1001 Afternoons in Chicago (Annotated)
Enriched Edition. 1920s Urban Newspaper Sketches of Street Life, Vice, Ambition, and Modern American City SpectacleBy Ben Hecht
Length9h 51m
About this audiobook
1001 Afternoons in Chicago gathers Ben Hecht's celebrated newspaper sketches from the Chicago Daily News, transforming urban journalism into a modernist mosaic of street life, vice, ambition, loneliness, and theatrical human incident. Written in vivid, compressed prose, the pieces blend reportage, prose poetry, and short fiction, capturing Chicago as both a real metropolis and a symbolic stage of twentieth-century modernity. Its literary context lies between American realism, urban naturalism, and the emerging vernacular energies of Jazz Age writing. Ben Hecht, later famed as a Hollywood screenwriter and co-author of The Front Page, began as a Chicago newspaperman, and this book reflects his immersion in the city's courts, saloons, offices, alleys, and immigrant neighborhoods. His journalistic training sharpened his eye for character and dialogue, while his literary ambitions pushed him beyond mere reporting toward irony, lyricism, and moral observation. This volume is recommended for readers interested in urban literature, newspaper writing, and the origins of modern American prose style. It offers not only a portrait of Chicago, but also a brilliant study of city life as spectacle, tragedy, and comedy.
This enriched edition has been carefully crafted to add value to your reading experience.
- A succinct Introduction situates the work's timeless appeal and themes.
- The Synopsis outlines the central plot, highlighting key developments without spoiling critical twists.
- A detailed Historical Context immerses you in the era's events and influences that shaped the writing.
- An Author Biography reveals milestones in the author's life, illuminating the personal insights behind the text.
- A thorough Analysis dissects symbols, motifs, and character arcs to unearth underlying meanings.
- Reflection questions prompt you to engage personally with the work's messages, connecting them to modern life.
- Hand‐picked Memorable Quotes shine a spotlight on moments of literary brilliance.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 4.3 (1.4K)
Includes Goodreads, Amazon, LibraryThing, StoryGraph
GenreLiterary Classics
Length9 hrs 51 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateDec 5, 2023
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
11001 Afternoons in Chicago (Annotated)
26NOTES FOR A TRAGEDY
2Introduction
27CORAL, AMBER AND JADE
3Author Biography
28MEDITATION IN E MINOR
4Historical Context
29TEN-CENT WEDDING RINGS
5Synopsis (Selection)
30WHERE THE "BLUES" SOUND
Show all chaptersShow less
6FANNY
31VAGABONDIA
7THE AUCTIONEER'S WIFE
32NIRVANA
8FOG PATTERNS
33THE INDESTRUCTIBLE MASTERPIECE
9DON QUIXOTE AND HIS LAST WINDMILL
34MRS. SARDOTOPOLIS' EVENING OFF
10THE MAN HUNT
35THE GREAT TRAVELER
11MR. WINKELBERG
36THUMBS UP AND DOWN
12A SELF-MADE MAN
37ORNAMENTS
13TO BERT WILLIAMS
38THE WATCH FIXER
14MICHIGAN AVENUE
39SCHOPENHAUER'S SON
15COEUR DE LION AND THE SOUP AND FISH
40WORLD CONQUERORS
16THE SYBARITE
41THE MAN FROM YESTERDAY
17DAPPER PETE AND THE SUCKER PLAY
42THUMBNAIL LOTHARIOS
18WATERFRONT FANCIES
43THE SOUL OF SING LEE
19THE SNOB
44MRS. RODJEZKE'S LAST JOB
20THE WAY HOME
45QUEEN BESS' FEAST
21THE PIG
46LETTERS
22THE LITTLE FOP
47THE MOTHER
23MOTTKA
48CLOCKS AND OWL CARS
24"FA'N TA MIG!"
49CONFESSIONS
25FANTASTIC LOLLYPOPS
50AN IOWA HUMORESQUE
More from Ben Hecht
A Thousand and One Afternoons in Chicago (Annotated)Ben Hecht9h 47m$2 · $0.00
Cutie: A Warm MammaBen Hecht, Maxwell Bodenheim53m$1 · $0.00
1001 Afternoons in ChicagoBen Hecht9h 46m3.9 (333)$1 · $0.00
1001 Afternoons in ChicagoBen Hecht9h 38m4.0 (306)$2 · $0.00
Fantazius MallareBen Hecht2h 52m4.0 (93)$2 · $0.00
Fantazius Mallare: A Mysterious Oath (Illustrated Edition) (Annotated)Ben Hecht4h 28m4.0 (93)$1.99 · $0.00
GargoylesBen Hecht12h 16m3.0 (23)$6.50 · $0.00
The Gulag Archipelago Volume 3Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn21h 56m4.7 (8.9K)$46 · $0.00
The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America (Annotated)Howard Irving Chapelle, Tappan Adney13h 9m4.8 (150)$1.99 · $0.00
This Side of Paradise - The Original 1920 Edition (Annotated)F. Scott Fitzgerald11h 30m4.6 (1.6K)$2 · $0.00
The Great Gatsby: Original 1925 Edition (An F. Scott Fitzgerald Classic NovelFrancis Scott Fitzgerald4h 45m4.6 (9.3K)$18 · $0.00
Ivanhoe (Annotated)Walter Scott22h 52m4.8 (88)$2 · $0.00
The Fire Next TimeJames Baldwin2h 25m4.6 (159.1K)$15
The Complete Histories / History Plays of William Shakespeare (Annotated)William Shakespeare29h 42m4.6 (2.3K)$1.99 · $0.00
Braving the TruthRachel Held Evans11h 31m4.7 (359)$29 · $0.00
Richard Wagamese SelectedRichard Wagamese3h 14m4.6 (594)$15
The Old Man and the Sea (Annotated)Ernest Hemingway4h 27m4.6 (1.4K)$2 · $0.00
Twelfth Night (The Unabridged Play) + The Classic Biography (Annotated)William Shakespeare, Sidney Lee16h 38m4.6 (1.4K)$2 · $0.00
Henry V (The Play, Historical Background and Analysis of the Character in the Play)William Shakespeare, William Hazlitt8h 40m4.6 (1.3K)$1 · $0.00
Pathways to LightPrakash Amte7h 6m4.6 (1.3K)$8
These Vital SignsSayed Tabatabai3h 20m4.7 (215)$18 · $0.00
H. P. LOVECRAFT Ultimate Collection: Novellas, Short Stories, Poetry & Essays (Annotated)H. P. Lovecraft12h 28m4.6 (2.3K)$2 · $0.00
Time RegainedMarcel Proust15h 54m4.5 (10.6K)$2 · $0.00
Lessons in TruthH. Emilie3h 50m4.6 (1.4K)$4.70 · $0.00
TORAH - Bilingual Edition: English/Hebrew (Annotated)Max Margolis, JPS28h 26m4.6 (1K)$2 · $0.00
The Poetic EddaJackson Crawford6h 24m4.5 (19.8K)$17
Betty Crocker picture cooky bookBetty Crocker, Inc. General Mills2h 13m4.5 (6.5K)$1 · $0.00
You may also like
Is 5E. E. Cummings1h 51m4.3 (502)$2.40
SlownessMilan Kundera3h 26m3.7 (26.4K)$18 · $0.00
PoemsT. S. Eliot42m4.2 (478)$2.30
Love and Other StoriesAnton Pavlovich Chekhov8h 8m4.0 (572)$2 · $0.00
The Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain (Illustrated) (Annotated)Mark Twain113h 23m4.4 (8.2K)$2 · $0.00
My Lady NicotineJames Matthew Barrie6h 20m3.8 (1.5K)$1 · $0.00
The Poems of Giacomo LeopardiGiacomo Leopardi4h 11m4.4 (3.6K)$1 · $0.00
The Satires, Epistles, and Art of Poetry of Horace (Annotated)Horace6h 18m4.2 (1.1K)$2 · $0.00
The Autocrat Of the Breakfast TableOliver Wendell Holmes Sr.9h 34m3.7 (1.1K)$2.30
PARISIAN SKETCHESEmile Zola56m4.2 (357)$2 · $0.00
The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence DunbarPaul Laurence Dunbar13h 20m4.4 (913)$2 · $0.00
The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde: +150 Works in 1 eBook (Annotated)Oscar Wilde81h$2 · $0.00
The Congo, and Other PoemsVachel Lindsay2h 26m3.7 (91)$1 · $0.00
A Thousand and One Afternoons in Chicago (Annotated)Ben Hecht9h 47m$2 · $0.00
Mr. Punch's Book of SportVarious2h 17m$2 · $0.00
A Drunk Man Looks At The ThistleHugh MacDiarmid2h 47m4.1 (119)$2.40
OnHilaire Belloc6h 15m3.4 (21)$2.30
A PredicamentEdgar Allan Poe25m3.3 (470)$2.30 · $0.00
Enough Rope (Annotated)Dorothy Parker2h 25m$2 · $0.00
In This Our World, Suffrage Songs and Verses - A Collection of Poems (Annotated)Charlotte Perkins Gilman2h 9m4.6 (11)$2 · $0.00