Martin Geeson
Bel Ami, or The History of a Scoundrel
“He had faith in his good fortune, in that power of attraction which he felt within him - a power so irresistible that all women yielded to …
Hero and Leander
“Who ever lov’d, that lov’d not at first sight?”The wonder-decade of the English drama was suddenly interrupted in 1592, when serious plague…
The Mabinogion, Volume 1
Sample a moment of magic realism from the Red Book of Hergest:On one side of the river he saw a flock of white sheep, and on the other a flo…
The Trespasser
Brief Encounter meets Tristan und Isolde - on the Isle of Wight, under a vast sky florid with stars. The consequence is tragic indeed for on…
The Greek View of Life
“With the Greek civilisation beauty perished from the world. Never again has it been possible for man to believe that harmony is in fact the…
The Dancing Mania
Numerous theories have been proposed for the causes of dancing mania, and it remains unclear whether it was a real illness or a social pheno…
Bible (Wycliffe) 21: Ecclesiastes
“... an alemaunde tre schal floure, a locuste schal be maad fat, and capparis schal be distried; for a man schal go in to the hous of his eu…
The Girl with the Golden Eyes
Listeners who like to plunge straight into a story would do well to skip the lengthy preamble. Here, Balzac the virtuoso satirist depicts th…
Zastrozzi, A Romance
“Would Julia of Strobazzo’s heart was reeking on my dagger!”From the asthmatic urgency of its opening abduction scene to the Satanic defianc…