Memoirs of a Madman
Author: Nikolai Gogol
Read “Memoirs of a Madman” by Nikolai Gogol in Russian, English, French and Japanese in Bibliott on your phone and tablet.
Languages: RU, English, French, Japanese
Genre: Historical, Satire, Short story
Free to read
A minor Petersburg clerk keeps a diary, falls for the director’s daughter, and gradually turns humiliation into a fantasy of the Spanish throne.
Characters
- Aksenty Ivanovitch Poprishchin — Narrator: A titular councillor whose diary voice collapses into royal delusion.
- Mawra — Poprishchin’s servant: A household servant who notices her master’s odd behavior.
- Sophie — The director’s daughter: A young woman whom Poprishchin idealizes.
- Meggy — Sophie’s dog: The dog whose letters become evidence for Poprishchin.
- Fidel — A lady’s dog: The addressee of Meggy’s letters.
- The Director — Department director: A senior official and Sophie’s father.
- The chief clerk — Immediate superior: An official who rebukes Poprishchin’s disorder and fantasies.
- the chamberlain — Sophie's suitor: The dark-haired rival whose courtship of Sophie Poprishchin reads out of the dogs' letters.