The Thebaid, or The Brothers at War: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

The Thebaid, or The Brothers at War, credited to Jean Racine, 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 The Thebaid, or The Brothers at War by Jean Racine. (Translated by Robert Bruce Boswell.) Read in English by MichaelMaggs; ToddHW; Lydia; Sonia; Adrian Stephens; Lisanne Lavoie; alanmapstone; Tomas Peter; Nemo; Adam Bielka "The reign of Louis XIV. in France, like the age of Pericles at ancient Athens, was remarkable for literary excellence no less than for military achievements. Like Euripides, Racine confined himself almost exclusively to tragedy.... It was under Molière's friendly auspices that Racine's first published play, "La Thébaïde," was put upon the stage ... at the Palais Royale, Molière's own theater." The story, very much the opposite of a Moliere farce, describes the battle between the brothers Eteocles and Polynices, and being a proper tragedy does not end well for anyone. (NOTE: Act 0 here is a biography of Racine from the introduction of the Translator's book. The play starts with Act 1.) - Summary by Translator and ToddHW Cast list: Eteocles, King of Thebes: ToddHW Polynices, brother of Eteocles: alanmapstone Jocasta, mother of those two princes, and of Antigone: Sonia Antigone, sister of Eteocles and Polynices: Lydia Creon, their uncle: Adrian Stephens Hemon, son of Creon, lover of Antigone: Tomas Peter Olympia, confidential friend of Jocasta: Lisanne Lavoie Attalus, confidential friend of Creon: Adam Bielka A Soldier of the Army of Polynices: Nemo Stage Directions: MichaelMaggs Editing: ToddHW

Recording facts

• Recording title: The Thebaid, or The Brothers at War
• Author credits: Jean Racine
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 6
• Listed recording duration: 2:07:45

Catalogue topics

• Thebes

Track guide

1. 00 - Act 0 - Biographical Notice — 29:46
2. 01 - Act 1 — 22:25
3. 02 - Act 2 — 16:13
4. 03 - Act 3 — 19:56
5. 04 - Act 4 — 20:29
6. 05 - Act 5 — 18:56

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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.