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  Autobiography of Goethe Volume 2

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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  A literary celebrity by the age of 25, Goethe was ennobled by the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, Carl August in 1782 after first taking up residence there in November 1775 following the success of his first novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther. He was an early participant in the Sturm und Drang literary movement. During his first ten years in Weimar, Goethe served as a member of the Duke's privy council, sat on the war and highway commissions, oversaw the reopening of silver mines in nearby Ilmenau, and implemented a series of administrative reforms at the University of Jena.Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) wrote his autobiography between the years 1811 and 1833. It covered the years from his youth until he was going to leave Weimar after the completion of his first book, The Sorrows of Young Werther. The Librivox recording of Volume 1 includes books one through ten. This second volume includes books ten through thirteen. Johann Goethe was an interesting individual. Here is a sample of Goethe's observations.We (Goethe and Herder) had not lived together long in this manner when he confided to me that he meant to be competitor for the prize which was offered at Berlin, for the best treatise on the origin of language. His work was already nearly completed, and, as he wrote a very neat hand, he could soon communicate to me, in parts, a legible manuscript. I had never reflected on such subjects, for I was yet too deeply involved in the midst of things to have thought about their beginning and end. The question, too, seemed to me in some measure and idle one; for if God had created man as man, language was just as innate in him as walking erect; he must have just as well perceived that he could sing with his throat, and modify the tones in various ways with tongue, palate, and lips, as he must have remarked that he could walk and take hold of things. If man was of divine origin, so was also language itself: and if man, considered in the circle of nature was a natural being, language was likewise natural. These two things, like soul and body, I could never separate.Silberschlag, with a realism crude yet somewhat fantastically devised, had declared himself for the divine origin, that is, that God had played the schoolmaster to the first men. Herder’s treatise went to show that man as man could and must have attained to language by his own powers. I read the treatise with much pleasure, and it was of special aid in strengthening my mind; only I did not stand high enough either in knowledge or thought to form a solid judgment upon it. But one was received just like the other; there was scolding and blaming, whether one agreed with him conditionally or unconditionally. The fat surgeon (Lobstein) had less patience than I; he humorously declined the communication of this prize-essay, and affirmed that he was not prepared to meditate on such abstract topics. He urged us in preference to a game of ombre, which we commonly played together in the evening. P. 349-350 (Wikipedia and Craig Campbell)

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  My Secret Life Vol 5 Chapter 19

  Dominic Crawford Collins

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  My Secret Life is the longest erotic autobiography ever written. Penned anonymously during the 1800s by a wealthy English gentleman called Walter, it offers an eye and thigh opening account of life behind closed doors in the Victorian era. Banned from publication for its extreme and explicit content for nearly a century, My Secret Life has now come to life in the 21st century as an immersive audio book, narrated and scored by film composer Dominic Crawford Collins.CHAPTER 19Part of my manuscript destroyed. • Sunday night at a country church. • A pretty parlour-maid. • The dark pew. • A furious pego. • A grope, a frig, a spend and a sob. • Fist-fucked by a female hand. • No copulation. • A servant at a baudy house. • Mrs. Eliza F***m**g. • Supper at the Café de l'E*r**e. • A swell and his mistress. • A quarrel. • His rudeness. • Her silent contempt. • Left alone. • My politeness and reward at J***s St. • My morning's fuck. • Fears about my virility. • Momentary impotency. • Her blandishments. • Cunt seen, kissed, and smelt. • Immediate erection. • Her voluptuousness. • In the park. • The Lady Equestrian.

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  Angel Walks Through the Stage...

  Jon Fosse

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  Winner of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Literature
  
  Jon Fosse said farewell to theory early in his career, choosing poetry, fiction, and drama as his mediums of choice. Here, however, in a selection from his two books of essays, we see just how incisive a critic and memoirist he can be. Not only including a generous portion of Fosse's writing on literature and theater—including the irresistible ""Thomas Bernhard and His Grandfather""—this collection also includes such personal essays such as ""My Dear New Norwegian,"" ""Old Houses,"" and ""He Who Didn't Want to Become a Teacher.""

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  To The Immortal Memory of the...

  William Cowper

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  LibriVox volunteers bring you 10 recordings of To The Immortal Memory of the Halibut, On Which I Dined This Day, Monday, April 26, 1784 by William Cowper. This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for May 29, 2011.William Cowper is attributed with various familiar quotations, one is..GOD moves in a mysterious way,His wonders to perform;He plants his footsteps in the sea,And rides upon the storm.Olney Hymns (1779)--'Light Shining out of Darkness'

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  The Pattern in the Carpet - A...

  Margaret Drabble

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  This unique blend of memoir and history takes “a multi-layered look at jigsaw puzzles . . . charming [and] fascinating” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).   Award-winning author Margaret Drabble weaves her own story into a history of games, in particular jigsaws, which have offered her and many others relief from melancholy and depression. Alongside curious facts and discoveries—for example, that the 1929 stock market crash was followed by a boom in puzzle sales—Drabble introduces us to her beloved Auntie Phyl, and describes childhood visits to the house in Long Bennington on the Great North Road, their first trip to London together, the books they read, and the jigsaws they completed.   With penetrating sketches of her parents, siblings, and children, Drabble shares her thoughts on the importance of childhood play, art and writing, aging and memory. And she does so with her customary intelligence, energy, and wit.   

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  The Stellenbosch Mafia - Inside...

  Pieter du Toit

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  About 50km outside of Cape Town lies the beautiful town of Stellenbosch, nestled against vineyards and blue mountains that stretch to the sky. Here reside some of South Africa's wealthiest individuals: all male, all Afrikaans – and all stinking rich. Johann Rupert, Jannie Mouton, Markus Jooste and Christo Weise, to name a few.
  Julius Malema refers to them scathingly as 'The Stellenbosch Mafia', the very worst example of white monopoly capital. But who really are these mega-wealthy individuals, and what influence do they exert not only on Stellenbosch but more broadly on South African society?
  Author Pieter du Toit begins by exploring the roots of Stellenbosch, one of the wealthiest towns in South Africa and arguably the cradle of Afrikanerdom. This is the birthplace of apartheid leaders, intellectuals, newspaper empires and more.
  He then closely examines this 'club' of billionaires. Who are they and, crucially, how are they connected? What network of boardroom membership, alliances and family connections exist? Who are the 'old guard' and who are the 'inkommers', and what about the youngsters desperate to make their mark? He looks at the collapse of Steinhoff: what went wrong, and whether there are other companies at risk of a similar fate. He examines the control these men have over cultural life, including pulling the strings in South Africa rugby.

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