Satire
The Idiot
The Idiot is anything but, yet his fellow boarders at Mrs. Smithers-Pedagog’s home for single gentlemen see him as such. His brand of creati…
The Rape of the Lock
The Rape of the Lock is a mock-heroic narrative poem written by Alexander Pope, first published anonymously in Lintot's Miscellany in May 17…
The Bishop's Apron
"Canon Spratte saw himself as he thought others might see him: mediocre, pompous, self-assertive, verbose." Maugham could have add…
Fraternity
A satire of middle-class complacency and artistic aspiration. It is the story of a strange bohemian upper-class love triangle, and of a myst…
Candide
Ever since 1759, when Voltaire wrote "Candide" in ridicule of the notion that this is the best of all possible worlds, this world …
Hard Times
Charles Dickens' 1854 novel opens with the philosophy of education espoused by the eminently practical Mr. Gradgrind, who prizes "facts…
The Importance of Being Earnest
This is a solo recording of the play, meaning that all parts including stage directions are performed by one person. LibriVox has three exc…
The Devil's Dictionary
The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce is a sharp and witty exploration of language and human nature, presented in the form of a satirical…
Godfrey Morgan
This Verne adventure is indeed a mystery and also a satire on the Crusoe genre. Our characters are larger than life, as well they should be …
The Autobiography of Methuselah
The Autobiography of Methuselah offers a unique and humorous perspective on biblical history through the eyes of its most ancient figure. Me…
Dangerous Connections
A translation of 'Les Liaisons dangereuses' alternative title 'Dangerous Liasons'Everyone probably has Glenn Close and John Malkovich in mi…
Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero is a novel by William Makepeace Thackeray that satirizes society in early 19th-century England. Like man…
The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson
In one of his later novels, the master storyteller spins a tale of two children switched at infancy. A slave takes on the identity of master…
Lucia in London
In the third book in the Mapp and Lucia series, provincial snob and social climber Mrs. Emmeline Lucas, known to her friends as Lucia, and h…
Kandid oder Die beste Welt
Der satirische Roman "Kandid oder die beste Welt" (Candide ou l'optimisme) erzaehlt die abenteuerliche Geschichte des naiven Jueng…
Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour
Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour is a delightful comic satire of the fox-hunting fraternity of the mid 19th Century. Surtees takes great pleasure …
Lucian's True History
One of the earliest works of science-fiction (nearly 2,000 years old). It has space travel (including war in space), lunar civilization, and…
The Flying Inn
The Flying Inn is a novel first published in 1914 by G.K. Chesterton. It is set in a future England where a bizarre form of "Progressiv…
Castle Rackrent
"One of the most inspired chronicles written in English" was the verdict of William Butler Yeats on the novel Castle Rackrent by M…
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
The work was composed between 1790 and 1793, in the period of radical foment and political conflict immediately after the French Revolution.…