person
Ivan Andreich
the tax inspector
also: Иван Андреич, податной инспектор, Tax Inspector
The provincial-secretary tax inspector whose office advertises a vacant copyist post; Misha imagines him as a grand "personage" despite six jobless years and shopkeepers' debts, but he never appears in person -- the advertisement turns out to be hollow.
Reading notes
- A Personage §1 Tax Inspector
The podatnoy inspektor administered direct taxation (the soul tax and its successors) in a district; a modest provincial post, but one with its own office and hiring authority -- enough to make its holder a figure of local consequence to someone as low on the ladder as Misha.