description: Gogol’s great Russian classic is the Pickwick Papers of Russian Literature. It takes a sharp but humorous look at life in all its strata, but especially the devious complexities in the country with its landowners and serfs. We are introduced to Chichikov, a businessman who, in order to trick the tax authorities, buys up dead ‘souls’ or serfs whose names still appear on the government census. Despite being a dealer in phantom crimes and paper ghosts, he is the most beguiling of Gogol’s characters. Gogol’s obsession with attempting to display ‘the untold riches of the Russian soul’ eventually led him to madness, religious mania and death. Dismissed by him as merely ‘a pale introduction to the great epic poem which is taking shape in my mind’, Dead Souls is the culmination of Gogol’s genius.
language: English
title: Dead Souls
titlecomplete: Dead Souls
characters: Pavel Ivanovitch Tchitchikof
genres: Classics, Russia, Humor, Novels, Russian Literature, Classic Literature, Historical Fiction, Literature, 19th Century, Fiction
ratings_count: 81892
places: Russia
publisher: Naxos Audiobooks