Paradise of Bachelors and Tartarus of Maids

15 hrs. 29 min.

Romance & Prose

Language Russian

Author Herman Melville

Narrator Vyacheslav Gerasimov

Description

This collection includes short and relatively short works by G. Melville written between 1853 and 1891. Two "minor tales"—"Benito Cereno" and "Billy Budd—Farn-Marsov Seaman"—are about the sea; the collection of sketches "Encantadas, or the Enchanted Islands" (in another translation—"The Enchanted") is devoted to the nature of the Galápagos Islands and related adventures of sailors, pirates, and "Robinsons" (included are versions of two translations). The stories "Bartleby the Scrivener," "The Pianist," "Jimmy Rose," "The Bell-Tower," and "The Veranda" are philosophical works about life and people, with elements of sentimental-moral instruction; the humorous tales "The Thunder-Rod Seller" and "Happy Misfortune"; the contrast-based tales "Two Temples" and "Heaven for Bachelors and Hell for Young Women"—about the unfair arrangement of society; and partly autobiographical "Me and My Fireplace," rendered in the classic, for Melville, sadly-humorous style, interesting also with details about the "minor architecture" of that era.

Contents

01. The Veranda
02. Bartleby the Scrivener
03. Benito Cereno
04. The Thunder-Rod Seller
05. General impressions of these islands
06. Two sides of a turtle
07. The Rodondo Cliff
08. View from a bird’s eye
09. Frigate and Flying Ship
10. Barrington Island and the Buccaneers
11. Charles Island and the Dog King
12. Norfolk Island and Chol’s widow
13. Good’s Island and the hermit Oberwuz
14. Criminals, victims, hermits, tombstones, and the rest
15. The Bell-Tower
16. Temple One
17. Temple Two
19. The Pianist
20. Heaven for Bachelors
21. Hell for Young Women
22. Jimmy Rose
23. Me and My Fireplace