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Title details for Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol - Available

Dead Souls

by Nikolai Gogol
Tom Weiner
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available

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, thereby saving their owners from paying taxes on them. But what collateral will Chichikov receive for these "souls"? What dubious scheme lies behind his actions?

Full of larger-than-life Dickensian characters—rogues and scoundrels, landowners and serfs, conniving petty officials, and the wily antihero Chichikov—Dead Souls is a devastating comic satire on social hypocrisy.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    July 23, 2009

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781483058283
      • File size: 373316 KB
      • Duration: 12:57:44

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Considered one of the great novels in the Russian canon, this book is a symbolic snapshot of nineteenth-century Russian life, and an intense literary experience. The story revolves around Chichikov, a man who comes to a Russian town to buy the souls of dead peasants who are still listed on the census, setting in motion a story of greed and distrust. Narrator Tom Weiner has a deep, robust, nasally tinged voice that captures the tone of the book at the beginning, but he doesn't vary his pitch and characters enough to keep the work moving. He also reads a bit too quickly; slowing down would allow us to more easily digest the philosophical aspects of the story. R.I.G. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine
    • AudioFile Magazine
      Some contend that DEAD SOULS, one of Gogol's defining works, was a precursor to Joseph Heller's great satirical novel CATCH-22. The irony in both runs deep, wide, and circularly; in Gogol's case, we find an early example of the antihero, Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, who purchases the souls of dead Russian peasants to further his soulless career. This criminally minded social climber has left the world of corrupt bureaucracy to fleece the self-same bureaucracy in a hilarious fable of small minds in nineteenth-century rural Russia. Gordon Griffin does a marvelous plummy job of bringing DEAD SOULS through a glass, darkly. D.J.B. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine
    • AudioFile Magazine
      There are many voices, of many classes and temperaments, for Nicholas Boulton to portray in this audiobook. He meets the challenge with a wide range of British class and regional accents, along with character voices. More of a challenge is the range of moods, from comedy to near-tragedy, and the problematical text, which lacks an ending as well as several chunks toward the end. In several cases, Boulton must build a scene that doesn't have a conclusion. But he maintains as much continuity as possible, even generating sympathy for some reprehensible characters. The book is Gogol's flawed masterpiece, and this is a presentation that it deserves. D.M.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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