The Precipice: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

The Precipice, credited to Ivan Goncharov, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of The Precipice by Ivan Goncharov. (Translated by M. Bryant.) Read in English by tovarisch The Precipice is a story of the romantic rivalry among three men, condemning nihilism as subverting the religious and moral values of Russia. It was originally published in 1869 in Vestnik Evropy. Later critics came to see it as the final part of a trilogy, each part introducing a character typical of Russian high society of a certain period: first Aduev ("A Common Story"), then Oblomov ("Oblomov"), and finally Raisky, a gifted man, his artistic development halted by "lack of direction". According to scholar S. Mashinsky, as a social epic, The Precipice was superior to both A Common Story and Oblomov. Goncharov considered The Precipice to be his best work, in which he managed to realize his artistic ambition to the full. "Dreams and aspirations of Raisky for me sound like a sonorous chord, praising a Woman, Motherland, God and love," he wrote in a letter to Mikhail Stasyulevich. ( summary by tovarisch, based on Wikipedia articles)

Recording facts

• Recording title: The Precipice
• Author credits: Ivan Goncharov
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 38
• Listed recording duration: 12:30:19

Opening tracks: first 24 of 38

1. 00 - Preface — 6:25
2. 01 - Chapter I — 25:30
3. 02 - Chapter II — 16:54
4. 03 - Chapter III — 15:52
5. 04 - Chapter IV — 13:51
6. 05 - Chapter V — 10:22
7. 06 - Chapter VI — 32:18
8. 07 - Chapter VII — 22:45
9. 08 - Chapter VIII — 14:30
10. 09 - Chapter IX — 32:05
11. 10 - Chapter X — 27:20
12. 11 - Chapter XI — 28:38
13. 12 - Chapter XII — 24:47
14. 13 - Chapter XIII — 30:32
15. 14 - Chapter XIV — 7:32
16. 15 - Chapter XV — 21:53
17. 16 - Chapter XVI — 21:12
18. 17 - Chapter XVII — 19:12
19. 18 - Chapter XVIII — 14:47
20. 19 - Chapter XIX — 23:44
21. 20 - Chapter XX — 32:11
22. 21 - Chapter XXI — 29:02
23. 22 - Chapter XXII — 7:41
24. 23 - Chapter XXIII — 38:55

Listen to this recording

Open the complete recording and player on Internet Archive. The player includes the full track list and available download formats.

Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.