Father Goriot (version 2): Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

Father Goriot (version 2), credited to Honoré de Balzac, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of Father Goriot (version 2) by Honoré de Balzac. (Translated by Ellen Marriage) Read in English by Bruce Pirie Father Goriot (Le Père Goriot), published in 1835, is widely considered to be Balzac's finest and most popular novel. It is set in Paris in 1819, after Napoleon's defeat and the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy. France was undergoing massive social upheaval, as the new bourgeoisie jockeyed for position alongside the old aristocracy. Against this backdrop, we follow the lives of Goriot, an old man who irrationally dotes on his daughters; Vautrin, a shadowy criminal mastermind; and Rastignac, a young man from the provinces who studies how to navigate the complexities and climb the ladder of Parisian society. Balzac's masterful use of physical and psychological detail makes this book a landmark in the development of realism in western literature. - Summary by Bruce Pirie

Recording facts

• Recording title: Father Goriot (version 2)
• Author credits: Honoré de Balzac
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 19
• Listed recording duration: 11:27:18

Catalogue topics

• fiction
• family
• paris
• France
• greed
• corruption
• 19th century
• realism

Track guide

1. 01 - Chapter 1 — 43:17
2. 02 - Chapter 2 — 32:54
3. 03 - Chapter 3 — 17:51
4. 04 - Chapter 4 — 24:57
5. 05 - Chapter 5 — 11:07
6. 06 - Chapter 6 — 29:33
7. 07 - Chapter 7 — 48:58
8. 08 - Chapter 8 — 26:24
9. 09 - Chapter 9 — 49:05
10. 10 - Chapter 10 — 46:31
11. 11 - Chapter 11 — 45:27
12. 12 - Chapter 12 — 43:30
13. 13 - Chapter 13 — 41:32
14. 14 - Chapter 14 — 41:42
15. 15 - Chapter 15 — 36:31
16. 16 - Chapter 16 — 42:25
17. 17 - Chapter 17 — 43:42
18. 18 - Chapter 18 — 30:45
19. 19 - Chapter 19 — 31:06

Listen to this recording

Open the complete recording and player on Internet Archive. The player includes the full track list and available download formats.

Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.