The Elixir of Life
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Narrated by:
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Paul Spera
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By:
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Honoré de Balzac
About this listen
"The Elixir of Life" is a fantastic tale by the French novelist and writer Honoré de Balzac in which he gives a satirical version of the legend of Don Juan. This early short story was originally published in 1830; like all the pieces of Balzac’s "Comédie Humaine", it is considered a stand-alone piece of literature.
The spoiled son of a Spanish nobleman, Don Juan Belvidero cannot wait for the moment to claim the family wealth and title for himself. His father calls to his death-bed to inform him that he is in possession of a magic, death-defying potion. If the son will only rub the liquid on his dead body, the father will come back to life. Don Juan assures his father that he will resurrect him, but will he keep his promise or betray the old man?
Honoré de Balzac's keen observation of detail, subtle psychology and unfiltered representation of society gave him his place as one of the founders and great masters of realism in European literature with his magnum opus, "La Comédie Humaine" ("The Human Comedy"). His characters are complex, morally ambiguous and utterly real.
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- By: Victor Hugo
- Narrated by: David Case
- Length: 12 hrs and 25 mins
- Abridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Les Misérables emphasizes the three major predicaments of the 19th century, each symbolized by a major character: Jean Valjean represents the degradation of man in the proletariat, Fantine represents the subjection of women through hunger, and Cosette represents the atrophy of the child by darkness.
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TOO Abridged, Read Only if You Won't Read More
- By Syd Young on 02-03-14
By: Victor Hugo
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The Oscar Wilde Collection
- By: Oscar Wilde
- Narrated by: James Marsters, Jacqueline Bisset, Alfred Molina, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Four classic comedies from one of the wittiest playwrights in Western literature: Lady Windermere's Fan, A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband, and The Importance of Being Earnest, all featuring star-studded casts with the likes of Jacqueline Bisset, Miriam Margolyes, James Marsters, Alfred Molina, Roger Rees, Yeardley Smith, Eric Stoltz, and many more. This audio also includes a chilling dramatization of Wilde's sole novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray.
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Good Collection
- By Anniebligh on 03-31-12
By: Oscar Wilde
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A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
- By: James Joyce
- Narrated by: Colin Farrell
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
This quintessential coming-of-age novel describes the early life of Stephen Dedalus. It is set in Ireland during the 19th century, which was a time of emerging Irish nationalism and conservative Catholicism. Highly autobiographical in nature, the work is also notable for its being the first one in which Joyce uses innovative “stream of consciousness” writing style. A Portrait... follows Stephen Dedalus from his babyhood into early adulthood.
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Bitterly disappointed
- By James on 01-29-19
By: James Joyce
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Ben-Hur
- A Tale of the Christ
- By: Lew Wallace
- Narrated by: Todd McLaren
- Length: 23 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
A classic of faith, fortitude, and inspiration, this faithful New Testament tale combines the events of the life of Jesus with grand historical spectacle in the exciting story of Judah of the House of Hur, a man who finds extraordinary redemption for himself and his family. Judah Ben-Hur lives as a rich Jewish prince and merchant in Jerusalem at the beginning of the first century. His old friend, Messala, arrives as commanding officer of the Roman legions.
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Not Like the Movie
- By Paul Z. on 01-31-12
By: Lew Wallace
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The Masque of the Red Death
- By: Edgar Allan Poe
- Narrated by: David Ian Davies
- Length: 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Prince Prospero invites several dozen of the local nobility to his castle for protection against an oncoming plague, the Red Death. Prospero orders his guests to attend a masked ball and, amidst a general atmosphere of debauchery and depravity, notices the entry of a mysterious hooded stranger dressed all in red.
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mediocre
- By Krystal on 10-20-17
By: Edgar Allan Poe
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The Vampyre
- By: John Polidori
- Narrated by: B.J. Harrison
- Length: 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Young, impressionable Aubrey is fascinated by the enigmatic Lord Ruthven, and accompanies him on a tour to Europe. But Aubrey develops a growing distaste for Lord Ruthven’s sinister and grotesque conduct - especially as it concerns human blood. This novella, penned during that tempestuous night in Switzerland amongst such notables as Percy Shelley, Lord Byron, and Mary Shelley, served as the great inspiration for Bram Stoker to create Dracula.
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Kicking it oldschool
- By Rebecca on 08-13-12
By: John Polidori
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The Scarlet Pimpernel
- By: Baroness Orczy
- Narrated by: Flo Gibson
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The mysterious Scarlet Pimpernel's daring rescues of French nobility from the threat of the guillotine and the evil Chauvelin's efforts to track him down are all part of the intrigue in this swashbuckling adventure.
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nostalgic
- By theamazingcatherine on 07-29-18
By: Baroness Orczy
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The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
- By: Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- Narrated by: B.J. Harrison
- Length: 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
A bird of good omen is murdered. A fickle crew is punished by supernatural, spectral beings. A skeletal ship is sighted moving against the wind and tide. The figure of Death along with a singular, gruesome companion man the fiendish craft. And as they draw closer, it becomes clear that the two play at dice for the soul of the ancient mariner. The result is nothing short of cataclysmic.
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A classic well read
- By Gary on 08-08-16
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The Sorrows of Young Werther
- By: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
- Length: 4 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Werther, a sensitive young artist, finds himself in Wahlheim, a quiet, attractive village in Germany where he seeks solace from the turmoils of love. It is a young spring, and he hopes that arcadian solitude will prove a genial balm to his mind. But his romantic tendency rules otherwise, and he falls in love with Charlotte - Lotte - even though he knows she is affianced to another.
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Great performance for a classical story.
- By Brandon Shaw on 09-15-17