
Ep. 23: That’s Classic: Listening to the Literary Canon
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
-
Narrated by:
About this listen
Just the word "Classics" can be loaded: with anxiety, obligation, and bewilderment. Here, our Editors demystify what makes a classic (particularly for the listening experience), and what can make it feel like fun instead of homework.
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Ulysses by James Joyce
The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Emma by Jane Austen
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
The Shining by Stephen King
The Stand by Stephen King
Carrie by Stephen King
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Comedy Sex God by Pete Holmes
Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino
Second Hand Curses by Drew Hayes
Proof of Love by Chisa Hutchinson
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
©2018 Audible Originals, LLC (P)2018 Audible Originals, LLCListeners also enjoyed...
-
On Writing
- A Memoir of the Craft
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: Stephen King, Joe Hill, Owen King
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
“Long live the King” hailed Entertainment Weekly upon publication of Stephen King’s On Writing. Part memoir, part master class by one of the bestselling authors of all time, this superb volume is a revealing and practical view of the writer’s craft, comprising the basic tools of the trade every writer must have. King’s advice is grounded in his vivid memories from childhood through his emergence as a writer, from his struggling early career to his widely reported, near-fatal accident in 1999—and how the inextricable link between writing and living spurred his recovery.
-
-
Who needs a print edition when King reads King?
- By Cather on 11-18-05
By: Stephen King
-
Jane Eyre
- By: Charlotte Brontë
- Narrated by: Thandiwe Newton
- Length: 19 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Following Jane from her childhood as an orphan in Northern England through her experience as a governess at Thornfield Hall, Charlotte Brontë's Gothic classic is an early exploration of women's independence in the mid-19th century and the pervasive societal challenges women had to endure. At Thornfield, Jane meets the complex and mysterious Mr. Rochester, with whom she shares a complicated relationship that ultimately forces her to reconcile the conflicting passions of romantic love and religious piety.
-
-
Perfect!!
- By Amazon Customer on 04-21-16
By: Charlotte Brontë
-
Dracula [Audible Edition]
- By: Bram Stoker
- Narrated by: Alan Cumming, Tim Curry, Simon Vance, and others
- Length: 15 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The modern audience hasn't had a chance to truly appreciate the unknowing dread that readers would have felt when reading Bram Stoker's original 1897 manuscript. Most modern productions employ campiness or sound effects to try to bring back that gothic tension, but we've tried something different. By returning to Stoker's original storytelling structure - a series of letters and journal entries voiced by Jonathan Harker, Dr. Van Helsing, and other characters - with an all-star cast of narrators, we've sought to recapture its originally intended horror and power.
-
-
IS THAT NOT SO?
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 11-05-15
By: Bram Stoker
-
One Hundred Years of Solitude
- By: Gabriel García Márquez, Gregory Rabassa - translator
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 14 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of the 20th century's enduring works, One Hundred Years of Solitude is a widely beloved and acclaimed novel known throughout the world and the ultimate achievement in a Nobel Prize-winning career. The novel tells the story of the rise and fall of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendía family. Rich and brilliant, it is a chronicle of life, death, and the tragicomedy of humankind. In the beautiful, ridiculous, and tawdry story of the Buendía family, one sees all of humanity, just as in the history, myths, growth, and decay of Macondo, one sees all of Latin America.
-
-
What in the heck happened?????
- By Melinda on 02-05-14
By: Gabriel García Márquez, and others
-
The Great Gatsby
- By: F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Narrated by: William Hope
- Length: 5 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Elegant, enigmatic Jay Gatsby yearns for his old love, the beautiful Daisy. But she is married to the insensitive if hugely successful Tom Buchanan, who won’t let her go despite having a mistress himself. In their wealthy haven, these beguiling lives are brought together by the innocent and entranced narrator, Nick – until their decadent deceits spill into violence and tragedy. Part morality tale, part fairy tale, The Great Gatsby is the consummate novel of the Jazz Age. Its tenderness and poetry make it one of the great works of the 20th century.
-
-
The Very Good Gatsby
- By Ian C Robertson on 04-16-13
-
The Sawbones Book
- The Horrifying, Hilarious Road to Modern Medicine
- By: Justin McElroy, Dr. Sydnee McElroy
- Narrated by: Justin McElroy, Dr. Sydnee McElroy
- Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Wondering whether eating powdered mummies might be just the thing to cure your ills? Tempted by those vintage ads suggesting you wear radioactive underpants for virility? Ever considered drilling a hole in your head to deal with those pesky headaches? Probably not. But for thousands of years, people have done things like this - and things that make radioactive underpants seem downright sensible! In their hit podcast, Sawbones, Sydnee and Justin McElroy breakdown the weird and wonderful way we got to modern healthcare. And some of the terrifying detours along the way.
-
-
Close but no cigar . . .
- By Amanda Buffkin on 12-22-18
By: Justin McElroy, and others
-
On Writing
- A Memoir of the Craft
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: Stephen King, Joe Hill, Owen King
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
“Long live the King” hailed Entertainment Weekly upon publication of Stephen King’s On Writing. Part memoir, part master class by one of the bestselling authors of all time, this superb volume is a revealing and practical view of the writer’s craft, comprising the basic tools of the trade every writer must have. King’s advice is grounded in his vivid memories from childhood through his emergence as a writer, from his struggling early career to his widely reported, near-fatal accident in 1999—and how the inextricable link between writing and living spurred his recovery.
-
-
Who needs a print edition when King reads King?
- By Cather on 11-18-05
By: Stephen King
-
Jane Eyre
- By: Charlotte Brontë
- Narrated by: Thandiwe Newton
- Length: 19 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Following Jane from her childhood as an orphan in Northern England through her experience as a governess at Thornfield Hall, Charlotte Brontë's Gothic classic is an early exploration of women's independence in the mid-19th century and the pervasive societal challenges women had to endure. At Thornfield, Jane meets the complex and mysterious Mr. Rochester, with whom she shares a complicated relationship that ultimately forces her to reconcile the conflicting passions of romantic love and religious piety.
-
-
Perfect!!
- By Amazon Customer on 04-21-16
By: Charlotte Brontë
-
Dracula [Audible Edition]
- By: Bram Stoker
- Narrated by: Alan Cumming, Tim Curry, Simon Vance, and others
- Length: 15 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The modern audience hasn't had a chance to truly appreciate the unknowing dread that readers would have felt when reading Bram Stoker's original 1897 manuscript. Most modern productions employ campiness or sound effects to try to bring back that gothic tension, but we've tried something different. By returning to Stoker's original storytelling structure - a series of letters and journal entries voiced by Jonathan Harker, Dr. Van Helsing, and other characters - with an all-star cast of narrators, we've sought to recapture its originally intended horror and power.
-
-
IS THAT NOT SO?
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 11-05-15
By: Bram Stoker
-
One Hundred Years of Solitude
- By: Gabriel García Márquez, Gregory Rabassa - translator
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 14 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of the 20th century's enduring works, One Hundred Years of Solitude is a widely beloved and acclaimed novel known throughout the world and the ultimate achievement in a Nobel Prize-winning career. The novel tells the story of the rise and fall of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendía family. Rich and brilliant, it is a chronicle of life, death, and the tragicomedy of humankind. In the beautiful, ridiculous, and tawdry story of the Buendía family, one sees all of humanity, just as in the history, myths, growth, and decay of Macondo, one sees all of Latin America.
-
-
What in the heck happened?????
- By Melinda on 02-05-14
By: Gabriel García Márquez, and others
-
The Great Gatsby
- By: F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Narrated by: William Hope
- Length: 5 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Elegant, enigmatic Jay Gatsby yearns for his old love, the beautiful Daisy. But she is married to the insensitive if hugely successful Tom Buchanan, who won’t let her go despite having a mistress himself. In their wealthy haven, these beguiling lives are brought together by the innocent and entranced narrator, Nick – until their decadent deceits spill into violence and tragedy. Part morality tale, part fairy tale, The Great Gatsby is the consummate novel of the Jazz Age. Its tenderness and poetry make it one of the great works of the 20th century.
-
-
The Very Good Gatsby
- By Ian C Robertson on 04-16-13
-
The Sawbones Book
- The Horrifying, Hilarious Road to Modern Medicine
- By: Justin McElroy, Dr. Sydnee McElroy
- Narrated by: Justin McElroy, Dr. Sydnee McElroy
- Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Wondering whether eating powdered mummies might be just the thing to cure your ills? Tempted by those vintage ads suggesting you wear radioactive underpants for virility? Ever considered drilling a hole in your head to deal with those pesky headaches? Probably not. But for thousands of years, people have done things like this - and things that make radioactive underpants seem downright sensible! In their hit podcast, Sawbones, Sydnee and Justin McElroy breakdown the weird and wonderful way we got to modern healthcare. And some of the terrifying detours along the way.
-
-
Close but no cigar . . .
- By Amanda Buffkin on 12-22-18
By: Justin McElroy, and others
-
Scatter
- Heart of Heroes Series, Book 1
- By: Molly J. Bragg
- Narrated by: Jennifer Pickens
- Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Deputy US Marshal Danielle "Danny" Martin was told she'd gotten a promotion, she expected to be leading her own fugitive retrieval team. Instead, she got transferred to Pontian, Florida, of all places, and assigned to a Superhero support detail for Focus, a seemingly immortal superhero who is also one of the most famous lesbian icons on the planet. Bad enough she's got to spend every day working with a woman she's had a crush on since she was five years old, but when she arrives at her new post, things start getting weird.
-
-
Its even better in audio form
- By Andrew Ratka on 04-05-23
By: Molly J. Bragg
-
Everything's Trash, but It's Okay
- By: Phoebe Robinson, Ilana Glazer - foreword
- Narrated by: Phoebe Robinson
- Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
New York Times best-selling author and star of 2 Dope Queens Phoebe Robinson is back with a new, hilarious, and timely essay collection on gender, race, dating, and the Dumpster fire that is our world. Written in her trademark unfiltered and witty style, Robinson's latest collection is a call to arms. Outfitted with on-point pop culture references, these essays tackle a wide range of topics: giving feminism a tough-love talk on intersectionality, telling society's beauty standards to kick rocks, and calling foul on our culture's obsession with work.
-
-
Hmmm...I don't know what to tell you on this one
- By cinda on 10-24-18
By: Phoebe Robinson, and others
-
The Vagina Monologues
- By: Eve Ensler
- Narrated by: Eve Ensler
- Length: 1 hr and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Vagina Monologues is a moving, poignant and often hilarious play, which celebrates female sexuality in all its complexity and mystery. Originally drawn from a collection of interviews conducted by Eve Ensler, the Obie Award-winning play gives voice to some of the most intimate, rarely shared fantasies and fears of women from all walks of life.
-
-
don't listen when the kids are around
- By Anna on 01-04-03
By: Eve Ensler
-
So You Want to Start a Podcast
- Finding Your Voice, Telling Your Story, and Building a Community That Will Listen
- By: Kristen Meinzer
- Narrated by: Kristen Meinzer
- Length: 4 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A comprehensive step-by-step guide to creating a hit show, So You Want to Start a Podcast covers everything from hosting and guest booking to editing and marketing - while offering plenty of encouragement and insider stories along the way.
-
-
DONT BOTHER LISTENING
- By David Illerbrun on 01-28-20
By: Kristen Meinzer
-
Crime and Punishment
- By: Fyodor Dostoevsky, Constance Garnett - translator
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 20 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this intense detective thriller instilled with philosophical, religious, and social commentary, Dostoevsky studies the psychological impact upon a desperate and impoverished student when he murders a despicable pawnbroker, transgressing moral law to ultimately "benefit humanity".
-
-
Wonderful reading, disturbing book
- By Tad Davis on 11-03-08
By: Fyodor Dostoevsky, and others
-
Anna Karenina
- By: Leo Tolstoy
- Narrated by: Maggie Gyllenhaal
- Length: 35 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Leo Tolstoy's classic story of doomed love is one of the most admired novels in world literature. Generations of readers have been enthralled by his magnificent heroine, the unhappily married Anna Karenina, and her tragic affair with dashing Count Vronsky.
-
-
Need to Disclose and Highlight Name of Translator
- By Charles B on 08-27-18
By: Leo Tolstoy
-
Lives of the Stoics
- The Art of Living from Zeno to Marcus Aurelius
- By: Ryan Holiday, Stephen Hanselman
- Narrated by: Ryan Holiday
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the best-selling authors of The Daily Stoic comes an inspiring guide to the lives of the Stoics, and what the ancients can teach us about happiness, success, resilience, and virtue. In Lives of the Stoics, Holiday and Hanselman present the fascinating lives of the men and women who strove to live by the timeless Stoic virtues of Courage. Justice. Temperance. Wisdom. Organized in digestible, mini-biographies of all the well-known - and not so well-known - Stoics, this book vividly brings home what Stoicism was like for the people who loved it and lived it.
-
-
Awful narration
- By Jordan Bailey on 10-03-20
By: Ryan Holiday, and others
-
Wake Up! It's Feeding Time
- A Professional Athlete's Advice on How to Succeed in the Game of Life
- By: Ryback Reeves
- Narrated by: Pat Buck, Ryback Reeves
- Length: 6 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Are you settling for less than your full potential? Ryback, also known as "The Big Guy", may seem like he has it all - success as a professional athlete, health, money, and a physique to envy. But in Wake Up! It's Feeding Time he reveals that he hasn't always been so successful; he had to earn it. The key to his success - and yours too, if you heed his advice - is to "believe in yourself, even when nobody else does", set smart goals, and work toward achieving them.
-
-
How To Be Ryback
- By Matthew on 03-24-17
By: Ryback Reeves
-
The Beautiful Ones
- By: Prince
- Narrated by: Esperanza Spalding, Adepero Oduye, Dan Piepenbring
- Length: 3 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Prince was a musical genius, one of the most beloved, accomplished, and acclaimed musicians of our time. The Beautiful Ones is the story of how Prince became Prince - a first-person account of a kid absorbing the world around him and then creating a persona, an artistic vision, and a life, before the hits and fame that would come to define him. This work is not just a tribute to an icon, but an original and energizing literary work in its own right, full of Prince’s ideas and vision, his voice and image - his undying gift to the world.
-
-
Reminiscing
- By Bodyguard Careers on 10-29-19
By: Prince
-
Your Perfect Year
- A Novel
- By: Charlotte Lucas, Alison Layland - translator
- Narrated by: Carly Robins, P. J. Ochlan
- Length: 13 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For hyper-particular publishing heir Jonathan Grief, the day starts like any other - with a strict morning fitness regimen that’ll keep his divorced, easily irritated, cynical, forty-two-year-old self in absolutely flawless physical condition. But all it takes to put a crimp in his routine is one small annoyance. Someone has left a leather-bound day planner with the handwritten title Your Perfect Year in his spot on his mountain bike at his fitness course!
-
-
Narration is horrible
- By Susan M. Jones on 11-17-19
By: Charlotte Lucas, and others
-
Emma
- An Audible Original Drama
- By: Jane Austen, Anna Lea - adaptation
- Narrated by: Emma Thompson, Joanne Froggatt, Isabella Inchbald, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Austen wrote, 'I am going to take a heroine whom no-one but myself will much like' and thus introduces the handsome, clever, rich - and flawed, Emma Woodhouse. Emma is perfectly content with her life and sees no need for either love or marriage; nothing however delights her more than matchmaking her fellow residents of Highbury. But when she ignores the warnings of her good friend Mr. Knightley and attempts to arrange a suitable match for her protegee Harriet Smith, her carefully laid plans soon unravel and have consequences that she never expected.
-
-
Background sonds RUINED this
- By Sandra Dodd on 09-09-18
By: Jane Austen, and others
-
Moby Dick
- By: Herman Melville
- Narrated by: William Hootkins
- Length: 24 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"Call me Ishmael." Thus starts the greatest American novel. Melville said himself that he wanted to write "a mighty book about a mighty theme" and so he did. It is a story of one man's obsessive revenge-journey against the white whale, Moby-Dick, who injured him in an earlier meeting. Woven into the story of the last journey of The Pequod is a mesh of philosophy, rumination, religion, history, and a mass of information about whaling through the ages.
-
-
Excellent, EXCELLENT reading!
- By Jessica on 02-18-09
By: Herman Melville
This is a solid, pleasant, and intelligent 1 hour discussion to listen to. I personally love re-reading classics that I first read for high school or college; I continue getting more out of them when revisiting them every couple of years.
What audio book adaptations bring to the table, such as what's available on Audible, are its engaging narrations, audio performance adaptations, and allowing audiences to live in these works of literature when our daily lives prevent us from reading all the physical copies we want to. Audio versions can breathe new life into old favorites, make us think about literature in new and interesting ways, and introduce us to new favorites.
Classics mentioned in this podcast episode include:
"Anna Karenina" by Leo Tolstoy,
"Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoevsky,
"Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte,
Jane Austen's body of work,
Tony Morrison's contributions,
"One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and
"Moby Dick" by Herman Melville.
I recommend to all those studying and in love with classic literature.
Pleasant and Intelligent 1 Hour Podcast
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
informative
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Episode 23 is my favorite episode to date because I took Editor Rachel's recommendation to listen to Herman Melville's Moby Dick (I like the alternate title The Whale better, btw. It's cleaner.) I am wholly immersed, which is a humbling lesson; I had previously said that Moby Dick is the one classic I will never listen to. However, as soon as William Hootkins performed the line, "Yes, as everyone knows, meditation and water are wedded for ever," Melville became modern for me.
Also? This episode immortalizes a great day at work for me, so....FIVE STARS!
Of course I love this episode. I got to be on air!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Informative and entertaining POV on classics
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Episode 23
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I was a little surprised they didn’t include more gothic literature. Yes, technically Jane Eyre and Northanger Abbey count but most people think Frankenstein, Dracula and The Picture of Dorian Gray. I sincerely hope you do a part 2 for classics because I wouldn’t say I’m very well-versed (I’ve only read what was required in school plus Jane Eyre) in that genre so this was extremely helpful in deciding where to start.
I thought my opinion on classics was a fairly normal one outside of the literary world; just because we call it a classic doesn’t mean it’s any good. The Scarlet Letter ruined my view of classics in high school. This gave me a new perspective without shoving it down my throat.
I would highly recommend this episode if you’re on the fence, especially if you’re like me and think you’re not really a fan of classics.
Definitely worth a listen
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
These women were very knowledgeable!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Classics on Audible
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Nothing for me
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I appreciate the unscripted format, but seriously, get rid of all the "likes".
Like ... like ... like ... like ... like
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.