Cobwebs from a Library Corner

audiobook

Cobwebs from a Library Corner

by John Kendrick Bangs

EN·~46 minutes·57 chapters

Chapters

57 total

BOOKISH - A PESSIMISTIC VIEW

1:03

THE MASTER’S PEN—A CONFESSION

0:59

BOOKWORM BALLADS A LITERARY FEAST

1:34

IDEAS FOR SALE

2:02

THE AUTHOR’S BOOMERANG

0:24

TO AN EGOTISTICAL BIOGRAPHER

0:13

NO COPYRIGHT NEEDED

0:25

INGREDIENTS OF GREATNESS

0:24

A COMMON FAVORITE

1:06

THEIR PENS

0:13
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Description

Step into a delightfully mischievous celebration of reading, where essays roam the aisles of an imagined library and the very tools of writing become characters in their own right. The author treats the humble pen, a pair of scissors, and even a pot of glue as magical instruments capable of conjuring whole novels, all with a wink and a nod to the great storytellers of the past. Light‑hearted yet keenly observant, the pieces blend affectionate parody with genuine reverence for literary tradition.

Among the lively sketches, a confession about a cursed Thackeray pen spirals into a dream‑filled dialogue, while a whimsical dinner party serves up authors as dishes—Thackeray for dessert, Boccaccio as the main course, and Pope for a tangy salad. The writer’s voice darts from satire to sincere reflection, offering quirky commentary on the business of ideas, the quirks of bibliophiles, and the eternal tug‑of‑war between imagination and the printed page. Listeners will find themselves both chuckling and pondering the odd comforts that only a well‑loved book can provide.

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Details

Language

en

Duration

~46 minutes (45K characters)

Publisher of text edition

Project Gutenberg

Credits

Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

Release date

Dec 14, 2008

Rights

Public domain in the USA.

Subjects

About the author

John Kendrick Bangs

John Kendrick Bangs

1862–1922

A prolific humorist and satirist, he turned literary history and the afterlife into playgrounds for clever, comic adventures. He is best remembered for A House-Boat on the Styx, the imaginative work that inspired the term “Bangsian fantasy.”

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