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Listen to 6 free classic novels on audio from Russia's 19th century Golden Age. Selected here are key titles from the greatest Russian novelists, including such titans as Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Ivan Turgenev, and Nikolai Gogol. Russian literature from this period is known for its dramatic sweep, compelling characters, philosophical depth, and spiritual curiosity. If you've ever wanted to tackle Anna Karenina or Crime and Punishment, the audio book versions in this collection will get you started. Click any of the links below to start exploring Russia's literary gems:
1. The Brothers Karamazov
Download Fyodor Dostoyevsky's final novel The Brothers Karamazov, which he published in 1880. Follow the story of Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov and his three sons Dmitri, Ivan, and Alexei as their stories involve ethical debates of God, free will, and morality. Listen to this unabridged 38-hour audio book that is translated by Constance Garnett and read by numerous volunteers at Librivox.org.
Also while you're listening, you may also want to download and listen to the course "Existentialism in Literature and Film" by Professor Hubert L. Dreyfus at UC Berkeley which covers Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov in depth.
Existentialism in Literature and Film
2. Anna Karenina
If you're not ready to dive into the 1000+ page (60+ hours on audio) book War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, then Tolstoy's Anna Karenina might be a better place to start. Maryann Spiegel at Librivox has just completed narrating this free unabridged, 36-hour version of the work which is translated by Nathan Haskell Dole. Listen to the tragic tale of married aristocrat Anna Karenina and her affair with the wealthy Count Vronsky. If William Faulkner called it "the best novel ever written" and Fyodor Dostoevsky said it was "flawless as a work of art", then you know it must be pretty good. Download this free audio book from Librivox.org on MP3 or bookmarkable M4B (a lot of Librivox's catalog is actually now available on M4B).
3. Crime and Punishment
This free audio book comes from Lit2Go, which is the University of South Florida's massive collection of free audio literature on MP3 download. They are all narrated by quality voice actors it seems and we've added a lot of their audio books to LearnOutLoud.com. Crime and Punishment by the great Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky is the second of his full-length novels. It tells the story of Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov who is emotionally, physically, and financially stressed, but believes that he is an extraordinary man that does not have to follow the moral codes of ordinary people. Find out what this drives Raskolnikov to do in this classic Russian novel. It is translated by Constance Garnett and is available on MP3 audio download from Lit2Go!
4. Fathers and Sons
Download one of the greatest Russian novels of all time: Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev. The 1862 novel portrays the clash of two generations of Russians, as the youthful Arkady returns to his father Nikolai's estate after graduating from the University of Petersburg, and Arkady brings along his nihilist friend Bazarov. From there the story follows Arkady and Bazarov as their nihilism eventually falls apart in the face of human emotions. This unabridged novel is available for free on MP3 audio download from Librivox.org.
5. Dead Souls
One of the high watermarks of 19th century Russian literature, Nikolai Gogol's Dead Souls is the author's lacerating critique of the flaws he saw running rampant in his society. The book follows the protagonist Chichikov as he journeys through the countryside purchasing "Dead Souls", or deceased serfs owned on paper by the various landowners he encounters. Thinking this shifty goal of acquiring quick "wealth" will work splendidly, he soon encounters a few snags due to the greed, suspicion, and distrust of their former owners. After initial success, he returns home only to find himself buried in rumors that his new-found wealth is based on false, or deceased "property", leading to a rumor-fueled disaster that sheds light on a long, shady past. What's obvious is Chichikov himself is the truest dead soul depicted, and that the culture surrounding him is in a similar state of decay. Librivox's recording offers a great rendition of this Russian masterpiece, bringing Gogol's characters and world to new life.
6. Notes from the Underground
Before Dostoevsky wrote his classic novels The Brothers Karamazov and Crime and Punishment, he published this short novel which follows the thoughts and memories of the Underground Man in St. Petersburg, Russia. Through the novel Dostoevsky lays out the philosophy of the Underground Man and the themes in his ideas have established the book as one of the world's first existentialist novels.
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| Deal of the Day | |
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For the first time on audio book download LearnOutLoud.com presents Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird! Narrated by actress Sissy Spacek!
To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee's classic novel of a lawyer in the deep south defending a black man charged with the rape of a white girl.
One of the best-loved stories of all time, "To Kill a Mockingbird" has earned many distinctions since its original publication in 1960. It won the Pulitzer Prize, has been translated into more than forty languages, sold more than thirty million copies worldwide, and been made into an enormously popular movie. Most recently, librarians across the country gave the book the highest of honors by voting it the best novel of the twentieth century.
Performed by Sissy Spacek.
Listen to a free sample of: To Kill a Mockingbird
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 | Edgar Allan Poe Audio | |
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Edgar Allan Poe Audio
Edgar Allan Poe was a 19th century author and poet, best known for his Gothic short stories and mysteries, including the "Cask of Amontillado" and "The Purloined Letter". Poe was born in Boston and lost both of his parents in the first few years of his life. He was taken in by John Allan, a Virginian merchant from Scotland who gave Poe his middle name. After attending school in London, England for some time, the family moved back to Virginia where Poe pursued his post secondary education.
Despite his wealth, Allan would not finance Poe's college education and the future writer decided to join the United States Army to support himself. Meanwhile, Poe began writing, releasing his first book in his early twenties. Eventually, Poe decided to try to pursue writing as a full-time career. He received numerous rejections until he won a contest for the short story "Manuscript Found in a Bottle", which landed him a job as an editor. Poe continued to struggle financially, holding editor positions at various magazines that did not pay well despite Poe's ability to vastly increase their circulation. The author was a recognized literary critic, but he never achieved financial success. In 1849, Poe was discovered on the streets of Baltimore delirious and in need of immediate medical attention. He died later the next morning and was never able to explain how he got into his dire condition.
If you're looking for some of Poe's best work, The Best of Edgar Allan Poe, available as an audio download, contains some of his most notable poems and stories. Another collection, The Fall of the House of Usher & The Pit and the Pendulum, consists of two of his most famous stories of the macabre along with a number of other short stories. The Dupin Stories will be of interest if you're looking for a good Poe detective story and is available as an audio CD or MP3 download.
Edgar Allan Poe Audio
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