Essays of Robert Louis Stevenson


Read by Martin Geeson

(4.5 stars; 10 reviews)

“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) (5 hr 32 min)

Chapters

01 - On the Enjoyment of Unpleasant Places 27:02 Read by Martin Geeson
02 - An Apology for Idlers 34:04 Read by Martin Geeson
03 - Aes Triplex 31:25 Read by Martin Geeson
04 - Talk and Talkers, part one 41:29 Read by Martin Geeson
05 - Talk and Talkers, part two 35:04 Read by Martin Geeson
06 - A Gossip on Romance 45:43 Read by Martin Geeson
07 - The Character of Dogs 36:20 Read by Martin Geeson
08 - A College Magazine 32:00 Read by Martin Geeson
09 - Books Which Have Influenced Me 24:23 Read by Martin Geeson
10 - Pulvis et Umbra 25:14 Read by Martin Geeson

Reviews

Sublime Essays


(5 stars)

Listening to these essays is like eating dark chocolate (or drinking dark coffee or beer), something to enjoy as a reward. Stevenson is a brilliant writer and Geeson is always a great reader.

these are wonderful


(5 stars)

What a gift to get to hang out with this great mind outside of his fictions! I recommend this!


(4 stars)

Great essays at perfect length. I didn't much take to the reader, I'm afraid to say, who puts emphases in strange places.