Sheppard Lee, Written by Himself (Vol. 1&2) (Annotated)
Enriched Edition. An Antebellum Body-Swapping Satire of Social Mobility, Identity, and the American RepublicBy Robert Montgomery Bird
Length15h 19m
About this audiobook
Sheppard Lee, Written by Himself is a startlingly inventive antebellum fiction, cast as the mock autobiography of a lazy New Jersey ne'er-do-well who discovers an uncanny power to inhabit the bodies of the recently dead. Across its two volumes, Bird turns metempsychosis into a picaresque engine, moving through wealth, labor, reform, domesticity, and slavery with satirical sharpness. Its brisk comic prose, grotesque incidents, and ironic self-fashioning place it beside the era's experimental American romances while anticipating later meditations on identity and social performance. Robert Montgomery Bird, a Philadelphia physician turned dramatist and novelist, wrote from intimate knowledge of professional insecurity, urban ambition, and the volatile literary marketplace of the 1830s. Best known in his day for stage collaborations with Edwin Forrest and historical romances, Bird brought theatrical pacing, medical curiosity, and a skeptical eye for democratic self-invention to this unusual novel. Readers interested in early American literature, satire, speculative fiction, or the history of the self will find Sheppard Lee richly rewarding. It is both entertaining and intellectually agile: a comic adventure that exposes how class, race, money, and circumstance shape what appears to be personal identity.
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.
- 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★★★★ 3.7 (551)
Includes Goodreads, LibraryThing, Amazon
GenreHumor, Literary Classics
Length15 hrs 19 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateOct 28, 2021
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Sheppard Lee, Written by Himself (Vol. 1&2) (Annotated)
11Volume 2
2Introduction
12BOOK IV (continued)
3Synopsis
13BOOK V. (pt. 1)
4Historical Context
14BOOK V. (pt. 2)
5Volume 1
15BOOK VI.
Show all chaptersShow less
6BOOK I.
16BOOK VII.
7BOOK II.
17BOOK VIII.
8BOOK III. (pt. 1)
18Analysis
9BOOK III. (pt. 2)
19Reflection
10BOOK IV.
20Memorable Quotes
More from Robert Montgomery Bird
Lost In TranslationAudrey Davis9h 15m4.4 (235)$17 · $0.00
Love That StoryJonathan Van Ness5h 44m4.2 (10.4K)$24 · $0.00
The Jeeves and Wooster Stories: The Complete Collection (33 Books)P. G. Wodehouse21h 57m4.7 (2.8K)$15 · $0.00
Birdie & HarlowTaylor Wolfe7h 50m4.6 (6.5K)$26 · $0.00
The Life of DaiDai Henwood, Jaquie Brown8h 2m4.6 (790)$26 · $0.00
Welcome to PawneeJim O'Heir6h 24m4.5 (5.3K)$24 · $0.00
Going PostalTerry Pratchett13h 36m4.5 (163.8K)$33 · $0.00
Woman UninterruptedBrodie Kane7h 1m4.6 (562)$24 · $0.00
1984 & Animal Farm (Annotated)George Orwell15h 54m4.5 (220.8K)$3.99 · $0.00
Kingsblood Royal (Annotated)Sinclair Lewis14h 42m4.6 (264)$2 · $0.00
This Is Going to HurtAdam Kay5h 47m4.4 (444.7K)$24 · $0.00
You Will Get Through This NightDaniel Howell6h 56m4.4 (11.8K)$24 · $0.00
Northanger Abbey (Annotated)Jane Austen10h 7m4.5 (1.6K)$2 · $0.00
My Dear HamiltonStephanie Dray, Laura Kamoie23h 7m4.4 (63.6K)$46 · $0.00
THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS & SCREWTAPE PROPOSES A TOAST (Annotated)C. S. Lewis5h 6m4.4 (471K)$2 · $0.00
BufferingHannah Hart5h 55m4.4 (12.4K)$24 · $0.00
The Office BFFsJenna Fischer, Angela Kinsey8h 26m4.3 (45.4K)$26 · $0.00
The Collected Stories of Dorothy ParkerDorothy Parker8h 36m4.3 (13.6K)$1 · $0.00
LambChristopher Moore15h 22m4.3 (211.3K)$33 · $0.00
#IMomSoHardKristin Hensley, Jen Smedley7h 19m4.3 (7.3K)$24 · $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
The Jeeves and Wooster Stories: The Complete Collection (33 Books)P. G. Wodehouse21h 57m4.7 (2.8K)$15 · $0.00
The Gulag Archipelago Volume 3Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn21h 56m4.7 (8.9K)$46 · $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
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
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
You may also like
An Unpleasant Predicament: A Nasty Story (Unabridged) (Annotated)Fyodor Dostoyevsky4h 4m3.7 (6.6K)$2 · $0.00
The Wonderful VisitH. G. Wells5h 42m3.7 (1K)$1 · $0.00
In a Free StateV. S. Naipaul9h 3m3.7 (6K)$20
Elmer GantrySinclair Lewis19h 20m4.0 (28.2K)$1 · $0.00
An Unpleasant Predicament: A Nasty Story (Annotated)Fyodor Dostoyevsky3h 56m3.7 (6.6K)$2 · $0.00
SophistPlato5h 18m4.1 (4.3K)$2.30
Gulliver’s TravelsJonathan Swift10h 55m3.8 (346.3K)$20 · $0.00
Pygmalion (Complete Illustrated Edition) (Annotated)George Bernard Shaw10h 56m4.2 (1.3K)$2 · $0.00
A Room of One's OwnVirginia Woolf5h 24m4.3 (318K)$12 · $0.00
Peer Gynt - with original colour illustrations by Arthur RackhamHenrik Ibsen7h 7m3.7 (9.7K)$2 · $0.00
Mademoiselle de Maupin Volume I & IIThéophile Gautier13h 59m4.0 (2.4K)$2.30
BabbittSinclair Lewis15h 37m3.9 (36.2K)$1 · $0.00
Dead Souls (Annotated)Nikolai Gogol17h 21m4.1 (106.9K)$2 · $0.00
Dead SoulsNikolai Vasilevich Gogol16h 1m4.1 (118.7K)$1 · $0.00
Following the Equator: A Journey Around the WorldMark Twain19h 11m4.1 (2.1K)$1 · $0.00
Satan's Diary (Annotated)Leonid Andreyev7h 7m3.9 (3.1K)$1.99 · $0.00
First and LastHilaire Belloc7h 17m3.9 (19)$2.30
The Bibliomaniac (Annotated)Charles Nodier1h 43m$2 · $0.00
The Clockmaker; Or, the Sayings and Doings of Samuel Slick, of SlickvilleThomas Chandler Haliburton7h 53m2.8 (83)$2 · $0.00
The Reluctant MetrosexualPeter Hyman6h 56m2.8 (148)$17 · $0.00