In a logo­cen­tric culture—as Jacques Der­ri­da defined it—such as has exist­ed in the West for hun­dreds of years, writ­ing occu­pies a hal­lowed space, and lit­er­ary or philo­soph­i­cal writ­ing all the more so. The rhythms of every­day speech, the ges­tures and sig­nif­i­cant looks that char­ac­ter­ize our quo­tid­i­an inter­ac­tions are deemed less impor­tant than the pre­sum­ably indeli­ble marks on the page. Of course, before the writ­ten word, or at least the print­ed word and wide­spread lit­er­a­cy, speech was pri­ma­ry, and no lit­er­ary cul­ture exist­ed with­out it. From philoso­phers con­duct­ing peri­patet­ic dia­logues, to priests recit­ing scrip­ture, to bards recit­ing poet­ry in tav­erns, the nuances of voice and ges­ture were insep­a­ra­ble from the text.

Of the many rev­o­lu­tion­ary qual­i­ties of the inter­net, one of them has been to restore to lit­er­a­ture its voice, as lit­er­ary read­ings (pre­vi­ous­ly the pre­serve of a priv­i­leged few able to attend spe­cial­ized events and con­fer­ences) become avail­able to all. Whether through Youtube video and audio or mp3, lovers of lit­er­a­ture around the world can access the voic­es and vis­ages of authors like Maya Angelou (top, read­ing “Still I Rise,” with some ad libs), whose total­ly dis­tinc­tive face and voice don’t sim­ply sup­ple­ment her work but seem to com­plete it. We can hear W.H. Auden him­self read “As I Walked Out One Evening” (above, from a 1937 record­ing) in his deep bari­tone. We can hear Sylvia Plath read “Ariel” (below) and many more poems from her final col­lec­tion of the same name.

We also have the plea­sure of hear­ing, and see­ing, oth­er read­ers inter­pret the work of authors we love, such as the per­fect con­flu­ence of text and voice in the Tom Waits’ read­ing of Charles Bukowski’s “The Laugh­ing Heart,” below. Oth­er notable poet­ry read­ings by some­one oth­er than the author include James Earl Jones’ ren­di­tion of Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven” and Allen Ginsberg’s reading—or singing, rather—of the poet­ry of William Blake. And while poet­ry should always be read aloud, it can be equal­ly rev­e­la­to­ry to hear great prose works read, by their authors and oth­ers.

In the list of 90 read­ings below, excerpt­ed from our col­lec­tion of 630 Free Audio Books, you can find works by Faulkn­er and Hem­ing­way, read by Faulkn­er and Hem­ing­way, and Melville’s Moby Dick, read by a host of celebri­ty voic­es. And much, much more. So take some time and recon­nect with the voic­es and faces of lit­er­a­ture, which are as impor­tant as the words they pro­duce. And if you know of any read­ings online that aren’t on our list, feel free to leave a link to them in the com­ments.

• Angelou, Maya – Still I Rise & On the Pulse of the Morn­ing (read by author) – YouTube
• Apol­li­naire, Guil­laume – Le pont Mirabeau (Read by author in 1913) – Free MP3
• Auden, W.H. - As I Walked Out One Evening (read by author) – YouTube
• Auster, Paul – Free MP3 – The Red Note­book (read by the author)
• Barthelme, Don­ald - “Con­cern­ing the Body­guard” (read by Salman Rushdie) – Free MP3
• Blake, William - Songs of Inno­cence and Songs of Expe­ri­ence, as read by Allen Gins­berg — Free Stream/MP3
• Borges, Jorge Luis – The Gospel Accord­ing to Mark (read by Paul Ther­oux) – Free MP3
• Brad­bury, Ray – If Only We Had Taller Been (read by the author) – YouTube

• Brad­bury, Ray – The Veldt (Read by Stephen Col­bert) – YouTube
• Brad­bury, Ray – Sto­ries Read by Leonard Nimoy – YouTube
• Brod­key, Harold – Spring Fugue (read by Jef­frey Eugenides) – Free MP3
• Brod­key, Harold – The State of Grace (read by Richard Ford ) – Free Stream
• Brown, Mar­garet Wise – Good Night Moon (Read by Susan Saran­don) – YouTube
• Bukows­ki, Charles – The Laugh­ing Heart (read by Tom Waits) – YouTube Audio
• Bukows­ki, Charles – The Crunch and Roll The Dice (read by Bono) – YouTube Audio
• Bukows­ki, Charles – The Secret to My Endurance (read by the author) – YouTube Audio
• Calvi­no, Ita­lo – Invis­i­ble Cities (excerpts read by Calvi­no) – Free Stream
• Car­roll, Lewis – Alice in Won­der­land – Alter­na­tive ver­sion read by Cory Doc­torow of Boing­Bo­ing
• Carv­er, Ray­mond - “Fat” (read by Anne Enright) – Free MP3
• Carv­er, Ray­mond – “The Stu­dents’ Wife (read by Richard Ford) – Free MP3
• Carv­er, Ray­mond – “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” (Read by Carv­er) – Free MP3
• Cheev­er, John – “The Death of Justi­na” (read by John Cheev­er) – Free Stream/Download
• Cheev­er, John ” The Enor­mous Radio” (read by Nathan Eng­lan­der) –Free Stream
• Cheev­er, John - “The Reunion” (read by Richard Ford) – Free MP3
• Cheev­er, John – “The Swim­mer” (read by Anne Enright) – Free MP3
• Cheev­er, John – “The Swim­mer” (read by Cheev­er) – Free Stream/Download
• Chabon, Michael – “S Angel” (read by author) – Free Stream/Download
• Coleridge, Samuel – Rime of the Ancient Mariner – Ver­sion read by Orson Welles
• Cum­mings, EE - Some­where I Have Nev­er Trav­elled – (read by author) – YouTube
• Cum­mings, EE - Any­one Lived in a Pret­ty How Town – (read by author) – YouTube
• Dan­ti­cat, Edwidge - Water Child (read by Junot Diaz) – Free MP3 – Free iTunes
• DeLillo’s, Don – “Baad­er-Mein­hof” (read by Chang-rae Lee) – MP3
• Dick­ens, Charles – A Christ­mas Car­ol (Read by Neil Gaiman) – Free Stream
• Faulkn­er, William – Faulkn­er Reads – Free Stream
• Fer­linghet­ti, Lawrence – Selec­tions from A Coney Island of the Mind (read by author) – Free MP3 – Free Stream
• Frost, Robert – Stop­ping by Woods on a Snowy Evening (read by author) – YouTube
• Frost, Robert – The Gift Out­right (read by author) – YouTube
• Gins­berg, Allen – A Super­mar­ket in Cal­i­for­nia (read by Gins­berg) – Free MP3
• Gins­berg, Allen – Amer­i­ca (read by Gins­berg) – Free YouTube Stream
• Gins­berg, Allen - Howl, A Strange New Cot­tage in Berke­ley, and Super­mar­ket in Cal­i­for­nia (read by Gins­berg) – Free MP3/Stream
• Gordimer, Nadine – “A Style of Her Own” and “The Bride­groom” (read by the author, 1961) – Free Stream/Download
• Gordimer, Nadine – “Loot” (read by author) – YouTube
• Hem­ing­way, Ernest – Ernest Hem­ing­way Reads Ernest Hem­ing­way –Free Stream
• Hem­ing­way, Ernest - Homage to Switzer­land (read by Julian Barnes) – Free MP3
• Hem­ing­way, Ernest – “In Harry’s Bar in Venice” (a short sto­ry read by Hem­ing­way: .au for­mat, .gsm for­mat, .ra for­mat)
• Hem­ing­way, Ernest – “The Snows of Kil­i­man­jaro” (read by Charleston Hes­ton) – Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4
• Joyce, James – “The Dead” (Read by Cyn­thia Nixon & Colum McCann) – Free Stream
• July, Miran­da - “Ron Spivey” (read by David Sedaris) – Free MP3
• Kaf­ka, Franz – “A Hunger Artist” (read by Hanif Kureishi) – Free MP3
• Kin­caid, Jamaica - “Fig­ures in the Dis­tance” (read by Chi­ma­man­da Ngozi Adichie) – Free Stream
• Kin­caid, Jamaica – “Girl” and “Wing­less” (read by Edwidge Dan­ti­cat) – Free Stream
• McCann, Colum – “Transat­lantic” (read by author) – Free MP3
• Melville, Her­man – Moby Dick read by Celebri­ties – Free iTunes – Sound­cloud – Big Read – More details
• Moore, Lor­rie – “Paper Loss­es” (read by Gary Shteyn­gart) – Free Stream
• Nabokov, Vladimir - My Russ­ian Edu­ca­tion (Read by Orhan Pamuk) – Free MP3 – Free iTunes
• O’Connor, Flan­nery – “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” (Read by author in 1959) – Stream/Download
• Oates, Joyce Car­ol - “Mas­tiff” (read by Louise Erdrich) – Free Stream
• Ozick, Cyn­thia – “The Shawl” (read by Joyce Car­ol Oates) – Free Stream
• Paley, Grace – “Love” (read by George Saun­ders) – Free Stream
• Plath, Sylvia – Ariel (read by author) – YouTube Stream
• Poe, Edgar Allan - The Raven (as read by Christo­pher Walken) – Free YouTube Audio
• Poe, Edgar Allan - The Raven (as read by James Earl Jones) – Free YouTube Audio
• Pound, Ezra – Ses­ti­na: Altaforte (read by author) – YouTube
• Pritch­ett, V.S. – The Res­cue (Read by Jonathan Lethem) – Free Stream
• Rich, Adri­enne – Mourn­ing Poem, Spring Thun­der, White Night and oth­er poems (read by author) – Free Stream/Download
• Rumi – Like This (read by Til­da Swin­ton) – YouTube
• Sara­m­a­go, José - “The Cen­taur” (Read by Nadine Gordimer) – Free MP3
• Seuss, Dr. – Green Eggs and Ham (read by Neil Gaiman) – YouTube
• Sex­ton, Anne – Wait­ing to Die (read by author) – YouTube
• Shake­speare, William – The Son­nets (read by Sir John Giel­gud) – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
• Shel­ley, Per­cy Bysshe – Ozy­man­dias (read by Bryan Cranston) – Free YouTube
• Singer, Isaac Bashe­vis – Dis­guised – Free MP3 (read by Nathan Eng­lan­der)
• Stevens, Wal­lace – “Cre­dences of Sum­mer” and “An Ordi­nary Evening in New Haven” (read by the author) – Free Stream/Download
• Thomas, Dylan – A Child’s Christ­mas in Wales (read by Thomas) –Youtube
• Thomas, Dylan – Do Not Go Gen­tle Into That Good Night (read by the author) – Free MP3/Stream
• Thomas, Dylan – Do Not Go Gen­tle Into That Good Night (read by the Sir Antho­ny Hop­kins) – Free YouTube
• Thomas, Dylan – The Wild West (read by the author) – Free MP3/Stream
• Thomas, Dylan – Under Milk Wood (read by the author) – Free MP3/Stream
• Updike, John - “Play­ing with Dyna­mite” (read by Roger Angell) – Free MP3
• Updike, John – “A & P.” (read by Alle­gra Good­man) – Free MP3
• Wal­lace, David Fos­ter - “Con­sid­er the Lob­ster” (read by DFW) – Free MP3
• Wal­lace, David Fos­ter - “The View from Mrs. Thompson’s” (read by DFW) – Free MP3
• Wel­ty, Eudo­ra - “Where Is the Voice Com­ing From?” (read by Joyce Car­ol Oates) (MP3)
• Whit­man, Walt – Song of Myself (read by James Earl Jones) – Free Stream/Download
• Wilde, Oscar – The Hap­py Prince read by Stephen Fry – YouTube
• Williams, Willam Car­los – The Red Wheel­bar­row, Tract, The Defec­tive Record, To a Poor Old Woman, A Coro­nal, To Elsie, The Wind Increas­es, Clas­sic Scene (read by poet 1954) – Free
• Wolff, Tobias – “Bul­let in the Brain” (read by T. Cor­aghes­san Boyle) (MP3)
• Wolff, Tobias – “The Night in Ques­tion” (read by Akhil Shar­ma) (MP3)
• Yeats, William But­ler – The Fid­dler of Dooney (read by the author) – Free MP3
• Yeats, William But­ler – The Song of the Old Moth­er (read by the author) Free MP3

Relat­ed Con­tent:

Down­load 55 Free Online Lit­er­a­ture Cours­es: From Dante and Mil­ton to Ker­ouac and Tolkien

Crash Course on Lit­er­a­ture: Watch John Green’s Fun Intro­duc­tions to Gats­by, Catch­er in the Rye & Oth­er Clas­sics

Thug Notes Demys­ti­fies 60 Lit­er­ary Clas­sics (from Shake­speare to Gats­by) with a Fresh Urban Twist

What Are Lit­er­a­ture, Phi­los­o­phy & His­to­ry For? Alain de Bot­ton Explains with Mon­ty Python-Style Videos

Josh Jones is a writer and musi­cian based in Durham, NC. Fol­low him at @jdmagness

Giv­ing Gus Van San­t’s Drug­store Cow­boy a re-watch a cou­ple of weeks ago, I found I espe­cial­ly enjoyed William S. Bur­roughs’ appear­ance toward the end as — what else? — an aged but wise drug user in whose benev­o­lent pres­ence Matt Dil­lon’s pro­tag­o­nist comes to life-chang­ing con­clu­sions. That pic­ture rep­re­sent­ed a break into the main­stream, or close to it, for Van Sant, a direc­tor pre­vi­ous­ly known for Mala Noche, a stark black-and-white take on street hus­tlers on Port­land’s Skid Row.

But Bur­roughs’ pres­ence, among oth­er things, allowed Drug­store Cow­boy to keep a cer­tain raw edge. If you real­ly want to see Bur­roughs’ in a con­text of cin­e­mat­ic raw­ness, though, have a look at these home movies. We’ve pulled them out of the inter­net’s attic as a cel­e­bra­tion of the Naked Lunch author’s 101st birth­day. Only light­ly and taste­ful­ly edit­ed, these VHS gems (part one, part two) can­did­ly depict Bur­roughs at home in Lawrence, Kansas in 1996, just a year before his death.

They also find him in the com­pa­ny of such notable friends as Pat­ti Smith, Steve Busce­mi, and Allen Gins­berg, smok­ing, drink­ing, and — in Smith’s case — bust­ing out the gui­tar. Cats, as promised, roam through the frame. You might not call Bur­roughs him­self, made some­what less exu­ber­ant by time, the life of the par­ty, but he does seem to have radi­at­ed a kind of askew ani­mat­ing spir­it until the end. It cer­tain­ly kept him sur­round­ed by coun­ter­cul­tur­al lumi­nar­ies, all of them sure­ly still as keen as that young phar­ma­cy-rob­ber to learn from him.

Relat­ed Con­tent:

The Mak­ing of Drug­store Cow­boy, Gus Van Sant’s First Major Film (1989)

Hear a Great Radio Doc­u­men­tary on William S. Bur­roughs Nar­rat­ed by Iggy Pop

William S. Bur­roughs Reads His First Nov­el, Junky

William S. Bur­roughs on the Art of Cut-up Writ­ing

William S. Bur­roughs on Sat­ur­day Night Live, 1981

Col­in Mar­shall hosts and pro­duces Note­book on Cities and Cul­ture as well as the video series The City in Cin­e­ma and writes essays on cities, lan­guage, Asia, and men’s style. He’s at work on a book about Los Ange­les, A Los Ange­les Primer. Fol­low him on Twit­ter at @colinmarshall or on Face­book.