Lavengro: The Scholar, The Gypsy, The Priest cover art

Lavengro: The Scholar, The Gypsy, The Priest

Lavengro: The Scholar, The Gypsy, The Priest

By: George Borrow
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This unusual narrative by eccentric self-taught English linguist, traveller and one-time bible salesman George Borrow combines elements of autobiography, fantasy and anti-Catholic polemic. We follow Borrow around the countryside of England, Scotland and Ireland — and, for a period, through the streets of London — as he grows from a young boy to a young man in the first decades of the nineteenth century, attracted to studying various languages, hoping but failing to make his mark as a writer and translator, and then later adopting the life of an itinerant tinker, all the while struggling with intermittent bouts of existential despair and terror. The two figures Borrow denotes as "scholar" and "priest" in his title figure only slightly in the tale, while even Mr Petulengro, a gypsy Borrow befriends, appears only intermittently. According to Borrow, the term "Lavengro" signifies "word master" in the language of the gypsies. Noted Australian author (and, incidentally, self-taught student of Hungarian) Gerald Murnane has described Borrow as his favourite prose stylist. (Summary by Peter Dann)Copyright 1800s Genre Art Christianity Literary History & Criticism Spirituality
Episodes
  • Lavengro The Scholar The Gypsy The Priest - George Borrow - Part 3

    Lavengro The Scholar The Gypsy The Priest - George Borrow - Part 3
    Jun 26 2026
    This unusual narrative by eccentric self-taught English linguist, traveller and one-time bible salesman George Borrow combines elements of autobiography, fantasy and anti-Catholic polemic. We follow Borrow around the countryside of England, Scotland and Ireland — and, for a period, through the streets of London — as he grows from a young boy to a young man in the first decades of the nineteenth century, attracted to studying various languages, hoping but failing to make his mark as a writer and translator, and then later adopting the life of an itinerant tinker, all the while struggling with intermittent bouts of existential despair and terror. The two figures Borrow denotes as "scholar" and "priest" in his title figure only slightly in the tale, while even Mr Petulengro, a gypsy Borrow befriends, appears only intermittently. According to Borrow, the term "Lavengro" signifies "word master" in the language of the gypsies. Noted Australian author (and, incidentally, self-taught student of Hungarian) Gerald Murnane has described Borrow as his favourite prose stylist. (Summary by Peter Dann)
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    2 hrs and 17 mins
  • Lavengro The Scholar The Gypsy The Priest - George Borrow - Part 2

    Lavengro The Scholar The Gypsy The Priest - George Borrow - Part 2
    Jun 25 2026
    This unusual narrative by eccentric self-taught English linguist, traveller and one-time bible salesman George Borrow combines elements of autobiography, fantasy and anti-Catholic polemic. We follow Borrow around the countryside of England, Scotland and Ireland — and, for a period, through the streets of London — as he grows from a young boy to a young man in the first decades of the nineteenth century, attracted to studying various languages, hoping but failing to make his mark as a writer and translator, and then later adopting the life of an itinerant tinker, all the while struggling with intermittent bouts of existential despair and terror. The two figures Borrow denotes as "scholar" and "priest" in his title figure only slightly in the tale, while even Mr Petulengro, a gypsy Borrow befriends, appears only intermittently. According to Borrow, the term "Lavengro" signifies "word master" in the language of the gypsies. Noted Australian author (and, incidentally, self-taught student of Hungarian) Gerald Murnane has described Borrow as his favourite prose stylist. (Summary by Peter Dann)
    Show More Show Less
    9 hrs and 38 mins
  • Lavengro The Scholar The Gypsy The Priest - George Borrow - Part 1

    Lavengro The Scholar The Gypsy The Priest - George Borrow - Part 1
    Jun 24 2026
    This unusual narrative by eccentric self-taught English linguist, traveller and one-time bible salesman George Borrow combines elements of autobiography, fantasy and anti-Catholic polemic. We follow Borrow around the countryside of England, Scotland and Ireland — and, for a period, through the streets of London — as he grows from a young boy to a young man in the first decades of the nineteenth century, attracted to studying various languages, hoping but failing to make his mark as a writer and translator, and then later adopting the life of an itinerant tinker, all the while struggling with intermittent bouts of existential despair and terror. The two figures Borrow denotes as "scholar" and "priest" in his title figure only slightly in the tale, while even Mr Petulengro, a gypsy Borrow befriends, appears only intermittently. According to Borrow, the term "Lavengro" signifies "word master" in the language of the gypsies. Noted Australian author (and, incidentally, self-taught student of Hungarian) Gerald Murnane has described Borrow as his favourite prose stylist. (Summary by Peter Dann)
    Show More Show Less
    9 hrs and 54 mins
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