Published in 1766 'The Vicar of Wakefield' was Oliver Goldsmith's only novel. It was thought to have been sold to the publisher for ?60 on Oliver Goldsmith's behalf by Dr Johnson to enable Goldsmith to pay off outstanding rent and to release himself from his landlady's arrest.
It is the story of the family of Dr Primrose, a benevolent vicar, and follows them through their fall from fortune and their ultimate rise again. The story provides insight into family life and circumstances in the mid 18th century and the plot has many aspects of a pantomime like quality: Impersonation, deception, an aristocratic villain and the abduction of a beautiful heroine.
Goldsmith himself dissipated his savings on gambling whilst a student at Trinity College Dublin and subsequently travelled in Europe sustaining himself by playing the flute and disputing doctrinal matters in monasteries and universities. Later he worked as an apothecary's assistant, a doctor and a school usher (experiences shared in this story by Dr Primrose's son).
Thank you, Martin,
that sounds really good. And the story seems to be very interesting: weiss is volunteering to prooflisten it and he listened to five chapters yesterday! No single mistake so far.
Greetings,
Rainer
"Everything in the world exists in order to end in a book." (Stéphane Mallarmé)
I'll add my encouragement here as well as there... Martin I love this book, I'd never read it before listening to your version but am planning on running out and buying it tomorrow (yes I am still one of those antiquated people who insists on being able to hold books)!
You do have a great voice for reading and are perfect as Dr Primrose! I of course have run out of chapters to proof at the most depressing point in the book but I'm so drawn in by it that I will download the remaining ones tonight or I won't be able to sleep. Congratulations on such a great recording!
Ah, then weiss can double-check my prooflistening, which found nothing amiss in the last three lovely fun wonderful chapters. It is in these concluding chapters that the author's comedy and the reader's subtlety are most in evidence.
I thought it was very funny and got some odd looks in the train when I was listening to it on my mp3 player and would start laughing for no apparent reason...
The "Vicar of Wakefield" is now in the catalogue. You can take a look if everything is alright. Thank you so much for your recording! And you for your quick prooflistening, weiss. Any new project planned already, Martin?
I thought that I might have a break from whole books and perhaps do some chapters of joint projects for a change - although I have just found Somerset Maugham on 'Nothing' which is quite attractive
a.r.dobbs wrote:Gesine is hoping someone will read the monk in the Canterbury Tales -- the last one that's needed to complete that project, I think! http://librivox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1154
You'd make a lovely monk.
Anita
I will second that!
"Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world. Unreasonable
people attempt to adapt the world to themselves. All progress,
therefore, depends on unreasonable people." George Bernard Shaw
Thank you for the suggestion I will go over an look at the monk!
It was Hilaire Belloc on 'Nothing', not Somerset Maugham as I said in the earlier message ( I was looking for SM's short stories, which are not on Gutenberg and then thought I would look for HB's humorous poems, which are also not there! - my favourite fragment is:
...Physicians of the utmost fame were called at once-
and when they came, they whispered
(as they took their fees)
"There is no cure for this disease"...)
