Bobok

The dead are talking, and they have no intention of behaving themselves.

Ivan Ivanovitch is a struggling writer who is slowly losing his grip. He goes to a funeral for a distant relative, wanders among the graves, and sits down to rest. Then he hears voices coming from under the ground.

The corpses of St. Petersburg are gossiping. A general frets about rank. A society lady complains. A shopkeeper grumbles about prices. A decadent baron has a proposal: they have only a few months of awareness left before they fade completely, so why not spend it telling the whole, shameless truth?

Written in 1873, Bobok is Dostoevsky at his strangest and funniest. It's a dark satire of vanity, social climbing and hypocrisy that follows people all the way into the grave. Critics have called it one of the most daring things he ever wrote. It's short, sharp and unsettling, and it's a perfect companion to The Dream of a Ridiculous Man.

Translated by Constance Garnett. Read by a real human being.