Grotesques and Fantasies: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

Grotesques and Fantasies, credited to Israel Zangwill, 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 Grotesques and Fantasies by Israel Zangwill. Read in English by Mike Pelton; Arie; John Van Stan; ToddHW; Sandra; Lynne Thompson; Tim Quinn; Greg Giordano; Lucy Perry; Matthew Nerger A set of often funny, sometimes tragic stories by Israel Zangwill. Most famous for his scathingly accurate portrayals of the Jewish ghetto, these stories have a wider stage, poking fun at social conventions and society itself, both high and low. The real and the fantastic collide to produce a world uniquely Zangwill's. These are the tales of figures as diverse as a pantomime dragon, an excellent butler, a man living his life in the wrong order and a Jewish maiden who knows exactly what she is worth. Well observed and original, the satire is biting and the wit sparkling. Many of the stories in this volume are accompanied by excellent illustrations, which are well worth a look. They are available in the Gutenberg e-text. The novella, King of Schnorrers, which began this collection when it appeared in print, already has a separate recording here. As such it is omitted from this collection, and only the shorter stories are included. (Summary by Lucy Perry)

Recording facts

• Recording title: Grotesques and Fantasies
• Author credits: Israel Zangwill
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 22
• Listed recording duration: 6:39:07

Catalogue topics

• satire
• tragedy
• fantasy
• short stories
• humour
• black comedy

Track guide

1. 00 - Foreword — 2:23
2. 01 - The Semi-Sentimental Dragon — 23:28
3. 02 - An Honest Log-Roller — 8:49
4. 03 - A Tragi-Comedy of Creeds — 11:40
5. 04 - The Memory Clearing House — 32:55
6. 05 - Mated by a Waiter. Chapter I, Black and White — 16:38
7. 06 - Mated by a Waiter. Chapter II, A Difficult Opening — 21:34
8. 07 - Mated by a Waiter. Chapter III, The Queen Comes Into Play — 16:39
9. 08 - Mated by a Waiter. Chapter IV, The Winning Move — 10:02
10. 09 - The Principal Boy — 33:47
11. 10 - An Odd Life — 27:06
12. 11 - Cheating the Gallows — 28:59
13. 12 - Santa Claus — 8:23
14. 13 - A Rose of the Ghetto — 29:01
15. 14 - A Double-Barrelled Ghost — 24:32
16. 15 - Vagaries of a Viscount — 16:11
17. 16 - The Queen's Triplets — 25:33
18. 17 - A Successful Operation — 10:06
19. 18 - Flutter-Duck. Chapter I, Flutter-Duck in Feather — 13:10
20. 19 - Flutter-Duck. Chapter II, A Migratory Bird — 8:01
21. 20 - Flutter-Duck. Chapter III, Flight — 18:09
22. 21 - Flutter-Duck. Chapter IV, Poor Flutter-Duck — 12:03

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.