The Inspector-General by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol audiobook. Genre: comedy In a remote provincial Russian town, the news everyone fears finally arrives: an inspector-general is rumored to be traveling incognito, sent from the capital to investigate corruption and misconduct. The mayor, Anton Antonovich, and a parade of anxious officials scramble to hide bribes, missing funds, and petty abuses of power that have long been treated as ordinary business. When a penniless young civil servant named Ivan Alexandrovich Khlestakov is mistakenly identified as the dreaded visitor, panic turns into frantic hospitality. Lodging, meals, money, and flattering attention are poured on the bewildered stranger, while each official tries to secure favor and avert punishment. Khlestakov, urged on by his shrewd servant Osip and his own appetite for admiration, slips into the role the town has written for him, and the lies begin to multiply. Gogol's razor-sharp satire exposes how fear, vanity, and greed can make a community complicit in its own deception, building a comic crescendo of misunderstandings, moral blindness, and self-inflicted chaos. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 1 (00:34:39) Chapter 2 (01:06:00) Chapter 3 (01:42:44) Chapter 4 (02:31:36) Chapter 5 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices