Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • Zeno's Conscience

  • By: Italo Svevo
  • Narrated by: Sean Barrett
  • Length: 17 hrs and 16 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (11 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Zeno's Conscience cover art

Zeno's Conscience

By: Italo Svevo
Narrated by: Sean Barrett
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £22.99

Buy Now for £22.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Magic Mountain cover art
Heart of Darkness: A Signature Performance by Kenneth Branagh cover art
The Master and Margarita cover art
The Better Angels of Our Nature cover art
Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas cover art
The Brothers Karamazov cover art
I'm Not Stiller cover art
The Lady of the Camellias cover art
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter cover art
Vipers' Tangle cover art
Women in Love cover art
The Insulted and the Injured cover art
Traveller and the Moonlight cover art
The Setting Sun cover art
The Late Mattia Pascal cover art
Plum Bun cover art

Summary

Known for inspiring James Joyce's Leopold Bloom from Ulysses, Zeno Cosini is the bumbling yet charming alter ego of Italo Svevo, who here lays bare a hilarious litany of neuroticisms about his health, friendships, family, and women. 

Having submitted himself to Freudian psychoanalysis, the narrator keeps a diary with the aim of conquering his addiction to smoking. He describes his marriage to the woman he didn't want to marry, how he drives his business partner to despair, and how his "last cigarette" turns out to be one of many. Zeno is the classic "schlemiel"; his erratic foibles, his questionable logic, and his curious inclination to self sabotage help shine a light on human behavior in general, and reveal the many subtle half-truths people may tell themselves in order to defend their own actions and egos.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

Public Domain (P)2019 Naxos Audiobooks

What listeners say about Zeno's Conscience

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    6
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    5
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    5
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great tale - lost in narration

I read a translation of this great work many years ago and remember it being compelling, funny and poignant under the title: ‘The Confessions of Zeno’ (later changed via an updated and revised translation) so I was very much looking forward to listening to this version.

Unfortunately, I personally found this edition a very difficult listen due to the growling narration, which mostly came over as a virtually inaudible drone.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful