Classics Narrated

Dinah declines Seth's proposal, which he bears meekly, and Adam finishes work his father, a drunk absent without explanation, has neglected.

Dinah, a beautiful young Methodist woman, preaches an outdoor sermon to the villagers of Hayslope. Not ordained, but saintly, she speaks as one of them, about their commonplace struggles and temptations, and the solace of their redemption in Christ.

We meet Adam and Seth Bede, and the other carpenters in Mr. Burge's shop as their work day ends. The time is late 18th century, in the rural English Midlands. They tease and quarrel over a young female Methodist who will preach on the green that evening.

 

The difference between the almost right word & the right word is really a large matter--it's the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.
- Mark Twain, Letter to George Bainton, 10/15/1888; ref. twainquotes.com. 

Twain is no longer here to speak for himself, except through his work; as he's provided words for me to use, I'll try to say something on his behalf (amazing effrontery, but one can only try...)

We just passed the twenty-fifth observation of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. January 2011 also saw a great deal of media coverage over a sanitized version of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from NewSouth Books, which substitutes the word "slave" for the "N-word." We have a black President. "What's in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet..."

As a narrator who has recorded two of Twain's works so far, I agree with the legion of literary critics who've praised his "ear," that is, his scrupulous attention to rendering text, especially dialogue. He gets his jokes right, his timing right, and also his moving emotional passages. This was no hothouse flower of a literary gentleman, but the most popular lecturer of his day, the forerunner of our stand-up comics. He knew audience response first hand, and considered posterity, delaying publication of his unabridged Autobiography until 100 years after his death. Through most of his career, Twain revised and rewrote diligently, and was very far from letting a key word slip in through negligence. (That Autobiography is different, as it was virtually a stream-of-consciousness meandering monologue dictated to a secretary, late in life, not the careful composition of earlier work. By then, Twain perhaps was overly impressed with his own genius.)

 

Any book that's actually read is more than the author's contribution; the reader's response is the rest of the phenomenon, and to the extent that a story remains memorable and popular, it influences its culture. Consider the cultural competition: by now, the silent film "Birth of a Nation" is in itself a dead letter, but as the greatest hit of the silent movie era, expressed very directly the view that Reconstruction was a terrible error, "miscegenation" a fate worse than death, and black people a lower form of life. Still vibrant, and more insidious in its racism, "Gone With the Wind," romanticized the plantation system, and showed black people as subservient (more or less capable, but always dependent) while turning a blind eye to the lash, the noose, and the "bright" slaves that showed the result of white men sexually exploiting black women. Then again, I don't think the "N-word" comes up in it very often.

 

So how does that word function now? In the mouth of a white person, it's awkward at best, a vile insult at worst, or a way for a racist to openly proclaim. Used between blacks, it can operate almost like a lodge recognition sign; we're part of the same group, candid, and unified. Attempts to stretch it are problematic. I recall the scene in the movie "Bulworth," when Halle Berry's character tries to use it to show how righteous Warren Beatty's unhinged senator character has become; or in Bob Fosse's "Lenny," when Dustin Hoffman as Lenny Bruce does an extended ethnic recognition/insult routine, & says sotto voce to a black nightclub patron, "You were almost ready to punch me out, weren't you?" But the Lenny Bruce theory of weakening hate words by common use (as shown in that scene) doesn't work. There's still too much power in them.

 

Which brings me back to Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and the "N-word." His use of that word throughout that novel demonstrated the pervasive, almost unquestioned and unquestionable racism of that time and place (Missouri, circa 1840). Questioning that racism is why the abolitionists were so reviled, North and South. Very few people then could have been unaware that slavery was a fact of life in the North (leaving aside the Northwest Territory) until the early nineteenth century. Slavery was integral to the economic growth of America as long as land was the predominant source of value. The Industrial Revolution started to change that. (For Twain's take on that, we could look at A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.) But history, at least as a story, is malleable, almost quicksilver, influenced not only by the victors of war, but the winners of peace. After the "election" of Rutherford B. Hayes as President, Reconstruction ended, white supremacy returned to the South, and segregationist southern legislators enjoyed disproportionate power in Congress through seniority, the "yellow dog" Democratic voting tradition, and white northern indifference to the plight of black people.

 

The corruption of the administration of Twain's friend U.S. Grant helped to undermine Reconstruction. This helped justify southern "Redemption," the racist terrorism and bullying that would go on for decades in America. It's still unusual to see the words "treason," or "traitors" applied by American historians to Confederates. Amazingly, some contemporary apologists claim Confederates were actually defending the Constitution by fighting for States' Rights.

 

To me, taking the "N-word" out of Huck Finn is lying about the history of America, & the pervasive racism that existed, persisted, & persists to this day, nationwide. "Black codes" & discrimination in the North followed the legal end of slavery there, and set the pattern for segregation & Jim Crow laws in the South. Additionally, post-Civil War vagrancy laws, chain gangs, & other prison labor extended de facto slavery for many southern blacks until the Civil Rights era, with the threat of lynching & race riots ever present (see "Slavery by Another Name," by Douglas A. Blackmon.) Only the Civil Rights movement, with Dr. King as its foremost leader, started to bring equal citizenship to black Americans.

 

Twain avoided combat in the American Civil War. How could he fight for the Union, against childhood friends who probably fought for the Confederacy? How could he fight to support a society's commitment to a system based on legalized kidnapping, murder, assault, extortion, rape, & racism, if he fought for the South? When he went West with his brother, it was to escape that war & find opportunity. Racism came with him, as he reacted to Native Americans with hatred and disgust. Confronting racism came as his imagination developed, finding in the shadows of the sunny boyhood drawn in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, the great comic, dramatic & moral possibilities realized in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

 

The difference between lightning & the lightning bug? Power; like guns, strong language wounds or not, depending on where it's aimed. If lightning is aimed, who's aiming?

 

 

 

 

Anticipating the concept of "frenemy," Poe gives us vanity, self-righteousness, and terrible cruelty in revenge, as stone-hearted Montresor lures credulous Fortunato to his doom.

NOT recommended for children; Edgar Allan Poe's tale of increasing evil, alcoholism, and murder may haunt the listener as the cat haunted the protagonist.

Moving from Adventures of Tom Sawyer, to one of the more appalling stories of Edgar Allan Poe calls for some word of explanation. First, be assured I have little or nothing in common with the protagonist. I loved my little black cat, and stumbled over this story waiting for software to download. It was her memory that drew me to it. I would never raise my hand to my spouse, and am rigorously moderate about alcohol.

Why, then, offer this?

First, it moved me with the everyday quality of the protagonist's moral decay, and seemed to prefigure such characters as Highsmith's Ripley, or Lindsay's Dexter Morgan. Also, at least two of Poe's stories, The Tell-Tale Heart, and The Cask of Amontillado have been widely anthologized, but this was new to me, and very disturbing.

Also, I hope to keep listener interest by varying the type and tenor of these twice-told tales, to help keep them alive: some of them smiling in memory, and others scratching softly at a door we don't want to open.

 

Tom learns how Injun Joe died, he and Huck search for treasure, and adjust to "respectability."

 

Lost in gloom, almost without food, the only person Tom and Becky see after wandering many hours in the trackless cavern means death. Leaving the exhausted Becky, Tom at last sees sunlight through a passage to safety.

The Thatchers return, so Becky and Tom with a large group go on a picnic and cave exploration. Huck spies on dangerous men and averts an attack against an innocent woman. The day following the picnic, Tom and Becky are missing!

Tom & Huck set out to find treasure, first by digging, then looking into a haunted house, which holds danger and loot. What follows tests their courage still more...

Tom "reforms" for the sake of a gaudy uniform, falls ill for weeks, and returns to old habits with his chums. Muff Potter's trial approaches, Tom's testimony could keep him alive and free, but at risk of his own life from vengeful, violent Injun Joe.

Back at home, Tom shows uncanny insight about events that took place while he was supposedly "away." Aunt Polly questions his good nature, Becky Thatcher rejects and accepts him, and school comes to a resounding close for the summer.

Tom, Joe and Huck leave civilization behind, but notice a search for them. Tom spies on his family back home, but in spite of homesickness, storm, and trouble learning to smoke, the boys stay out until they have a chance to hear their own eulogies.

Witness of a murder makes a heavy burden for Tom and Huck. This brings Tom very low, Aunt Polly tries to cure him, and Tom doses the cat. Rejected in love, Tom turns to "piracy" with Huck and Joe.

Understanding between Becky and Tom is brief, driving Tom to consider life as an outlaw. When he and Huck visit the graveyard at midnight, drawbacks become all too clear.

At church, Tom's mind wanders, and he lets his "pinch bug" out of the box, to wander and make exciting friends. Monday Tom avoids school, fakes illness, talks with the outcast Huck Finn, and confesses. Punishment? To sit next to the admired new girl!

Tom tries for a little justice of his own, changes his affections, leads a small army, is unjustly punished, and wins a Bible by showing more scholarship than he actually has.

Tom tries to get the most out of life as a small boy in a small river town in Missouri before the Civil War, and his Aunt Polly tries to bring him up to responsible respectability, giving him the odious chore of whitewashing their board fence.

Unable to get Bartleby to leave his office, the owner of the law firm moves the office instead. Bartleby remains in the old building until removed by the landlord, and is sent to the Tombs, a Manhattan prison.

A phlegmatic lawyer who gets more business hires an additional copyist, or scrivener, in mid-19th century Manhattan. At first, work goes well, but Bartleby's quirks grow, upsetting the lawyer and his temperamental staff.

Returning from the Inner Station, Marlow falls ill after Kurtz dies. Recovering, he is compelled to carry Kurtz's writings back to Europe, and to bring sympathy to his bereft fiancee, trying hard not to speak ill of the dead.

The Russian trader explains Kurtz's overwhelming force of personality to Marlow. They find Kurtz desperately sick, but unwilling to leave the jungle and its people, and take him back on board the steamer regardless.

At the Inner Station, Marlow finds violence, death, uncanny echoes of Kurtz's presence, and an odd trader, who informs him that the people fought to keep Kurtz with them.

Marlow steams deeper into the jungle, to the Inner Station, growing more fascinated as he learns more of Kurtz, a man of remarkable abilities. Hunger follows the ship, whose crew are cannibals, with dense fog adding to the palpable tension.

Marlow travels to central Africa, finds death, callous indifference, anxiety, and avarice instead of vaunted civilizing ideals in his employer's stations.

At a conference on board ship near London, an old sailor named Marlow recounts his decision to join a European trading company active in Africa.

Lucy has frustrating conversations with the Misses Alan and her mother, but a chance meeting with old Mr. Emerson helps her realize what she's tried to deny. The last chapter brings us back to Florence, and the room whose view started the tale.

Mr. Beebe learns that Cecil's engagement to Lucy has been broken, as Cecil leaves Windy Corners. Without completely understanding her motives, he supports her plan to escape, by traveling to Greece with the elderly ladies they met in Florence.

Lucy, denying her feelings for George, throws him out, following lively discussion. She then breaks her engagement to Cecil, who behaves exasperatingly well.

Lucy refuses to face her feelings for George, as he and his father settle in the neighborhood. Cecil, oblivious, narrates a passage from a new novel clearly based on her encounter with George in Florence.

The Emersons arrive in the Summer Street neighborhood. Freddy and Mr. Beebe make friends with George, and Cecil falls further in the estimation of Lucy's mother.

A clearer picture of the Honeychurch family's position in their community emerges. Cecil meddles in finding new tenants, and Lucy goes to visit him and his mother at their place in London.

Cecil meets the neighbors of the Honeychurch family, and dislikes them. His first kiss from Lucy goes awry.

From Italy, the scene shifts to Sussex, England. Here we meet Lucy's mother and brother, and find she has a new suitor.

All our cast goes for a sight-seeing drive, with a reckless and amorous coachman. Lucy has an encounter with George Emerson that causes consternation; Charlotte decides they must leave Florence.

Lucy, confused by the previous day, accompanies Charlotte on errands. En route, they meet the novelist, Miss Lavish, and hear distressing rumors of the Emersons from the Rev. Mr. Eager.

Only at the piano does Lucy reveal her inward passion; conversation with Miss Alan and Rev. Mr. Beebe shows social constraints. She goes alone on an errand, and sees a violent crime. Faint, she accepts George Emerson's company.

Lucy sets out to view the Church of the Holy Cross, with a clever lady as guide. They lose their way, and then lose sight of one another. Lucy meets the Emersons at the church, and learns more of them than she wanted to know.

Miss Honeychurch, chaperoned by Miss Bartlett, touring Florence in the early 1900's, has an unsuitable room; unsuitable strangers offer their better rooms instead.

For listeners who may want further information on the historical background of Lorna Doone, my spouse and I offer this.

This selection seems sensitive, possibly painful to some. Even though this may languish in obscurity, I want to articulate the reasons why it seemed worthwhile to do this, along with the almost equally compelling reasons for leaving it aside. Why not do it? Racism. This choice could be construed as degrading to black people, a reminder of oppression, subjugation, the southern (or American) system from the end of Reconstruction through at least the Civil Rights era that was paternalistic at best, and nothing short of state terrorism at worst (lynching, the Klan, segregation, poll tax, literacy tests.) However, these two stories are iconic; for an American to go through life not knowing the story of the Tar-Baby and the Briar Patch is miserable ignorance. In themselves, they show humor, intelligence, and the fun of turnabout. The frame story is another matter. Old black Uncle Remus tells these tales to a blond seven-year old boy, whose mother is “Miss Sally.? The boy is the child of the farm or plantation’s owner. Remus, as far as I can tell from quick reading, lives alone; no wife, no children, no close friends. This is Uncle Tom, of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin? all over again; sexless, dependent, there to serve the white folks, including their children. He is a convenient device for the transcriber, Joel Chandler Harris, to set down the stories that helped pass the time and lift the burden of care for the black folks. To me, this assumption that black peoples’ lives were meaningful and valuable only as far as they figured in those of white folks is the most pernicious aspect of the books. Mr. Harris may have felt guilt over this work. His biography notes his shyness and diffidence, not to be wondered at for a man who made his fortune exploiting oral tradition of the oppressed. Even the name of his storyteller, Remus, might refer to that. In the legend of Rome’s foundation, Remus was the other twin brother, supplanted, possibly murdered, by his brother Romulus. Even though Mr. Harris tried to identify with Harriet Beecher Stowe, weirdly calling Uncle Tom’s Cabin a “wonderful defense of slavery as it existed in the South,? giving his title character the name of the forgotten co-founder of Rome may have expressed recognition of the historic and continuing exploitation and oppression of black people. So, it’s for the folk tradition that I record this, and my belief that despite their compromised origin, these two stories at least are vital, and must be remembered. For my own imagination, I like to think of Uncle Remus telling these stories to his own folks, black as well as white. Of course, as authors like Faulkner remind, his kin could fall either side of the color line. Narrating them may seem odd, coming from a “white? man, but, appearance aside, I’d be surprised if my DNA didn’t show quite a bit of non-European ancestry; a mutt. In any case, they’re easier to understand when heard, since rhythm and emphasis help to clarify dialect hard to decipher on the page. Also, it seems to me that many black actors/narrators/voice artists, might find this beneath their dignity. I’m just going to try and render it as well as I can. For those interested in further reading, the scholar Julius Lester has rendered a version of Uncle Remus intended to preserve the folklore, while removing racially offensive content.

The Wonderful Tar-Baby Story, and How Mr. Rabbit Was Too Sharp For Mr. Fox (the Briar Patch).

Of course you've heard of Rip's long nap; here's the whole story of the henpecked feckless farmer who went for a ramble, drank strange drink with strangers, drowsed off a loyal subject of George III, and woke 20 years later in the young USA.

Jack London's account of a foolhardy arctic Yukon trip, in late December of the early twentieth century.

John, exhausted, wounded, and sick, believes Lorna dead. Almost, but Ruth brings her back with devoted care, and Lorna's recovery enables John's.

After almost a month's delay, this podcast is back in action. Lyme disease, rather than the flu, turned out to be the problem. The antibiotics seem to be kicking in now, so, God willing, episodes should resume on a regular basis. Thanks for patience and understanding. -Scott G.

Lorna, in charge of herself (thanks to bribing Lord Jeffreys), returns to John and Plover's Barrows. Their wedding is tragically disrupted by Carver, who finally faces John's implacable wrath.

Just a quick note to explain to any subscribers who may trouble to look into why it's been a week since the last episode of Lorna Doone: I've been down with flu, pretty stiff case, but hope to be back in recording mode early next week. Thanks for your patience! - Scott G.

Local people, under John's leadership, fight to rid themselves of the murderous Doones. Much is unsettled after the battle, and the most dangerous Doone, Carver, escapes.

Sir John returns to Exmoor and finds the Doones have newly outraged their long-suffering neighbors. He tries to talk them into making amends. When they refuse with bullets, he joins the plan for a new attack.

John and Lorna see one another after long separation, and come to a clear understanding, despite her rank and wealth. John prevents her uncle from being robbed, and gains royal regard.

John is led to badly wounded rebel Tom by Winnie, Tom's mare. Tom escapes, but innocent John is captured, and threatened with death. Reprieved to wait trial in London, he hears there from Lorna.

Annie boldly obtains a truce from the Doones, freeing John to search for her husband, who rashly joined the Monmouth Rebellion. Amid carnage, John finds a sign of Tom.

Lives of ordinary people and outlaws alike change when Charles II dies. Disturbances follow, which John tries to ignore in his sorrow at Lorna's absence and silence, but he is caught up too.

In Lorna's absence, sharp tempers and hurt feelings abound. John seeks comfort from sister Annie at her new home. Getting none, and giving less, he goes to cousin Ruth in Dulverton.

John reunites Gwenny and her father. He's challenged to wrestle an even bigger man in Cornwall. While he's away, Lorna is taken by court order from the farm, to live with her guardian in London.

John reflects on a legend about Wizard's Slough, where he meets Uncle Reuben. He is shown his uncle's secret, meets a sceptical Cornishman, and breaks a big obstacle.

John visits the forlorn grave of Lorna's mother, and reunites Lorna with her nanny. Tom convinces John and Mrs. Ridd to allow his marriage to Annie. John is sent to Dulverton to buy gifts, where Uncle Reuben promises to disclose his secret.

Lorna and John's love is tested by news of her wealth, rank, and legal jeopardy. John seeks Lorna's nurse, to verify her identity.

Jeremy leads the rival militias of Devon and Somerset against the Doone stronghold. Agents of the Court of Chancery seek Lorna and her estate at the Ridd's farm.

Jeremy tells John of meeting the hostess of an inn; she came to England from Italy, in service to a noble family, and reveals the tragic end of Lorna's real parents.

Counsellor Doone visits the Ridds, intimidates, flatters, and tells Lorna and John that their fathers killed one another. Failing to split them, the Counsellor steals Lorna's precious necklace.

Lorna's presence in John's life causes a stir in the neighborhood, the household, and especially with Cousin Ruth.

John and Jeremy prepare to defend the farm from marauding Doones. Carver threatens Lorna. She wakes the weary John, and reinforced, they fight off the Doones.

Despite floods, Squire Faggus visits Plover's Barrows, and finds Lorna's necklace tremendously valuable. Jeremy Stickles makes his way there afterwards, chased by three murderous Doones.

Lorna and Gwenny are rescued by John from the Doones, despite the blizzard. The Ridds receive Lorna into their home, and spring comes, with threat of flood.

A fierce blizzard endangers all the livestock, and separates John and Lorna. His bookworm sister suggests snowshoes and sled, which bring him to Lorna and Gwenny, with chance of escape from starvation or forced marriage.

Lorna summons John Ridd for a difficult talk with her dying grandfather, patriarch of the Doones. After his funeral, perilous winter weather sets in.

John Ridd learns of plans to raid the outlaw Doones, risking Lorna's safety. Tom Faggus wins pardon for highway robbery, but a posse plans to shoot him on his way home.

John Fry neglects his farm work to help Jeremy Stickles, much to John Ridd's annoyance. John Ridd narrowly escapes murder by Doones pursuing Jeremy Stickles, who John saves from ambush.

John, desperate to hear from Lorna, makes his will and scouts Glen Doone. At risk of his life, he finds Lorna, meets Gwenny, and new signals are set.

Relationships clarify, as Mrs. Ridd learns of Annie's commitment to Tom Faggus, and John's to Lorna. Ruth's feelings are hurt, Lorna gives John a ring, and communication stops.

John has no idea why he can't see Lorna until Betty Muxworthy makes him help feed the pigs. Thanks to Betty's hint, he and Lorna reach an understanding.

Mysteries abound: an unidentified intruder, Uncle Ben visits without stating his purpose, and John Fry sees what he takes for a ghost when spying on Uncle Ben.

Lorna and John agree to spend two months apart. The harvest begins, John and his sister Annie confide in one another, and the Ridds host a harvest dance.

John's interview with the "Hanging Judge," Lord Chief Justice Jeffreys, goes surprisingly well. With difficulty, he returns home, loving it more for being away, and meets Lorna again.

John and Jeremy Stickles travel to London, avoiding highwaymen. In London, John finds a member of the bar as greedy as any knight of the road.

Scott Gadwa

www.classicsnarrated.com

183 Guinevere Ridge

 Cheshire, CT 06410

 203-623-9408 scottgadwa@juno.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 Summer Reading Becomes Summer Listening

Cheshire, Connecticut, July 31, 2007 -- Tired of lugging a heavy book to the pool? Searching for stories the whole family can enjoy on the next vacation road trip? More and more Americans are listening to books via audio podcast - quickly, easily, and in most cases, for free.

Scott Gadwa provides high-quality, family-friendly readings of classic novels and short stories at www.classicsnarrated.com. All readings may be downloaded free of charge from the Classics Narrated website, or from Apple's www.iTunes.com. This website is a strong example of an emerging trend - the use of Apple's iPod and related technologies to stream narrative content at home, at work, and at play. Previous audio book formats were awkward and unwieldy - requiring the listener to carry around and change out multiple disks or cassettes. In addition to its compact size, the new technology allows listeners to subscribe to their favorite podcasts, meaning they can receive regular downloads of new episodes with no extra effort.

All books and short stories on the Classics Narrated website are in the public domain, enabling Scott G. to share these timeless works without charge. Full-length novels Kim and Lorna Doone take the audience on journeys of intrigue and adventure through India under the British Raj, and lawless Restoration England. Driving to New Hampshire? Download The Great Stone Face by Nathaniel Hawthorne, an American parable about the state's beloved icon, the Old Man of the Mountain. Crossing New York's Tappan Zee Bridge? Try The Legend of Sleepy Hollow on your car stereo. More than an entertaining story of a ghost and a love triangle, it paints a vivid picture of early American country life, from schoolroom to harvest feast, in a place that would later lie in the bridge's shadow. The Man Without a Country by Edward Everett Hale explores the meaning of American patriotism, at a time when the country was nearly torn apart. The good old days theme takes a more outrageous turn with O. Henry's The Ransom of Red Chief, where cowboys and Indians fill the imagination of a kidnapped child who turns the tables on his bumbling abductors.

This summer, whether driving to the family reunion, relaxing at the beach, or waiting at the airport, why not catch up on your reading via audio podcast?

Narrator Scott G. studied literature and acting at Brown University, and worked for over a decade in bookselling. His vocal talents are in demand from assorted community organizations, including the Connecticut chapter of Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic and his local church, e.g., as Narrator for congregational retelling of the Passion of Our Lord on Palm Sundays. He was inspired to start podcasting by many years of reading aloud nightly to his two daughters. The Classics Narrated website is a way to share literary gems, many almost forgotten, with a larger audience.

 For more information contact Scott Gadwa at 203-623-9408.

 Website: www.classicsnarrated.com

On www.iTunes.com, use search keywords: "Scott Gadwa"

###

Lorna and John arrange a signal, and that John is not to return to the Glen for at least one month. John finds separation hard, particularly in the beauty of Spring. As the month is up, John is summoned to court in London, much against his inclination.

Since this was last updated, technology has changed. Basic QuickTime, all by itself, is no longer enough to play these podcasts, since the format, m4b, turns out to be protected from unauthorized copying/playing, whether I like it or not. There's a deluxe stand-alone version of QuickTime, but that costs money.

Starting from a point of departure, that iTunes for Windows may be scary to some folks, I looked at a few conversion alternatives (m4b to mp3), & tried a free test of one. That was a bust. How they expect to sell it, when the demo flops, is beyond me.

I then persuaded my interlocutor (the owner of the family PC) that iTunes for Windows might not be so bad, not overwhelm the PC, monopolize all free time, etc. We downloaded iTunes for Windows to said PC, pulled up a podcast episode previously downloaded directly from this website, clicked, & lo & behold, it started to play! Free, to boot.

As of this writing, iTunes for Windows 8.2.1 requirements include: a 1 GHz processor, 512 MB RAM, compatible video & audio cards, Windows service pack 2 or later, or 32 bit Windows Vista, 200 MB available disk space - & it will automatically update itself.

• Downloading directly from Classicsnarrated.com can be done with Internet Explorer by right-clicking the m4a or m4b link and selecting "Save Target As," then selecting the destination on your PC. In Firefox, right click the m4a or m4b link, select "Save Link As," then select the destination on your PC.

Why m4a as a file format? It conforms to the current international standard for "multimedia container," MPEG4, which is likely to keep growing. It enables "enhanced podcast" containing chapter markers, integral artwork, and so on. Those features are available through iTunes/iPod, not necessarily all "MP3" players. m4b is designed specifically for audiobooks and podcasts, and enables bookmarking on non-clickwheel iPods, so future (and possibly past) episodes will go that way. Otherwise, same as m4a (bookmarking already present for most iPods).

If you still have trouble downloading or saving, or should any of the above information be mistaken, please let me know. Post your constructive comments, and I will do my best to make appropriate changes. -Scott G.

Now well in to the story of Lorna Doone, it seems appropriate that something other than my deliberations in choosing this appear to welcome visitors. With the latest episode (vol. 1, chapters 20 & 21) I have started to use chapter markers and additional art. For now, I don't plan to revise previous episodes, but could do so, if listeners want. Within the next day or two, tips for downloading episodes directly from this web page, without visiting iTunes, will appear for PC users. Reports from family members have made it clear that it's not quite as straightforward as it should be. Further information from listeners (still more from visitors who were frustrated in their attempts to download) would be most welcome.

Lorna explains her circumstances: isolated, frightened, and mystified about how she came to be among the cruel, violent Doones. She also tells John about a young cousin who came to bring her to her respectable family, and his murder.

John's hopes of Lorna are cast down by his interview with Mother Melldrum. Undaunted, he keeps his feelings for Lorna secret, returns to visit her with a gift of fresh eggs, and wins her confidence by his self-control.

John returns to Glen Doone on St. Valentine's Day, where he meets Lorna again. He falls in love, can't concentrate, loses himself in work, and seeks advice of a "wise woman" about when he should venture to see Lorna next.

Uncle Reuben vents his resentment over being robbed on his relatives and their guests. Mollified by their hospitality, he goes with John to the local squire, for justice. Humiliated there, they scout the Doones' stronghold to plan future action.

John tells of his cousin, a popular highway robber, and uncle, a prosperous merchant, who falls in with a different sort of thief.

A dashing kinsman rescues an animal, allows John to try to ride his fine horse, and ingratiates himself with the family.

This chapter, in which fourteen year-old John kisses eight year-old Lorna, made me uncomfortable. The strangeness persisted to a certain extent as I narrated the chapter, but both John and Lorna were uncomfortable with the kiss, bashful, unselfconscious, and each innocently drawn to the other. No carnal element in the mutual interest can be discerned, only a preoccupation as John remembers. Indeed, Blackmore clearly states that John at that age found kissing in general repugnant, which makes his impulsive salute to Lorna all the more exceptional, almost an unwilling tribute to her precocious beauty.

Fourteen year-old John meets eight year-old Lorna, who helps him escape the Doones' stronghold. He returns to the family farm, never forgetting her.

We learn more about the Ridd household, John's preparation for defense, and a fishing trip that leads him astray, into danger.

Young John learns his father's fate, his mother pleads for justice, and we learn how the Doones came to Exmoor.

John Fry and young John Ridd encounter two very different groups of travelers on their way home.

"...a simple tale told simply..." begins the story of John Ridd, in his maturity, looking back at his schoolboy days, before he met the lovely and mysterious Lorna.

Continuously in print since its publication (though not an immediate bestseller), here are a few of R.D. Blackmore's prefaces, still of interest, at least to the scholar.

Owen Johnson tells how an unlikely hero achieved schoolboy immortality.

This is for my wife, whose pancakes are unsurpassed, and for one of my old college roomates, who attended the great boarding school of this story at just about the time it took place - I think.

The Old Man of the Mountain, also known as "The Great Stone Face," in Hawthorne, fell to earth in May, 2003. Few seem to have recalled Hawthorne's tale, and the feelings of wisdom, patience, and serenity he attributed to the Old Man.

Plans are afoot to restore him to his mountainside. I hope they go forward, for his fall seems like a rebuke from Nature itself, as if his sorrow over the state of humanity, which borrowed his image, were so great that his own existence became insupportable. For more information, visit franconianotchstatepark.com/oldman

It's been a week or so since I recorded the last chapter, so all I wanted to do was set down a few thoughts that may not be commonplace. The touchstone for this is the most recent novel in the great Tony Hillerman's Indian Country mysteries, "The Shape Shifter." (SPOILER WARNING!) Writing about a hundred years after Kipling, he turns the story inside out. Of course, the comparison between these two may be only coincidental. In Kim, the student or orphan/protege is white, and a master of disguise; he is educated, and even brought to salvation and holiness, by his mentor, the Tibetan Teshoo Lama. In Hillerman's "The Shape Shifter," the mentor is a white American psychopathic serial killer, who fancies himself a predator, and ordinary people nothing more than sheep to feed on. His southeast-Asian orphan/protege is trained only to cook and clean, being too decent to exploit others routinely. Justice, in the end, is meted out by people of color. That's really something both books share, and the reason Kipling's story goes beyond mere jingoistic "Rule Brittania" blather, though traces of it coming from the Indian characters do occur in the book, and may be wishful thinking on his part. In the end, the love the characters feel for each other, beautifully shown in action (the Sahiba, Teshoo Lama, Kim) and restraint (Mahbub Ali), pushes the issues of color, creed, and caste completely off stage.

Hapless kidnappers find the limit of parental affection.