Dead Souls (Classics) [Paperback]

Chichikov, the hero of Gogol's epic poem, shows the influence of Laurence Sterne's "Tristram Shandy," a novel with which Gogol was familiar. Like Shandy, we know little about Chichikov until well into the novel. This narrative indirection allows us more insight into the other characters and the conditions of Russia after the Napoleonic wars. Chichikov is a minor gentleman, who, having served in various government positions, decides to pursue the life of a land-owner. His scheme is to traverse Russia, gathering the legal rights to serfs who have died on estates since the last census. By turning an accumulated list of these 'dead souls' over to the government, he plans to make a small fortune, which he will use to buy an estate.

While Chichikov may appear to be a morally questionable swindler, like Herman Melville's "Confidence-Man," he does have noble motivations, despite his methods. Chichikov seeks what each person seeks, according to Gogol - to have a family, to do honor to one's country. Although his plan can seem to be a ludicrous, last-ditch sort of effort at establishing himself, Chichikov is, throughout, extremely level-headed about it. Chichikov knows how to speak and carry himself so that he will be accepted by everyone he meets. From the noble, efficient land-owner Kostanjoglo to the wild, hilarious liar Nozdryov - Chichikov mingles with and exposes us to "the whirligig of men."

Gogol points out throughout the novel that the written text is inadequate to convey the actual experience - the air, the sights, the smells, the people of Russia. He tries, then, to give us "a living book" - a testament to a way of life that was soon to change. Like Melville's "Confidence-Man," which was published shortly before the American Civil War, Gogol's "Dead Souls" came out only a few years before Marx's "Communist Manifesto" which would change and determine the fate of Russia in the first decades of the 20th century.

Read the lyrical "Dead Souls" - if you like his short stories, like "The Nose" or "The Overcoat," - you will find a wonderfully complex and sophisticated, and deeply involved intellect at his best.

So as a result, we're only left with the first part, a vicious, biting attack on the stagnation and hopelessness of Russian rural life. Gogol makes it come to life - the stupidity of the landowners, their utter dullness and incompetence, their avarice and worthlessness. It's amazing - but it should probably be read in Russian, as Russian is not something you can easily translate to English. Chichikov's crafty convoluted, Devilish scheme (Gogol intended to make him a sort of modern manifestation of the Devil) quickly becomes just a vehicle to take him around the country and meet all of these intellectually bankrupt scumbags who would have been really funny if they weren't drawn directly, 100% from real life. The book is given force by its _relevance_ to Russia and its truthfulness. It will amaze you - you will be appalled by the fact that such utter ignorant nonentities of the rural aristocracy still had land, power, and were considered owners of human beings. Social commentary never got better than this.

Pushkin may have been an utter genius of literature all around, but Gogol can truly be called the father of Russian literature. Dostoyevsky, in fact, once said just that. This book is a work of unadulterated genius. In fact, it _is_ Russia in that time - it so perfectly captures the problems of the times. And yet, Gogol clearly loves his country despite hating the things that went on in it - just look at some of the beautiful, poetic passages when Chichikov is riding across the steppe. It's a beautiful, wintry story that has lost none of its appeal or relevance.