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Cleopatra: I Am Fire and Air
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 3 hrs and 6 mins
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Cleopatra: I Am Fire and Air
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Publisher's summary
Cleopatra is one of the most famous women in history - and thanks to Shakespeare, one of the most intriguing personalities in literature. She is the lover of Marc Antony, defender of Egypt, and, perhaps most enduringly, a champion of life. Cleopatra is supremely vexing, tragic, and complex. She has fascinated audiences for centuries and has been played by the greatest actresses of their time, from Elizabeth Taylor to Vivien Leigh to Janet Suzman to Judi Dench.
Award-winning writer and beloved professor Harold Bloom writes about Cleopatra with wisdom, joy, exuberance, and compassion. He also explores his own personal relationship to the character: Just as we encounter one Anna Karenina or Jay Gatsby when we are in high school and college and another when we are adults, Bloom explains his shifting understanding of Cleopatra over the course of his own lifetime. The book becomes an extraordinarily moving argument for literature as a path to and a measure of our own humanity.
Bloom is mesmerizing in the classroom, wrestling with the often tragic choices Shakespeare's characters make. With Cleopatra, he delivers exhilarating clarity and invites us to look at this character as a flawed human who might be living in our world. The result is an invaluable resource from our greatest literary critic.
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What listeners say about Cleopatra: I Am Fire and Air
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Daryl
- 03-06-23
Bloom’s enrapturing view of Cleopatra
I listen to this regularly. Harold Bloom was one of the greatest Shakespearean scholars that I have ever read. He captures her essence throughout the various stages of the play. From the domineering Queen, surrounded by the emblems of her reign. Through to the woman hiding from her lover, desperately trying to avoid the impending cataclysm. A wonderful analysis.
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 14
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Story5 out of 5 stars 14
The last book written by the most famous literary critic of his generation, on the sustaining power of poetry.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Culmination of Bloom’s Wisdom
- By Jesse on 12-24-20
By: Harold Bloom
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King Lear
- Arkangel Shakespeare
- By: William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: Trevor Peacock, Clive Merrison, full cast
- Length: 3 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 775
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 696
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 688
This shattering drama of isolation and loss is one of the greatest tragedies in world literature. King Lear of Britain has three daughters: the hard-hearted Goneril and Regan, and the good and gentle Cordelia. He determines to divide his kingdom between them, giving the largest share to she who can say she loves him the best. Lear's tragic lack of judgment and self-knowledge is paralleled by the blindness of the loyal Gloucester who is persuaded to reject his virtuous son, Edgar, in favor of the villainous Edmund.
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5 out of 5 stars
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tragedy par excellence
- By turbopro on 08-10-16
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How To Read and Why
- By: Harold Bloom
- Narrated by: John McDonough
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 138
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 101
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 101
Harold Bloom is Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University, Berg Professor of English at New York University, and a former Charles Eliot Norton Professor at Harvard. He has written more than 20 books of literary criticism. From a lifetime of writing and teaching about literature, this great scholar exhorts readers to consider the pleasures and benefits of reading well.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Like a review of my graduate English degree
- By Barbara on 10-01-12
By: Harold Bloom
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Tyrant
- Shakespeare on Politics
- By: Stephen Greenblatt
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 5 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 209
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 183
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 180
As an aging, tenacious Elizabeth I clung to power, a talented playwright probed the social causes, the psychological roots, and the twisted consequences of tyranny. In exploring the psyche (and psychoses) of the likes of Richard III, Macbeth, Lear, Coriolanus, and the societies they rule over, Stephen Greenblatt illuminates the ways in which William Shakespeare delved into the lust for absolute power and the catastrophic consequences of its execution.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Too Close for Comfort
- By C. Gross on 05-10-18
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The Western Canon
- The Books and School of the Ages
- By: Harold Bloom
- Narrated by: James Armstrong
- Length: 22 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 228
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 131
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 133
Harold Bloom explores our Western literary tradition by concentrating on the works of twenty-six authors central to the Canon. He argues against ideology in literary criticism; he laments the loss of intellectual and aesthetic standards; he deplores multiculturalism, Marxism, feminism, neoconservatism, Afrocentrism, and the New Historicism. Insisting instead upon "the autonomy of aesthetic," Bloom places Shakespeare at the center of the Western Canon.....
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5 out of 5 stars
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A personal and opinionated book on the Canon
- By Steffen on 07-23-12
By: Harold Bloom
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The Life and Writings of C. S. Lewis
- By: Louis Markos, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Louis Markos
- Length: 6 hrs and 5 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 506
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 446
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 442
What can we still learn from C.S. Lewis? Find out in these 12 insightful lectures that cover the author's spiritual autobiography, novels, and his scholarly writings that reflect on pain and grief, love and friendship, prophecy and miracles, and education and mythology.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Basically a collection of sermons
- By Richard on 11-20-13
By: Louis Markos, and others
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Macbeth
- By: William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: James Marsters, Joanne Whalley, Josh Cooke, and others
- Length: 1 hr and 59 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 448
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 404
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 403
Infamously known as the cursed Scottish play, Macbeth is perhaps Shakespeare’s darkest tragedy. When General Macbeth is foretold by three witches that he will one day be King of Scotland, Lady Macbeth convinces him to get rid of anyone who could stand in his way – including committing regicide. As Macbeth ascends to the throne through bloody murder, he becomes a tyrant consumed by fear and paranoia.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Might want to Read Along
- By Syd Young on 02-03-14
Related to this topic
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Lear
- The Great Image of Authority
- By: Harold Bloom
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 3 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 23
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 22
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Story5 out of 5 stars 22
King Lear is perhaps the most poignant character in literature. The aged, abused monarch is at once the consummate figure of authority and the classic example of the fall from majesty. He is widely agreed to be William Shakespeare's most moving, tragic hero. Award-winning writer and beloved professor Harold Bloom writes about Lear with wisdom, joy, exuberance, and compassion. He also explores his own personal relationship to the character.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Bloom being Bloom
- By C. Yuen on 10-05-23
By: Harold Bloom
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Falstaff
- Give Me Life
- By: Harold Bloom
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 3 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 31
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 28
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 29
Falstaff is both a comic and tragic central protagonist in Shakespeare's three Henry plays. He is companion to Prince Hal (the future Henry V), who loves him, goads him, teases him, indulges his vast appetites, and commits all sorts of mischief with him. Award-winning author and esteemed professor Harold Bloom examines Falstaff with the deepest compassion and sympathy and also with unerring wisdom. He uses the relationship between Falstaff and Hal to explore the devastation of severed bonds and the heartbreak of betrayal.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Falstaff brooks no rebuttal.
- By Darwin8u on 02-06-20
By: Harold Bloom
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Julius Caesar
- By: William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: Andrew Buchan, Sean Barrett
- Length: 2 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,495
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,340
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,340
Julius Caesar is one of Shakespeare’s most compelling Roman plays. The plot against Caesar and the infamous assassination scene make for unforgettable listening. Brutus, the true protagonist of the play, is mesmerizing in his psychological state of anguish, forced to choose between the bonds of friendship and his desire for patriotic justice.
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4 out of 5 stars
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The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars
- By David on 04-05-14
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King Lear
- By: William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: Paul Scofield, Alec McCowen, Kenneth Branagh
- Length: 3 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 134
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 109
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 107
The tragedy of King Lear receives an outstanding performance in an all-star cast led by Britain’s senior classical actor, Paul Scofield. He is joined by Alec McCowen as Gloucester, Kenneth Branagh as The Fool, Harriet Walter as Gonerill, Sara Kestelman as Regan and Emilia Fox as Cordelia. This is the ninth recording of Shakespeare plays undertaken by Naxos AudioBooks in conjunction with Cambridge University Press, and is directed by John Tydeman. It was released to mark the 80th birthday of Paul Scofield in January 2002.
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5 out of 5 stars
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This cold night will turn us all to fools & madmen
- By Darwin8u on 11-01-17
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Samson Agonistes
- By: John Milton
- Narrated by: David de Keyser, Philip Madoc, Matthew Morgan, and others
- Length: 1 hr and 51 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 62
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 57
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 57
Samson Agonistes, the 'dramatic poem' by John Milton, was published in 1671, three years before the poet's death. Written in the form of a Greek tragedy, with the Chorus commenting on the action, it follows the biblical story of the blind Samson as he wreaks his revenge on the Philistines who have imprisoned him. A powerful subject, with a personal resonance for the blind Milton, it is a perfect work for the medium of audiobook where poetry and drama can be balanced equally.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Unbelievable
- By Anonymous User on 11-06-20
By: John Milton
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Medea
- By: Euripides
- Narrated by: Jonathan Waters
- Length: 1 hr and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 118
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 104
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