New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1886-12-19
A RUSSIAN NOVEL.
THE STORY OF A ROGUE.

II seems pity that IN introducing Gogol to the
American public the publisher Of Dead Souls
aid not furnish the general reader., in preface
with some information about the author ana tne
book The omission is the more to be regretted
hecauss the lacun@ In the sec0pd volume call TOT
.x.Ianations and without IL are liable to vex and
irritate tho reader. The abrupt termination OF
Coyols text IL no doubt disappointing, but the
e,pedient adopted here. Of completing the nara
tiy, with translation of Cheniere's Dotorlons'y
uufaithful version of Zakhartchenko's feeble
.t,empt 10 continue Dead Souls" cannot be re-
carded as a Unsuitable recourse Zakhartchenko is
not worth reading IN the original and his socalled
continuation of Gogol is as little deserving OF
preservation No the volume of rubbish which
.pirtualstic crank published soon after the death
of Dickens, calling it the continuation and
completion of &" Edwin Brood"
Gosol belongs to another generation and another
rlape of literary development than Tostol,
Turpenef, Dostoievsky, etc, represent. In Dis
day tho spirit Of Russian thought was at once more
vigorous and less free than at present Expansion
and expression had begun. The virgin literary
soil was thro wing out some wonderful gro"ths
Pushkin and Lermontoff were the contemporaries
Of Gogol Young literary Russia felt strongly, saw
clearly sympathized deeply, but was not permitted
q, OK pre.s itself frankly The melancholy and tie
must be in part explained by this blind brutality of
the censorship which strove to crush every shadow
If free thought. No reign was more dlscredited by
mi, repression and by the persecution which
accompanied it than that OF Nicholas That bigot
and tvrant drove from his empire its chief men OF
lettets and his cruel Injustice put gall on the pens
of the exiles SO il is that in GogoPs writings IL
IN be traced An evolution upOn two distinct Ines
The native genius of the man was purely literary.
To n marv eous faculty Of observation and descIlp-
ton he Joined analytic power which put him a
f,u generation in advance Of his age. and vein of
sarcasm and irony not less biting than subtle and
dehcate Cherished as he should have ben by an
enlightened government, he would have produced
masterpieces which would Lave redonnJed To the
ho,or of his country. Prosecuted outraged and
suppressed as he WAS. he developed a sombre hatred
of the government whose corruption he 40 thorough
lv compreh ended, aud his ingenious mind found no
difficulty in holding his oppressors up to ridicule
and contempt IN the Photographic portraiture OF
the Russia they had created.
T. il necessary to understand this in reading
q Dead Sodls." Regarded merely as literary per-
formance. it's merits are undoubtedly great but it
has An undercu-rent hch owes its existence to It's
ao,bor,s exile Ii is not a novel in the usual mean
ing of the word but rather series of pict ares and
| panoramic views loosely strung together by the
| Individuality Of the principal parsonage Inc
motive is the oldest imaginable. certain clever
scamp named Tchitchlkoh. who has been turned
ont of the government civil service for plundering
on too large scale. has hit upon what he REGARDS
a. brilliant idea There is at the time sort oil
| national bank IN existence. which lends money
upon the security of serfs or souls as they useo
TO he called. Now it occurs TO Tchitchikoh tha'
!, he can 90 about the country and buy up all the
r,pv IN dead M
ont precisely as for living serfs he will DO able TO
borrow largely from the bank on the strength o.
these documents. and nobody will be the wiser
This scheme affords opportunity for many luiIcrou
| stuation. Naturally when Tchitchikoh begins tc
| ask the landowners whose acquaintance he makes
| tn sell hun their dead souls. they are astonished
dumbfounded, 'perpexed. alarmed. made SUSPICIOUS
| according to their several Compartments, an" ~
this is set forth nimtaby. No ono has ever draw
| the old fashioned Russian landowner. the ola
| fashioned Russian provincial Official, the whol
old-fashioned country life in fact, so well anu II
| such collaboration nf detail Tho drse chapters o
| Dead Soulsr describing social life in littl
country town, are of an almost unexamplcd realism
Every touch tells moreover The translator has II
this case succeeded in preserving much OF Tn
peculiar local flavor which rs one Of GogoF
excelencies The satire of the performance
delicious Ali the sordd ignoble ways OF the littl
sonlless provincial circle: all the thin pretence
of intellectualism all the coarse tastes ant
amusements of the people all the imbecillties
meannesses petty scandals, silly goss D. that go q
make up life in such places. are brought forward II
turn, looked over critically, commented upon Wit
gentle malignity. Through all too runs til
peryas,ye sense of official corruption which may b
said to be the atmosphere of the time aud country
Governor. prosecutor, Judge, police captain, all ar
| ,;,h tba 18Th
venal,ty which constitutes the controlling motiv
of every one's conduct and all try their best
make believe that there is nothing in this kind O
life to interfere with complete integrity an
responsibility.
Tchitonikoff is rogue. Gogol expressly declare
that no has been Impelled to take rascal for hi
hero But he Is really not much worse than th
peop,e who are not so labelled, with one notabl
exception. This is the landed propreto
KostunzkoglO, who is an admirable model OF VIVA
such parsonage should be. and Who forms
strking aud Intentional contrast to tho large elias
, of landowners who used to mortgage their estate
and serfs to live absolutely at Moscow or Peters
burq. The model farmer has become rich by slmpl
| miudlng his business. He is a man OF grea
| .nerov and decision of character He makes every
body about him work; he utilities everything o
bis estate He farms scientifically. Opposed to hif
10 IentyOtnikou. youuk P'oPi'N'"' w" 10
| become soured through too much dreaming an
; who has gradually fallen into torpor. sleepin
away half his time and letting his estate manag
! itself Gogol, however. introduces his readciS TO
gallery OF original characters and while many u
them are of types net to be found outside OF Russia
and 10 some cases extinct now even there. thei
Individuality and tue accord OF their characteristic
il such that there can be no doubt about tn
eenuineness of the portrature.
International comparisons are usually infeci,
} oua Gogol has been compared to Dickens bu
beyond a certain distant OF generic resemblance
the faculty of the two authors there il
no;ct OF contact between them. The Russia
, indeed DIES at times recall English author bu
il IL Lawrence sterne. There is in Gogols comment
, now and then decidedly Shandean flavor, but It
, necessary to add that the shaudean grossness