Classics Audiobooks | Fiction & Literature

Desde que Homero contó las andanzas y desventuras de Ulises, el hombre occidental conoce dos expresivas metáforas sobre la vida del hombre y su destino: el viaje y el mar, ese espacio mágico donde todo puede ocurrir. Esta edición ofrece el texto de 'La Odisea' centrándose en los episodios que hacen avanzar la acción y suprimiendo aquellos que la demoran demasiado, conservando todo el sabor poético del lenguaje de Homero.

Homero (Author), Staff Audiolibros Colección (Narrator)

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[Spanish] - La Ilíada

La Ilíada es una epopeya griega y el poema más antiguo escrito de la literatura occidental, atribuido tradicionalmente a Homero. Narra la historia del héroe griego Aquiles quien es ofendido por su superior, Agamenón, retirándose por esto de la batalla. Una recreación dramática de la contienda entre griegos y troyanos.

Homero (Author), Staff Audiolibros Colección (Narrator)

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[Spanish] - El Fantasma de Canterville

Obra que mezcla de sátira social y elaborada farsa, El fantasma de Canterville es una de las piezas más deliciosas y elegantes del gran Oscar Wilde. Una sofisticada familia norteamericana, los Otis, compra el añejo castillo inglés de los Canterville. El anciano dueño les habla entonces de que en la mansión habita desde tiempos inmemoriales el colérico fantasma de Lord Simón Canterville, que mató a su esposa y cuyo cuerpo desapareció después misteriosamente. Lejos de amedrentarse, los inquilinos compran el castillo con fantasma incluido, y acaban sometiendo al pobre espectro anacrónico, que acaba siendo juguete y víctima de los dos niños terribles de la familia. Una obra con excelentes efectos sonoros que lo llevarán a ser parte dela misma.

Oscar Wilde (Author), Staff Audiolibros Colección (Narrator)

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The Silmarillion

The forerunner to The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion tells the earlier history of Middle-earth, recounting the events of the First and Second Ages, and introducing some of the key characters, such as Galadriel, Elrond, Elendil and the Dark Lord, Sauron. The tales of The Silmarillion are set in an age when Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwelt in Middle-earth, and the High Elves made war upon him for the recovery of the Silmarils, the jewels containing the pure light of Valinor. Included on the recording are several shorter works. The Ainulindalë is a myth of the Creation and in the Valaquenta the nature and powers of each of the gods is described. The Akallabêth recounts the downfall of the great island kingdom of Númenor at the end of the Second Age, and Of the Rings of Power tells of the great events at the end of the Third Age, as narrated in The Lord of the Rings. This brand-new unabridged recording is read by the acclaimed actor, director and author, Andy Serkis.

J. R. R. Tolkien (Author), Andy Serkis (Narrator)

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The Two Gentlemen of Verona

Two close friends, Proteus and Valentine, are saying their goodbyes in the streets of Verona. Valentine plans to travel to Milan and discover the world, but Proteus wants to stay with Julia, a woman he loves. While in Milan, Valentine falls in love with the duke's daughter, Sylvia, and plans to elope with her. Antonio, Proteus' father, later orders his son to join Valentine in Milan. Before leaving, Proteus exchanges rings and vows of undying love with Julia. When Proteus enters the aristocratic courts of Milan, he instantly falls in love with Sylia and forgets all about Julia. The love triangle between Sylvia, Proteus, and Valentine will test the loyalty of friendship.

William Shakespeare (Author), Susan Bones, Zacharias Prewett (Narrator)

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The Merry Wives of Windsor

First published in 1602 by William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor features the popular figure Sir John Falstaff, who first appeared in Henry IV, Part 1 and Part 2. Some speculate that Merry Wives was written at the behest of Queen Elizabeth I, who wanted to see Falstaff in love; and that Shakespeare was forced to rush its creation as a result, and so it remains one of Shakespeare's lesser-regarded plays. The play revolves around two intertwined plots: the adventures of the rogue Falstaff who plans to seduce several local wives, and the story of young Anne Page who is being wooed by prominent citizens while she has her sights set on young Fenton. The wives come together to teach Falstaff a lesson, and in the end love triumphs. The Merry Wives of Windsor is believed to have been first performed in 1597 and was subsequently published in quarto in 1602, in a second quarto in 1619, and then in the 1623 First Folio. Despite holding a lesser place in Shakespeare's canon, it was one of the first Shakespearean plays to be performed in 1660, after the reinstatement of Charles II and theatre once again was permitted to be performed in London.

William Shakespeare (Author), Susan Bones, Zacharias Prewett (Narrator)

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The House on the Borderland

This is a very unusual book, wherein the majority of the story is contents of an ancient diary found by two friends on a fishing holiday while on the grounds of an old dilapidated house. The moldy manuscript has inscribed tales of strange things seen and heard. There are horrible creatures and huge monsters described as though they were old gods of mythology. They find stories saying the devil may have built the house. While reading the tattered and torn manuscript the two vacationers are startled by extremely unusual lights and sounds on the grounds and also in and around the building that is in a state of disrepair or ruin as a result of age or neglect. Much of the written material influences the men as they shudder at what seem to be supernatural manifestations. Later on they frequently have dreams of an eternal shroud of spray. This tale was first published more than a century ago in 1908 but retains the readability of stories by author William Hope Hodgson, still a leading name in exceptional weird fiction.

William Hope Hodgson (Author), John Rayburn (Narrator)

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Prometheus Bound (Unabridged)

Prometheus Bound by Aeschylus is an Ancient Greek tragedy traditionally attributed to Aeschylus and thought to have been composed sometime between 479 BC and the terminus ante quem of 424 BC. The tragedy is based on the myth of Prometheus, a Titan who defies Zeus, and protects and gives fire to mankind, for which he is subjected to the wrath of Zeus and punished. C. J. Herington claims that Aeschylus certainly did not mean for Prometheus Bound to be a 'self-contained dramatic unity', and suggests that 'most modern students of the subject would probably agree' that Prometheus Bound was followed by a work with the title Prometheus Lyomenos (Prometheus Unbound). Herington adds that 'some very slight evidence' indicates that Prometheus Unbound 'may have been followed by a third play', Prometheus Pyrphoros (Prometheus the Fire-Bearer); the latter two survive only in fragments. Some scholars have proposed that these fragments all originated from Prometheus Unbound, and that there were only two Promethean plays rather than three. Since the final two dramas of the trilogy have been lost, the author's intention for the work as a whole is not known. The ascription to Aeschylus had never been challenged since antiquity down to relatively recent times.[a] By the 1970s, both R. P. Winnington-Ingram and Denys Page had become sceptical of its authenticity, but the majority of scholars still affirmed the traditional attribution of authorship.[b] Independently in 1977 both Oliver Taplin and Mark Griffith made forceful cases, on linguistic, technical and stagecraft grounds, for questioning its authenticity, a view supported by M. L. West. To date, no consensus on the matter has been established, though recent computerized stylometric analysis has thrown the burden of proof on those who uphold the traditional claim.

Aeschylus (Author), Expatriate Sames (Narrator)

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Oedipus Rex or Oedipus the King (Unabridged)

Oedipus Rex by Sophocles Audiobook also known by its Greek title, Oedipus Tyrannus, or Oedipus the King, is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles that was first performed around 429 BC. Originally, to the ancient Greeks, the title was simply Oedipus, as it is referred to by Aristotle in the Poetics. It is thought to have been renamed Oedipus Tyrannus to distinguish it from Oedipus at Colonus, a later play by Sophocles. In antiquity, the term 'tyrant' referred to a ruler with no legitimate claim to rule, but it did not necessarily have a negative connotation. Of Sophocles' three Theban plays that have survived, and that deal with the story of Oedipus, Oedipus Rex was the second to be written, following Antigone by about a dozen years. However, in terms of the chronology of events described by the plays, it comes first, followed by Oedipus at Colonus and then Antigone. Plot Oedipus, King of Thebes, sends his brother-in-law, Creon, to ask the advice of the oracle at Delphi, concerning a plague ravaging Thebes. Creon returns to report that the plague is the result of religious pollution, since the murderer of their former king, Laius, has never been caught. Oedipus vows to find the murderer and curses him for causing the plague. Oedipus summons the blind prophet Tiresias for help. Tiresias admits to knowing the answers to Oedipus' questions, but he refuses to speak, instead telling Oedipus to abandon his search. Angered by the seer's reply, Oedipus accuses him of complicity in Laius' murder. The offended Tiresias then reveals to the king that '[y]ou yourself are the criminal you seek'. Oedipus does not understand how this could be, and supposes that Creon must have paid Tiresias to accuse him. The two argue vehemently, as Oedipus mocks Tiresias' lack of sight, and Tiresias retorts that Oedipus himself is blind. Eventually, the prophet leaves, muttering darkly that when the murderer is discovered, he shall be a native of Thebes, brother and father to his own children, and son and husband to his own mother.

Sophocles (Author), Andy Minter, Briana Thebard, Carolyn Francis, Elizabeth Klett, Fr. Richard Zeile, Hannah Dowell (Narrator)

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[Spanish] - 20.000 leguas de viaje submarino

'20.000 leguas de viaje submarino', la conocida novela de anticipación de Julio Verne (1828 – 1905) nos plantea, en la personalidad del Capitán Nemo, el tema de la violencia como respuesta a la injusticia y la crueldad de los hombres. Así Nemo, al mando del Nautilus (inimaginable submarino en 1868…) atormentado y desengañado de la raza humana, decide apartarse del mundo y, poseedor de un fuerte individualismo y un exacerbado sentido de la justicia, pasar a ser el terror de los mares, hundiendo los navíos a su paso. Sobre las motivaciones del capitán Nemo, es interesante conocer la carta que Verne envía a Hetzel, primer editor de su obra, donde explica el odio de Nemo como respuesta a la anexión de Polonia por parte de Rusia en 1863: “Suponga Ud. que seguimos la primera idea del libro: un señor polaco cuyas hijas han sido violadas, su mujer asesinada a hachazos y el padre a golpes; un polaco cuyos amigos perecen en algún sitio y cuya nacionalidad va a desaparecer de Europa merced a la tiranía rusa. Si tal hombre no tiene derecho de hundir fragatas rusas allí donde las encuentre, entonces la venganza no es sino una palabra vacía…” Finalmente, vemos en '20.000 leguas de viaje submarino' un ejemplo más de la inagotable fantasía de Julio Verne, célebre por sus relatos de verosimilitud científica, en los que nos anticipa la evolución tecnológica del siglo XX, en creaciones como la televisión, los helicópteros, los submarinos o las naves espaciales… Por todo ello es considerado como uno de los fundadores de la moderna literatura de ciencia ficción.

Julio Verne (Author), Horacio Lanci (Narrator)

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The Island of Doctor Moreau

Edward Prendick finds himself floating perilously in the ocean after having been shipwrecked. He is picked up and his life saved by the curious Dr Montgomery, a medical man travelling with a cargo of various wild animals. Prendick soon finds himself once again adrift at sea after an argument with a hostile and drunken captain. For a second time Montgomery appears as his saviour and he is hauled ashore on the Island of Dr Moreau, Montgomery’s mysterious colleague and mentor. As he encounters some of the deformed and bestial inhabitants on the island, Prendick soon comes to realise that he has heard of this infamous Dr Moreau before. Now begins a nightmarish existence as the full truth of Moreau’s scientific ambitions become horribly apparent. Head StoriesAudio presents 'The Island of Dr Moreau' by H.G. Wells. Narrated by Simon Hester. With original music.

H.G. Wells (Author), Simon Hester (Narrator)

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[Italian] - La madre

LA MADRE di Italo Svevo racconta l’egoismo generalizzato dell’essere umano contemporaneo, sebbene sia stato in passato inteso come metafora della delusione di Svevo per l’interpretazione della sua opera da parte della critica dell’epoca. La novella, scritta nel 1926 e pubblicata su diverse antologie, parla della riflessione di alcuni pulcini di allevamento, cresciuti in un'incubatrice, sulla loro madre. Un pulcino di nome Curra scappa nel pollaio a fianco al suo alla ricerca dell’ipotetica madre e ciò che scoprirà cambierà per sempre la sua visione del mondo e delle cose.

Italo Svevo (Author), Gianluca Testa (Narrator)

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Classics Audiobooks in Fiction & Literature