
Transcriber's Note:
A reflective meditation opens the work, inviting listeners into a world where the soul is perpetually thirsty for beauty. It sketches ordinary men gathered in the dim corners of life, each secretly fearing the very splendor that could elevate them, and it shows how their everyday actions are tinged with a quiet self‑deception. The narration dwells on the paradox that even the most degraded spirit longs for the pure language of beauty, which alone can give it sustenance and meaning.
Without revealing what follows, the story pivots when a single, lofty word breaks through the gloom, stirring an unexpected awakening among the assembled. In that instant the characters glimpse a glimpse of what it means to live in alignment with their inner yearning, and the atmosphere shifts from dread to a tentative, radiant hope. Listeners are left with the promise of a subtle but profound transformation, a glimpse of how the recognition of beauty might begin to reshape lives.
Language
en
Duration
~46 minutes (45K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Martin Pettit and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Release date
2011-01-10
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1862–1949
A master of Symbolist drama, this Belgian writer filled his plays and essays with mystery, atmosphere, and big questions about fate, love, and the unseen forces of life. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911, and his best-known works still feel strange, musical, and haunting today.
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