Just Listen Podcast

Robert Louis Stevenson, famed author of Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, continues to provoke both hatred and idolatry, and there are now well over a hundred biographical books and essays on Stevenson and his work. T

“The Lady or the Tiger?” is one of the most anthologized short stories for adolescents and teens, often appearing in literature collections and possessing a unique place in the short story genre: it leaves the ending to the reader, or the listener, in our case. The plot is left unresolved.

Today’s author, Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, sought to demonstrate her values as a feminist.

Today’s selections, a group of twenty-five Christmas poems, come from some of the greatest poetic voices of the English language.

We return today to the fictional town of Jefferson, Mississippi, made somewhat famous by William Faulkner as the locus for many of his short stories.

Today we examine another one of the three hundred short stories written by the French author Guy de Maupassant, who is featured here on Just Listen several times already but a great favorite of this podcast and considered by many, still, to be the father of the short story.

Today’s author, Mary Lerner, had her 1916 story “Little Selves” published in the September issue of Atlantic Monthly.

"Mademoiselle Fifi" is a short story by Guy de Maupassant.

One of the things I most enjoy about presenting stories here is the great fun I find in discovering the personal lives of authors. Not only do our authors present us with brilliant literature, but they also give us glimpses into lives that are indeed majestic and fascinating. People like Jack London and Edith Wharton certainly come readily to mind, giants in their own time, and for me, H.G. Wells...

Today’s story, “The Ledge” by Lawrence Sargent Hall, won first place in the 1960 O Henry Prize Collection, and has appeared in more than 30 anthologies.

Today’s story, “The Farmer’s Children” by Elizabeth Bishop, an American poetry and short story writer, seems a showcase for the evil stepmother archetype.

Among the stories in the collection Bayou Folk by Kate Chopin is today's story, "Désirée's Baby," a tale of miscegenation in antebellum Louisiana, first published in 1893.

Through her different genres of work including children's stories, poems, and short stories, Mary Wilkins Freeman sought to demonstrate her values as a feminist.

Turning once again to one of America’s greatest fiction voices, we present today a story that displays Willa Cather’s keen observation and understanding of men, particularly when they are placed in a locus of trouble or consternation.

We are happy today to bring you our third Jack London story here.

Thomas Reid Pearson, aka T.R. Pearson, is fun, fun, fun to read. If you haven’t yet encountered this very imaginative author, you’re in for a treat today.

Today's story, by one of our foremost story contributors, Edith Wharton, has been the subject of scores of critical analyses and touches on numerous themes such as motherhood, aging, the accuracy of memory, and the search for truth, to name just a few.

Almost anyone could tell you the story of Rip Van Winkle in a sentence or three. Today we get to enjoy the tale in its entirety as presented by one of our favorite authors, Washington Irving.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman, also known by her first married name Charlotte Perkins Stetson, lived from July 3, 1860 to August 17, 1935, and witnessed everything from the American Civil War to the Roaring Twenties to the Great Depression.

The characters in Kate Chopin’s stories are usually residents of Louisiana, and many are Creoles of various ethnic or racial backgrounds. Many of her works are set in Natchitoches in north-central Louisiana, a region where she lived.

Welcome back to our Christmas celebration of ghost stories by Edith Wharton. For the curious, alert, and not-too-easily frightened, we have several collections of Edith Wharton’s ghost stories here at the Nashville Public Library.

We are back with our old friend Oscar Wilde, who has several stories to hear here on Just Listen, with a didactic tale meant to be read to children called “The Devoted Friend.”

We welcome again our friend O. Henry, master short story author, poet, and newsman.

James Joyce was an Irish novelist, short story writer, poet, teacher, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of the 20th century.

In our last episode, a group of wartime travelers attempts to escape the Prussian-occupied city of Rouen. They includea prostitute named Boule de Suif and are being held hostage at an inn by a Prussian officer who refuses to let them leave the town of Totes, where they are marooned after a snowstorm.