Literary Criticism audiobooks

Thalia Book Club: To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

By: Virginia Woolf

Narrated by: Jennifer Egan, Siri Hustvedt & Margot Livesey

Length: 1 hour 17 minutes

Abridged: No

Back by popular demand, novelists Siri Hustvedt (The Blazing World, March 2014), Jennifer Egan (Pulitzer Prize-winner for A Visit from the Goon Squad) and Margot Livesey (The Flight of Gemma Hardy), the trio that has brought Middlemarch, Pride & Prejudice, Anna Karenina and The Portrait of a Lady to life at past events in this series,... Read more

Letters to a Young Poet

By: Rainer Maria Rilke

Narrated by: Dan Stevens & Max Deacon

Length: 1 hour 50 minutes

Abridged: No

Rilke's powerfully touching letters to an aspiring young poet, now available in a beautiful hardcover Penguin editionAt the start of the twentieth century, Rainer Maria Rilke wrote a series of letters to a young officer cadet, advising him on writing, love, sex, suffering, and the nature of advice itself. These profound and lyrical letters have... Read more

John Banville

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 5 minutes

Abridged: No

Irish writer John Banville slips into Raymond Chandler’s voice for a new crime novel starring one of the great characters in American fiction: private detective Philip Marlowe. 1950’s Los Angeles, the femme fatale, Hollywood stars: Chandler’s noir ingredients are back in full swing in The Black-Eyed Blonde. Banville talks to Jeffrey Brown about... Read more

E. E. Cummings

By: Susan Cheever

Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki

Length: 7 hours 53 minutes

Abridged: No

From the acclaimed author of My Name Is Bill and Home before Dark comes a major reassessment of the life and work of one of America's preeminent twentieth-century poets.E. E. Cummings' radical experimentation with form, punctuation, spelling, and syntax resulted in his creation of a new, idiosyncratic means of poetic expression. And while there... Read more

My Life in Middlemarch

By: Rebecca Mead

Narrated by: Kate Reading

Length: 9 hours 37 minutes

Abridged: No

A New Yorker writer revisits the seminal book of her youth—Middlemarch—and fashions a singular, involving story of how a passionate attachment to a great work of literature can shape our lives and help us to read our own histories.Rebecca Mead was a young woman in an English coastal town when she first read George Eliot's Middlemarch, regarded... Read more

40th Anniversary of Tuck Everlasting with Natalie Babbitt

By: Natalie Babbitt

Narrated by: Natalie Babbitt, Gregory Maguire, Colby Minifie...

Length: 1 hour 11 minutes

Abridged: No

The award-winning author discusses her unforgettable novel , first published in 1975, with author Gregory Maguire (Wicked). Babbitt's classic story centers on a young girl who stumbles upon the mysterious Tuck family and their secret, magic spring. The moving prose and rich imagery have made this story a favorite among young readers. Samuel F.... Read more

Rediscovering Shakespeare

By: Matthew Wagner

Narrated by: Hailey R. Carter

Length: 4 hours 58 minutes

Abridged: No

A greater emphasis on situations than characters (this numbs the audience's connection to the characters, so that when characters experience misfortune, the audience still finds it laughable) A struggle of young lovers to overcome difficulty, often presented by elders Separation and re-unification Deception among characters (especially mistaken... Read more

James McBride: The Good Lord Bird

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 5 minutes

Abridged: No

The Color of Water author James McBride talks to chief arts correspondent Jeffrey Brown about his new book and winner of this years National Book Award in fiction, The Good Lord Bird. Read more

La Nausée de Jean-Paul Sartre (Analyse de l'oeuvre)

By: lePetitLitteraire, Catherine Nelissen & Pauline...

Narrated by: Denise Dubois

Length: 30 minutes

Abridged: No

Décryptez La Nausée de Jean-Paul Sartre avec l'analyse du PetitLitteraire.fr ! Que faut-il retenir de La Nausée, le roman emblématique de la philosophie existentialiste de l'auteur ? Retrouvez tout ce que vous devez savoir sur cette œuvre dans une analyse complète et détaillée. Vous trouverez notamment dans cette fiche : • Un résumé complet •... Read more

Sa Majesté des Mouches de William Golding (Fiche de lecture)

By: lePetitLitteraire & Florence Hellin

Narrated by: Denise Dubois

Length: 36 minutes

Abridged: No

Décryptez Sa Majesté des Mouches de William Golding avec l'analyse du PetitLitteraire.fr ! Que faut-il retenir de Sa Majesté des Mouches, le roman psychologique culte de la littérature anglaise ? Retrouvez tout ce que vous devez savoir sur cette œuvre dans une fiche de lecture complète et détaillée. Vous trouverez notamment dans cette fiche : •... Read more

Nichts ist ohne sein Gegenteil wahr

By: Martin Walser

Narrated by: Martin Walser, Heinz Ludwig Arnold & Peter Wapn...

Length: 14 hours 19 minutes

Abridged: No

Im März 2012 feierte Martin Walser seinen 85. Geburtstag. Der Schriftsteller ist bereits in den fünfziger Jahren als Mitglied der Gruppe 47 hervorgetreten und hat seither ein umfangreiches Werk vorgelegt, in dem sich die Geschichte der Bundesrepublik spiegelt. Seine Protagonisten sind zumeist kleinbürgerlichen Zuschnitts. Der Begriff des... Read more

Dickens and Twain

By: Timothy B. Shutt

Narrated by: Timothy B. Shutt

Length: 4 hours 39 minutes

Abridged: No

Western Curriculum Course #1212100 Title: Dickens and Twain: Capturing 19th-Century Britain and America Author: Timothy B. Shutt, Kenyon College Program Description: Few writers are more often read, and better loved, than Charles Dickens and Samuel Langhorne Clemens---Mark Twain. Many of the characters populating their novels have become... Read more

Shakespeare's Sonnets - Abridged

By: William Shakespeare

Narrated by: Brian Murray

Length: 59 minutes

Abridged: Yes

Passionate, sensitive readings by actor Brian Murray of 60 of the Bard's most beloved sonnets. Read more

Dragonwriter

By: Todd McCaffrey (Editor)

Narrated by: Emily Durante, Mel Foster, Janis Ian & Todd McC...

Length: 7 hours 49 minutes

Abridged: No

A Tribute to SF Great Anne McCaffreyAngelina Adams - David Brin - David Gerrold - John Goodwin - Janis Ian
Alec Johnson - Georgeanne Kennedy - Mercedes Lackey - Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
Lois McMaster Bujold - Elizabeth Moon - Charlotte Moore - Robert Neilson
Jody Lynn Nye & Bill Fawcett - Robin Roberts - Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
Wen... Read more

Letters to a Young Poet

By: Rainer Maria Rilke

Narrated by: Marc Allen

Length: 1 hour 50 minutes

Abridged: No

These have been called the most famous and beloved letters of the past century. Rainer Maria Rilke himself said that much of his creative expression went into his correspondence, and here he touches upon a wide range of subjects that will interest writers, artists, and thinkers. This luminous translation of Rainer Maria Rilke's classic offers... Read more

Thomas Merton on the Poetry and Letters of Rainer Maria Rilke

By: Thomas Merton

Length: TBA

Abridged: No

Join Thomas Merton in exploring the timeless words of one of the world’s greatest poets, Rainer Maria Rilke. Before entering the monastery, Thomas Merton studied English at Columbia University and taught literature at St. Bonaventure University. His passion for literature never faded, and now you have the rare opportunity to take Thomas Merton... Read more

Lore of the Stars

By: Timothy B. Shutt

Narrated by: Timothy B. Shutt

Length: 4 hours 18 minutes

Abridged: No

One of Kenyon College's most honored professors, Timothy B. Shutt is widely renowned as a gifted polymath and lecturer. The night sky was the ancient world's cinema, and storytellers have used this panorama to weave fascinating tales since the earliest days of mankind. This captivating series of lectures explores the mythological sagas found in... Read more

Thalia Book Club: Neil Gaiman: The Ocean at the End of the Lane

By: Neil Gaiman

Narrated by: Erin Morgenstern

Length: 1 hour 12 minutes

Abridged: No

The superstar author makes a stop on his last official book tour to read from and discuss his first adult novel in eight years. In conversation with Erin Morgenstern (The Night Circus). Read more

Thalia Book Club: Claire Messud: The Woman Upstairs

By: Claire Messud

Narrated by: Meghan O'Rourke & Patricia Kalember

Length: 1 hour 18 minutes

Abridged: No

The New York Times best-selling author of the literary page-turner The Emperor's Children discusses her richly drawn new novel with Meghan O'Rourke (The Long Goodbye). Her latest release is a riveting compulsively readable confession of a 37-year-old elementary school teacher in Cambridge, Mass, drawn into the complex world of her new neighbors... Read more

When Does Genetic Modification of Animals Cross a Line?

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 7 minutes

Abridged: No

Emily Anthes, author of the book Frankenstein's Cat, talks to Ray Suarez about the ethical limits when using animals in biotech research and development. Read more

The Morally Indefensible Actions of WWII

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 6 minutes

Abridged: No

Author Rick Atkinson talks with PBS NewsHour senior correspondent Ray Suarez about what went into writing his latest book, The Guns at Last Light. Read more

Coleshill

By: Fiona Sampson

Narrated by: Fiona Sampson

Length: 37 minutes

Abridged: No

Deep in limestone country, at the corner of Wiltshire, Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire, lies the village of Coleshill.

This haunting new collection from Fiona Sampson is a portrait of place, both real and imaginary; a dreamscape with its roots deep in the local soil.

The poems hum with an evocative music of their own: there are hymns of the... Read more

Thalia Book Club: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Americanah

By: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Narrated by: Robin Desser & Francesca Choy-Kee

Length: 1 hour 11 minutes

Abridged: No

The author of the critically acclaimed Half of a Yellow Sun and Purple Hibiscus presents her newest novel Americanah, a story of love and race centered around a young man and woman from Nigeria facing challenges in the countries they come to call home. Read more

Thalia Book Club: An Evening with Jane Gardam

By: Jane Gardam

Narrated by: Stacy Schiff & Paul Hecht

Length: 1 hour 21 minutes

Abridged: No

In a rare New York appearance, the beloved British author of Old Filth and The Man in the Wooden Hat, the funny, romantic and surprising paired novels about a 50-year marriage between a crusty British barrister and his sparkling surprising Betty, discusses these books and her brand-new third chapter in this remarkable series, Last Friends. Paul... Read more