Essays of Robert Louis Stevenson
“Extreme busyness…is a symptom of deficient vitality; and a faculty for idleness implies a catholic appetite and a strong sense of personal identity.”
What comforting words for the idle among us! Like many of the best essayists, Stevenson is very much the genial fireside companion: opinionated, but never malicious; a marvellous practitioner of the inclusive monologue.
In this collection of nine pieces he discusses the art of appreciating unattractive scenery, traces the complex social life of dogs, and meditates in several essays upon the experience of reading literature and writing it. Perhaps his most personal passages concern death and mortality. Here we meet him at his most undogmatically optimistic, as he affirms a wholesome faith in “the liveableness of Life”.
(Summary by Martin Geeson)
Genre(s): Essays & Short Works
Language: English
| Section | Chapter | Reader | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Play 01 | 01 - On the Enjoyment of Unpleasant Places | Martin Geeson |
00:27:02 |
| Play 02 | 02 - An Apology for Idlers | Martin Geeson |
00:34:04 |
| Play 03 | 03 - Aes Triplex | Martin Geeson |
00:31:25 |
| Play 04 | 04 - Talk and Talkers, part one | Martin Geeson |
00:41:29 |
| Play 05 | 05 - Talk and Talkers, part two | Martin Geeson |
00:35:04 |
| Play 06 | 06 - A Gossip on Romance | Martin Geeson |
00:45:43 |
| Play 07 | 07 - The Character of Dogs | Martin Geeson |
00:36:20 |
| Play 08 | 08 - A College Magazine | Martin Geeson |
00:32:00 |
| Play 09 | 09 - Books Which Have Influenced Me | Martin Geeson |
00:24:23 |
| Play 10 | 10 - Pulvis et Umbra | Martin Geeson |
00:25:14 |