Audio Books by William Morton Payne

Eight years ago, taking a bird's-eye view of the mountain peaks of contemporary literature, and writing with particular reference to Björnson's seventieth birthday, it seemed proper to make the following remarks about the most famous European authors then numbered among living men. If one were asked for the name of the greatest man of letters still living in the world, the possible claimants to the distinction would hardly be more than five in number. If it were a question of poetry alone, Swinburne would have to be named first, with Carducci for a fairly close second. But if we take literature in its larger sense, as including all the manifestations of creative activity in language, and if we insist, furthermore, that the man singled out for this preëminence shall stand in some vital relation to the intellectual life of his time, and exert a forceful influence upon the thought of the present day, the choice must rather be made among the three giants of the north of Europe, falling, as it may be, upon the great-hearted Russian emotionalist who has given us such deeply moving portrayals of the life of the modern world; or upon the passionate Norwegian idealist whose finger has so unerringly pointed out the diseased spots in the social organism, earning by his moral surgery the name of pessimist, despite his declared faith in the redemption of mankind through truth and freedom and love; or, perchance, upon that other great Norwegian, equally fervent in his devotion to the same ideals, and far more sympathetic in his manner of inculcating them upon his readers, who has just rounded out his scriptural tale of three score years and ten, and, in commemoration of the anniversary, is now made the recipient of such a tribute of grateful and whole-souled admiration as few men have ever won, and none have better deserved. It would be certainly invidious, and probably futile, to attempt a nice, comparative estimate of the services of these three men to the common cause of humanity; let us be content with the admission that Björnstjerne Björnson is primus inter pares, and make no attempt to exalt him at the expense of his great contemporaries. Writing now eight years later, at the time when Björnson's death has plunged his country and the world in mourning, it is impressive to note that of the five men constituting the group above designated, Tolstoy alone survives to carry on the great literary tradition of the nineteenth century.

The title of this book is due to the fact that it is made up of thirty articles which did duty as editorials in "The Dial." They are studies and criticisms in literature, education, and biography. The author modestly says that they "make no pretense of doing more than touch the skirts and fringes of their great subjects." Some of the subjects are as follows: "The Ibsen Legend," "The Cult in Literature," "The Literary West." "The Critic and His Task," "Anonymity in Literary Criticism," "The Approach to Literature," "Democracy and Education," "The Teaching of Education," "The Use and Abuse of Dialect," "Reading and Education," "The Summer School," "Alfred Tennyson," "Ernest Renau," "John Addington Symonds," " John Tyndall," " Thomas Henry Huxley," "Oliver Wendell Holmes." From Benan this rhapsody is quoted: "Heroes of the unselfish life, saints, apostles, recluses, cenobites, ascetics of all ages, sublime poets and philosophers, whose delight was in having no heritage here below; sages who went through life with the left eye fixed upon earth and the right eye upon heaven; and thou above all, divine Spinoza, who chooses to remain poor and forgotten, the better to serve thy thought and adore the Infinite, how much better you understood life than those who take it to be a narrow problem in self-interests, the meaningless struggle of ambition and of vanity! It had doubtless been better to make your God less of an abstraction, not set upon heights so dim that to contemplate him strained the vision. God is not aloue in the sky, he is near each one of us; he is in the flower pressed by your feet, m the balmy air, in the life that hums and murmurs all about, most of all in your hearts. Yet in your sublime exaltation how much more clearly do I discern the supersensual needs and instincts of humanity than in those colorless beings upon whom the ray of the ideal never flashed, and whose lives from their first day to their last were unfolded, precise, and trim, like the leaves of a book of accounts." This is from the author's essay on J. A. Symonds. Professor Tyrrell, in a satirical sketch of the modern methods of classical study, says: " To study the works, for instance, of the Greek dramatists is no longer a road to success as a scholar or as a student. No, you must be ready to liken Æschylus to an Alpine crevasse, Sophocles to a fair avenue of elms, and Euripides to an amber-weeping Phaethontid, or a town pump in need of repairing." This is clearly a reference to such books as Symonds's Studies of the Greek Poets, and yet that book has done more to rouse an enthusiasm for Greek poetry and foster a desire for its acquaintance than all the unromantic tomes of the grammarians." This from the essay on Huxley: "Huxley represented English science in the sense that he gave a large part of his life to the subject of comparative anatomy, and made some fairly important contributions to our knowledge of that subject. But this work was not comparable to that, in their respective subjects, of such men as Faraday or Lyell or Maxwell, to say nothing of Darwin. It was good work, without doubt, but it was equaled by a score of Englishmen of his own generation, and surpassed by a respectable number." But the author says Huxley's "tombstone should bear the inscription, Veritatem dilexi, that Renan asked to be cut upon his own."-The Methodist Review, Vol. 78

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This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

The biography sheds light on the life of Norwegian playwright and poet Bjornstjerne Bjornson. That the nation hails him as a nationalist who propounded patriotic themes and ideas is eloquently described. The biography covers his major works, his ideals and convictions and follows his life till the state funeral that was accorded to him....

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

Webster's edition of this classic is organized to expose the reader to a maximum number of difficult and potentially ambiguous English words. Rare or idiosyncratic words and expressions are given lower priority compared to "difficult, yet commonly used" words. Rather than supply a single translation, many words are translated for a variety of meanings in Korean, allowing readers to better grasp the ambiguity of English, and avoid using the notes as a pure translation crutch. Having the reader decipher a word's meaning within context serves to improve vocabulary retention and understanding. Each page covers words not already highlighted on previous pages. If a difficult word is not translated on a page, chances are that it has been translated on a previous page.

Webster's edition of this classic is organized to expose the reader to a maximum number of difficult and potentially ambiguous English words. Rare or idiosyncratic words and expressions are given lower priority compared to "difficult, yet commonly used" words. Rather than supply a single translation, many words are translated for a variety of meanings in Chinese Simplified, allowing readers to better grasp the ambiguity of English, and avoid using the notes as a pure translation crutch. Having the reader decipher a word's meaning within context serves to improve vocabulary retention and understanding. Each page covers words not already highlighted on previous pages. If a difficult word is not translated on a page, chances are that it has been translated on a previous page.