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

Dorian Gray, a young man of wealth and stature in late 1800's London, meets Lord Henry Wotton while posing for a portrait by his friend Basil Hallward. Once the painting is complete, Dorian realizes that it will always be young and attractive, while he will be forced to age and wither with the years. Carelessly, he wishes the opposite were true. What happens is a treatise on morals, self-indulgence and how crucial personal responsibility is towards one's self. (Summary by John Gonzalez)

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

Un savant, Samuel Ferguson, accompagné de son domestique Joe et de son ami Dick Kennedy entreprend de traverser le continent africain — alors incomplètement exploré — à l'aide d'un ballon gonflé à l'hydrogène. Il a en effet inventé un dispositif qui, en lui évitant de perdre du gaz ou de devoir jeter du lest pour régler son altitude, autorise les plus longs voyages. Ce voyage est supposé relier les explorations faites par Burton et Speke en Afrique orientale à celles de Heinrich Barth dans les régions du Sahara et du Tchad. Partis de Zanzibar, les trois aéronautes réalisent ...

The introduction to the KJV Bible revealed the thanks of the translators to "TO THE MOST HIGH AND MIGHTY PRINCE JAMES, BY THE GRACE OF GOD, KING OF GREAT BRITAIN, FRANCE, AND IRELAND". It is fitting to read, as it reminds contemporary readers of the transitory nature of all Bible translations. (Summary by Sam Stinson)

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...

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.(...

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

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

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 ...

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 ...

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

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)

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 ...

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 ...

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)

LibriVox volunteers bring you 12 different recordings of Serenade by Oscar Wilde. This was the weekly poetry project for the week of April 20th, 2008.

Poderoso y controvertido, considerado uno de los mejores novelistas de todos los tiempos y varias veces candidato al Premio Nobel, Leon Tolstoy (1828-1910) aún tiene mucho que decirnos. Escritor realista, fue un prolifico creador de profundos retratos psicológicos. Trató de plasmar en su obra su pensamiento social a la vez que describir la sociedad rusa con todas sus contradicciones. Un ferviente cristiano-anarquista y anarco-pacifista que rechazaba la guerra y la propiedad de la tierra, inspiró líderes y movimientos alrededor del mundo, incluyendo a Mahatma Gandhi. Sus obras ...

The Cossacks (1863) is an unfinished novel which describes the Cossack life and people through a story of Dmitri Olenin, a Russian aristocrat in love with a Cossack girl. This text was acclaimed by Ivan Bunin as one of the finest in the language.Additional proof-listening was done by mim@can & katzes.

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)

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...