Lamia: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

Lamia, credited to John Keats, 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 Lamia by John Keats. Read in English by Bruce Kachuk In his wonderful interpretation of the classic tale of Lamia - the mythological entity portrayed as being a deadly threat especially to children and young men - master poet John Keats construes this timeless and enigmatic story with a view towards intrigue, deception, loyalty, honor and fervor of a young man's lust for a life of passionate bliss with the newly found woman of his dreams. In retrospect, considering certain aspects of her past and recent serpent-like incarnation, the beautiful and seductive Lamia was a poor choice for the young man Lycius. But infatuation and the recklessness of youth superseded any rational thought and the wild attraction of the two lovers grew stronger. It would take his elderly mentor Apollonius (he "robed in philosophic gown"), to alert Lycius to the hazards of this new relationship. However, whether Lycius will heed the warning of his "trusty guide and good instructor" seems uncertain. In fact, Lycius has marriage in his plans, although he is concerned about a certain inexplicable stress exhibited by Lamia in the presence of Apollonius. In an attempt to cool this mad romantic obsession of Lycius and rescue his student from a dubious future, all Apollonius can do now is try to expose Lamia for the evil entity she really is. An old philosopher's cold logic and reason versus the hot passion of youth in a new found love. It must be tried. What could possibly go wrong. - Summary by Bruce Kachuk

Recording facts

• Recording title: Lamia
• Author credits: John Keats
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 2
• Listed recording duration: 44:32

Catalogue topics

• poetry
• philosophy
• love
• youth
• wisdom
• deception
• loyalty
• danger

Track guide

1. 01 - Section 1 — 25:04
2. 02 - Section 2 — 19:28

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.