Classical Europe

One day, a mysterious stranger arrives at a boardinghouse of the widow Gateau - a sad-faced stranger, who keeps to himself. When the widow’s daughter, Mirette, discovers him crossing the courtyard on air, she begs him to teach her how he does it. But Mirette doesn’t know that the stranger was once the Great Bellini - master wire-walker. Or that Bellini has been stopped by a terrible fear. And it is she who must teach him courage once again.

Oscar Wilde's classic comic ghost story was the first of his short stories to be published, in February 1887. It relates the experiences of Mr. Hiram B. Otis, an American minister, and his family when they move into Canterville Chase, an ancient pile haunted by the previous owner's dead ancestor, Sir Simon. Of course, Mr. Otis declares, "There is no such thing, sir, as a ghost", and all of Sir Simon's hauntings have no effect on the skeptical American family, with the exception of the daughter, Virginia, despite his most strenuous efforts.

Modern perceptions of Classical Greece are almost invariably based on Athens and Sparta, but there are perhaps few areas as consistently undervalued as the island of Rhodes. Although solidly part of the Greek world for as long as there has been one, Rhodes, located just off the coast of Asia Minor, was also from its earliest times a port opening to the civilizations of the Eastern Mediterranean, and Rhodes was involved in every significant moment in ancient Greek history.

A unique collection of eyewitness accounts from some of the greatest diarists and journal writers of the last two centuries.

Voyages of discovery, inventions, the revival of classical learning, and the advent of science contributed to the intellectual upheavals of this creative period, and are reflected in its literature and art. Hudson focuses on the one thread of continuity that he sees as both the seed and the fruit of this exciting era: the awakening of secular humanism and the emergence of the individual. This history gives the listener a lucid, perceptive analysis of the splendid Renaissance.

The is the heart-rending tale of carpenter Adam Bede's love for pretty, superficial Hetty Sorrel, her trial for the murder of her ilegitimate child, the plight of her seducer, and Adam's growing affection for Dinah Morris, a Methodist preacher. Eliot's comments on pastoral life and the wisdom and candor of Mrs. Poyser add zest and humor.

The gallows, the rack, and angry mobs are part of the menace in this horrific novel set in 15th century Paris. Quasimodo, the kind-hearted, hunchbacked bell ringer and the lovely La Esmaralda struggle to survive the brutality that surrounds them.

This volume relates the stories of the Borgias and the Cenci. The former, a family of Spanish adventurers, came to dominate the Italian peninsula, and, when Rodergio Borgia became Pope Alexander VI, the world of Christendom, in the late 15th century. The Cenci was an aristocratic family, in which rampant sexual and domestic abuse led to murder and very public execution.

This is a performance of the very first English translation of Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince. This translation, published by Edward Dacres, first appeared in 1640. Machiavelli's original Italian edition was printed in 1532, five years after his death. Due to the evil associated with Machiavelli's book, it took 108 years for The Prince to be published in the English language.

C'était un vendredi soir. Les parents de Wendy, Michael et John étaient absents, et la nurse Nana, une chienne terre-neuve, était attachée dans la cour. La voie était donc libre pour que Peter Pan, le garçon qui refusait de grandir, vienne rechercher son ombre, et entraîne les enfants vers le Pays de Nulle Part. Une île enchantée habitée par des Peaux-Rouges, des fées et des pirates commandés par le sinistre capitaine Crochet, qui cherche à se venger de Peter Pan... Un conte magique, enchanteur et plein d'émotions, chef-d'œuvre de l'imaginaire mis en voix par des comédiens talentueux.

The Cult of the Supreme Being was a type of deism invented by Maximilien Robespierre during the French Revolution. Its purpose was to affirm the connections between citizenship, morality, and reason. Intended to replace both Roman Catholicism and its rival, the Cult of Reason, it died with its author in 1794.

In this short essay, Mark Twain discusses the patriot William Tell, the city of Interlaken, and the Jungfrau mountain. He describes the beauty of the landscape with great admiration.

Many consider "The Canterville Ghost" the most famous ghost story of all time. It is a parody featuring a dramatic spirit named Sir Simon and an American ambassador named Mr. Hiram B. Otis. Mr. Otis travels to England with his family and moves into a haunted castle. Lord Canterville, the previous owner of the castle, warns Mr. Otis that the ghost of Sir Simon de Canterville has haunted the castle ever since he killed his wife, Eleonore, centuries ago.

This is a story from the Grimm's Fairy Tales collection.

Here is a wonderful collection of classic children's tales told with humor and heartfelt charm. Featured are the beloved favorite "Little Red Riding Hood", Hans Christian Andersen's "The Pea Blossom" and "The Nightengale", and L. Frank Baum's hilarious tale of the mixed-up "Man in the Moon".

From the onset of the war, Basil L. Gildersleeve, native of Charleston, South Carolina, a scholar, and professor of Greek at the University of Virginia left his students every Spring to return to the army until he was wounded during a skirmish in the Shenadoah Valley in 1864. Thirty years later he authored The Creed of the Old South, and A Southerner in the Peloponnesian War included in this audiobook.

Oscar Wilde told and retold his fairy tales to friends in private readings, refining them further each time before finally publishing them in two collections between 1888 and 1891 to great acclaim and lasting popularity ever since. Much of their charm is due to Wilde's intention that the stories be "studies in prose... meant partly for children, and partly for those who have kept the childlike faculties of wonder and joy, and who find in simplicity a subtle strangeness."

"The Snow Queen" is one of Hans Christian Andersen’s longest and most popular tales. It’s about Gerda and her friend Kai growing up through many adventures. Exploring the struggle between good and evil, it’s a story of a magic mirror, trolls, sorceresses, and power.

Thumbelina is a classic Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale about a tiny girl no bigger than a thumb snatched from her family by an ugly toad who wants to marry her. Thumbelina escapes, befriending various creatures of the forest, until one day, she meets the king of the flower angels, with whom she finds happiness forever.

A billingual version of the classic fairy tale read first in its original English version and then in its French version. A real treat for language learners.