Piccadilly: A Fragment of Contemporary Biography

audiobook

Piccadilly: A Fragment of Contemporary Biography

by Laurence Oliphant

EN·~6 hours·11 chapters

Chapters

11 total
1

PICCADILLY - A FRAGMENT OF CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY - BY LAURENCE OLIPHANT - WITH EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS BY RICHARD DOYLE - ELEVENTH EDITION - WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS EDINBURGH AND LONDON MDCCCXCII

0:47
2

PREFACE.

0:51
3

PICCADILLY.

0:00
4

PART I. - LOVE.

44:39
5

PART II. - MADNESS.

1:01:48
6

PART III. - SUICIDE.

1:03:18
7

PART IV. - THE WORLD.

58:07
8

PART V. - THE FLESH.

4:10
9

IMMENSE ATTRACTION!

59:20
10

PART VI. - THE "——."

59:23

Description

Set against the bustling streets of mid‑nineteenth‑century Piccadilly, the narrator takes up residence in a modest bay‑window flat overlooking Green Park. From this perch he watches carriages rumble past, rain splash the gas‑lit pavement, and society’s glittering elites drift by in their jeweled carriages. His observations are sharp, witty, and tinged with a personal longing for love and purpose.

As the story unfolds, he wrestles with grand ambitions—to chronicle civilization through the narrow lens of his own London world—only to discover the limits of his own perspective. The narrative blends intimate diary‑like reflections with broader social commentary, offering a vivid portrait of a city at once elegant and chaotic. Listeners will find a lively, self‑aware voice that captures the spirit of an era while probing the timeless tension between aspiration and reality.

Details

Language

en

Duration

~6 hours (391K characters)

Publisher of text edition

Project Gutenberg

Credits

Produced by Chris Curnow, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)

Release date

2011-06-01

Rights

Public domain in the USA.

About the author

Laurence Oliphant

Laurence Oliphant

1829–1888

A restless Victorian traveler, diplomat, and writer, he turned a life of political missions and far-flung journeys into books full of observation and conviction. His work ranges from lively travel writing to fiction and spiritual reflection, shaped by an unusually adventurous life.

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