Dead Souls, Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol Translation by D. J. Hogarth
Dead Souls, Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol Translation by D. J. Hogarth
List: $22.95 | Sale: $16.07
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Dead Souls

Author: Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol; Translation by D. J. Hogarth

Narrator: Tom Weiner

Unabridged: 12 hr 57 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/23/2009

Categories: Fiction, Classic


Synopsis

Regarded as the first great masterpiece of Russian literature, Dead Souls mixes realism and symbolism for a vivid and highly original portrait of Russian life. Chichikov, a mysterious stranger, arrives in a provincial town with a bizarre but seductive proposition for local landowners. He proposes to buy the names of their serfs who have died but who are still registered on the census, saving their owners from paying tax on them. But what collateral will Chichikov receive for these souls? Full of largerthanlife Dickensian charactersrogues and scoundrels, landowners and serfs, conniving petty officials, and the wily antihero ChichikovDead Souls is a devastating comic satire on social hypocrisy.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Vit on August 10, 2024

Dead Souls is a pied vernissage of grotesque and colourful characters… Unlike the dead souls of the novel they are quite quick and kicking… A new praiseworthy persona came to town… In the britzka sat a gentleman, not handsome, but also not bad-looking, neither too fat nor too thin; you could not have......more

Goodreads review by Jim on June 15, 2019

The book goes way back to 1842, before Russian serfs were emancipated in 1861. It’s considered a picaresque novel; Don Quixote-ish – a journey with a lot of satire and absurd situations with a rascal as a main character, a man who always has a get-rich-quick scheme going. He’s kind of happy-go-lucky......more

Goodreads review by Jon on November 01, 2022

Another 'classic bucket list' book. As he buys dead souls in an attempt to help increase his social standing Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov represents the all too common association that is made between power, ethics and the law. The dead on the list are treated (by the law) better than they ever were wh......more