Diary of a Madman and Other Stories

Written by Nikolai Gogol

Narrated by Nicholas Boulton

The Diary of a Madman and Other Stories is a bizarre and colorful collection containing the complete Ukrainian and Petersburg stories by the iconic Russian writer Nikolai Gogol. From the witty and Kafkaesque The Nose, where a civil servant wakes up one day to find his nose missing, to the moving and evocative The Overcoat, about a sad and reclusive man whose only ambition is to replace his old, threadbare coat, Gogol gives us a unique and satirical take on the absurd. Gogol’s tales of inconsequential civil servants, mixing the everyday with the surreal, foreshadow the work of his later acolytes, Bulgakov and Kafka. None is more cutting than the main story, The Diary of a Madman, where a government clerk descends to insanity, claiming that he can communicate with dogs and that he is next in line to the throne of Spain.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Naxos Audiobooks
• Release date: Aug 10, 2018
• ISBN: 9781781981535

Nikolai Gogol

Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol (1809–1852) was one of nineteenth-century Russia’s greatest writers and a profound influence on Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Mikhail Bulgakov, Vladimir Nabokov, and countless other authors. His best-known works include the novel Dead Souls (1842) and the stories “The Overcoat,” “The Nose,” and “Memoirs of a Madman.” In 1852, he burned most of his manuscripts, including the second part of Dead Souls. He died nine days later.  

Reviews for Diary of a Madman and Other Stories

[Maggie Bornholdt · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The narrator- extraordinary. Amazing voice acting. Perfect for Russian novels. Or any work for that matter.

[Liz Shaw · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The stories are good but the formatting of this audiobook is frustratingly bad.

[Spartak Lalaj · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The reading was superb, of the finest quality you can find.
Some of the stories are genius, others live in a worldview not particular to my taste, but I enjoyed the atmosphere in them.
A worthy and enjoyable book.

[2nx2sv2gcr · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Why do the titles don’t have the story name on the table of contents. That would make it very good.

[fdlp · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Amazing collection and reading. Contains both the Petersburg and the Ukrainian tales.

[Pricarte · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It is a short story, well written with its ironic nuance but at the same time funny and sad. Very much in line with classic Russian literature. (Translated from Spanish)

[angelillo1510 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

As the title suggests, it is about the diary of a Russian bureaucrat who narrates his daily comings and goings as an office worker, until for some unknown reason he begins to lose his mind, descending into total paranoia, and thus writes in it the quixotic adventures characteristic of his state, becoming the plot of a gripping book, albeit unfortunately quite short.

A few decades ago, the excellent Mexican actor Carlos Ancira adapted the story into a theatrical work presented in the form of a monologue, achieving resounding success for over twenty years in Mexico City; personally, I believe it is one of the few cases where a play or movie surpasses the written work. (Translated from Spanish)

[Elias15 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

DIARY OF A MADMAN

The best thing about being crazy is that you can be whoever you want. From a dog to the King of Spain.

As time passes, we read the complaints, the intimate thoughts, and perhaps the most relevant thing is to notice the changes in what one believes and the mix of reality.

It may be difficult to say why we start to believe something that isn't true, however, a madman's diary can help us understand this change. On the other hand, the best part of being crazy is that you can say everything without a filter, truths that otherwise complicate coexistence, threaten relationships; the worst part is just the words of a madman. (Translated from Spanish)

[UrquiHola · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

February 34th, 343, was the last entry in the diary of Aksenti Ivanovich, convinced he was the King of Spain, from some sanatorium in Tsarist Russia. This diary is a very harsh record of the transition from mental health to absolute madness of a low-level bureaucrat, common and ordinary, who constructs an alternate reality in line with the distinguished and glamorous life of the Russian upper class. The experiences in the sanatorium bring tears. (Translated from Spanish)

[sofiaVM · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Great story, easy to read and quite entertaining. (Translated from Spanish)

[Augusto1974 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A short and funny story (Translated from Spanish)