• Narrated By Kate Winslet
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Once upon a time, a teenaged Kate Winslet (The Reader, Titanic, Revolutionary Road) received a gift that would leave a lasting impression: a copy of Emile Zola’s classic Thérèse Raquin. Six Academy Award nominations and one Best Actress award later, she steps behind the microphone to perform this haunting classic of passion and disaster.

Myth in Human History

• ORIGINAL (18 hrs and 27 mins)
• By The Great Courses
• Narrated By Professor Grant L. Voth

Myths provide the keys to truly grasping the ways that principles, rituals, codes, and taboos are woven into the fabric of a particular society or civilization. It's through myths that we can answer these and other fundamental questions: How was the universe created, and why? What is the purpose of evil? Why is society organized the way it is? How did natural features like rivers, mountains, and oceans emerge?This entertaining and illuminating course plunges you into the world's greatest myths.

Dead Souls

• UNABRIDGED (14 hrs and 54 mins)
• By Nikolai Gogol, Constance Garnett - translator
• Narrated By Nicholas Boulton

Gogol's great Russian classic is the Pickwick Papers of Russian literature. It takes a sharp but humorous look at life in all its strata but especially the devious complexities in Russia, with its landowners and serfs. We are introduced to Chichikov, a businessman who, in order to trick the tax authorities, buys up dead 'souls', or serfs, whose names still appear on the government census. Despite being a dealer in phantom crimes and paper ghosts, he is the most beguiling of Gogol's characters.

Crime and Punishment

• UNABRIDGED (21 hrs and 49 mins)
• By Fyodor Dostoyevsky
• Narrated By Mark Nelson
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Crime and Punishment is a novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It was first published in the literary journal The Russian Messenger in 12 monthly installments during 1866. Later, it was published in a single volume. It is the second of Dostoyevsky's full-length novels following his return from five years of exile in Siberia. Crime and Punishment is considered the first great novel of his "mature" period of writing.

Utopia

• UNABRIDGED (4 hrs and 3 mins)
• By Thomas More
• Narrated By Alastair Cameron
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Within Utopia, the listener is taken to an island where there is an idealistic community with complete social harmony. In Utopia, the community owns all property and everyone works and contributes to society which has a balance of religious and social tolerance. Throughout history, Thomas More's Utopia has been the inspiration of many social movements. Although many of More's critics believe this type of utopia to be unachievable in human societies, his work does paint a picture of what life could be like if it were possible.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

• ABRIDGED (1 hr and 14 mins)
• By Victor Hugo
• Narrated By Julie Christie

Become entranced by Victor Hugo's story of Quasimodo, the deformed bellringer in medieval Paris, as he valiantly saves the life of the beautiful gypsy Esmerelda.

Four Arthurian Romances

• UNABRIDGED (16 hrs and 48 mins)
• By Chrétien de Troyes
• Narrated By Nicholas Boulton
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The Arthurian Romances by Chrétien de Troyes form the wellspring of the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Stories of knightly valour in the Welsh Marches had existed before the 12th century, but it was the magnificent poetry and imagination of Chrétien, the 12th century French poet and trouvère, which brought alive the great characters of Arthur, his wife Guinevere, Lancelot and others.

The Prince: Strategy of Niccolo Machiavelli

• UNABRIDGED (3 hrs and 39 mins)
• By Niccolo Machiavelli
• Narrated By Roberto Scarlato
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The Prince is sometimes claimed to be one of the first works of modern philosophy, especially 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 politics and ethics.

The Happy Prince, and Other Stories

• UNABRIDGED (5 hrs and 14 mins)
• By Oscar Wilde
• Narrated By Johanna Ward

The Happy Prince lived in the Palace of Sans Souci, where sorrow was not allowed to enter, and only pleasure was experienced. Then, a gilded statue set on top of a high column allowed him to see all the wretchedness of the poor, the sick, and the lonely who inhabited his great city. What develops is a story of sacrifice and redemption that is a parable for our time. This audiobook includes nine of Oscar Wilde's magical and haunting fairytales. Written for his own sons, Wilde's tales will provide equal delight for children of today.

Three Best French Short Stories by Guy de Maupassant, Honoré de Balzac, Gustave Flaubert

• UNABRIDGED (4 hrs and 1 min)
• By Guy der Maupassant, Gustave Flaubert, Honoré der Balzac
• Narrated By Katie Haigh, Paul Edwards

Enjoy the short stories of three of the greatest writers of French literature, for the first time assembled together in audiobook and narrated in a lively way. Guy de Maupassant was an absolute master of the short story genre, delighting in clever plotting, concise style, and efficient storytelling, which he used to produce stunning pieces in a very condensed format. He produced more than 300 short stories; we selected for you nine of the most bizarre, influent, humorous or plain shocking.

Around the World in Eighty Days

• UNABRIDGED (6 hrs and 51 mins)
• By Jules Verne
• Narrated By Ralph Snelson

Around the World in Eighty Days (French: Le Tour du Monde en Quatre-Vingts Jours) is a classic adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne, published in 1873. In the story, Phileas Fogg of London and his newly employed French valet Passepartout attempt to circumnavigate the world in 80 days on a £20,000 wager (the approximate equivalent of £2 million in 2016) set by his friends at the Reform Club. It is one of Verne's most acclaimed works.

The Canterville Ghost

• UNABRIDGED (1 hr and 16 mins)
• By Oscar Wilde
• Narrated By Al Kessel
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The classic haunting tale by Oscar Wilde, "The Canterville Ghost" is the story of an American family moving in to the ancient Canterville Chase in England, which has all the accoutrements of the traditional English haunted house! Lord Simon Canterville, the resident denizen of the afterlife, haunts the halls of this hallowed home with all the superiority his ghostly skills have afforded him lo these past centuries. That is, of course, until the Otis family, from America, move in and give him a devil of a time!

The Three Musketeers

• ABRIDGED (6 hrs and 7 mins)
• By Alexandre Dumas
• Narrated By Michael York

A young Gascon nobleman, D'Artagnan, makes his way to Paris, hoping to join the Musketeers, that legion of heroes held in high esteem by the king and feared by the wicked Cardinal Richelieu. D'Artagnan quickly proves he has the heart of a Musketeer and earns himself a place in their ranks. Relying on their wits and skill with the sword, the gallant trio sets out to preserve the honor of the king and foil the nefarious schemes of Cardinal Richelieu.

The Fir Tree

• UNABRIDGED (21 mins)
• By Hans Christian Andersen
• Narrated By Phil Gigante

Originally published in 1844 in one of CA Reitzel's New Fairy Tales collections, "The Fir Tree" is a moralistic tale that reveals the importance of appreciating what you have. In it, a young fir tree is so fixated on growing up that he does not value his life in the forest. But when Christmas comes, he discovers that what he thought he wanted wasn't what he expected it to be. This presentation of "The Fir Tree" was recorded as part of Dreamscape's Classic Christmas Stories: A Collection of Timeless Holiday Tales.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

• ABRIDGED (5 hrs and 48 mins)
• By Victor Hugo
• Narrated By Julie Christie

This tale of a man with no comfortable place in scandalous medieval Europe has become the story of a poignant hero. When Quasimodo, the hunchback of Notre Dame, appears before the masses as the "Pope of Fools", the crowd beholds an enormous cyclops-like creature. His whole body seems a twisted grimace. Yet, with all his deformity, there is a certain grace and agility in him and he possesses an endearing passion...and when the gypsy Esmerelda stands between his two executioners, Quasimodo makes the ultimate sacrifice.

The Phantom of the Opera

• UNABRIDGED (7 hrs and 57 mins)
• By Gaston Leroux
• Narrated By Philippe Duquenoy
• Whispersync for Voice-ready

Something strange is afoot at the Paris Opera House. When staff and performers spot a skeleton dressed in dinner attire, tales of the opera house ghost begin to surface. The new manager dismisses the stories as overactive imaginations, but chaos ensues, and encounters with the phantom become increasingly frightening. Who is the mysterious phantom that haunts the theater after the crowds have left for the night? How can he enter locked rooms and get from place to place so quickly? What is his connection to the beautiful and talented Christine?

The Plague by Albert Camus- Summary & Analysis

• UNABRIDGED (29 mins)
• By Scott Anderson
• Narrated By Jason Zenobia

The Plague is considered an existentialist classic, despite Camus' objection to the label. The narrative tone is similar to Kafka's, especially in The Trial, whose individual sentences potentially have multiple meanings, the material often pointedly resonating as stark allegory of phenomenal consciousness, and the human condition.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

• UNABRIDGED (9 hrs and 12 mins)
• By James Joyce
• Narrated By Tadhg Hynes
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A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is Joyce's semi-autobiographical first novel. It traces the early life of Stephen Dedalus and his inner struggle with the oppression of Irish society and the Catholic Church, ending with his awakening as a poet and writer and self-imposed exile from Ireland.

The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli: The Complete Work Plus an Overview, Chapter by Chapter Summary and Author Biography!

• UNABRIDGED (4 hrs and 35 mins)
• By Niccolo Machiavelli, Israel Bouseman
• Narrated By Doug Eisengrein

The audiobook version of The Prince, is prefaced with a biography of the author and a background of the work itself, shedding some light on the mind that produced it, and the era which shaped his perspective. Also included are an overview, synopsis, and analysis of the work. The summary is capped with a brief look at the historical context of Machiavelli's work, as well as the criticisms it has evoked, and the impact he has had on society.