NEVER GIVE IN: THE BEST OF WINSTON CHURCHILL’S SPEECHES by Winston Churchill

…..Churchill Was the Anti-Nahzee…..

Winston Churchill is a towering figure in the history of the twentieth century, and a master of the English language. I recommend that you listen to the three volume, 132 hour-long, biography by William Manchester (vol. 3 with Paul Reid)— titled collectively, The Last Lion—in order to get a picture of the man Churchill before delving into his voice in these speeches.

Churchill has been called a great orator, and that is certainly true, but this not because he possessed a Stentorian voice, or even great talent of diction. On the contrary, his voice is almost comically wispy and his annunciation is often muddled. He had a slight speech impediment that brings to mind Elmer Fudd when you hear him speak. The monumental force of his will, his penetrating mind, and his razor sharp wit combined to force him into the public forum. He knew that he had to become a great public speaker and set out to achieve that goal with his typical purpose and drive. Reading his biography we learn that he had to overcome his fear of public speaking with designed determination. He spoke from notes, and not just from a brief hand-written outline: He had his speeches typed out in what his staff called “Psalm form.” By this they meant that each line was printed on a separate line, like a poem. He made notes on inserting effective pauses, on where to raise his voice, and where to pound the podium. Just like he overcame his weak body to become a star on the Polo field, overcame a learning disability to become a scholar, in like fashion he overcame his natural limitations, in diction and forcefulness of voice, to become the great public speaker that he knew he needed to become in order to motivate men to undertake the terrible task of fighting the forces of evil in this modern world.

I thought I had a good grasp of the period of history and Chuchill’s place within it from reading his biography and his Memoirs. But listening to him speak lifted this history off of the page and made it real. He made it a point of mocking Hitler by consistently calling him “the Corporal” and purposefully mispronouncing “Nazi” as Nahzee.  I have read of these disparaging tactics employed by Churchill but hearing them has forever cemented it in my mind. It is remarkable how spectacular it must have been to witness these events as they unfolded. Hearing Winston Churchill recount the progress of the war gave me a much better understanding of the mood and the times of the Second World War.

Technical Notes:

This production is billed at a 17:16 package. At about the 10 hour mark I noticed that the speeches were being repeated.  For example: At time marker 2:25 there is a speech called “Broadcast from London to the United States,” which begins, “Alexander the Great remarked that the people of Asia were slaves because they had not learned to pronounce the word ‘no.’” This same speech is repeated at the 10:04 mark. From the ten hour point onward many, if not all, the speeches are duplicated. I skipped from chapter to chapter and noticed that up to the ten hour mark the speeches were in chronological order; taking the reader from the years leading up to WWII to the time of the surrender of Germany. After the ten-hour mark this production returns to the year 1939 and the speeches are duplicated.

These are vintage recordings of speeches and readings from Churchill himself and the clarity of the recording is expectedly not up to modern standards. The words of Winston Churchill set their own high standard; one that no orator utilizing all the advanced technology nowadays can hope to equal. 

THE RAVEN by Edgar Allan Poe

Narrated by Anthony Donovan

     Hannibal Lector Quoth ‘Nevermore’    

The first thing that struck me is that the voice of the narrator Anthony Donovan sounds to my ear to be identical to that of Sir Anthony Hopkins. So, while listening, I automatically imagined Hannibal Lector reading aloud from a small tattered volume of The Collected Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe while in his cell, nibbling on some fava beans. This adds to the unease this poem naturally evokes. This is a fine version of this most wonderful poem. 

THE RAVEN AND SELECTED SHORT STORIES by Edgar Allan Poe

Narrated by Stephan Rudniki and Bronson Pinchot

     Sedate Rendition of Growing Madness    

Having just completed my listening excursion into Poe with Christopher Aruffo’s masterful thirteen volume Edgar Allan Poe Audiobook Collection, I longed to hear another interpretation.  And, being a fan of the narration of Bronson Pinchot, I was anxious to discover his interpretation of the fantastic tales of Mr. Poe. What I discovered is a competent, if uninspired rendition of these tales of terror and insanity. I realize that the slow descent into insanity, typical of Poe’s tales, is appropriately related in a calm and sane voice, at first, then becoming increasingly anxious as the character’s underlying lunacy is progressively revealed.  Pinchot and Rudniki do this expertly. What I was looking for, however, was an over-the-top melodramatic performance; that I did not find. True, there are brief moments of hysteria in the narration such as Pinchot screaming in Rodderick Usher’s voice, “Madman, I tell you that she now stands without the door!” This brief example dramatic acting-out was what I hoping for. Alas, it is only extant in a few places in this collection. This is a fine production of these classic Poe stories. The sound quality is clean and resonant. Both of the narrators are a pleasure to listen to. So, if you want a faithful respectable reading of Edgar Allan Poe, you will not be disappointed. My search for a crazed maniacal unhinged frenetic portrayal of derangement continues. I think Poe deserves at least one such performance, don’t you?

THE EDGAR ALLAN POE AUDIOBOOK COLLECTION Vols. 1-13 Read by Christopher Aruffo

     Christopher Aruffo Speaks With Poe’s Voice    

I am reviewing this entire series narrated by Christopher Aruffo: Volumes 1 through 13

Some of the volumes have been grouped together. It is therefore possible to acquire all 13 volumes contained in just 7 different audiobook titles.

Since Edgar Allan Poe is such a familiar figure of American literature I will focus my attentions on the quality of this particular audiobook production. The sound is clean and pure. The occasional sound effects are appropriate and enhance the enjoyment of the stories. The pronunciation leans toward the British occasionally, as is justified by the characters, but Christopher Aruffo’s voice is resoundingly American. 

Christopher Aruffo has a fine and versatile voice. His rendering of these Poe stories is wonderful and urgently demands your attention making it difficult for your mind to wander. Aruffo’s ability to voice different characters makes me wish that Poe had constructed his tales utilizing a larger cast of characters and with more dialog. I had always enjoyed the stories of Edgar Allan Poe but now that I can hear Christopher Aruffo narrate them I find that Poe makes more sense. It seems that it takes a faithful and entirely devoted rendering by a scholar such as Aruffo to get inside Poe’s head and then voice them for me in order for me to fully appreciate Poe. I do think that Aruffo deeply understands Poe at a level that only someone fully immersed in Poe’s oeuvre can hope to do. I even found that the many articles included in this collection were made enjoyable—even artistic—by Christopher Aruffo’s sublime delivery.

The HIGHLIGHTS of this collection include the following:

Poe’s Eureka (Collection 5) reveals that Poe was up to date with the latest scientific discoveries of his day. In it he expounds at length upon the nature of the universe and the primary forces that affect it. It is less dated than I would have supposed considering its nineteenth century origin. Poe calls this a prose poem and wished for it to be judged by the standards of poetry.

In “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar” (Collection 10) Aruffo gave me such a shock in delivering the voice of the mesmerized M. Valdemar that I had to go back and listen to it again to hear what was being said. Here Aruffo enhances the impact of Poe’s story even beyond that possible from the printed version.

When reading “The Tell-Tale Heart” (Collection 11) it is clear that Christopher Aruffo is in danger of succumbing to the insanity of Poe’s main character. This is perfectly done.

Any fan of The Raven will find their understanding and appreciation of the classic poem by listening The Philosophy of Composition in Collection 4.  This very technical essay will help you understand that this masterpiece was approached in a very careful and mathematical fashion. The result achieved was exactly the one designed. The famous poem is not included in this collection but extensive excerpts, given for example, make it seem as if Aruffo has read the poem.

Christopher Aruffo’s voicing of the title character in “Hop Frog” (Collection 12) is wonderful. I remember reading this years ago and not really getting the point. Now that Aruffo has read it to me, I can say that it is one of Poe’s most entertaining stories.

“The Cask of Amontillado” (Collection 7) demonstrates Poe’s great sense of timing. Also here Aruffo is spot on in his rendering of the tricky pacing. Here also is a fine chance for him to display his knack for character voices, since much of the story is told through a dialog between the main characters.

“The Oblong Box” (Collection 6) somehow manages to be simultaneously surprising and inevitable. And hearing Aruffo adds some heightened drama.   

Bottom line: I recommend that anyone desiring to cultivate their appreciation for the works of Edgar Allan Poe obtain this quality edition by Christopher Aruffo

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Volume 1

“The Black Cat”

“The Pit and the Pendulum”

.

Volume 2

“William Wilson”

“The Masque of the Red Death”

Volume 3

“The Fall of the House of Usher”

“The Imp of the Perverse”

Volume 4—Poe on Poetry

The Philosophy of Composition

The Poetic Principle

The Rationale of Verse

Old English Poetry

American Poetry

American Novel Writing

Defense of a Lecture

Letter to B

Pay American Authors

Literary Small Talk

Volume 5—Eureka

Eureka

Instinct Versus Reason

A Few Words of Etiquette

The Philosophy of Furniture

Credulity

A Charlatan

Maelzel’s Chess Player

The Swiss Bell-Ringers

Volume 6

“Message Found in a Bottle”

“The Lighthouse”

“The Oblong Box”

“The Oval Portrait”

Volume 7

“The Cask of Amontillado”

“The Premature Burial”

Volume 8

“Ligeia”

“Eleonora”

Volume 9—The Pioneers

“The Unparalleled Adventure Of Hans Pfaal”

“The Balloon Hoax”

“The Journal Of Julius Rodman”

Stonehenge

The Island of the Fay

Harper's Ferry

The Capitol at Washington

Morning on the Wissahickon

Volume 10—Deus Ex Machina

“The Facts In The Case Of M. Valdemar”

Von Kempelen and His Discovery

The Conversation of Eiros and Charmio

The Power of Words

The Colloquy of Monos and Una

Cabs

A Moving Chapter

Street Paving

Wooden Pavement

Try a Mineralized Pavement

The Daguerreotype

Anastatic Printing

A Chapter on Science and Art

Volume 11

“The Tell-Tale Heart”

“Man of the Crowd”

“The Sphinx”

Volume 12

“Hop-Frog”

“Metzengerstein”

Volume 13

“Berenice”

“The Assignation”

“Morella”

VAMPIRE$ by John Steakley

Narrated by Tom Weiner

     ARMOR Coda. Felix is Back!

As a fan of Steakley’s military SF novel ARMOR—and realizing that Steakley only managed to complete this one final book before his untimely death—I was compelled to listen to VAMPIRE$. It is true that the main character from ARMOR, Felix, reprises his role as the reluctant warrior in this second book. But there is scant evidence to connect the Felix here with the Felix of the earlier book save for his struggle to overcome fear and his incredible aptitude for destruction in the face of impossible odds. One wonders if John Steakley would have continued in this vein; reprising Felix in this same role in a number of different genre stories, had his career not been cut short. Alas, we will never know. Fortunately Steakley did leave us with this fine coda to the sometimes profound and sometimes paradoxical Military yet Anti-War novel ARMOR. I like to think that Steakley is exploring the very nature of heroism through Felix the fearful juggernaut that is always expecting death but lives to fight another day.

Along the way in VAMPIRE$ we get a rousing action novel with vampires that are but repulsive and yet irresistibly seductive. One of the things I have come to appreciate about Steakley’s work is his fondness for paradox.

Tom Weiner, fittingly, is one of those paradoxes. He has a tender softness in his voice when portraying female characters; a boyish jocularity when voicing the jester Cat; and delivers Felix with the appropriate nervous confidence that his character demands. His flexibility in performing multiple character voices is contrasted by his intransigent, almost overbearing, through the narrative sections. He never becomes the voice in my head. His narration in between dialog scenes gives the book an intensity that I would have missed reading it own my own. I recommend him highly. And if you haven’t yet heard ARMOR go and get it. You can thank me later. 

THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, Volumes I –VI by Edward Gibbon

THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, Volumes I –VI  by Edward Gibbon

Narrated by David Timson

     Expand Your Vocabulary in Just 146 hours

Since all six volumes are of a piece I am reviewing it as such.  This is a massive work and I will not attempt to extol all its virtues here. I have always had this on my reading list but knew that I would never devote months of reading time to tackling this history. This is a prime example of the superiority of the audio format in facilitating the assimilation of such lengthy books.

Here are my general impressions:

History is primarily an account of the leaders and ruling class. The vast unwashed masses pass through the halls of recorded history in abject silence.

The Roman Empire persisted for a very long time in many different forms. It is beyond my attention span to try to hold the entire span in my head. I admire Edward Gibbon for his ability to seemingly relate all these different eras with equal perspicuity. I will require a second pass through to more fully grasp

The influence of Christianity is the primary cause for the decline of the Roman Empire. One cannot hope to understand the underlying causes of the Roman Empire’s downfall without having a firm grasp of the doctrinal battles within the church. In order to make his reasoning clear to the listener Gibbon is careful to explain the fine points of Christian doctrine. He expounds, at length, the Arian heresy and its political implications. And, in a related episode, he relates the origins and expanse of the Mohammadan religion because of its impact on the Romans.

This is not merely a narrative history. Gibbon writes with high style and great aplomb. His humor is witty and droll and quite pervasive. The byzantine convolutions of this history are made beautiful by his flowing prose. This is a work of literature.

Either the common vocabulary of people in the eighteenth century was higher than that of people today or Gibbon has an incredible mastery of the English language, uncommon in any time. I prefer the latter.

David Timson has a wonderful sonorous voice; one quite suitable to hours of critical listening. His enunciation is crisp and his inflection perfectly suited to delivering Gibbon’s frequent backhanded compliments.

FICTIONADOS EYES ONLY:

Edward Gibbon confirms the proper grammatical use of the article “an” before words beginning with the letter “h” in contrast to the usual rule of reserving the use of that article for words beginning with vowel sounds.

The racial prejudices of the late eighteenth century seem bigoted and biased to our twenty-first century sensibilities.  This prejudice is not pervasive in the book but when it does appear it carries with it quite a shock and a shake of the head.

FICTIONADOS EARS ONLY RECOMMENDED LISTENING:

This huge mangy tome is in excess of 146 hours long. If this seems an impossibly long task consider, at least, listening to the following selected chapters. These will give you a flavor of the entire work and inform you on important elements of Roman history and, incidentally, Christian doctrine.  Note the chapter sub-titles are Gibbon’s own.

Vol I

Chapter 15 (19:35:05) The Progress of the Christian Religion and the Sentiments, Manners, Numbers and Condition of the Primitive Christians

Vol II

Chapter 21 (11:00:28) Persecution of heresy, the Schism of the Donatists, the Arian Controversy, Athanasius, Distracted state of the Empire and the church under Constantine and his sons, Toleration of Paganism.

Vol V

Chapter 50 (9:35:06) Description of Arabia and its Inhabitants; Birth, Character and Doctrine of Mohammed, He Preaches at Mecca, Flies to Modina, Propagates his Religion by the Sword; Voluntary or Reluctant Submission of the Arabs; His Death and Successors; The Claims and Fortunes of Ali and His Descendants

ESSENTIAL VOCABULARY

This work is written at the graduate level. Contemporary writers—excepting perhaps Gene Wolfe—seldom delve into this level of sesquipedalian endeavor. The following words are used repeatedly throughout the book. So if you master them up front the text will be ever so much more instructive. If you have recently synched your FEALD you will have all these, and more, in the bookmarks.

Panegyric—formal or elaborate praise—(PAN-e-GY-rick)

Obsequious—deferential, fawning—(ob-SEEK-kwi-us)

Peroration—long speech—(PEAR-or-A-shun)

Parricide—murder of a close relative—(PEAR-i-side)

Pusillanimous—cowardly, timid—(PU-sil-AN-i-mus)

Perfidy— treachery—(per-FID-e)

Imperious—overbearing, haughty—(im-PEAR-e-us)

Bon mot—generous gift—(BON-moe)

Extirpate—forcefully remove—(X-stir-pate)

Invidious—likely to arouse resentment or anger—(in-VID-e-us)

Intestine—internal—(in-TEST-tine)

Pernicious—very bad—(per-NIH-shis)

Palliate—alleviate, make less severe—(PALL-e-ate)

Expatiate—explain at length—(ex-PAY-she-ate)

Sacerdotal—priestly—(SAS-er-DOTE-el)

Homoousian—same essence and nature (Vol II, 11:59:15) (HO-mo-ou-see-an)

Homoiousian—similar but not identical essence or nature—(HO-mo-E-ou-see-an)

Asservations—emphatic assertions (ASS-er-VAY-shuns)—assertions

Tesserarian art—dice playing, backgammon—a tesseract is a cube—(TESS-er-act)

Inauspicious—unfavorable, boding ill—(IN-aus-PISH-us)

Invective—violent denunciation—(in-VECT-ive)

Filioque Clause— “and the Son” (FILL-lee-AH-quay)

Halcyon days—rare and bloodless week of repose (HAL-see-on)