Audiobooks narrated by Robert Bethune

Just as Proust derives an entire world of feeling, people and events from the taste of a madeleine, James G. Frazer brings us into a worldwide survey of religion, folklore, culture, symbolism and ritual using the Priest of Nemi as his starting point. Starting from the image of the lonely, doomed high priest, prowling his precinct night and day, sword in hand, hardly daring to sleep as he awaited the assault of the man who would kill him and take his place, Frazer roams the world of ancient and modern religious and ceremonial practice in search of the underlying universals of human thought. The Golden Bough quickly took its place in the fields of mythology, anthropology and comparative religion as a classic. Though clearly open to criticism from a modern perspective, it opened pathways of thought and interpretation that enabled later thinkers to explore perspectives that would not have been available otherwise. In many forms and guises, Frazer's ideas have flourished from his day to the present. This audiobook is based on the 1894 edition of Frazer's classic. This edition runs close to a thousand pages in two volumes, and yet later editions were even longer! The 1894 edition represents the full development of Frazer's thought without demanding quite so much of the reader (or listener). Enjoy! A Freshwater Seas production.

James George Frazer (Author), Robert Bethune (Narrator)

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Walden, or Life in the Woods

Noted transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau spent two years, two months, and two days chronicling his near-isolation in the small cabin he built in the woods near Walden Pond on land owned by his mentor, the father of Transcendentalism, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Immersing himself in nature and solitude, Thoreau sought to develop a greater understanding of society amidst a life of self-reliance and simplicity. Originally published in 1854, Walden remains one of the most celebrated works in American literature. This version of Walden, or Life in the Wood was recorded as part of Walden and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience.

Henry David Thoreau (Author), Robert Bethune (Narrator)

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Walden: Or, Life in the Woods

An experiment. A declaration. A spiritual awakening. Noted transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau spent two years, two months and two days chronicling his near-isolation in a small cabin he built in the woods near Walden Pond, on land owned by his mentor and the father of Transcendentalism, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Immersing himself in nature and solitude, Thoreau sought to develop a greater understanding of society amidst a life of self-reliance and simplicity. Originally published in 1854, Walden remains one of the most celebrated works in American literature. Also includes Walden's essay, On the Duty of Civil Disobedience.

Henry David Thoreau (Author), Robert Bethune (Narrator)

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Psychology of the Unconscious

Originally published in German as Wandlungen und Symbole der Libido, this is the book that set Carl Jung on his independent path as a psychoanalytic theorist and explorer of the mysterious world of the unconscious mind of the individual and the mythological mind of humanity. He bases his work on an exploration of Miss Frank Miller's Quelques Faits d'Imagination Creatrice, demonstrating complex connections between Miller's self-portrait of her own dreams and fantasies and the world of myth, symbol, and religion. From there, he explores a wide range of myth and religion, always relatiing the mythological and religious products of human culture to the functions and fantasies of the unconscious mind, with particular attention to the workings of that fundamental life-energy he calls the libido. The book is a challenge to the reader. Jung does not limit himself to the boundaries of any one language, culture or discipline. He draws from sources in German, French, Italian, English, Greek and Latin, from Milton to Goethe to Longfellow to Augustine. He explores literature, etymology, and anthropology freely to support his views. Where Jung quotes from the original language, this edition provides an English translation immediately following, and gives each of the quoted authors their own voice, thereby providing an audio equivalent of the quotation typography of the original book. The challenge, and the length of the book, is worthwhile. Jung is a fundamental thinker in the history of 20th century Western culture, and this book is the foundation of all his later work. This audiobook is an unabridged recording of the 1916 translation of the first edition of Jung's book. A Freshwater Seas production.

Carl Jung (Author), Robert Bethune (Narrator)

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On the Duty of Civil Disobedience

First published in 1849, this essay argues that individuals have rights and duties in relation to their government. Motivated by his disgust over both slavery and the Mexican-American War, Thoreau argued that individuals must not permit nor enable their government to act against their own consciences. This version of On the Duty of Civil Disobedience was recorded as part of Dreamscape's Walden and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience.

Henry David Thoreau (Author), Robert Bethune (Narrator)

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The Scarlet Letter

In 1642, a pregnant Hester Prynne is found guilty of adultery, shunned by her neighbors, and forced to wear a scarlet letter 'A' on her dress. Meanwhile, Hester's husband - long thought to be lost at sea - has returned to Boston under the assumed name 'Roger Chillingworth' and plots to uncover her lover's identity. After her daughter Pearl is born, Hester is frequently visited by both Reverend Dimmesdale and Chillingworth, but always refuses to name her lover. As the years wear on and Pearl grows older, Hester's defiance - and her lover's silence - weighs heavily on the lives of all parties involved.

Nathaniel Hawthorne (Author), Robert Bethune (Narrator)

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Psychopathology of Everyday Life

Sigmund Freud's Psychopathology of Everyday Life is surely the most approachable and enjoyable of all his works. By turning the spotlight of his ideas about the nature and function of the unconscious mind onto simple and easily understandable incidents that we have all experienced, such as slips of the tongue, sudden inexplicable clumsy actions, forgetfulness, and the like, he shows us, often in rather humorous ways, just how our unconscious minds have a powerful influence on everything we say and do. The book is personal; many of the incidents he analyzes come directly from his own life and behavor. In many cases, the book is really a kind of wry autobiography, a psychoanalyst's analysis of himself. Few will finish this book without starting to take a fresh look at their own behavior, their own small slips of the tongue and faulty actions - perhaps with the same wry smile Freud seems to wear! A Freshwater Seas production.

Sigmund Freud (Author), Robert Bethune (Narrator)

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The Frontier in American History

Frederick Jackson Turner was the dean of American historians in his time. He originated, and he and his students popularized, the Frontier Hypothesis of American history: that the primary driving force in the development of American society and politics was the encounter with the frontier, conceived of as a vast area of essentially free land, a seemingly limitless resource available to all comers. This book, The Frontier in American History, is a collection of essays Turner wrote between the 1890's and 1918--itself a highly dynamic time in American history, a point which he addresses from the perspective of his ideas about the frontier in numerous ways. As all books must do, Turner's writing shows the influence of his time. He pays virtually no attention to the oppression inflicted upon Native Americans, and despite giving considerable time to the interaction of the development of the frontier with the issue of slavery, he gives very little space to the consideration of slavery itself. This should be no cause for surprise; he is, if anything, somewhat better on these issues than many intellectuals of his time. The value of his book--and it is a very valuable work--lies in his ability to synthesize the great migratory movement of Europeans and Americans westward across the North American continent into a coherent view of the nature of that movement, the ways in which the peoples involved changed in response to it, and the effects it had on the long-term development of the United States. The processes he describes have not ended. We are still dealing with the effects of our long engagement with the frontier in many ways. Enjoy! A Freshwater Seas production.

Frederick Jackson Turner (Author), Robert Bethune (Narrator)

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Rudyard Kipling Tales of the Elephant

Three stories by Rudyard Kipling, all about the marvelous nature of elephants. In "The Elephant's Child", we learn how the elephant got his trunk--one of the favorite tales from the Just-So Stories. In "Moti Guj, Mutineer," we learn what happens when an elephant has made a bargain--and humans have failed to do their part! In "Toomai of the Elephants," we learn how a special child and his relationship to a special elephant allow him to see something no one in the world has ever seen before. These marvelous stories, told with wit and wonder by Rudyard Kipling, are for young and old of all ages. A Freshwater Seas production.

Rudyard Kipling (Author), Robert Bethune (Narrator)

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The French Revolution volume 1: The Bastille

Thomas Carlyle's The French Revolution is a landmark of literary history. Conceived not as a dry recounting of facts, but as a personal, vivid, direct and dramatic encounter with the turbulent times of revolutionary France, it is in fact an extended dramatic monologue in which we meet not only the striking personalities and events of the time, but the equally striking personality and mind of Thomas Carlyle himself. In this, the first volume of the series, we live out the course of the French Revolution, from the death of Louis XV to the triumphal celebrations of early days of the National Assembly. Thomas Carlyle's writing is a true challenge to the reader and the listener. He does not write in the calm, objective, matter-of-fact style of a modern historian; quite the contrary! He writes as if he were there, a witness to history, passionately involved with the events that he makes unfold before our eyes. He gives his rare mastery of the outer reaches of the English language full scope, challenging us to grasp not only his complex thoughts, but his intricate manner of expressing them. Grappling with his mind and with the events of the Revolution at the same time is a powerful challenge for any reader or listener. A Freshwater Seas production.

Thomas Carlyle (Author), Robert Bethune (Narrator)

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The French Revolution volume 2: The Constitution

Thomas Carlyle's The French Revolution is a landmark of literary history. Conceived not as a dry recounting of facts, but as a personal, vivid, direct and dramatic encounter with the turbulent times of revolutionary France, it is in fact an extended dramatic monologue in which we meet not only the striking personalities and events of the time, but the equally striking personality and mind of Thomas Carlyle himself. In this, the second volume of the series, we live out the course of the French Revolution from the aftermath of the fall of the Bastille to the insurrection of August 1792, which effectively brought the reign of Louis XVI to an end. Thomas Carlyle's writing is a true challenge to the reader and the listener. He does not write in the calm, objective, matter-of-fact style of a modern historian; quite the contrary! He writes as if he were there, a witness to history, passionately involved with the events that he makes unfold before our eyes. He gives his rare mastery of the outer reaches of the English language full scope, challenging us to grasp not only his complex thoughts, but his intricate manner of expressing them. Grappling with his mind and with the events of the Revolution at the same time is a powerful challenge for any reader or listener. A Freshwater Seas production.

Thomas Carlyle (Author), Robert Bethune (Narrator)

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Eminent Victorians

When Lytton Strachey published Emininent Victorians, he took the general perception of the Victorian age among English-speaking readers and turned it upside-down. Four of the most eminent and idealized heroic figures of the Victorian age came under his witty and unsparing gaze and emerged, astonishingly enough, as human beings. His study of one of the most revered prelates in England, Cardinal Manning, reveals a profound and courageous religious mind combined with the conniving and ruthless soul of a born politician. His dissection of the life of Florence Nightingale shows her both as the Lady of the Lamp and as a woman of steely backbone and adamantine determination, who not only cared for wounded and sick soldiers with complete dedication and solicitude, but who wreaked holy hell on any bureaucrat or governmental office that tried to get in her way. When Strachey is finished with Dr. Arnold, we understand him as a revolutionary reformer of English education and as a first-rate prig. And when Strachey finishes leading us through the life of General George Gordon, we come away having known him both as a man of extraordinary courage and as a near-lunatic. Fascinating, witty, insightful and provoking, these four biographical studies single-handedly revived the art of biography in the English language. A Freshwater Seas production.

Lytton Strachey (Author), Robert Bethune (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by Robert Bethune