Poor Richard (Annotated)
Enriched Edition. A Nineteenth-Century American Tale of Unrequited Love, Moral Education, and Psychological ConflictBy Henry James
Length4h 20m
About this audiobook
Henry James's Poor Richard is an early tale of frustrated desire, moral hesitation, and the painful education of feeling. Set against a recognizably nineteenth-century American social world, it examines the claims of love, pride, money, and self-command with the psychological delicacy that would become James's signature. Though less architecturally elaborate than his later novels, the work already reveals his gift for dramatic implication: motive is disclosed through gesture, conversation, and inward conflict rather than melodramatic declaration. Its title's ironic echo of Franklinian prudence deepens the story's concern with worldly wisdom and emotional impoverishment. Henry James, born in New York in 1843 into an intellectually restless and cosmopolitan family, was formed by travel, private study, and exposure to European culture. Brother to the philosopher William James, he became fascinated by consciousness, ethical ambiguity, and the contrast between American innocence and social complexity. Poor Richard belongs to his apprenticeship, when he was transforming inherited moral fiction into subtler studies of character. This book is recommended to readers interested in James's development, in compact nineteenth-century fiction, and in narratives where the decisive action occurs within the mind. It offers a concise but revealing entry into one of modern fiction's great psychological artists.
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.
- Interactive footnotes clarify unusual references, historical allusions, and archaic phrases for an effortless, more informed read.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 3.9 (590)
Includes Goodreads
GenreLiterary Classics, Mystery and Thriller
Length4 hrs 20 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateDec 7, 2023
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Poor Richard (Annotated)
7Poor Richard (pt. 1)
2Introduction
8Poor Richard (pt. 2)
3Synopsis
9Analysis
4Historical Context
10Reflection
5Author Biography
11Memorable Quotes
Show all chaptersShow less
6Versions of Poor Richard include:
The Time Traveler's Bookshelf: Eight Unforgettable BooksHenry James, Fritz Leiber, Murray Leinster, Robert F. Young, Andre Norton, Philip K. Dick, Clifford D. Simak, Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman32h 27m$1.99 · $0.00
Daisy MillerHenry James2h 45m$1.99 · $0.00
El Retrato de una DamaHenry James28h 11m$1.99 · $0.00
Gesammelte WerkeHenry James118h 13m4.3 (12)$1.50 · $0.00
10 Iconic Gilded Age NovelsHenry James, Theodore Dreiser, Mark Twain, Edith Wharton, Robert Barr, Louisa May Alcott140h 49m$1.99
Los papeles de AspernHenry James8h 40m$1.99 · $0.00
20 Must Read Ghost NovelsHenry James, Horace Walpole, Gaston Leroux, Francis Marion Crawford, Emily Brontë, Ann Ward Radcliffe, Frederick Marryat, H. P. Lovecraft, Frederic Henry Balfour, Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth, William De Morgan, John Meade Falkner, Wilkie Collins, Charles Willing Beale, Duchess, Paul Dickey, Charles Goddard, Eliza Parsons, Richard Marsh, William Hope Hodgson207h 8m4.0 (19)$1.99
The Turn of the Screw (Annotated)Henry James6h 27m3.4 (185.5K)$2 · $0.00
The Wings of the Dove + The Ambassadors + What Maisie Knew + The Turn of the Screw (Annotated)Henry James55h 13m4.5 (24)$2 · $0.00
The Bostonians (Annotated)Henry James19h 25m$2 · $0.00
The Ambassadors (The Unabridged Edition) (Annotated)Henry James20h 11m3.8 (31K)$2 · $0.00
Love, Lust & Heartbreak: 50 Romance Classics in One Collection (Annotated)Henry James, Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, Anne Brontë, William Shakespeare, Fanny Burney, Stendhal, R.D. Blackmore, Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, Nathaniel Hawthorne, George Eliot, Leo Tolstoy, Thomas Hardy, Elizabeth Gaskell, Edith Wharton, Louisa May Alcott, Alexandre Dumas, Meredith Nicholson, Charles Dickens, Gaston Leroux, E. M. Forster, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Theodore Dreiser, H. G. Wells, Grace Livingston Hill, Earl Derr Biggers, Walter Scott, Virginia Woolf, Burton Egbert Stevenson, P.G. Wodehouse, Georgette Heyer, Madeleine L'Engle, O. Douglas, Kate Chopin763h 22m$2 · $0.00
The Wings of the Dove (Annotated)Henry James22h 33m3.9 (30.5K)$2 · $0.00
The Complete Works of Henry James (Illustrated Edition) (Annotated)Henry James691h 13m4.4 (425)$2 · $0.00
The Complete Novels of Henry James (Annotated)Henry James320h 25m4.5 (537)$2 · $0.00
The Tragic Muse (Annotated)Henry James26h 4m4.3 (12)$2 · $0.00
Colección de Henry James (Anotado)Henry James72h 19m4.1 (22)$1.99 · $0.00
HARVARD CLASSICS - All 20 Volumes in one Edition (Annotated)Henry James, George Eliot, Henry Fielding, Laurence Sterne, Jane Austen, Walter Scott, William Makepeace Thackeray, Charles Dickens, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Washington Irving, Edgar Allan Poe, Francis Bret Harte, Mark Twain, Edward Everett Hale, Victor Hugo, Honoré Balzac, George Sand, Alfred de Musset, Alphonse Daudet, Guy de Maupassant, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Gottfried Keller, Theodor Storm, Theodor Fontane, Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Ivan Turgenev, Juan Valera, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Alexander L. Kielland387h 7m4.4 (136)$2 · $0.00
Washington Square (The Unabridged Edition) (Annotated)Henry James8h 56m$2 · $0.00
To Kill a MockingbirdHarper Lee12h 18m4.5 (7.4M)$29 · $0.00
These Precious DaysAnn Patchett11h 14m4.5 (45.2K)$29 · $0.00
Braving the TruthRachel Held Evans11h 31m4.7 (359)$29 · $0.00
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
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
TORAH - Bilingual Edition: English/Hebrew (Annotated)Max Margolis, JPS28h 26m4.6 (1K)$2 · $0.00
Betty Crocker picture cooky bookBetty Crocker, Inc. General Mills2h 13m4.5 (6.5K)$1 · $0.00
The Complete Tales of Beatrix PotterBeatrix Potter3h 36m4.5 (75K)$3 · $0.00
Crime and Punishment (The Unabridged Garnett Translation) (Annotated)Fyodor Dostoevsky24h 25m4.5 (15.4K)$1.99 · $0.00
The North American IndianEdward S. Curtis, Frederick Webb Hodge6h4.5 (1.2K)$2 · $0.00
The Picture of Dorian Gray: The Uncensored 13 Chapter Version + The Revised 20 Chapter Version (Annotated)Oscar Wilde16h 12m4.5 (2.8K)$1.99 · $0.00
Grimoire Of The Everyday WitchIsadora Lys / Virginia Santos5h 35m4.5 (3.9K)$9 · $0.00
Winnie-the-PoohAlan Alexander Milne2h 52m4.5 (401.1K)$3 · $0.00
Sitting PrettyRebekah Taussig7h 33m4.5 (18.9K)$26 · $0.00
The Poetic Edda & The Prose EddaSnorri Sturluson, Saemund Sigfusson9h 34m4.5 (4K)$1 · $0.00
The Complete Satires & Essays of Mark Twain (Annotated)Mark Twain23h 21m4.5 (1.1K)$2 · $0.00
Rilla of InglesideLucy Maud Montgomery10h 58m4.5 (46.7K)$1 · $0.00
Olympic Mountain PursuitJodie Bailey5h 55m4.6 (638)$12 · $0.00
Glen AffricKarine Giebel22h 51m4.5 (3.2K)$46 · $0.00
Deadly Badlands PursuitSharee Stover5h 53m4.6 (361)$12 · $0.00
Crime and Punishment (The Unabridged Garnett Translation) (Annotated)Fyodor Dostoevsky24h 25m4.5 (15.4K)$1.99 · $0.00
Three ComradesErich Maria Remarque15h 50m4.5 (47.3K)$2 · $0.00
AngelAnita Waller10h 30m4.6 (672)$30 · $0.00
The BorderDon Winslow29h 8m4.5 (35.7K)$53 · $0.00
FlashpointCatherine Coulter11h 38m4.5 (11.6K)$29 · $0.00
The Man in the Brown Suit & They Came to BaghdadAgatha Christie15h 43m4.6 (495)$33 · $0.00
Fang Si-Chi's First Love ParadiseYi-Han Lin8h 25m4.5 (4K)$26 · $0.00
The Rose CodeKate Quinn16h 2m4.4 (493.7K)$33 · $0.00
No Woman Left BehindJulie Moffett8h 49m4.5 (3K)$25 · $0.00
CovertJanie Crouch6h 15m4.5 (2K)$12 · $0.00
Cold Case InvestigationNicole Helm5h 30m4.6 (321)$5 · $0.00
The ReunionJana DeLeon6h 31m4.5 (1.6K)$12 · $0.00
Courage Under FireSharon Dunn5h 50m4.5 (730)$24 · $0.00
Decoding the TruthJulie Miller7h 31m4.6 (350)$12 · $0.00
Murder Gone ColdB.J. Daniels5h 50m4.5 (562)$12 · $0.00
Crime and PunishmentFyodor Dostoyevsky23h 14m4.4 (1.3M)$1 · $0.00
Exit FeeBrad Taylor3h 16m4.5 (1.9K)$18 · $0.00
You may also like
Mrs. HemingwayNaomi Wood9h 4m3.9 (12.9K)$20
The Pit: A Story of ChicagoFrank Norris13h 58m3.8 (3.3K)$1.20 · $0.00
The Portrait of a Lady (The Unabridged Edition) (Annotated)Henry James28h 15m4.0 (106.1K)$2 · $0.00
The Master of Ballantrae A Winter’s Tale Robert Louis Stevenson8h 35m3.9 (7.4K)Free
Can You Forgive Her?Anthony Trollope33h 20m4.1 (15.7K)$2 · $0.00
The House of MirthEdith Wharton14h 12m4.1 (130.4K)$2 · $0.00
The Complete Novels of George Eliot (Annotated)George Eliot169h 40m4.5 (2.2K)$3 · $0.00
Can You Forgive Her?Anthony Trollope34h 45m4.0 (13.1K)$2 · $0.00
The Painted Veil (Annotated)William Somerset Maugham9h 32m4.2 (1.4K)$2 · $0.00
SmokeIvan Sergeevich Turgenev8h 11m3.8 (5.2K)$2 · $0.00
The Portrait of a LadyHenry James12h 14m3.9 (104.1K)Free
Lady SusanJane Austen2h 56m3.8 (69.2K)$12
Far from the Madding CrowdThomas Hardy15h 31m4.2 (418.1K)$20 · $0.00
The Sun Also RisesErnest Hemingway6h 3m4.0 (564.3K)$6 · $0.00
Poor RichardHenry James2h 38m3.2 (48)$2 · $0.00
Monsieur de Camors — CompleteOctave Feuillet10h 12m4.0 (23)$2 · $0.00
Exiled Hearts & Foreign Shores – 3 Classic Travel NovelsMadame de Staël, Leo Tolstoy, Joseph Conrad35h 30m$2
An Australian GirlCatherine Martin20h 11m3.5 (17)$1.99 · $0.00
Godolphin, CompleteBaron Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton13h 41m3.5 (194)$2 · $0.00
Jane Austen and L.M. MontgomeryL.M. Montgomery154h 33m$18 · $0.00