Showing results by author "Valerio Di Stefano" in All Categories

An Ideal Husband is an 1895 comedy by Oscar Wilde which revolves around blackmail and political corruption, and touches on the themes of public and private honor. The action is set in London, in "the present", and takes place within a single day. "Sooner or later," Wilde notes, "we shall all have to pay for what we do." But he adds that, "No one should be entirely judged by their past." (Summary from Wikipedia) Characters:Narrator – Read by Alex FosterThe Earl Of Caversham, K.G. – Read by LintonViscount Goring, his son – Read by John GonzalezSir Robert Chiltern, Bart., Under-Secretary ...

Le château des Carpathes raconte l'histoire de la rivalité entre deux hommes charismatiques pour une jeune cantatrice italienne et les évènements tragiques qui s'en suivent. Cinq ans avant même la parution du Dracula de Bram Stoker, Jules Verne (1828-1905), renommé pour son mélange de la science au mystérieux, a déjà placé cette histoire fantastique dans les sombres forêts et montagnes des Carpathes. - Summary by Sonia

LibriVox volunteers bring you 21 recordings of Symphony in Yellow by Oscar Wilde. This was the Weekly Poetry project for March 18, 2012.Oscar Wilde, an Irish author who lived for much of his life in London, is most famous for his witty, satirical plays. He also worked for some time as a journalist.Much of his poetry was written early in his career, with a notable exception being The Ballad of Reading Gaol. This poem, Symphony in Yellow, is probably one of his earlier works; in it he describes London in a flattering manner something he was disinclined to do after his trial and imprisonment.(...

This Revised Testament has been prepared under the auspices of the American Bible Union, by the most competent scholars of the day. No expense has been spared to obtain the oldest translations of the Bible, copies of the ancient manuscripts, and other facilities to make the revision as perfect as possible. The paragraph form has been adopted in preference to the division by verse, which is a modern mode of division, never used in the ancient scriptures. But, for convenience of reference, the numbers of the verses are retained. All quotations from the Old Testament are distinctly indicated, and...

This is a 1905 memoir of one great litterateur’s latter days written by another great litterateur. This recording omits the numerous footnotes and two letters in French untranslated by the translator. -Summary by david wales

Complied by Thomas B. Mosher and released in 1906, this collection contains nearly every poem published by Oscar Wilde during his lifetime. From his Oxford undergrad days, through his rise to fame and scandal, all the way to his death, we witness an iconic author's evolution. This work is derived from Wilde's first published piece, the 1878 Newdigate Prize-winning Ravenna, his 1881 poetry collection, and verses found in literary magazines and other publications. - Summary by Mary Kay

This is a selection of the early poetry of Oscar Wilde, selected by Robert Ross. As he puts it, "It is thought that a selection from Oscar Wilde’s early verses may be of interest to a large public at present familiar only with the always popular Ballad of Reading Gaol, also included in this volume. The poems were first collected by their author when he was twenty-six years old, and though never, until recently, well received by the critics, have survived the test of NINE editions. Readers will be able to make for themselves the obvious and striking contrasts between these first and last ...

The first memoir by the poet Lord Alfred “Bosie” Douglas was written 14 years after the death of Oscar Wilde and in the aftermath of Douglas's failed prosecution of Arthur Ransome for libel. Ransome, in his "Oscar Wilde, a Critical Study," had quoted from the expurgated portions of Wilde's prison letter to Douglas, "De Profundis", which was highly critical of his former friend and lover. Having failed to convince a jury that he had been libelled, Douglas appealed instead to posterity by writing his memoir. In "Oscar Wilde and Myself" Douglas refutes Wilde's version of the events that led ...

Robert Sherard was Oscar Wilde's friend of 20 years and first biographer. The Story of an Unhappy Friendship was the first of his four biographies of the Irish playwright and wit. - Summary by Rob Board

Robert Sherard was Oscar Wilde's friend of 20 years and first biographer. The Life of Oscar Wilde was the second of his four biographies of the Irish playwright and wit. - Summary by Rob Board

In 1894, Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900) published two collections of aphorisms: A Few Maxims For The Instruction Of The Over-Educated, in the Saturday Review newspaper, and Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young, in the Oxford student magazine The Chameleon. By turns witty, intellectual, counter-intuitive and obtruse, the collections came to be seen by many as emblematic of Wilde's style, and countless collections of Wildean aphorisms have since been published. (Summary by Carl Manchester)

Der Kaufmann Wasili Andrejitsch Brechunow und sein Knecht Nikita machen sich an einem Dezembernachmittag trotz eisiger Kälte und Schneegestöber mit dem Pferdeschlitten auf, da Wasili Andrejitsch einem benachbarten Gutsbesitzer einen Wald abkaufen will. Während der Fahrt nimmt der Schneesturm zu, sie kommen vom Weg ab und verirren sich, landen jedoch in einem Nachbarort. Mehrfach bietet sich die Möglichkeit, von der Weiterfahrt abzusehen und den nächsten Tag abzuwarten, aber der rücksichtslose und dabei selbstgerechte Wasili Andrejitsch will sich das günstige Geschäft nicht entgehen ...

Wilde’s meditation on capital punishment, the Ballad of Reading Gaol comes after he was convicted and imprisoned under charges of gross indecency. The charges stemmed from his affair with Lord Alfred Douglas, the son of the Marquis of Queensberry. It relates the story of an execution of a man who murdered his wife which Wilde witnessed during his internment. Published in 1898, it was Wilde’s last published poem as he would die in 1900 from cerebral meningitis, caused by syphilis.(Summary by John Gonzalez)

This little book shows, in a short, clear, and systematic manner, how the principle of Non-Resistance, about which Tolstoy has written so much, is related to economic and political life. (Summary by Aylmer Maude, Translator)

Der Roman aus der Epoche des russischen Realismus gibt einen tiefgründigen Einblick in das Leben und die Lebensanschauungen der russischen Aristokratie des 19. Jahrhunderts. Mehr noch begeistert er durch die bis ins kleinste Detail mit großer Menschenkenntnis dargestellten Charaktere, deren Wesen Tolstoi uns weitestgehend durch ihre Art zu sprechen, denken, handeln und ihre "Kreise" auszuwählen näher bringt. Seitensprünge sind in der besseren Gesellschaft durchaus üblich, jedoch nicht solche von der Art, wie Anna Karenina ihn begeht. Auch gelten für Ehebruch bei Frauen andere Maßstäbe...

This book contains a critical essay on Shakespeare by Leo Tolstoy. It is followed by another essay named "Shakespeare's attitude to the working classes" by Ernest Crosby and extracts of a letter by George Bernard Shaw. (Summary by enko)

Sevastopol Sketches (Russian: Севастопольские рассказы, Sevastopolskiye rasskazy) are three short stories written by Leo Tolstoy and published in 1855 to record his experiences during the Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855) in the Crimean War (1853-1856). The name originates from Sevastopol, a city in Crimea. The book has also been released under the anglicized title The Sebastopol Sketches and is sometimes titled Sevastopol Stories. These brief "sketches" formed the basis of many of the episodes in Tolstoy's magnum opus, War and Peace. Sevastopol in December: In ...

In this book, Tolstoy seeks to condense the four Gospels of the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, into one, by looking along the lines of the teachings of Jesus Christ found in each book. In doing so, he discovers that the Lord's Prayer is the best summation of all that Christ taught in the Gospels. - Summary by KHand

A land owner, Vasili Andreevich, takes along one of his peasants, Nikita, for a short journey to another town. He wishes to get to the town quickly 'for business'. They find themselves in the middle of a blizzard, but the master in his avarice wishes to press on. They eventually get lost off the road and they try to camp. The master's peasant soon finds himself about to die from hypothermia. The master leaves him on the horse to stubbornly try to find the road. When he returns, he attains a spiritual/moral revelation, and Tolstoy once again repeats one of his famous themes: that the only true ...

Pózdnyshev se había casado y tenía varios hijos pero su matrimonio no había ido bien. Durante un viaje en tren explica a un pasajero lo terrible de esta unión en la que él había vivido un infierno atormentado por los celos. Esta obra folosófica fue escrita por Tólstoi en una época de crisis existencial en la que se plantea y reafirma en los valores del espíritu como la castidad y en contra de las apariencias, las pasiones y la impureza. (Summary by Montse González)