Product Description

Dubliners - James Joyce's stories of his native homeland - performed by a cast of 15 different actors originating from Ireland.  Unabridged.

The fifteen stories that make up this brilliant audio roam over a human landscape that stretches from the bleakest of despair to the most blinding of epiphanies.  First published in 1914, the stories are as lucid and accessible as they are memorable poignant.

As you listen to the cast of internationally famous stage and screen actors perform Dubliners, both the spiritually deadening atmosphere that drove Joyce from his homeland and the irresistible emotional pull it always kept on him to the end of his days become heartbreakingly beautiful.

Dubliners is an audio experience that will only grow in richness with each time you listen. 

The stories and performers are:

Sisters - Frank McCourt

An Encounter - Patrick McCabe

Araby - Colm Meaney

Eveline - Dearbhla Molloy

After the Race - Dan O'Herlihy

Two Gallants - Malachy McCourt

The Boarding House - Donal Donnelly

A Little Cloud - Brendan Coyle

Counterparts - Jim Norton

Clay - Sorcha Cusack

A Painful Case - Ciaran Hinds

Ivy Day in the Committee Room - T.P. McKenna

A Mother - Fionnula Flanagan

Grace - Charles Keating

The Dead - Stephen Rea

 

Customer Reviews (2)

Joyce Is Meant to Be Read Aloud
James Joyce was absorbed by music, people, languages, acting and actors, and though an exile from his native country and city, his literary consciousness was forever embedded in Dublin. He had an unerring ear for Dublin dialogue.
At night I turn out the lights and listen to these CD's, to the cadences of the people talking, and to me these Dubliners endlessly gossiping are in the room with me. Joyce's narrative adroitness, his choice of words, his lyrical descriptions, and above all, his sense of place are brilliant facets of a genius.
Stephen Rea's sensitive reading of "The Dead" is worth the price of this set of fifteen stories read by fifteen different mostly Irish personalities. The characters in the stories live and breathe, become real. Joyce was meant to be read aloud. It's good talk, conversations that you become a part of.
In these stories Joyce is very accessible. In Finnegan's Wake he became Jackson Pollock--obscure and difficult. In "The Dead" you can feel, touch, hear, and taste the snow that is falling outside the house while inside two old sisters are giving their annual bright and cheery party. It's a story of tenderness, love, regrets, and lost lovers, but it is mainly full of life, good times, fellowship, and above all humanity.

Dublin digitally discerned and declaimed
Handsomely produced, elegantly assembled, and consistently engrossing: these actors read the stories with appropriate sensitivity, wit, pathos, and distance. The detachment of Joyce in his "voice" on the page is re-created well. When I have taught students "Araby" or "The Boarding House," the chance to hear the language repeated as its author would have meant it to be rendered makes these stories come alive for a classroom six thousand miles and a century away from early 20c Dublin.

Although all of the stories succeed, those in the center of the book emerged when conveyed aloud most enlighteningly. Clay, A Mother, A Painful Case, and most of all Two Gallants, After the Race, and Counterparts all hit my ear with more force than they had when I had only read them. These stories are often overlooked compared to the others, but the skill that the actors brought to these more prosaic, less lively, and more nuanced examples of Joyce's careful craft deserve special acclaim. The packaging keeps the CDs securely in place, is itself compact and well-designed, fitting its outwardly austere & Edwardian yet subtly decorated and inviting contents.

Students, the curious newcomer, the experienced teacher, and those who read the book out of delight and not duty: all will benefit from the music on the page that by a technology Joyce himself spoke into at its early gramaphone stages is now digitally preserved so that those of us all over the world and a vastly changed world later can be entertained and instructed. I think JJ might have been pleased at this version of his pioneering, eloquent, yet accessible and moving, accounts of his imagined neighbors and municipal counterparts. ... Read more

Product Description
Chapters: Kenneth Branagh, Stephen Rea, James Nesbitt, Ciarán Hinds, Roma Downey, Michael Legge, Laura Pyper, Patrick Magee, Colin Morgan, John Lynch, Conleth Hill, Colin Blakely, Jayne Wisener, Gerald Home, Siobhán Mckenna, Martin Mccann, Laura Donnelly, Jimmy Cricket, Harry Towb, Ciarán Mcmenamin, Maclean Stewart, William Caulfield, Jimeoin, Tara Lynne O'neill, Charles Lawson, Paul Loughran, Susan Lynch, Michelle Fairley, James Ellis, Michael Colgan, Warren Christie, Conor Macneill, Antonia Campbell-Hughes, Declan Mulholland, Kate Thompson, J. G. Devlin, Geraldine Hughes, Olivia Nash, Michael Smiley, Frances Tomelty, Gerard Mccabe, Lisa Hogg, Aislín Mcguckin, Evin Crowley. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 169. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: James Nesbitt (born 15 January 1965) is a Northern Irish actor. Born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Nesbitt grew up in the nearby village of Broughshane, before moving to Coleraine, County Londonderry. He wanted to become a teacher, like his father, so began a degree in French at the University of Ulster. He dropped out after a year when he decided to become an actor, and transferred to the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. After graduating in 1987, he spent seven years performing in plays that varied from the musical Up on the Roof (1987, 1989) to the political drama Paddywack (1994). He made his feature film debut playing talent agent Fintan O'Donnell in Hear My Song (1991). Nesbitt got his breakthrough television role playing Adam Williams in the romantic comedy-drama Cold Feet (ITV, 19982003), which won him a British Comedy Award, a Television and Radio Industries Club Award, and a National Television Award. His first significant film role came when he appeared as pig farmer "Pig" Finn in Waking Ned (1998). With the rest of th...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=2141436 ... Read more

Product Description
Chapters: Kenneth Branagh, Stephen Rea, James Nesbitt, Ciarán Hinds, Adrian Dunbar, Stephen Boyd, Michael Legge, Laura Pyper, Patrick Magee, John Lynch, Conleth Hill, Colin Blakely, Jayne Wisener, Gerald Home, Siobhán Mckenna, Martin Mccann, Harry Towb, Jamie Dornan, Ciarán Mcmenamin, Maclean Stewart, Tara Lynne O'neill, Charles Lawson, Susan Lynch, Marie Jones, Michelle Fairley, Michael Colgan, Beatrice Campbell, Terence Cooper, Warren Christie, Conor Macneill, Antonia Campbell-Hughes, Declan Mulholland, Andrew Simpson, Geraldine Hughes, Lisa Hogg, Aislín Mcguckin, Joe Rea. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 155. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: James Nesbitt (born 15 January 1965) is a Northern Irish actor. Born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Nesbitt grew up in the nearby village of Broughshane, before moving to Coleraine, County Londonderry. He wanted to become a teacher, like his father, so began a degree in French at the University of Ulster. He dropped out after a year when he decided to become an actor, and transferred to the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. After graduating in 1987, he spent seven years performing in plays that varied from the musical Up on the Roof (1987, 1989) to the political drama Paddywack (1994). He made his feature film debut playing talent agent Fintan O'Donnell in Hear My Song (1991). Nesbitt got his breakthrough television role playing Adam Williams in the romantic comedy-drama Cold Feet (ITV, 19982003), which won him a British Comedy Award, a Television and Radio Industries Club Award, and a National Television Award. His first significant film role came when he appeared as pig farmer "Pig" Finn in Waking Ned (1998). With the rest of the starring cast, Nesbitt was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award. In Lucky Break (2001), he made...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=2141436 ... Read more

Product Description
Les achats comprennent une adhésion à l'essai gratuite au club de livres de l'éditeur, dans lequel vous pouvez choisir parmi plus d'un million d'ouvrages, sans frais. Le livre consiste d'articles Wikipedia sur : Daniel Day-Lewis, Pierce Brosnan, Gabriel Byrne, Herbert Wilcox, Peter O'toole, Ciarán Hinds, J.m. Kerrigan, Sam Neill, Brendan Gleeson, Arthur Shields, Michael Gambon, Cyril Cusack, Niall Macginnis, Richard Harris, Colin Farrell, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Michael Fassbender, Cillian Murphy, Dan O'herlihy, Patrick Mcgoohan, William Morgan Sheppard, Barry Fitzgerald, Colm Meaney, Patrick Magee, Glenn Quinn, Stuart Townsend, Norman Rodway, Dylan Moran, Stephen Gately, Dermot Walsh, Edward Mulhare, Jim Norton, Jim Sheridan, Devon Murray, Hugh O'conor, Joe Lynch, Brían F. O'byrne, Spike Milligan, Domhnall Gleeson, Hugh Leonard, Liam Cunningham, Frank Kelly, Jason Barry, Jonas Armstrong, Conor Mcpherson, Robert Sheehan, Ardal O'hanlon, Peter Caffrey, Aidan Gillen, Glen Hansard, Colin O'donoghue, Andrew Simpson, Ed Byrne, Nick Dunning, Sean Lawlor, Edward Olive, Dudley Digges, Jack Macgowran, Jamie Dornan, Derrick O'connor, Jason O'mara, Forrester Harvey, Tommy Duggan, Dave Allen, James Sheridan Knowles, Pat Shortt. Non illustré. Mises à jour gratuites en ligne. Extrait : Daniel Day-Lewis est un acteur irlando-britannique né le 29 avril 1957 à Londres. Il est connu pour des interprétations marquantes et variées (aristocrate, petit voyou, marginal, homosexuel ou criminel) chez des réalisateurs tels que Martin Scorsese, Stephen Frears, Jim Sheridan ou encore James Ivory. Il est aussi réputé pour être l'un des acteurs les plus sélectifs de l'industrie, avec seulement cinq films depuis 2007. Son interprétation de Christy Brown dans My Left Foot (1989) lui a valu l'Oscar et le BAFTA du meilleur acteur, celle de Daniel Plainview dans There Will Be Blood (2007) l'Oscar, le BAFTA, le Golden Globe et le Screen Actors Guild Award. Cela en...http://booksllc.net/?l=fr ... Read more

Product Description
Les achats comprennent une adhésion à l'essai gratuite au club de livres de l'éditeur, dans lequel vous pouvez choisir parmi plus d'un million d'ouvrages, sans frais. Le livre consiste d'articles Wikipedia sur : Van Morrison, C. S. Lewis, George Best, David Finlay, Katie Melua, Ciarán Hinds, Kenneth Branagh, Owen Nolan, Robert Templeton, Alexander Macdonnell, William Thomson, James Galway, Joseph Larmor, John Marshall Watson, Gerry Adams, Mike Gibson, Jim Mcfadden, Derek Dougan, Billy Bingham, Gary Moore, Steve Morrow, Chaim Herzog, Sammy Mcmanus, Mary Peters, Stephen Rea, Mary Mcaleese, Martin Galway, Bob Shaw, Joe Mcdonnell, Olphert Stanfield, Danny Blanchflower, David Holmes, Terry Neill, Jocelyn Bell, David Humphreys, Martin Donnelly, Billy Crone, Jack Kyle, P. J. Lynch, Graeme Walton, James Emerson Tennent, Mairead Corrigan, Jeremy Davidson, David Mccann, Sammy Mcilroy, Jeremy Mcwilliams, Jimmy Quinn, Elisha Scott, Una O'connor, George Garfield Hall, Pat Rice, Jenn Murray, James Mccaffrey, Jackie Blanchflower, Jim Magilton, Brian Desmond Hurst, Jonathan Bell, Betty Williams, Osborne Reynolds, Philip Nolan, Nick Hamm, Tom Mcgown, Ian Lawther, Henry Joy Mccracken, Robert Mcliam Wilson, James Bryce, Mike Duff, Paddy Wallace, Alfred Leonard Caiels, Shane Brolly, Gerry Armstrong, David Irwin, Neil Best, Brian Moore, Warren Feeney, Trevor Ringland, Gillie Mc Pherson, W. H. Lewis, Chris Brunt, Peter Robinson, Norman Whiteside, Frederick Middleton, Jackie Wright, Martin Waddell, John Herivel, Kiera Chaplin, Corry Evans, Paula Malcomson, Dave Mccreery, Gerry Taggart, Vivian Campbell, Mal Donaghy, Anton Rogan, John Stewart Bell, Stuart Elliott, Denis Donaldson, Terry George, Grant Mccann, Roma Ryan, Geraldine Hughes, Michael Savage, Brian Kennedy, Nigel Carr, Billy Hamilton, John Mcclelland, John Kelly, George Mccartney, Denis Maceoin, William Mulholland, Patricia Quinn, Patrick Macdowell, Danny Griffin, Larry Holden, Jamie Dornan,...http://booksllc.net/?l=fr ... Read more

Product Description
Chapters: Kenneth Branagh, Stephen Rea, James Nesbitt, Ciarán Hinds, Michael Legge, Laura Pyper, Patrick Magee, Colin Morgan, John Lynch, Conleth Hill, Colin Blakely, Jayne Wisener, Gerald Home, Siobhán Mckenna, Martin Mccann, Laura Donnelly, Harry Towb, Tara Lynne O'neill, Marie Jones, Michelle Fairley, Michael Colgan, Conor Macneill, Antonia Campbell-Hughes, Olivia Nash. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 124. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: James Nesbitt (born 15 January 1965) is a Northern Irish actor. Born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Nesbitt grew up in the nearby village of Broughshane, before moving to Coleraine, County Londonderry. He wanted to become a teacher, like his father, so began a degree in French at the University of Ulster. He dropped out after a year when he decided to become an actor, and transferred to the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. After graduating in 1987, he spent seven years performing in plays that varied from the musical Up on the Roof (1987, 1989) to the political drama Paddywack (1994). He made his feature film debut playing talent agent Fintan O'Donnell in Hear My Song (1991). Nesbitt got his breakthrough television role playing Adam Williams in the romantic comedy-drama Cold Feet (ITV, 19982003), which won him a British Comedy Award, a Television and Radio Industries Club Award, and a National Television Award. His first significant film role came when he appeared as pig farmer "Pig" Finn in Waking Ned (1998). With the rest of the starring cast, Nesbitt was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award. In Lucky Break (2001), he made his debut as a film lead playing prisoner Jimmy Hands. The next year, he played Ivan Cooper in the television film Bloody Sunday, about the 1972 shootings in Derry. A departure from his previous "cheeky ch...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=2141436 ... Read more

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Les achats comprennent une adhésion à l'essai gratuite au club de livres de l'éditeur, dans lequel vous pouvez choisir parmi plus d'un million d'ouvrages, sans frais. Le livre consiste d'articles Wikipedia sur : Alain Delon, Michel Serrault, Alain Chabat, Ciarán Hinds, Rex Harrison, Claude Rains, Gottfried John, Louis Calhern, Timothy Dalton, Christopher Stills. Non illustré. Mises à jour gratuites en ligne. Extrait : Michel Lucien Serrault est un acteur français né le 24 janvier 1928 à Brunoy (Essonne) et mort le 29 juillet 2007 à Équemauville (Calvados). Marié le 27 janvier 1958 avec Juanita Saint-Peyron, qu'il avait rencontrée au conservatoire Maubel à Paris alors qu'il prenait des cours de comédie, avec pour témoins Jean Poiret et Françoise Dorin, Michel Serrault a eu deux filles : Caroline morte accidentellement en 1977, âgée de 19 ans, et Nathalie. Juanita, dite Nita, morte le 15 novembre 2008, aura été jusqu'à la fin l'amour de sa vie. C'était un des acteurs les plus populaires et atypiques de sa génération, apprécié aussi bien par l'intelligentsia que par le grand public pour s'être coulé avec aisance et authenticité, tout au long d'une carrière forte de cent trente cinq longs métrages, dans des rôles très différents et originaux: du boulevard (La Cage aux folles), de la comédie absurde ou délirante (Buffet froid, Le Miraculé, Rien ne va plus) à un registre plus sombre (Garde à vue, Les Fantômes du chapelier, Mortelle randonnée, Docteur Petiot) en passant par une palette d'interprétations dramatiques nuancées (Nelly et Monsieur Arnaud, Le Monde de Marty). Il est le seul comédien à avoir obtenu le César du meilleur acteur à trois reprises. Entré à 14 ans au petit séminaire de Conflans à Charenton-le-Pont, il souhaite devenir prêtre et proclame avoir deux passions : « faire rire et m'occuper de Dieu ». C'est le père Van Hamme qui l'oriente alors vers son métier de comédien. Michel Serrault dira plus tard qu'il n'aurait pa...http://booksllc.net/?l=fr ... Read more

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Chapters: Martin O'neill, Ciarán Hinds, Brian Moore, Henry Mcdonald, Alexander Dempsey, Robert Mcliam Wilson, Tim Mcgarry, Patrick Mcwilliams. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 47. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Martin O'Neill, OBE, (born 1 March 1952 in Kilrea, Northern Ireland) is an Irish association football manager and former player, who is the current manager of Aston Villa. Starting his career in his native Northern Ireland, O'Neill moved to England where he spent most of his playing career with Nottingham Forest, with whom he won the European Cup. He was capped 64 times for the Northern Ireland national football team, captaining the side. O'Neill managed Wycombe Wanderers, Norwich City, Leicester City and Celtic before moving to Aston Villa. In his time as Celtic manager between 2000 and 2005, he led the club to three Scottish Premier League titles and the 2003 UEFA Cup Final in Seville. O'Neill was born into an Irish nationalist working-class family in Kilrea in 1952. He was the sixth child and has four brothers and four sisters. He has a strong Gaelic football background, his father being a founding member of local club Pádraig Pearse's Kilrea, which is named after an Irish nationalist leader. His brothers Gerry and Leo played for the club as well as being on the Derry senior team which won the 1958 Ulster Championship and reached that year's All-Ireland Championship final. O'Neill played for both Kilrea and Derry at underage level as well. He also played Gaelic football while boarding at St. Columb's College, Derry, and later at St. Malachy's College, Belfast. While at St. Malachy's, he first came to public attention as a football player with local side Distillery. This breached the Gaelic Athletic Association prohibition on Gaelic footballers playing "foreign sports"...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=23568660 ... Read more

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Struggling to save her empire, Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt, becomes entrenched in a deadly romantic triangle with Roman leaders Mark Antony and Julius Caesar. From one of history's great love stories, Shakespeare crafts an epic tragedy of the clash between love and duty. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A great dramatization with one little problem
This set of three CDs contains a really great dramatization of Shakespeare's classic play, Antony and Cleopatra. Arkangel brought together a battery of great actors (including Ciaran Hinds(!) and David Burke), who really brought the story to life. My one and only complaint is that they story is produced straight out of the book - which means that there is very little introduction of the cast of characters or of the scenes. When you read the play, you see the scene described and the characters listed, and when you see the play performed you see the scenery and see the faces of the actors. But, in this purely audio play you have to get to know the characters from their voices alone, and sometimes it is a little hard to imagine where the action is actually taking place.

But, in spite of that little problem, I really did enjoy the play and had little problem following the broad outline of what was happening to whom and why. Yep, I found this to be a very enjoyable dramatization, and I do not hesitate to recommend it!

Passion and Power Politics (Arkangel Shakespeare)
I think it was Aristotle who wrote that in order to have a tragedy you must have a truly heroic figure brought low by a single character flaw.Mark Antony, master of half the world, is brought low by his love for a conniving woman.Or at least that's the surface story.Beneath the surface lies the story of two people bound together by political expediency, military necessity, economic need, and passion.They shamelessly use and manipulate each other, but when all is said and done, they truly have passionate feelings for each other.I'm not sure you could really call it love.Whatever you call it, it serves as the core of a very good story that is part adventure, part romance, all tragedy.

Arkangel's production values are excellent.The sound quality is very good, the lines are well-spoken, and the plot is easy to follow even if you have never read the play.

Excellent dramatization of one of Shakespeare's best
I have just finished listening to Antony and Cleopatra and cannot speak highly enough of this fine recording.The acting is as good or better than any of the stage productions I've seen and the scenes between Antony and Cleopatra crackle with sensuality (although I did wonder how they make the kissing sounds).This is the first of this series I've listened to, but I plan to go through the entire library if this is representative of the overall quality. ... Read more

Product Description
Ivanhoe returns home from the Holy Wars to claim Princess Rowena for his bride. In his absence, Prince John has rallied Norman troops to take his brother's throne, and Ivanhoe must demonstrate his strength to protect the kingdom from the lawless usurpers - and be reunited with the woman he loves. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (65)

not so classic
I'll start out by saying I love classics but Ivanhoe fell below my standards.

My main problem with this book is that it is supposed to be an adventure/romance with Wilfred of Ivanhoe and his true love Rowena. But after the beginning tournament were most of the main characters are introduced Ivanhoe is injured and completely disapears, exept for a few short scenes, until the end of the book.

The book, spends an inordinate amount of time on Ivanhoe's father Cedric, Isaac the Jew and his daughter Rebbecca (who also loves Ivanhoe), and the three villains, Font-de-Bouef, De Bracy, and the Knight Templar Brian de Bois Gilbert.

All of the "good guys" are well rounded, realistic characters but because of their historically accurate hatred of Jews I found it hard to identify with them.

My second annoyance with the book is that the "bad guys" don't have a quarrel with Ivanhoe and ignore him for most of the book.

Ivanhoe doesn't have any goals beside trying to get his father to let him marry Rowena and fight in any battle that happens to be near him because he likes fighting.

The book builds up to a climax that falls flat. I was hoping for a good old fashioned sword fight between the wounded hero and his arch enemy, but Ivanhoe easily defeats the Knight Templar whom he hasn't said a word to during the whole story.

Usually if you take out the main character in a story there isn't much left but in Ivanhoe the plot can do just fine without him.

So if you want to read this book get it from your local library. Don't waste your money on it.

Knighthood
I read this all in one setting. King Richard was The Black Knight that Ivanhoe championed. The Knights Templar fought Ivanhoe. A classic tale of knighthood condensed with wonderful illustrations. I liked it.

Each One Must Follow His Own Path
One wonders whether Scott's intentions were more closely related to his personal experiences of having argued with someone of the faith of Judaism, (thinking perhaps he might save them from Hell's fire) or whether he meant to expose certain underlying factors which have caused historians to label the submersion of the European states into feudalism as the "Dark Ages."

The role of Jewish merchants in financing the military campaigns of European monarchy is no small foot note of the times called Dark Ages. So at the risk of betraying too many intrigues which influence the plot of Ivanhoe, I would suggest that while a few branches of argument in this work are based on religion, the over all cast of characters are better or worse as human beings largely despite their religious observance. And the overwhelmingly corrosive influence of Medieval Catholicism on society at large is no small crisis point of the story of Ivanhoe either.

Even from the lips of one of the most hypocritical villains in the drama, Scott has issued forth such a scathing indictment as follows,

"...will future ages believe that such stupid fanaticism ever existed?"

A more subtle and underpinning romantic idealism is conveyed through Scott's illustration of how very few, and by extension how much the more privileged are those characters in the story who demonstrate some (however fragile) possession of literacy. Ivanhoe is some 500 years after Arthur the King had established a rule of law in the absence of the collapsed Roman authority, architecture, and a written form of Latin characters, which some of the tribal peoples availed themselves of to record their stories and supply written commentary to their works of art and religious observance. Again, the story is some 500 years before England felt any influence from the printing press.

Scott's birth in Edinburgh (Scotland) around the time of the American Revolution is some ways preserving an illustration of many of the illiterate attitudes which still afflicted Europe in his day and which would have condoned the practice of deportation to the colonies as punishment for political, religious and civil criminals.

To view this `romance' only through the racist prejudices engendered by the crusades is to make one's self apathetic to the historical commentary which extols the greater virtue of Christian monarchs who remained constant in their own domains, upholding a rule of law for their subjects. Even while the characters of the story of Ivanhoe express their disdain for the ("errant") law of the Jews, it wasn't too many centuries earlier that Saxon invaders had practiced genocide, before their Kings were converted to Christianity with it's rudimentary tailings of the Torah. So that even a Saxon King like Alfred is called 'The Great' not because he, like also King Aethelbert was a Christian convert, but because he upheld a rule of law for his subjects.

My Scottish family ties probably endear me to some of the stereotypical humor employed by Scott. At the first introduction of Isaac of York, Cedric orders his court fool (Wamba son of Witless) a favored servant to make room for the Jew, Wamba seizes a side of bacon and exclaims, "[I'll] erect a bulwark against the [unbeliever]." Or when Ivanhoe's servant Gurth, is sent to render payment to Isaac's home following a tournament. The picture of Isaac counting out each piece of gold, fingering the size and weight of each like Dicken's Ebeneezer Scrooge, or Disney's Uncle Scrooge Mc Duck, is as much a Scottish miser stereotype as any reflection made upon `poor' Isaac.

It would be viscerally difficult for me to be offended by someone who recognizes the value of money like that. Notwithstanding bizarre Christian ideals about vows of poverty, or divesting one's self of possessions to give to the poor, even Christian epistles stress the priority of providing for one's family. The author of Ivanhoe spares little contempt for the religious excesses of medieval Europe. But at the same time he doles out respect for those who lived their devotion.

Even the best movie depiction would struggle to accurately display the incredibly violent sport of tourney jousting, or the battle scenes around Coeur De Leon Richard Plantagenet. But Amazon market place advertises at least four different videos. The language is not dissimilar to Shakespeare or the King James version of the Bible, but accurate to the King's English during the American Civil war. As for the usage of French terminology throughout the text, well some of it is old Latin. So if you've ever studied a Latin based language like Spanish, Italian or French, you can probably guess at much of it if the root words mean anything to your vocabulary. Otherwise, it can't hurt to browse the internet wherever you're really curious about an obscure term. The entire text may be found at a number of web sites, but I'd endorse this Oxford edition specifically for the English notes included. It also includes Scott's notes and introductions.

Informative at times, Interesting at times and well, too slow at times
I'm glad that I read this book and I think that it had many exciting and enjoyable moments. The characters were interesting, for the most part, although I thought it slightly odd that Ivanhoe was hardly the main character of the book. It did have some very slow moments, but like all romantic novels, the character's feelings are talked about for pages and pages. If you know all of this beforehand, it is quite a fun read. I agree with the reviewer that the anti-semitism was brutal throughout the novel but at the end, you felt that there was an enlightenment with Ivanhoe and other characters about the fact that Jewish people are, in fact, PEOPLE! I liked that part of the book very much.

a classic of honor and relationships
Ivanhoe shows up on just about every list of the 100 greatest books ever written.There is good reason for this.It's descriptions of time, place and character are vivid and engrossing.Perhaps most interestingly, the book describes an almost dizzying array of complicated relationships.Strict father to independent son, lover to lover, lover to unrequited lover, father to daughter, conquerers to the oppressed, jew to gentile, servant to master, king to subjects (loyal and disloyal), it's all in Ivanhoe.Personally, I was most taken with the treatment the Jews received, with Scott being very modern in his treatment given the time and place in which he was living.Rebecca comes through as one of the most interesting characters in the novel, the Jewish woman who seems to understand Christianity better than any of the Christians.Beyond the engaging relationships, we are given action that draws in characters that have become mythic:Richard the Lion-hearted, Robin Hood, the Knights Templar and of course Ivanhoe himself.This is a novel that is worthy of the intensive study it has received, a staggering achievement. ... Read more

Product Description
Struggling to save her empire, Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt, becomes entrenched in a deadly romantic triangle with Roman leaders Mark Antony and Julius Caesar. From one of history's great love stories, Shakespeare crafts an epic tragedy of the clash between love and duty. ... Read more

Product Description
King Leontes of Sicilia is seized by sudden jealousy of his wife Hermione, whom he accuses of adultery. He believes the child Hermione is bearing to have been fathered by his friend Polixenes, and when the baby girl is born, he orders her to be taken and left to die. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (27)

best purchase off amazon yet!
This seller was very prompt and gracious.She left many of her personal touches in this order (bookmark and note), which really stood out to me.This is a great seller and product was as described.I purchased the book around 1am on Monday morning and received the book by 10am Tuesday morning!Ships fast and is a very charismatic seller!

Grace!
"The Winter's Tale" is one of Shakespeare's last plays, and it boasts one of the best ensembles of characters in the entire canon. This is a text where no single character dominates, and many have more than one brilliant moment.
The play follows the jealously inspired downfall, and eventually redemption, of King Leontes. While taking us on that journey Shakespeare glorifies the ideas of grace and forgiveness, the simplicity of country life, the lasting bonds of friendship, the power of parenting, the ardor of young love, the patience of mature love, and in the great character of Paulina, the lengths and benefits of loyalty. This text is the result of a writer at the top of his game, and the episodic plot (it takes place over 16 years) allows the Bard to weave in many varying themes that lead to a pleasing and satisfying conclusion.
This text is often maligned as not one of Shakespeare's better efforts, and I wholeheartedly disagree. Read it, and then try to find a really superior theatre company doing a performance. Enter the kingdoms of Sicilia and Bohemia; meet Paulina, Autolycus, the Old Shepherd and his doltish son, as well as many others. You will be glad you did!
As for the Pelican Shakespeare series, they are my favorite editions as the scholarly research is usually top notch and the editions themselves look good as an aesthetic unit. It looks and feel like a play and this compliments the text's contents admirably. The Pelican series was recently reedited and has the latest scholarship on Shakespeare and his time period. Well priced and well worth it.

"A sad tale's best for winter" that ends in joy
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(This review is for the talking book version of this play on compact disc by the "Complete Arkangel Shakespeare" and published by BBC Audiobooks America.)

"Too hot, too hot!
To mingle friendship far is mingling bloods.
I have tremor cordis on me,--my heart dances;
But not for joy,--not joy.--This entertainment
May a free face put on; derive a liberty
From heartiness, from bounty, fertile bosom,
And well become the agent: `t may, I grant:
But to be paddling palms and pinching fingers,
As now they are; and making practis'd smiles,
As in a looking glass; and then to sigh, as `twere
The mort o' the deer; O, that is entertainment
My bosom likes not, nor my brows."

The above is said as an aside by the King of Sicilia as he observes his Queen with his good friend (who he has known since childhood), the King of Bohemia. This is the occurrence that sparks the King of Sicilia's jealousy and forms the basis of this play (written circa 1611) by William Shakespeare (1564 to 1616).

(Note that this play is traditionally classified as a comedy but is more accurately known as a tragicomedy or romance.)

Having this play recorded on compact disc is a treat.This play (of five acts or fifteen scenes) is presented as uncut, fully dramatized, and accompanied by original music.This recording aids in comprehension by bringing the play to life using the voices of distinguished actors.

Included with the compact disc are liner notes that include among other things a complete cast list and a synopsis of each scene.What I did was before each scene, I paused the recording, read a particular scene's synopsis, and then listened to that scene. Doing it this way resulted in (for me anyway) complete comprehension of this play, something not easily obtainable when you simply read the play.

With respect to the play itself, it should be remembered that in most cases, the characters are not realistic.Jealousy appears with little motivation; characters perform actions that are symbolic rather than believable in terms of everyday life; common sense seems frequently to be lacking.(In fact, this is why many 17TH and 18TH century critics dismissed this play as absurd and totally lacking in reason.)

However, it seems to me that Shakespeare deliberately made most of these characters symbolic rather than realistic.The themes of the play (evil, repentance, and reconciliation) are of such a universal scope that they must be represented clearly in its characters.

This play is famous for the stage direction that Shakespeare gives in Act 3 Scene 3: "Exit, pursued by a bear."

Finally, for those playing this compact disc on their computer compact disc player, beware that a "cookie" of 0.1 KB size is stored on your computer's hard drive.A "cookie" is just a small piece of text and is NOT a virus.It can do no harm but for those that don't want it, it can be easily erased.

In conclusion, this compact disc brings this tragicomic or romance play to life aiding in its comprehension and thus enjoyment!!

(2005; 2 hr, 50 min;3 compact discs,15 tracks)

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The Winter's Tale
Very informative edition of this difficult play.The notes helped clarify Leontes' extreme switch in behavior toward his wife Hermione - from love and trust to suspicion and ruthlessness.Would recommend this Arden Shakespeare edition to people encountering 'The Winter's Tale' for the first time(as I was) for edification and clarification.
Linda Sheean

Book Review
This book came very quickly, and was in mint condition. Very pleased with this order. ... Read more

Product Description
Dubliners - James Joyce's stories of his native homeland - performed by a cast of 15 different actors originating from Ireland.  Unabridged.

The fifteen stories that make up this brilliant audio roam over a human landscape that stretches from the bleakest of despair to the most blinding of epiphanies.  First published in 1914, the stories are as lucid and accessible as they are memorable poignant.

As you listen to the cast of internationally famous stage and screen actors perform Dubliners, both the spiritually deadening atmosphere that drove Joyce from his homeland and the irresistible emotional pull it always kept on him to the end of his days become heartbreakingly beautiful.

Dubliners is an audio experience that will only grow in richness with each time you listen. 

The stories and performers are:

Customer Reviews (142)

Published on demand version full of typos!
Dubliners is a fabulous set of short stories. But SOHO Books, who published this version, let all sorts of typos get through, thus marring what would be a thoroughly enjoyable reading experience.You need to do a better proofreading job, SoHo Books!

More Powerful With Age
I first read Dubliners in a Joyce class I took in college in the late 90s.I'm sorry to say that at the time, it must not have made much of an impression on me, as there were several stories in the collection that I couldn't recall ever having read.Having read the book again at the age of thirty-four, I was better able to appreciate both Joyce's prose and the subject matter of the stories.I think these stories are perhaps better understood once one has been out in the "real world", worked a job (dead end or otherwise), spent some more time on romantic pursuits, and tasted a little disappointment.Perhaps these stories didn't resonate with my younger self because of my lack of experience in some of these areas.As an adult who has grappled with the notions of identity, religious values, nationality, marriage, career, financial/social status, and alcohol, I found that I was able to relate better to many of the themes Joyce explores in Dubliners.

This is not to say that the book shouldn't be studied in college lit classes, as Joyce's prose is excellent and the content of each story can provide for a rich literary discussion.This book can be enjoyed on many levels and by anyone with a love of the written word.I firmly believe though that the more life you have under your belt, the more these stories will mean to you.

In short, Dubliners is a collection of stories about everyday people doing everyday activities.It presents a slice of life look at what Dublin might have been like during Joyce's time while also presenting underlining ideas regarding religion, nationality, class, relationships, and politics.This book is worth reading and highly recommended.I would add that if you're interested in reading James Joyce, this is the place to begin.There are some characters in these stories who turn up in Ulysses for example.Dubliners is also less experimental than either Ulysses or A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and thus more accessible.

A Deal, A Pleasure
Sell me a toaster with the following supplements: ten loafs of bread, a few sticks of butter, and some jam; I will call it a deal.Likewise, sell me the second half of "The Dead" with the following supplements: "A Little Cloud," "Eveline," and twelve other short selections; I will call it a deal.Unless James Joyce indited his signature in blood on your copy of DUBLINERS, it is impossible to be fleeced as a result of purchasing this book.The quality of most of the collection remains uncontested.True, every story is not as good as "The Dead"; true, every story is not as poor as "Grace."Immutability is not a trait to be found in DUBLINERS.Each piece relies on an epiphany and some stories, whether a result of craft, plot or character, achieve the desired effect better.Regardless, some of the best pieces of short fiction I have had the pleasure of reading were in this excellent collection.

But why is it excellent?For this enraptured reader, many times it felt as if he escaped the corporeal and touched spirits with all who've encountered the emotions, the situations that Joyce's characters did.It is one of the greatest joys in reading fiction: being described your very own thoughts better than you could ever hope to.And yet--and yet--it is as well one of the greatest joys in reading fiction: when a skilled writer sells you the unfamiliar as something equally palpable to your memories.For long moments, I was able to transcend the limits of the page and believe the words as I would believe seeing an old man briskly walking by, a squirrel running up a tree.

A confession: when the SoHo Book version of DUBLINERS arrived, I was repeled.The glossed cover, the long pages--it all felt amateur and lacking taste.However, the more I read, the more I found enjoyment arising from the unique presentation.In fact, by the time I was through "A Painful Case," one of the last few stories, I could not imagine what it was about the initial impression it had that I disliked.If your wont is to scribble copious amounts of notes, this version is both wonderful and terrible.Unless you've been gifted with minute handwriting, it will be a pressing task, writing observations in between sentences, writing questions on the margins.At the end of many stories, though, large blank spaces are left prior to the start of the next.

Every lover of books should buy herself a copy of Dubliners, allow himself to read it whenever the occassion strikes appropriate.

Highly recommended
A number of short stories focusing on different aspects of life in the city. I can't speak as to it sociological value, but taken as literature almost all of the discrete pieces is very nicely done. The stories are very short--most under ten pages, and within the limited narrative scale Joyce provides a lot of punch to his depictions. There's never the space in any single story to manifest the same scale or psychological complexity afforded by novels--and right here is the basis of my main reluctance with short stories--but there is some very good plotting and characterization on display. Best of all, the fact that all these stories in some degree make Dublin a central character in the drama allow them to be read in aggregate effectively, showing with skill a wide variant of scholars, merchants, priests, sensualists and politicians. Highly recommended.

Review posted on The Literate Man ([...]) on July 28, 2010
I have a confession to make ... I don't really like short stories. I mean, I see their utility for teaching the elements of story structure and characterization, and I appreciate the odd twist that makes for a memorable story scene, but I never find them really fulfilling. And I generally forget them very quickly. They are, I would contend, the rice cakes of the literary scene ... universally respected as the most healthy of literary treats, but consistently failing to deliver any actual nutrition to their hungry readers. I find it hard to believe that I am alone in this. Come on, be honest. Have you really gone out of your way to read short stories since you were ten and forced to read The Lottery?

Now, when I state a dislike of short stories in the context of a review of James Joyce, I feel guilty ... and I mean seriously guilty. Even the mention of Joyce conjures for me images of the staunch Irish Catholicism that I endured as a child and have been running from ever since. It's enough to make me want to confess.

"Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned ... it has been more than three years since my last short story."

Fortunately for me, Dubliners is a bit different. First published in 1914, Dubliners is a collection of 15 short stories (okay, it's really 14 short stories and one novella) that depict middle class life in Dublin just after the turn of the twentieth century. The stories revolve primarily around topics that are near and dear to the Irish heart: death (The Sisters, A Painful Case, and (of course) The Dead), poverty (After the Race, The Boarding House, and Clay), alcohol (Counterparts and Grace), and politics (Ivy Day in the Committee Room). Now, even as I write it, that depiction sounds downright drab, but Joyce's lyrical skills are at their peak in these stories, and every single one manages to warm your heart just as if you yourself were standing next to a peat fire in some country pub out on the cliffs of the old sod ordering a round of pints for the lads.

Between the consistency of the Dublin scene that it paints and the beautiful effect of Joyce's lyrical prose, Dubliners is a very enjoyable read. In fact, though it was written by the same Joyce that we love and hate for Ulysses and (ugh) Finnegans Wake, Dubliners is even completely understandable! It makes me wonder what Joyce might have produced if he hadn't grown so enamored of experimenting with form and language. Not that what he wrote wasn't good ... I mean, the best ... oh there I go feeling guilty again. That's what happens when you criticize the master. Does anyone have a rosary?
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