Dead Souls
Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov arrives in a provincial Russian town with a scheme that baffles everyone who hears it. He wants to buy up ‘dead souls,’ the serfs who have died but still count on the tax census and so still cost their owners money. As he calls on one landowner after another, Gogol assembles a gallery of misers, dreamers, and fools that adds up to a portrait of a whole society quietly rotting. The comedy is broad and the satire merciless, yet the prose carries a strange lyrical warmth. Left unfinished at Gogol’s death, it stands as one of the founding works of Russian fiction. Free PDF and EPUB editions are available here.
About the Author
Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852) was a Russian writer of Ukrainian birth and one of the first great masters of Russian prose. He mixed grotesque comedy, satire, and the supernatural across his plays, stories, and the novel Dead Souls before a deepening religious crisis darkened his final…
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Listen to Dead Souls Audiobook Free
Listen to Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol free online. The full audiobook (14 hr 44 min, 27 chapters, read by volunteer narrators) streams free on this page.
Dead Souls (1887) is a public domain work.
| # | Chapter | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction by John Cournos, and Author's Preface | 25:39 | |
| 2 | Part I, Chapter I | 37:00 | |
| 3 | Part I, Chapter II - Section 1 | 25:07 | |
| 4 | Part I, Chapter II - Section 2 | 38:10 | |
| 5 | Part I, Chapter III - Section 1 | 29:38 | |
| 6 | Part I, Chapter III - Section 2 | 28:19 | |
| 7 | Part I, Chapter IV - Section 1 | 29:05 | |
| 8 | Part I, Chapter IV - Section 2 | 39:52 | |
| 9 | Part I, Chapter V - Section 1 | 23:49 | |
| 10 | Part I, Chapter V - Section 2 | 38:33 | |
| 11 | Part I, Chapter VI | 34:54 | |
| 12 | Part I, Chapter VII - Section 1 | 17:37 | |
| 13 | Part I, Chapter VII - Section 2 | 30:18 | |
| 14 | Part I, Chapter VIII | 42:55 | |
| 15 | Part I, Chapter IX | 26:13 | |
| 16 | Part I, Chapter X | 29:22 | |
| 17 | Part I, Chapter XI - Section 1 | 44:28 | |
| 18 | Part I, Chapter XI - Section 2 | 40:04 | |
| 19 | Part II, Chapter I - Section 1 | 38:12 | |
| 20 | Part II, Chapter I - Section 2 | 33:05 | |
| 21 | Part II, Chapter II | 13:57 | |
| 22 | Part II, Chapter III - Section 1 | 52:09 | |
| 23 | Part II, Chapter III - Section 2 | 43:23 | |
| 24 | Part II, Chapter IV - Section 1 | 41:31 | |
| 25 | Part II, Chapter IV - Section 2 | 33:36 | |
| 26 | Part II, Chapter IV - Section 3 | 22:28 | |
| 27 | Part II, Chapter IV - Section 4 | 24:39 |
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