https://librivox.org/northanger-abbey-by-jane-austen-2/
Dear Dr. Elizabeth Klett:
I love audiobooks, I have been listening to them for about two weeks (I am 45). As most people I listen to them while doing things that do not require much concentration, or if the book is particularly interesting, I just sit or lay down and listen to it.
I am an Audible subscriber, I receive two books a month, and I listen to them at least four or five times in the span of a few years or months, depending on how much I like the book and narrator.
My prelude just reminded me of the scene in Bel Canto, when the russian gentleman explains to the opera singer why he is qualified to tell her he loves her singing.
As I was saying, twenty years, twenty four books a year, that is around five hundred books -as I said, most were listened more than once- and add the audiobooks from Librivox.
A roundabout way of saying I have heard many narrators many times. When I listen to Northanger Abbey from Librivox I was impressed with the quality of the narration, I kept thinking to myself "I hope someone told this girl just how fantastic she is at this, the diction, the intonation, the voice acting, timing, I mean, just all of it..."
Whenever I wanted to listen to something superbly written and narrated I would pick from Mr. David Sedaris, Professor Bill Bryson, Mr. Douglas Adams, or Northanger Abbey from Librivox.
I thought myself lucky for having discovered this narrator in Librivox (that would be you) and out of curiosity, I once did a websearch her and, well, to my surprise, she turned out to be doctor (in philosophy and or literature, I would guess) who is a university professor, professional actress, expert in literature, voice acting, narrating, and the list went on. I smiled to myself and though, how strange are the arts.
When we see a what we consider a good artis, like a good actor or musician, for example, we -and by "we" I mean "I", of course- have the tendency to pat wish them in the back, and say "well, you did good, you have a talent for this, you are just really good!". It is funny that when we see a beautiful bridge we get no urge to contact the architect and engineer and tell them "Hey! nice bridge there you guy! keep up the good work!" or when a surgeon does a transplant nobody has the urge to go up to her and say "well, you did it, didn't you? you are so good at this, you should stick to it, I see a future here for you".
Yet when we see artist who have spend years in training, school, college, university, classes, coaches, groups, community centers, all the hard work, all the effort, all the studying, the hard work, the introspection, the reading, the writing, the dancing, the exorcising, the shear sacrifice, the talent! the talent ... Well, we get this urge to go up to them and almos hand them a dollar bill and say "hey, you are good!".
I have no idea what this is, I have thought about it, not much, but I have, I guess it is historic, artists were mainly self-taught perhaps, lived on tips from patrons, were to entertain without bothering the people at the court, who knows; yet enough centuries have passed, and I feel we still have this attitude, I am perplexed everytime I catch myself in this frame of mind.
Perhaps television and cinema does not help, so many stories about a person who just jumps on a stage by accident and end up in the proverbial "top of the world"; yet we do not know how many of our favorite musicians, actors, painters, artists in general, have a formal education, and how hard it was, and how many sacrifices they made, and how many people who deserved to make it, are still trying.
The short version of this letter would say that I humbly thank you for using your amazing talent and training for the enjoyment of us anonymous beings around the world, and I hope G-d, the universe, or Darwin (the medium of your choice) showers you and your loved ones with wonderful, beautifull, expected and unexpected things.
Thank you, Dr. Klett,
Best regards,
Elazar
