Satire
The Rape of the Lock
The Rape of the Lock is a mock-heroic narrative poem written by Alexander Pope, first published anonymously in Lintot's Miscellany in May 17…
Self and Self-management
Bennett's essays always provide food for thought and bring a wry smile to the lips. Human nature, it appears, changes little over the ages, …
The Importance of Being Earnest
This is a solo recording of the play, meaning that all parts including stage directions are performed by one person. LibriVox has three exc…
The Devil's Dictionary
The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce is a sharp and witty exploration of language and human nature, presented in the form of a satirical…
The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson
In one of his later novels, the master storyteller spins a tale of two children switched at infancy. A slave takes on the identity of master…
Hard Times
Charles Dickens' 1854 novel opens with the philosophy of education espoused by the eminently practical Mr. Gradgrind, who prizes "facts…
Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero is a novel by William Makepeace Thackeray that satirizes society in early 19th-century England. Like man…
Love and Mr Lewisham
Love and Mr Lewisham is a witty exploration of the complexities of love, ambition, and societal expectations in late 19th century England. H…
The Flying Inn
The Flying Inn is a novel first published in 1914 by G.K. Chesterton. It is set in a future England where a bizarre form of "Progressiv…
Fraternity
A satire of middle-class complacency and artistic aspiration. It is the story of a strange bohemian upper-class love triangle, and of a myst…
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
The work was composed between 1790 and 1793, in the period of radical foment and political conflict immediately after the French Revolution.…
Candide
Ever since 1759, when Voltaire wrote "Candide" in ridicule of the notion that this is the best of all possible worlds, this world …
Fifty-One Tales
Fifty-One Tales by Lord Dunsany invites listeners into a world where the boundaries of reality blur and the extraordinary becomes commonplac…
Yollop
Mr. Crittenden Yollop makes friends with the man who came to burglarize his home and sets out to help him return to where he really wants to…
The Inspector-General
The Governor and Officials of a small provincial town in Russia are worried. They have received word that a Government Inspector is on his w…
Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour
Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour is a delightful comic satire of the fox-hunting fraternity of the mid 19th Century. Surtees takes great pleasure …
Lucian's True History
One of the earliest works of science-fiction (nearly 2,000 years old). It has space travel (including war in space), lunar civilization, and…
Godfrey Morgan
This Verne adventure is indeed a mystery and also a satire on the Crusoe genre. Our characters are larger than life, as well they should be …
Reginald in Russia
Reginald in Russia is a collection of fifteen sharp and humorous stories by H. H. Munro, better known as Saki. Through the lens of the titul…
Lucia in London
In the third book in the Mapp and Lucia series, provincial snob and social climber Mrs. Emmeline Lucas, known to her friends as Lucia, and h…