The Joy of Living (Es lebe das Leben): A Play in Five Acts

audiobook

The Joy of Living (Es lebe das Leben): A Play in Five Acts

by Hermann Sudermann

EN·~2 hours·16 chapters

Chapters

16 total
1

BY - HERMANN SUDERMANN

0:11
2

TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN - BY - EDITH WHARTON

0:03
3

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS NEW YORK:::::::::::::::::1906

0:11
4

Translator's Note

1:35
5

CHARACTERS

0:50
6

ACT I

0:00
7

THE JOY OF LIVING

0:01
8

ACT I

34:13
9

ACT II

0:00
10

ACT II

33:46

Description

Set in a richly appointed Berlin drawing‑room at the turn of the twentieth century, the play opens with a polite shuffle of servants and aristocrats. Baron Ludwig arrives to find Holtzmann, a diligent private secretary, already engaged in a conversation that hints at recent elections and the surprising political activity of Count Kellinghausen. The stage is filled with the trappings of high society—gilded tapestries, polished furniture, and the subtle tension between public duty and private desire.

Among the guests are the Count and his elegant wife Beata, their thoughtful daughter Ellen, and a host of barons, princes, and confidants whose lives intersect through marriage, ambition, and the ever‑present question of what makes life worth living. Their exchanges are crisp and witty, revealing both the charm and the constraints of their world, while a quiet undercurrent of longing for genuine happiness pulses beneath the surface.

The drama unfolds over five acts, balancing light‑hearted banter with deeper reflections on love, responsibility, and the pursuit of joy. Listeners will be drawn into the elegant yet fragile world of Berlin’s elite, where every polite smile may conceal a yearning for something more.

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Details

Language

en

Duration

~2 hours (138K characters)

Publisher of text edition

Project Gutenberg

Credits

Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive

Release date

2010-11-04

Rights

Public domain in the USA.

About the author

Hermann Sudermann

Hermann Sudermann

1857–1928

A bestselling German novelist and dramatist of his day, he wrote vivid stories about ambition, class, desire, and the pull of home. His work helped shape late 19th-century theater, and one of his stories later inspired the classic film Sunrise.

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