Classics Audiobooks | Literature

"Heart of Darkness (1899) is a short novel by Joseph Conrad, written as a frame narrative, about Charles Marlow's life as an ivory transporter down the Congo River in Central Africa. The river is 'a mighty big river, that you could see on the map, resembling an immense snake uncoiled, with its head in the sea, its body at rest curving afar over a vast country, and its tail lost in the depths of the land.' In the course of his travel in central Africa, Marlow becomes obsessed with Mr. Kurtz. The story is a complex exploration of the attitudes people hold on what constitutes a barbarian versus a civilized society and the attitudes on colonialism and racism that were part and parcel of European imperialism. Originally published as a three-part serial story, in Blackwood's Magazine, the novella Heart of Darkness has been variously published and translated into many languages. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Heart of Darkness as the sixty-seventh of the hundred best novels in English of the twentieth century. Short Summary Aboard the Nellie, anchored in the River Thames near Gravesend, England, Charles Marlow tells his fellow sailors about the events that led to his appointment as captain of a river-steamboat for an ivory trading company. He describes his passage on ships to the wilderness to the Company's station, which strikes Marlow as a scene of devastation: disorganized, machinery parts here and there, periodic demolition explosions, weakened native black men who have been demoralized, in chains, literally being worked to death, and strolling behind them a white Company man in a uniform carrying a rifle. At this station Marlow meets the Company's chief accountant who tells him of a Mr. Kurtz, and explains that Kurtz is a first-class agent."

Joseph Conrad (Author), XYZ Voices (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Picture of Dorian Gray

"'It is your best work, Basil, the best thing you have ever done,' said Lord Henry, languidly. 'You must certainly send it next year to the Grosvenor. The Academy is too large and too vulgar. The Grosvenor is the only place.' 'I don't think I will send it anywhere,' he answered, tossing his head back in that odd way that used to make his friends laugh at him at Oxford. 'No: I won't send it anywhere.' Lord Henry elevated his eyebrows, and looked at him in amazement through the thin blue wreaths of smoke that curled up in such fanciful whorls from his heavy opium-tainted cigarette. 'Not send it anywhere? My dear fellow, why? Have you any reason? What odd chaps you painters are! You do anything in the world to gain a reputation. As soon as you have one, you seem to want to throw it away. It is silly of you, for there is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about. A portrait like this would set you far above all the young men in England, and make the old men quite jealous, if old men are ever capable of any emotion.' 'I know you will laugh at me,' he replied, 'but I really can't exhibit it. I have put too much of myself into it.' Lord Henry stretched his long legs out on the divan and shook with laughter. 'Yes, I knew you would laugh; but it is quite true, all the same.' 'Too much of yourself in it! Upon my word, Basil, I didn't know you were so vain; and I really can't see any resemblance between you, with your rugged strong face and your coal-black hair, and this young Adonis, who looks as if he was made of ivory and rose-leaves. Why, my dear Basil, he is a Narcissus, and you--well, of course you have an intellectual expression, and all that. But beauty, real beauty, ends where an intellectual expression begins. Intellect is in itself an exaggeration, and destroys the harmony of any face. The moment one sits down to think, one becomes all nose, or all forehead, or something horrid. Look at the successful men in any of the learned professions. How perfectly hideous they are! Except, of course, in the Church. But then in the Church they don't think. A bishop keeps on saying at the age of eighty what he was told to say when he was a boy of eighteen, and consequently he always looks absolutely delightful. Your mysterious young friend, whose name you have never told me, but whose picture really fascinates me, never thinks. I feel quite sure of that. He is a brainless, beautiful thing, who should be always here in winter when we have no flowers to look at, and always here in summer when we want something to chill our intelligence. Don't flatter yourself, Basil: you are not in the least like him.'"

Oscar Wilde (Author), XYZ Voices (Narrator)

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Sultana's Dream

"Sultana’s Dream by Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, published in 1905, is considered one of the earliest feminist science fiction works, especially in South Asian literature. In fact, it is a blend of multiple genres, including: Science Fiction - It envisions a futuristic, utopian society with advanced technology. Feminist Utopian Fiction - It depicts a matriarchal world where women lead and men are secluded, challenging traditional gender roles. Social Satire - It critiques patriarchy and societal norms in a thought-provoking way."

Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (Author), Vaishali Sharma (Narrator)

Audiobook

White Fang

"It was the she-wolf who had first caught the sound of men's voices and the whining of the sled-dogs; and it was the she-wolf who was first to spring away from the cornered man in his circle of dying flame. The pack had been loath to forego the kill it had hunted down, and it lingered for several minutes, making sure of the sounds, and then it, too, sprang away on the trail made by the she-wolf. Running at the forefront of the pack was a large grey wolf—one of its several leaders. It was he who directed the pack's course on the heels of the she-wolf. It was he who snarled warningly at the younger members of the pack or slashed at them with his fangs when they ambitiously tried to pass him. And it was he who increased the pace when he sighted the she-wolf, now trotting slowly across the snow. She dropped in alongside by him, as though it were her appointed position, and took the pace of the pack. He did not snarl at her, nor show his teeth, when any leap of hers chanced to put her in advance of him. On the contrary, he seemed kindly disposed toward her—too kindly to suit her, for he was prone to run near to her, and when he ran too near it was she who snarled and showed her teeth. Nor was she above slashing his shoulder sharply on occasion. At such times he betrayed no anger. He merely sprang to the side and ran stiffly ahead for several awkward leaps, in carriage and conduct resembling an abashed country swain. This was his one trouble in the running of the pack; but she had other troubles. On her other side ran a gaunt old wolf, grizzled and marked with the scars of many battles. He ran always on her right side. The fact that he had but one eye, and that the left eye, might account for this. He, also, was addicted to crowding her, to veering toward her till his scarred muzzle touched her body, or shoulder, or neck. As with the running mate on the left, she repelled these attentions with her teeth; but when both bestowed their attentions at the same time she was roughly jostled, being compelled, with quick snaps to either side, to drive both lovers away and at the same time to maintain her forward leap with the pack and see the way of her feet before her. At such times her running mates flashed their teeth and growled threateningly across at each other. They might have fought, but even wooing and its rivalry waited upon the more pressing hunger-need of the pack. After each repulse, when the old wolf sheered abruptly away from the sharp-toothed object of his desire, he shouldered against a young three-year-old that ran on his blind right side. This young wolf had attained his full size; and, considering the weak and famished condition of the pack, he possessed more than the average vigour and spirit. Nevertheless, he ran with his head even with the shoulder of his one-eyed elder. When he ventured to run abreast of the older wolf (which was seldom), a snarl and a snap sent him back even with the shoulder again. Sometimes, however, he dropped cautiously and slowly behind and edged in between the old leader and the she-wolf. This was doubly resented, even triply resented. When she snarled her displeasure, the old leader would whirl on the three-year-old. Sometimes she whirled with him. And sometimes the young leader on the left whirled, too. At such times, confronted by three sets of savage teeth, the young wolf stopped precipitately, throwing himself back on his haunches, with fore-legs stiff, mouth menacing, and mane bristling. This confusion in the front of the moving pack always caused confusion in the rear. The wolves behind collided with the young wolf and expressed their displeasure by administering sharp nips on his hind-legs and flanks. He was laying up trouble for himself, for lack of food and short tempers went together; but with the boundless faith of youth he persisted in repeating the manoeuvre every little while, though it never succeeded in gaining anything for him but discomfiture."

Jack London (Author), XYZ Voices (Narrator)

Audiobook

A Midsummer Night's Dream

"'Midsummer Night's Dream' is Shakespeare's classic tale of two couples who can't quite pair up to everyone's satisfaction. Demetrius and Lysander love Hermia. Hermia loves Lysander but has been promised to Demetrius by her father. Hermia's best friend Helena loves Demetrius, but in his obsession for Hermia Demetrius barely even notices her smitten friend. When Hermia and Lysander plan to elope all four find themselves in the forest late at night where the fairy Puck and his lord Oberon wreck havoc on the humans with a love potion that causes the victim to fall in love with the first thing they see upon waking. - Some Books of Shakespeare: - Romeo and Juliet (1597) - Hamlet (1599) - Macbeth (1606) - Julius Caesar (1599) - Othello (1603) - The Merchant of Venice (1598) - Much Ado About Nothing (1600) - King Lear (1606 - The Taming of the Shrew (1594) - The Comedy of Errors (1594)"

William Shakespeare (Author), XYZ Voices (Narrator)

Audiobook

Call of the Wild

"The Call of the Wild is a novel by American writer Jack London. The plot concerns a previously domesticated and even somewhat pampered dog named Buck, whose primordial instincts return after a series of events finds him serving as a sled dog in the treacherous, frigid Yukon during the days of the 19th century Klondike Gold Rushes. Published in 1903, The Call of the Wild is one of London's most-read books, and it is generally considered one of his best. Because the protagonist is a dog, it is sometimes classified as a juvenile novel, suitable for children, but it is dark in tone and contains numerous scenes of cruelty and violence. London followed the book in 1906 with White Fang, a companion novel with many similar plot elements and themes as The Call of the Wild, although following a mirror image plot in which a wild wolf becomes civilized by a mining expert from San Francisco named Weedon Scott."

Jack London (Author), XYZ Voices (Narrator)

Audiobook

Candide

"Candide is characterised by its sarcastic tone, as well as by its erratic, fantastical and fast-moving plot. A picaresque novel with a story similar to that of a more serious bildungsroman, it parodies many adventure and romance clichés, the struggles of which are caricatured in a tone that is mordantly matter-of-fact. Still, the events discussed are often based on historical happenings, such as the Seven Years' War and the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. As philosophers of Voltaire's day contended with the problem of evil, so too does Candide in this short novel, albeit more directly and humorously. Voltaire ridicules religion, theologians, governments, armies, philosophies, and philosophers through allegory; most conspicuously, he assaults Leibniz and his optimism. Voltaire's men and women point his case against optimism by starting high and falling low. A modern could not go about it after this fashion. He would not plunge his people into an unfamiliar misery. He would just keep them in the misery they were born to. But such an account of Voltaire's procedure is as misleading as the plaster cast of a dance. Look at his procedure again. Mademoiselle Cunégonde, the illustrious Westphalian, sprung from a family that could prove seventy-one quarterings, descends and descends until we find her earning her keep by washing dishes in the Propontis. The aged faithful attendant, victim of a hundred acts of rape by negro pirates, remembers that she is the daughter of a pope, and that in honor of her approaching marriage with a Prince of Massa-Carrara all Italy wrote sonnets of which not one was passable. We do not need to know French literature before Voltaire in order to feel, although the lurking parody may escape us, that he is poking fun at us and at himself. His laughter at his own methods grows more unmistakable at the last, when he caricatures them by casually assembling six fallen monarchs in an inn at Venice. A modern assailant of optimism would arm himself with social pity. There is no social pity in 'Candide.' Voltaire, whose light touch on familiar institutions opens them and reveals their absurdity, likes to remind us that the slaughter and pillage and murder which Candide witnessed among the Bulgarians was perfectly regular, having been conducted according to the laws and usages of war. Had Voltaire lived today he would have done to poverty what he did to war. Pitying the poor, he would have shown us poverty as a ridiculous anachronism, and both the ridicule and the pity would have expressed his indignation."

Voltaire (Author), XYZ Voices (Narrator)

Audiobook

[French] - Croc-Blanc - Livre Audio

"«Croc-Blanc» de Jack London est un chef-d'œuvre de la littérature d'aventure, racontant l'histoire poignante d'un loup à moitié chien né dans les terres sauvages du Grand Nord. À travers son regard, nous découvrons la brutalité de la nature, la lutte pour la survie, mais aussi l'étrange lien qui peut se tisser entre l'animal et l'homme. Élevé d'abord dans un environnement hostile et violent, Croc-Blanc apprend la méfiance, la solitude et la force. Mais lorsque le destin le mène à rencontrer un maître juste et bienveillant, il commence à entrevoir une autre forme de vie, fondée sur la confiance et l'affection. Ce récit puissant et émouvant explore la frontière entre l'instinct sauvage et la domestication, entre la peur et l'amour."

Jack London, Livres audio en français (Author), Adrien Bellamy (Narrator)

Audiobook

Thérèse Raquin - Audiobook

"Thérèse Raquin is Émile Zola's chilling psychological novel about passion, guilt, and the destructive power of suppressed desire. Trapped in a loveless marriage, Thérèse begins a dangerous affair with her husband's friend, leading to a crime that will haunt them both. As their shared guilt festers, Zola examines the dark corners of human conscience with cold precision. Written in stark, naturalistic style, this early masterpiece shocked readers of the 19th century and still unsettles today. Thérèse Raquin is a gripping and tragic exploration of moral decay, suffocating domesticity, and the consequences of forbidden love."

Classic Audiobooks, Émile Zola (Author), Sophie Bennet (Narrator)

Audiobook

She - Audiobook

"She tells the mesmerizing tale of Ayesha, an immortal queen ruling a lost African kingdom, and the men who encounter her. When Professor Holly and his ward Leo Vincey follow an ancient clue, they discover not only a hidden civilization but a woman whose beauty and power defy time itself. This novel mixes fantasy, mythology, and philosophical themes. Both mysterious and tragic, She is one of Haggard's most influential works—an exploration of immortality, obsession, and colonial imagination. Ayesha remains one of the most iconic figures in adventure literature."

Classic Audiobooks, H. Rider Haggard (Author), Charles Farrow (Narrator)

Audiobook

A Doll's House - Audiobook

"A Doll's House is a groundbreaking three-act play by Henrik Ibsen that revolutionized modern drama. It tells the story of Nora Helmer, a seemingly happy wife and mother who comes to realize the limitations of her role in a patriarchal household and makes a shocking choice. With sharp dialogue and bold realism, Ibsen challenges traditional gender roles and the illusion of domestic bliss. A Doll's House is one of the most performed and discussed plays in world theatre—a powerful portrait of awakening and personal freedom."

Classic Audiobooks, Henrik Ibsen (Author), Sophie Bennet (Narrator)

Audiobook

Hedda Gabler - Audiobook

"Hedda Gabler is a four-act play by Henrik Ibsen that explores the psychological struggles of its complex heroine, Hedda—a woman trapped in a life of societal expectations and personal frustration. Intelligent but deeply dissatisfied, Hedda manipulates those around her, leading to tragedy. Known for its rich character study and emotional intensity, the play examines power, repression, and despair with brutal honesty. Hedda Gabler remains one of Ibsen's most powerful and haunting works—a masterpiece of modern drama."

Classic Audiobooks, Henrik Ibsen (Author), Sophie Bennet (Narrator)

Audiobook

Classics Audiobooks in Literature