(2-CD set) A reading by Karin Viard of Octave Mirbeau major novel "Le Journal d'une femme de chambre" (Diary of a Chambermaid), written in 1900. A creative and corrosive point of view on the upper middle class. In French.

Through the magic of a vow, Dorian Gray retains the grace and beauty of youth. Only his portrait will age. The young dandy then devotes himself to all the experimentations of youthful folly, intoxicated with sensations and the search for secret pleasures. “Follies are the only things we never regret,” “we must heal the soul by the senses, heal the senses by the soul.” Oscar Wilde wanted to free man by giving him the artist as a model. Art has nothing to do with morality. In a refined language, the author questions society, marriage, morality, and art. This book scandalized Victorian England and Oscar Wilde was put in prison for having lived what he wrote. In the following century, authors revered and celebrated the brilliant writer.

On the day of his thirtieth birthday, Joseph K. was arrested. Accused of a fault he ignores by judges whom he never sees and in accordance with laws that nobody can teach him, he will push a bewildering number of gates to try to unravel the situation. As the trial grows in its life, each open door is a more alienating closure of the world of judicial proceedings, a true source of confinement and claustrophobia. For a year, an empty instruction of events follows its course under the impotent eyes of K., whose lucidity remains derisory and useless in the face of an implacable judicial machine. The trial, a pivotal piece in the work of this genius, renounces the supernatural to evoke the anguish of obsession.

Brazilian Heitor Villa-Lobos was one of the greatest composers of the 20th century, and his music was often written in a style that was a mix of European influences (Bach in particular), and traditional Brazilian music, especially the choro. This exceptional recording made in Rio de Janeiro in 1897 was produced by Jo�l Leibovitz, and the three CDs here contain the 9 complete suites of the Bachianas Brasileiras performed by the Orquesta Sinf�nica Brasileira.

Thelonious Monk est l'un des plus grands pianistes du siecle dernier, un genie de la musique qui aura bouscule les conventions et porte la composition dans le jazz au firmament. Transgressif, sans concession, son art est intemporel, inegale voire inegalable. Laurent de Wilde depeint savoureusement la vie et l'oeuvre de l'artiste qui sont l'un comme l'autre, tout autant mysterieux et singuliers, voire etranges. Musicien fabuleux, brillant ecrivain et normalien, Laurent de Wilde incarne ici son recit avec style et rigueur. Excellent biographe, pedagogue, l'auteur s'adresse a tous les publics et permet de comprendre et d'apprecier encore plus la musique d'un artiste sans compromis. Un ouvrage devenu reference, incarne ici par la voix de son auteur. Augustin BONDOUX / Patrick FReMEAUX Thelonious Monk is one of the greatest pianists of the last century, a musical genius who shook up conventions and took jazz composition to new heights. Transgressive and uncompromising, his art is timeless, unrivalled if not unparalleled. Laurent de Wilde skillfully portrays the artist's life and work, both of which are equally mysterious and singular, even strange. A fabulous musician, a brilliant writer and a graduate of the Ecole Normale Superieure, Laurent de Wilde embodies his story with style and rigor. An excellent biographer and pedagogue, the author appeals to all audiences, enabling them to understand and appreciate even more the music of an uncompromising artist. A work that has become a reference, embodied here by the voice of it's author. Audiobook, in French. 2 CD MP3 Production : Laurent de Wilde pour Gazebo Duree : 7h38

Long regarded as a “popular” writer, Jehan Rictus, an anarchist and poet of modern misery, nevertheless remains one of the most remarkable artists of the late nineteenth century, and the quality of his work is something that his contemporaries certainly envied. It is time now to hear once again the voice of Jehan Rictus. In his poems with libertarian accents, he chastises the bourgeois, his epoch, the “hideousness” of false charity, false reason, and bigotry. The fair and sensitive interpretation of Daniel Mesguich makes it possible to hear the power of these works orally while giving pieces of life to the ‘little people.’

This founding text of the Epicurean philosopher of Ancient Greece, which brings together poetry and philosophy, presents itself as an attempt to "break the strong locks of the gates of nature," that is to say, to reveal to the reader the nature of the world and it's natural phenomena. According to Lucretius, this knowledge of the world must allow man to free himself from the burden of superstitions, especially religious, constituting so many obstacles that prevent everyone from attaining ataraxia; the tranquility of the soul. While Michel Onfray reveals Lucretius to us in the second volume of the Counter-History of Philosophy, Bernard Combeaud began to translate the great philosophical poem with the difficulty of writing both intellectually and poetically, a work edited by Denis Mollat for which Bernard Combeaud received the Jules Janin Prize from the French Academy for Adaptation. In turn, Denis Podalydes, member of the Comedie-Francaise, takes up the challenge of this reading, putting his talent at the service of the poetic and philosophical prosody of the text of Lucretius in a selection made by Bernard Combeaud. In order to give the listener all the answers to the questions asked about the work of adaptation and interpretation in the broad sense, the present release also includes an interview between Bernard Combeaud and Michel Onfray.

Sébastien Troendlé: teacher, virtuoso, a peerless entertainer, pianist and messenger, a keeper of the flame. Here he relates the history of Afro-American music’s popular roots. His two music shows for audiences young and old create a brand-new stylistic bridge between music and history. Never has ragtime or boogie-woogie been told like this, nor have they ever been performed with so much conviction, brio, intelligence and swing. This is thrilling, instructive, and entertaining.

Arsene Lupin is back! This 2-CD set features one of the adventures of the great “gentleman burglar” read by Jacques Gamblin – in the French language. The character of Arsene Lupin was created by writer Maurice Leblanc. Crime’s most elegant, amiable, and impertinent representative is brought to life again through Jacques Gamblin’s voice in an adventure entitled “La Demeure mysterieuse”. The Melamare family hides a terrible secret, there is an enigma at the mysterious residence, Van Houben’s diamonds… Everyday life for Arsene Lupin!

This 3CD set features the historical reading (for the National Broadcasts in 1956) of Madame de Lafayette "La Princesse de Cleves". This XVIIth century book is one of the first works to mix up together Literature and History. It is also a very important date in the history of the female writers in literature. Audiobook in French.

Tzigane music is an artistic form that can pretend to be universal, and for a cause. Filled with eternity in space as well as in time, it seems to have always encountered, welcoming lands as well as humilating ones, exil and happiness, periods of recognition and centuries of oblivion.

Classical Music

This first opus of the brief encyclopedia of the world reveals a powerful philosophy and intimacy anchored in reality. With the maturity of lived experiences and scientific and historical teachings, the thought of Michel Onfray comes to put down the world of pure ideas where dogmas and screens enclose man in a cavern of fiction. Michel Onfray speaks of his father, in life and in death, and the decisive experience of mourning. It tackles the facets of time, the nature of the body, the spirit, and of civilizations. On the track of the Gypsy people, we learn, for example, to reclaim an ancestral and calm vision of time. Cosmos is the result of a thought based on the natural and sensitive truths of the world around us, a practical and exciting philosophy intended to make us fully grasp the present.

“Canada is a political entity which is not represented by one individual culture, but by various traditions transmitted through immigration during the history of the country. This double boxed set, directed by Martin Duchesne, portrays the multiple aspects. It features Quebec versions of old songs from France, English versions from the United Kingdom and the US as well as bona fide Canadian songs. This perspective of Canadian folklore equally covers the culture of the First Nations, the first Indian nations with a linguistic culture which marked the land as much as French or English-speaking culture (Ottawa, Toronto, etc.). With this set of 57 songs, Fremeaux & Associes presents a historiographical panorama of cultural diversity, a cross-sectional view of all forms and every level of expression, and affirms the country’s extraordinary richness.” Patrick Fremeaux “Contrary to the French anthropological vision which generally consists of studying external cultures often corresponding to the colonized countries, the Canadian anthropology must face the multiplicity of its own culture, shared between the Western heritage and the Indian usual art of “First Nations”. This 2CD set evidently represents the individuality of Canadian’s spirit, based on the diversity of its origins.” Lola Caul-Futy Fremeaux (Anthropology student at Simon Frazer University of Vancouver)

This 3CDs set features the reading by Nathalie Roussel of Sigmund Freud's "Civilization and Its Discontents". First published in German in 1930 as "Das Unbehagen in der Kultur", this book is one of Freud's most important and widely read works. Audiobook in French.