Audiobook · read by volunteers
Bulfinch’s Mythology: The Age of Fable
Thomas Bulfinch (1796–1867)
Read by Justin S Barrett, Lizzie Driver, Jennifer Stearns, Anna Simon, Susie G., jpod 42, Julie VW, ML Cohen, Ted Delorme, Alison Raouf · 42 chapters · 14 h 53
About the book
Why does the Sun cross the sky in a chariot? Who was the first woman, and what happened when she opened a jar she was told to leave alone? What became of the lovers who spoke through a hole in a wall? Thomas Bulfinch set out to make the old myths accessible to ordinary readers, and he succeeded so well that his book has been in print ever since. The Age of Fable retells the stories of the gods and heroes of Greece and Rome, with simplified versions of the Iliad and the Odyssey and a selection of Norse and eastern legends. It is a storehouse of tales that run through poetry, painting and everyday speech. Forty-two chapters and nearly fifteen hours offer a friendly guide to a vast inheritance.
Introduction
Thomas Bulfinch lived from 1796 to 1867. An American, he worked as a clerk in a Boston bank and wrote in his spare time, driven by a desire to share the riches of classical literature with readers who had not studied it. His Mythology was first published in 1855, in the form of The Age of Fable, and was later combined with his other volumes, The Age of Chivalry and Legends of Charlemagne, under the general title Bulfinch's Mythology.
This recording follows the tenth edition of the first volume, The Age of Fable. It contains many Greek and Roman myths, including simplified versions of the Iliad and the Odyssey, as well as a selection of Norse and eastern myths. Bulfinch's goal was to make the ancient stories accessible to ordinary readers, so that they could understand the allusions that fill English poetry and conversation. For that reason he softened some of the harsher details and told the stories in a plain and agreeable style.
The result is one of the most popular collections of mythology ever published. It has introduced generations of readers to Prometheus and Pandora, Apollo and Daphne, Pyramus and Thisbe, and many others. The book is organised into short chapters, which makes it easy to listen to a few at a time. LibriVox volunteers share the reading, and the whole takes close to fifteen hours.
Why listen? Because these stories remain the common furniture of Western culture. Hearing them gathered together, in an affectionate and orderly telling, is a good way to recognise the references you meet everywhere else.
Public domain
Thomas Bulfinch died in 1867: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text