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Essays

By Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)

"Extreme busyness... is a symptom of deficient vitality; and a faculty for idleness implies a catholic
appetite and a strong sense of personal identity."

What comforting words for the idle among us! Like many of the best essayists, Stevenson is very
much the genial fireside companion: opinionated, but never malicious; a marvelous practitioner of the
inclusive monologue.

In this collection of nine pieces he discusses the art of appreciating unattractive scenery, traces the
complex social life of dogs, and meditates in several essays upon the experience of reading literature
and writing it. Perhaps his most personal passages concern death and mortality. Here we meet him
at his most undogmatically optimistic, as he affirms a wholesome faith in "the liveableness of Life".
(Summary by Martin Geeson)

01 - On the Enjoyment of Unpleasant Places - 00:27:02 ♦ 02 - An Apology for Idlers - 00:34:04 ♦
03 - Aes Triplex - 00:31 :25 ♦ 04 - Talk and Talkers, part one - 00:41 :29 ♦ 05 - Talk and Talkers,
part two - 00:35:04 ♦ 06 - A Gossip on Romance - 00:45:43 ♦ 07 - The Character of Dogs -
00:36:20 ♦ 08 - A College Magazine - 00:32:00 ♦ 09 - Books Which Have Influenced Me -
00:24:23 ♦ 10 - Pulvis et Umbra - 00:25:14

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Read by Martin Geeson; total running time: 05:32:44. Dedicated Proof-Listener: Create. Meta-
Coordinator/Cataloging: Lucy Burgoyne

This recording is in the public domain and may be reproduced, distributed, or modified without permission. For more
information or to volunteer, visit librivox.org.

Cover image by Lloyd Osbourne (1870). Copyright expired in US, Canada, EU, and all countries with author's life +70 yrs laws.
Cover design by Janette Brown. This design is in the public domain.

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