Nightmare Abbey

Thomas Love Peacock (1785 - 1866)

Deep in the fens of the British coast sits the gloomy mansion that goes by the name Nightmare Abbey. It is inhabited by persons of very low opinion of the human race, and in fact they pride themselves in the depths of their detestation. Others of its denizens believe the ultimate exercise and product of the human mind ought to be chaos.

Now let the young master of the house get snared by the wiles of a beautiful young lady. And for good measure, toss in another beautiful young lady. Now Scythrop (named in honor of an ancestor who became bored with life and hanged himself) is about to find that two such make too much of a good thing!

Peacock wrote Nightmare Abbey as a satire, and he has folded in allusions to or quotations from literally dozens of other works. He makes use of many long, impressive-sounding words (some of which he very possibly made up!). Ignore these and his occasional Latin phrase, treat the rest as a farce, and you're on track for a fun listen!(Summary be Mark F. Smith)

Genre(s): Satire

Language: English

Section Chapter Reader Time
Play 01 Chapter 01 Mark F. Smith
00:17:37
Play 02 Chapter 02 Mark F. Smith
00:07:35
Play 03 Chapter 03 Mark F. Smith
00:10:37
Play 04 Chapter 04 Mark F. Smith
00:10:46
Play 05 Chapter 05 Mark F. Smith
00:12:57
Play 06 Chapter 06 Mark F. Smith
00:17:50
Play 07 Chapter 07 Mark F. Smith
00:21:49
Play 08 Chapter 08 Mark F. Smith
00:12:02
Play 09 Chapter 09 Mark F. Smith
00:11:00
Play 10 Chapter 10 Mark F. Smith
00:16:10
Play 11 Chapter 11 Mark F. Smith
00:19:40
Play 12 Chapter 12 Mark F. Smith
00:12:41
Play 13 Chapter 13 Mark F. Smith
00:16:24
Play 14 Chapter 14 Mark F. Smith
00:08:06
Play 15 Chapter 15 Mark F. Smith
00:07:48