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Brief Lives
- Narrated by: Brian Cox
- Length: 2 hrs and 37 mins
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Brief Lives
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Summary
William Shakespeare, Sir Walter Raleigh, Thomas Hobbes - three of the greatest Englishmen who ever lived. They, and many others, are here remembered by another great Englishman, John Aubrey, whose Brief Lives are some of the wittiest and most moving miniature portraits ever written. Aubrey - a scholar, antiquarian and close observer of both the foibles and courage of this contemporaries - lived through the upheavals of the English Civil War in the 17th century. His little biographies are amusing, ribald, moving; a testament to the brevity of human existence and one of the most precious relics of a distant age.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.
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Editor reviews
Aubrey (1626-97) was an antiquarian and bon vivant who took little time out from his partying to finish any of his projects. So someone else had to publish Brief Lives after his death. A random sampling of interesting personages, Lives is filled with gossipy anecdotes about the famous and not-so-famous. If you want the lowdown on Sir Walter Raleigh, Francis Bacon, Shakespeare, et al. - here's the place to get it. The distinguished actor Brian Cox portrays Aubrey sitting with us before the hearth of an evening. He thus does a fine job of delivering the author's personality, though his treatment of content is a bit inconsistent. Naxos's signature bridges of period music are, as usual, a definite plus.
What listeners say about Brief Lives
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Lucy H.
- 12-10-20
Wonderful book. Brilliant performance
I am not sure whether Aubrey really did have the dithery, gossipy style that Brian Cox gives him, but I hope he did. I find him a very endearing man and the snippets of people's lives are fascinating. Isn't it more interesting to hear about their foibles, fears, superstitions etc rather than a dreary overview of their whole life? I can listen to this again and again. Wonderful
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2 people found this helpful