Audiobooks by Herman Melville

"'Moby Dick' (or 'The Whale' as it was one known) is the unforgettable story of Captain Ahab’s quest to avenge the whale that ‘reaped’ his leg. The quest and the novel is a story of how man can become blindly obsessed. The tale is also a testament to democracy and liberation, as the ship's crew work together for a common end. Ishmael, the novel’s narrator is a young, ordinary sailor learning the practice of whaling. Moby Dick is one of the greatest novels ever written and a timeless classic."

Herman Melville (Author), D. Michaels (Narrator)

Audiobook

[German] - Herman Melville: Bartleby: Hörbuchzeit: Klassiker der Weltliteratur

"Hörbuchzeit: Zeitlose Werke der Weltliteratur, meisterhaft vorgetragen. Bartleby: Das Novellen-Meisterwerk von Herman Melville, dem Autor von Moby Dick. Bartleby ist ein Schreibgehilfe, ein Anwaltskopist. Der Erzähler, ein menschenfreundlicher Anwalt, stellt Bartleby ein. Zunächst glänzt der neue Gehilfe bei der Arbeit und bewältigt ein gewaltiges Arbeitspensum. Bald jedoch beginnt Bartlebys Eifer nachzulassen; immer öfter begegnet er Aufforderungen zur Arbeit mit einem schlichten 'Ich möchte lieber nicht'. Der Erzähler ist ratlos. Was soll er tun? Bartleby entlassen möchte er nicht. Doch als dieser eines Tages verkündet, das Aktenkopieren nunmehr völlig aufgegeben zu haben, muss eine Entscheidung getroffen werden. Doch irgendetwas hält den Anwalt noch immer davon zurück, Bartleby hinauszuwerfen. Statt dessen trifft er eine auf den ersten Blick mehr als merkwürdige Entscheidung... Melvilles Geschichte ist ein phänomenales Meisterwerk. Gesellschaftskritisch, witzig, nachdenklich befasst es sich mit dem merkwürdigsten Lebewesen des Planeten: dem Menschen."

Herman Melville, Hörbuchzeit (Author), Jürgen Fritsche (Narrator)

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[German] - Die großen Klassiker der Abenteuerliteratur - Moby Dick / Robinson Crusoe / Gullivers Rei

"Die Box enthält: Moby Dick / Robinson Crusoe / Gullivers Reisen / Die Schatzinsel / Von der Erde zum Mond / Der Schatz im Silbersee In der faszinierenden Welt der Abenteuerliteratur entfalten sich Geschichten voller Entdeckergeist und Sehnsucht nach Freiheit, jede Erzählung nimmt die Hörer:innen mit auf eine packende Reise. Eine Hörbuchbox voller Abenteuerlust, spannend und mitreißend interpretiert von Rufus Beck, Max Urlacher, Hans-Helmut Dickow u.v.a. Herman Melville: Moby Dick 1840: Der junge Seefahrer Ismael heuert in Nantucket auf einem Walfangschiff an. Bald erkennt die Mannschaft, dass sie den legendären weißen Wal suchen soll, dem Kapitän Ahab sein Holzbein verdankt. In seinem blinden Hass treibt Ahab die Crew durch die Weltmeere. Am Ende ihrer Kräfte kommt es zum schicksalhaften Zusammentreffen mit Moby Dick - der Kampf um Leben und Tod beginnt. Daniel Defoe: Robinson Crusoe Robinson Crusoe soll nach dem Wunsch seines Vaters einen anständigen Beruf erlernen und ein ruhiges Leben führen. Doch der junge Mann sehnt sich nach Geld und Abenteuern und wagt den Schritt in die weite Welt. Schnell jedoch verlässt ihn das Glück, und er findet sich als einziger Überlebender eines Schiffsunglücks auf einer einsamen Insel wieder. Mit nichts als einer Hängematte und etwas Werkzeug ausgestattet, kämpft er ums Überleben... Jonathan Swift: Gullivers Reisen Als der englische Schiffsarzt Gulliver auf Reisen geht, ahnt er nicht, welche fantastischen Abenteuer ihn erwarten. Er entdeckt das Land der Liliputaner, begegnet gigantischen Riesen und trifft auf Zauberer sowie sprechende Pferde. Mit jedem neuen Erlebnis wächst sein Staunen, doch gleichzeitig beginnt er, an der moralischen Überlegenheit der Menschen zu zweifeln. Robert Louis Stevenson: Die Schatzinsel Jim Hawkins ist noch jung, als sein großes Abenteuer beginnt: Durch Zufall entdeckt er die Karte zu einer geheimnisvollen Insel, wo der berüchtigte Piratenkapitän Flint seine Schätze vergraben haben soll. Auf dem Expeditionsschiff 'Hispaniola' trifft er auf gefährliche ehemalige Mitglieder von Flints Mannschaft, darunter der einbeinige John Silver. Eine aufregende Jagd nach dem Schatz beginnt... Jules Verne: Von der Erde zum Mond Nach dem amerikanischen Bürgerkrieg haben die Mitglieder des Kanonenclubs in Baltimore nichts mehr zu tun. Der Präsident hat eine kühne Idee: eine riesige Kanone, um den Mond zu erreichen. Die ganze Nation fiebert mit, während Größe, Flugbahn und Abschussort festgelegt werden. Doch kurz vor der Vollendung trifft ein geheimnisvolles Telegramm aus Europa ein, das alles verändert. Jules Verne: Fünf Wochen im Ballon Große Aufregung bei der Königlichen Geographischen Gesellschaft in London: Der Weltreisende Dr. Samuel Fergusson behauptet, einen lenkbaren Ballon entwickelt zu haben. Zusammen mit seinem Diener Joe bricht er auf, um die geheimnisvollen Quellen des Nils zu finden. Auf ihrer Reise müssen sie sich gegen wilde Tiere, Eingeborene und Sklavenhändler wehren, während der Ballon nicht so tadellos funktioniert wie erhofft."

Daniel Defoe, Herman Melville, Jonathan Swift, Jules Verne, Karl May, Robert Louis Stevenson (Author), Charles Wirths, Ernst Schnabel, Hans-Helmut Dickow, Martin Seifert, Max Urlacher, Rufus Beck (Narrator)

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World's Greatest Sci-Fi Stories

"Included The Apparition Of Mrs. Veal by Daniel Defoe, Alice Addertongue by Benjamin Franklin, The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving, Prosper Mérimée by Mateo Falcone, Napoleon And The Spectre by Charlotte Bronte, The Mortal Immortal by Mary Shelley, Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Dr. Heidegger's Experiment by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Overcoat by Nikolai Gogol, The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe, The Cask Of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe, An Honest Thief by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Frog by Edgar Allan Poe, The Knitted Collar by Mary Anne Hoare, To Be Read At Dusk. by Charles Dickens, The District Doctor by Ivan Turgenev, Nobody's Story by Charles Dickens, The Fiddler by Herman Melville, The Lightning-Rod Man by Herman Melville, Selecting The Faculty by Robert Carlton, The Cold Embrace by Mary E. Braddon, Journalism In Tennessee by Mark Twain, The Luck Of Roaring Camp by Bret Harte, A Jersey Centenarian by Bret Harte, The Notorious Jumping Frog Of Calaveras County by Mark Twain, The Peterkins Decide To Learn The Languages by Lucretia Peabody Hale, The Dream Of A Ridiculous Man by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Parson's Horse Race by Harriet Beecher Stowe, How I killed a bear by Charles Dudley Warner, My Uncle Jules by Guy de Maupassant, The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant, A White Heron Sarah Orne Jewett, The Goophered Grapevine, The Sphinx Without A Secret by Oscar Wilde, The Invaders by Leo Tolstoy, The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde, A New England Nun by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, Squire Petrick's Lady by Thomas Hardy, An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce, A Ghost Story by Jerome K. Jerome, Désirée's Baby by Kate Chopin, The Damned Thing by Ambrose Bierce, Damned Thing by Ambrose Bierce, The Idiot's Journalism Scheme, Active Colorado Real Estate, The Remarkable Case Of Davidson's Eyes by H.G. Wells, The Veteran by Stepehn Crane, Rollo Learning To Read by Robert J. Burdette, A Pair Of Silk Stockings by Kate Chopin, The Open Boat by Stephen Crane, The Tables Of The Law by W.B. Yeats, The Bride Comes To Yellow Sky by Stephen Crane, Gooseberries by Anton Chekhov, The Storm by Kate Chopin, The Darling by Anton Chekhov, Wee Willie Winkie by Rudyard Kipling, The White Silence by Jack London, How Old Timofei Died With A Song by Rainer Maria Rilke, The Path To The Cemetery by Thomas Mann, With Other Eyes by Luigi Pirandello, The Leopard Man's Story by Jack London, A Piece Of String by Guy de Maupassant, Home Sickness by George Moore, The Open Window by H.H. Munro (Saki), A Wagner Matinée by Willa Cather, The Set Of Poe by George Ade, The Furnished Room by O. Henry, The Gift Of The Magi by O. Henry, The Last Leaf by O. Henry, The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster, The Enchanted Bluff by Willa Cather, The Cottagette by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Germans At Meat by Katherine Mansfield, Tobermory by Saki, How Pearl Button Was Kidnapped by Katherine Mansfield, Smoke by Djuna Barnes, The Blind Man by James Stephens, If I Were A Man by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Ivy Day In The Committee Room by James Joyce, Eveline by James Joyce, The Damned by Algernon Blackwood, The Damned by Algernon Blackwood. Part 2., The Prussian Officer by D.H. Lawrence, The Signal by Vsevolod M. Garshin, The White Mother by Theodor Sologub, The Ploughing Of Leaca-Na-Naomh by Daniel Corkery, The Judgment by Franz Kafka, The Coffin-Maker by Alexander Pushkin, Mrs. Frola And Mr. Ponza, Her Son-In-Law by Luigi Pirandello, The Blind Ones by Isaak Babel, Pink Flannel by Ford Maddox Ford, A Country Doctor by Franz Kafka, The Egg by Sherwood Anderson, The Mark On The Wall by Virginia Woolf, The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield, The Leather Funnel by Arthur Conan Doyle, A Hunger Artist by Franz Kafka, A Raid Night by H.M. Tomlinson, My Old Man by Ernest Hemingway, The Broken Boot by John Galsworthy, The Call Of Cthulhu by H.P. Lovecraft."

Ambrose Bierce, Benjamin Franklin, Charles Dickens, Charlotte Bronte, Daniel Defoe, E.M. Forster, Edgar Allan Poe, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Guy De Maupassant, H.G. Wells, Herman Melville, Jack London, Kate Chopin, Leo Tolstoy, Mark Twain, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Mateo Falcone, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Nikolai Gogol, Oscar Wilde, Stephen Crane, Washington Irving (Author), Chase Cooper (Narrator)

Audiobook

Bartleby the scrivener

"This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice. In Bartleby, the Scrivener, Herman Melville offers a haunting exploration of passive resistance, alienation, and the mechanization of human life within modern bureaucratic systems. Set in a quiet law office on Wall Street, the story unfolds through the perspective of a mild-mannered attorney who hires a new copyist: Bartleby, a pale and silent man whose work ethic is, at first, impeccable. But when Bartleby begins to respond to tasks with the cryptic phrase, “I would prefer not to,” a strange inertia takes hold. He refuses not only to follow orders, but eventually to engage with the world at all. Despite his quiet defiance, he offers no justification, no anger, and no rebellion—only a calm, unwavering noncompliance that both baffles and fascinates his employer. As the lawyer tries, with increasing desperation, to help or remove him, Bartleby’s presence transforms from a curiosity into a mirror reflecting the dehumanizing forces of capitalism, isolation, and moral ambiguity. Melville’s minimalist prose intensifies the story’s philosophical weight, leaving readers unsettled, contemplative, and uncertain about where sympathy ends and complicity begins. Part absurdist parable, part psychological case study, Bartleby, the Scrivener endures as a foundational text in American literature and modern existentialism. Its simple premise conceals profound questions about free will, social responsibility, and the quiet, devastating power of refusal."

Herman Melville (Author), Digital Voice Andrew E (Narrator)

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The Piazza Tales

"'The Piazza Tales' by Herman Melville is a collection of short stories exploring the complexities of human experience. From the eerie 'Bartleby, the Scrivener' to the adventurous 'Benito Cereno,' the tales traverse a range of themes. They delve into the enigmatic Bartleby's passive resistance, the dark secrets aboard a slave ship in 'Benito Cereno,' and the haunting quest for the White Whale in 'The Encantadas.' Through Melville's evocative prose, the collection offers a profound exploration of human nature, morality, and the mysteries that shape our lives."

Herman Melville (Author), Eloise Fairfax (Narrator)

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The Bell-Tower

Herman Melville (Author), Gene Faraday (Narrator)

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Billy Budd

"'Who in the rainbow can draw the line where the violet tint ends and the orange tint begins? Distinctly we see the difference of the colours, but where exactly does the one first blendingly enter into the other? So with sanity and insanity.' Sadly left unfinished by his death in 1891, Melville's novella Billy Budd is acclaimed by critics and quickly took its place in the literary canon. Billy Budd, a handsome sailor working on a British naval ship in the eighteenth century, is falsely accused of mutiny against the ship's captain by the master-at-arms, John Claggart. Billy, who unfortunately obtains a speech impediment, is overcome by the accusation and unable to verbally defend himself against Claggart's unfounded hate for him. Instead, he lashes out at Claggart, much to his own demise. An instant classic once published, Billy Budd is a tragic tale that has been adapted into film, plays and even an opera. This audiobook edition is narrated by the talented Christopher Ragland. Herman Melville (1819 – 1891) was a novelist and poet of the American Renaissance, best known for his works in adventure and travel writing, including Mody Dick (1851) and Typee (1846). His writing was met with mixed reviews by his contemporaries; it wasn't until the early twentieth century that he gained recognition for his literary genius."

Herman Melville (Author), Christopher Ragland (Narrator)

Audiobook

Tales of the Dark Romantics & Beyond: A collection of mysterious and chilling works by

"At the heart of Dark Romanticism is its brooding, pessimistic tone, its emphasis on the supernatural and the sins of humanity, and its use of iconic symbols and horrifying imagery. The classic Dark Romantic authors (Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville) are represented in the stories and poems in this volume, as well as some authors who are not commonly included in this genre. And then there are the poets and folklorists momentarily dabbling in the themes of death, loss and the supernatural, resulting in a collection of classic tales that will chill the listener to the bone."

Ambrose Bierce, Bram Stoker, Edgar Allan Poe, Emily Bronte, Henry James, Herman Melville, James Riley, Lord Tennyson Alfred, Louisa May Alcott, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Washington Irving, William Cullen Bryant (Author), Andrew Eiden, Emily Eiden, Susan C. Hunter, Tom Shelton, Trevor Murphy (Narrator)

Audiobook

Moby Dick

"'Moby Dick' by Herman Melville is one of the most celebrated works of fiction in the English language, a cornerstone of American literature, and an unflinching exploration of the human spirit. First published in 1851, this timeless classic has captivated generations with its daring narrative and profound themes, earning its place as a touchstone of literary excellence. Whether you're new to the epic or revisiting its pages, Moby Dick promises an unforgettable journey across storm-tossed seas and into the hearts of its characters. Captain Ahab, with his fiery determination and unyielding obsession, stands as one of literature's most iconic figures, while Ishmael's reflective voice offers readers a lens through which to grapple with the novel's expansive questions. With its masterful blend of adventure, drama, and existential inquiry, this is a book that rewards both the curious reader and the philosophical thinker. Perfect for lovers of classic literature, maritime history, or tales of relentless pursuit, Moby Dick remains as powerful and relevant today as when it was first penned. Join the crew of the Pequod and immerse yourself in an odyssey that will leave you awestruck, reflective, and deeply moved."

Herman Melville (Author), Tom Fria (Narrator)

Audiobook

Moby Dick

"'Moby Dick' by Herman Melville is one of the most celebrated works of fiction in the English language, a cornerstone of American literature, and an unflinching exploration of the human spirit. First published in 1851, this timeless classic has captivated generations with its daring narrative and profound themes, earning its place as a touchstone of literary excellence. Whether you're new to the epic or revisiting its pages, 'Moby Dick' promises an unforgettable journey across storm-tossed seas and into the hearts of its characters. Captain Ahab, with his fiery determination and unyielding obsession, stands as one of literature's most iconic figures, while Ishmael's reflective voice offers readers a lens through which to grapple with the novel's expansive questions. With its masterful blend of adventure, drama, and existential inquiry, this is a book that rewards both the curious reader and the philosophical thinker. Perfect for lovers of classic literature, maritime history, or tales of relentless pursuit, 'Moby Dick' remains as powerful and relevant today as when it was first penned. Join the crew of the Pequod and immerse yourself in an odyssey that will leave you awestruck, reflective, and deeply moved."

Herman Melville (Author), Tom Fria (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Lightning-Rod Man

"A man sits at his hearth as thunder shakes the mountains. Then—a knock. A stranger steps in, soaked and shivering, armed not with warmth or need, but with polished copper and an urgent offer. He doesn't sell comfort. He sells protection—against the very sky. The Lightning-Rod Man is Herman Melville at his most compact and cunning. This sharply drawn tale uses one room, one storm, and two voices to stage a quiet war between reason and fear, independence and submission, belief and the glittering promise of safety. It's a sales pitch wrapped in a sermon, disguised as a fable. Melville's dry wit and subtle irony crackle beneath the thunder. The visitor's obsession with bolts and conductors, with calculated distances and copper rods, is more than technical fuss—it's a worldview, a business model, a quiet tyranny cloaked in science. The narrator's resistance is equally symbolic: a choice to remain unshielded, to risk being struck, rather than surrender to fear disguised as logic. Short, strange, and simmering with tension, this story feels oddly modern. It speaks to every moment we're asked to buy into anxiety, to protect ourselves from what might happen, if only we pay the right price. Whether you read it as allegory, satire, or subtle horror, The Lightning-Rod Man still hums with electric relevance."

Herman Melville (Author), Peter Coates (Narrator)

Audiobook