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Dead Souls

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About this listen

Gogol's great Russian classic is the Pickwick Papers of Russian literature. It takes a sharp but humorous look at life in all its strata but especially the devious complexities in Russia, with its landowners and serfs. We are introduced to Chichikov, a businessman who, in order to trick the tax authorities, buys up dead 'souls', or serfs, whose names still appear on the government census. Despite being a dealer in phantom crimes and paper ghosts, he is the most beguiling of Gogol's characters. Gogol's obsession with attempting to display 'the untold riches of the Russian soul' eventually led him to madness, religious mania, and death. Dismissed by him as merely 'a pale introduction to the great epic poem which is taking shape in my mind', Dead Souls is the culmination of Gogol's genius. Translator: Constance Garnett.

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

Public Domain (P)2017 Naxos AudioBooks World Literature Russia Ghost Witty Haunted Classics
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The best audiobook I've listened to, along with The Pickwick's Papers read by Rory Kinnear. The Dead Souls are fantastically written,just like everything by Gogol, and the narrator brought it to life in absolutely adorable and matsterful feat of storytelling. I'm now going to download other books read by him, UPON MY SOUL!

Absolutely fantastic!

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The book flows beautifully with countless interesting encounters , witty dialogues and numerous deeply thought provoking moments .
Light hearted and very enjoyable read .

Worth the praise

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First of all, I have bit of a soft spot for Russian classical literature, maybe because I still haven’t read one bad book from this genre. Second of all, Dead Souls is yet another stunning classic. The story revolves around character named Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov who perfectly fits description of modern day entrepreneur except he lived in different time of our history. He goes from town to town, trying to execute his master business plan and meets un-ending variety of characters. And this is where the biggest strength of Gogol and this book lies.

The unimaginable attention to detail Gogol gives to every person, town, or anything mentioned makes it very easy to use your imagination and construct this places in your mind and start living the story like you were there. The character stereotypes he portrays are so true that I cannot fathom out how he could know all of this back in 19th century. After you read this book you will come to understanding that we as people haven’t changed that much in last 200 years. All character traits and stereotypes are the same today. We have advanced technologically but not as humans. Our mindsets are still the same. If you let it, this book will teach you a lot about how people behave and how to deal with it.

For some people these constant descriptions of details might get boring after a while, and story can get confusing as a result. But, I have enjoyed everything thoroughly. And yes, the book is missing a lot of pages in second part and ends mid-sentence. The usual explanation is that Gogol went mad and tried to destroy this book. However, me personally I like the theory that he didn’t go mad but quite the opposite. That he did it all on purpose to fit the overall theme of the book which I don’t want to spoil. The audibook narrator Nicholas Boulton is simply amazing. He handles all the different characters perfectly. So, get this audiobook and indulge in it, enjoy every second.

The life of 19th century entrepreneur

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Wonderful reading - Nicholas Boulton does justice to the eccentric and brilliant writing of Gogol. I love Garnett’s translation as well.

Excellent,

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Great book! I highly recommend it. It's impressive how little we have changed in the last 150 years. I was impressed by how well, with such subtle details and very fine irony, Gogol described the human nature.

150 years later and the world looks the same

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