The Story of My Misfortunes

About this film

LibriVox recording of The Story of My Misfortunes or Historia Calamitatum , by Peter Abelard. Read by Martin Geeson. Autobiographies from remote historical periods can be especially fascinating. Modes of self-presentation vary greatly across the centuries, as of course does the very concept of Self. Peter Abelard, the medieval philosopher and composer, here gives a concise but vivid survey of his notoriously calamitous life. The work is couched in the form of a letter to an afflicted friend. Abelard's abrasively competitive, often arrogant personality emerges at once in the brief Foreword, where he informs his correspondent: "(I)n comparing your sorrows with mine, you may discover that yours are in truth nought.. and so shall you come to bear them the more easily." (Summary by Martin Geeson) For further information, including links to online text, reader information, RSS feeds, CD cover or other formats (if available), please go to the LibriVox catalog page for this recording. For more free audio books or to become a volunteer reader, visit LibriVox.org . Download M4B (71MB)

Directors & creators

Peter Abelard

Subjects

Abelard; memoirs; epistle; biography; audiobook; librivox.

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