Dead Souls by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol
27 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 4 years ago - ★★★★★ - 1 ratingDead Souls by Nikolai Gogol, Russian writer, was first published in 1842, and is one of the most prominent works of 19th-century Russian literature. Gogol himself saw it as an “epic poem in prose”, and within the book as a “novel in verse”. Despite supposedly completing the trilogy’s second part, Gogol destroyed it shortly before his death. Although the novel ends in mid-sentence (like Sterne’s Sentimental Journey), it is usually regarded as complete in the extant form. In Russia before the emancipation of the serfs in 1861, landowners were entitled to own serfs to farm their land. Serfs were for most purposes considered the property of the landowner, and could be bought, sold, or mortgaged against, as any other chattel. To count serfs (and people in general), the measure word “soul” was used: e.g., “six souls of serfs”. The plot of the novel relies on “dead souls” (i.e., “dead serfs”) which are still accounted for in property registers. On another level, the title refers to the “dead souls” of Gogol’s characters, all of which visualise different aspects of poshlost (an untranslatable Russian word which is perhaps best rendered as “self-satisfied inferiority”, moral and spiritual, with overtones of middle-class pretentiousness, fake significance, and philistinism).
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Episodes
00 – Introduction by John Cournos, and Author’s Preface
January 02, 2024 00:00 - 25 minutes - 11.4 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
01 – Part I, Chapter I
January 01, 2024 00:00 - 37 minutes - 16.2 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
02 – Part I, Chapter II – Section 1
December 31, 2023 00:00 - 25 minutes - 11.4 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
03 – Part I, Chapter II – Section 2
December 30, 2023 00:00 - 38 minutes - 17.2 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
04 – Part 1, Chapter III – Section 1
December 29, 2023 00:00 - 29 minutes - 13.4 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
05 – Part 1, Chapter III – Section 2
December 28, 2023 00:00 - 28 minutes - 12.4 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
06 – Part I, Chapter IV – Section 1
December 27, 2023 00:00 - 29 minutes - 12.4 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
07 – Part I, Chapter IV – Section 2
December 26, 2023 00:00 - 39 minutes - 18.1 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
08 – Part I, Chapter V – Section 1
December 25, 2023 00:00 - 23 minutes - 10.5 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
09 – Part I, Chapter V – Section 2
December 24, 2023 00:00 - 38 minutes - 17.2 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
10 – Part I, Chapter VI
December 23, 2023 00:00 - 34 minutes - 15.3 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
11 – Part I, Chapter VII – Section 1
December 22, 2023 00:00 - 17 minutes - 7.63 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
12 – Part I, Chapter VII – Section 2
December 21, 2023 00:00 - 30 minutes - 13.4 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
13 – Part I, Chapter VIII
December 20, 2023 00:00 - 42 minutes - 19.1 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
14 – Part I, Chapter IX
December 19, 2023 00:00 - 26 minutes - 11.4 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
15 – Part I, Chapter X
December 18, 2023 00:00 - 29 minutes - 13.4 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
16 – Part I, Chapter XI – Section 1
December 17, 2023 00:00 - 44 minutes - 20 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
17 – Part I, Chapter XI – Section 2
December 16, 2023 00:00 - 40 minutes - 18.1 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
18 – Part II, Chapter I – Section 1
December 15, 2023 00:00 - 38 minutes - 17.2 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
19 – Part II, Chapter I – Section 2
December 14, 2023 00:00 - 33 minutes - 14.3 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
20 – Part II, Chapter II
December 13, 2023 00:00 - 13 minutes - 5.72 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
21 – Part II, Chapter III – Section 1
December 12, 2023 00:00 - 52 minutes - 23.8 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
22 – Part II, Chapter III – Section 2
December 11, 2023 00:00 - 43 minutes - 19.1 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
23 – Part II, Chapter IV – Section 1
December 10, 2023 00:00 - 41 minutes - 18.1 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
24 – Part II, Chapter IV – Section 2
December 09, 2023 00:00 - 33 minutes - 15.3 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
25 – Part II, Chapter IV – Section 3
December 08, 2023 00:00 - 22 minutes - 9.54 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
26 – Part II, Chapter IV – Section 4
December 07, 2023 00:00 - 24 minutes - 10.5 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com