
The Bright Book of Life
Novels to Read and Reread
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Narrated by:
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Stephen Mendel
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Written by:
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Harold Bloom
About this listen
America's most original and controversial literary critic writes trenchantly about 48 masterworks spanning the Western tradition — from Don Quixote to Wuthering Heights to Invisible Man — in his first book devoted exclusively to narrative fiction.
In this valedictory volume, Yale professor Harold Bloom — who for more than half a century was regarded as America's most daringly original and controversial literary critic — gives us his only book devoted entirely to the art of the novel. With his hallmark percipience, remarkable scholarship, and extraordinary devotion to sublimity, Bloom offers meditations on 48 essential works spanning the Western canon, from Don Quixote to Book of Numbers; from Wuthering Heights to Absalom, Absalom!; from Les Misérables to Blood Meridian; from Vanity Fair to Invisible Man. Here are trenchant appreciations of fiction by, among many others, Austen, Balzac, Dickens, Tolstoy, James, Conrad, Lawrence, Le Guin, and Sebald.
Whether you have already listened to these books, plan to, or simply care about the importance and power of fiction, Harold Bloom is your unparalleled guide to understanding literature with new intimacy.
©2020 Harold Bloom (P)2020 Random House AudioYou may also enjoy...
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- Narrated by: Luis Soto
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- Unabridged
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Overall
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Story
Over the few short decades that followed Christopher Columbus' first landing in the Caribbean in 1492, Spain conquered the two most powerful civilizations of the Americas: the Aztecs of Mexico and the Incas of Peru. Hernán Cortés, Francisco Pizarro, and the other explorers and soldiers who took part in these expeditions dedicated their lives to seeking political and religious glory, helping to build an empire unlike any the world had ever seen. But centuries later, these conquistadors have become the stuff of nightmares.
-
-
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Written by: Fernando Cervantes
-
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- Written by: Martin Heidegger
- Narrated by: Martyn Swain, Taylor Carman
- Length: 23 hrs and 18 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
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Astonishing Reading of a Problematic Work
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Written by: Martin Heidegger
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Existentialism and the Authentic Life
- Written by: Skye C. Cleary, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Skye C. Cleary
- Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall
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Performance
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Written by: Skye C. Cleary, and others
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The Rise of Rome
- Written by: The Great Courses, Gregory S. Aldrete
- Narrated by: Gregory S. Aldrete
- Length: 12 hrs and 16 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
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-
-
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- By Matthew Yantha on 2018-09-12
Written by: The Great Courses, and others
-
English Literature in the Sixteenth Century (Excluding Drama)
- Written by: C. S. Lewis
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 25 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
C. S. Lewis offers a magisterial take on the literature and poetry of one of the most consequential periods in world history, providing deep insight into some of the greatest writers of the age, including Edmund Spenser, William Shakespeare, William Tyndale, John Knox, Dr. Johnson, Richard Hooker, Hugh Latimer, Christopher Marlowe, John Donne, and Thomas Cranmer.
-
-
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- Narrated by: J.D. Nicholsen
- Length: 21 hrs and 17 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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What the critics say
"Fresh insights and renewed joys... fervent... dedicated... [Bloom] candidly analyzes what he considers a novel’s shortcomings and where he differs with other critics’ assessments. [His] ardent celebration of novels is tinged with the inevitable losses of old age... Warm recollections of a singular literary life." (Kirkus Reviews)