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Summary: Mad, bad, and dangerous to know
Review: The strange thing about this unbelievably hilarious novel is that Gogol originally intended it as part of an answer to Dantes Divine Comedy. Dead Souls is the Inferno, where we are plunged into a world of hypocrites, liars, flatterers and cheats that Dante could never imagine. Russian ladies titter and mumble french platitudes, immoral slave owners haggle over the prices of their (dead) slaves, and the corpulent hero at the center of it all hops from estate to estate, dinner to dinner, until his scheme is found out and his erstwhile admirers run him out of town. Gogol has a gift for physical description, and he will never throw away a phrase unless it is to launch into a particularly delicious narrative diatribe. He elevates the ugliness of his characters. Moreover, if this were not enough, to keep the reader (and himself, perhaps) truly engaged, Gogol offers authorly asides about Russian cuisine, the motivation of his characters, and the flaws of his novel...No, this is not done in an annoying, self-indulgent manner that devotees of Seinfeld and David Eggers find so damn amusing. Dead Souls is satire at its best: Intelligent, fun, and relevant. Reading this novel will put a nasty smirk on your face and make you wish that Gogol had indeed finished his Comedy. Then again, I dont know if the world could handle Gogols take on heaven.
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Summary: Dead Souls
Review: Dead souls is a book which starts of amusing you and leads you to believe that it must have an intricate plot and Chichikov, the protagonist, leaves you wondering about his devilish motives. Chichikov is here in this town to purchase serfs who have died since the last government census. The landowners therefore, must still pay taxes on these 'dead souls' until the next census. Chichikov, in possession of these cheaply purchased dead souls would appear to be a rich and prosperous landowner to those ignorant of his scheme. Gogol describes how Chichikov ingratiates himself with the town's most powerful and respected officials. There are vivid descriptions of his various excursions to meet different landowners. The first meeting between Chichikov and landowner Manilov was absolutely hilarious in its description of how two absolutely disparate and removed people can feign such affection and friendliness, one out of greed, and the other simply from a naïve sense of propriety. As the story progresses, you tend to realize that the book doesn't really attempt to maintain a plot, but Gogol's criticism of the depicted Russian society is much more apparent and seems much sharper and more incisive. The story unfolds in such as a way so as to create the most opportunity for observation and comment on all the characters and situations rather than a story that drives itself towards a particular climax. Gogol's style of writing soon pulls you out of the main story- the reader first being an observer of the general happenings around the various characters is soon put into a different position from where he witnesses how Gogol's subtle humour and sharp criticism blend to create a clear picture of Russian society. Gogol's masterly creation of humor in this book is the essence of its brilliance. Through certain generalizations and allusions made throughout the book, his subsequent observations on each character are much more amusing. This book is absolutely wonderful in that Gogol, sharply criticizing the kind of culture depicted in this book, earnestly regards these people as in fact, very Russian. The consummate Russian society would have to include besides great writers, thinkers and scholars, those such as Chichikov, Nozdrev and Manilov. Gogol sharply criticizes them but acknowledges their existence as very much a part of Russian Society. As much as you would scorn the fatuous lives of the landowners and senior officials portrayed in this book, you would fall in love with the image of that perennially drunk Russian serf who's likely to be a swindler or that sincere, unlauded worker ...who might even be dead and purchased by our Chichikov!
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Summary: Dead Souls
Review: The last novel to be written by Russian author Gogol. Modern Library edition, published by Random House. Introduction by Clifford Odets. Former owner's name stamped on title page. Hardcover has wear on spine, pages have some yellowing, otherwise in perfect condition.
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Summary: Social criticism with a great sense of humor
Review: The plot is simple: Pavel Chichikov arrives to a provincial capital of Russia, impresses everyone with his social skills, gets adopted by the "high society" of the town, and then sets out to business: trying to persuade landowners (who are also lifeowners) to give or sell to him all the peasants who have died since the last census. These people, although dead, still generate taxes for the owner, so in principle it is convenient for them. But, of course, everyone asks themselves: "Why would anyone want to buy dead people who cause taxes?". I won't spoil the plot by giving the answer. The important thing is that Gogol uses this plot to paint an exhilarating (but in fact sad) portrait of the Russian society of his time, and of human nature in any time and place, which gives this novel its status as a classic work of art. Corruption, stupidity, naiveté, extreme individualism instead of a spirit of community, and other social vices, present in any society, are represented here by the very funny characters created by the author. Every landowner is a particular form of strange person, procuring Chichikov with crazy adventures. Gogol's writing intersperses the narrative with social reflection and thoughts on human nature, never boring or pretentious, but always funny and satirical. In fact, Gogol's irony and cynicism are probably the most valuable assets of this novel. It belongs to that literary family of books which portray heroes or anti-heores, wandering around, pursuing a fixed, idealized goal. Sometimes this goal is foolish but noble (like Don Quixote), sometimes it is narrow or despicable. These characters illustrate the virtues and vices of us humans, and that makes them live through the centuries. "Dead souls" is undoubtedly a dignifed member of that family, a book which will make you laugh, think and laugh again. By the way, another valuable thing is the way in which Gogol depicts the Russian countryside.
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Summary: Very, very funny...
Review: This novel was one of the funniest books I have read from this time period, and easily the funniest book by a 19th century Russian author. Although there are moments of dialogue in Dostoyevsky's books that are humorous, they cannot compare to the prospective serf sellers in Dead Souls. Sobakevich seeks to sell his dead souls based on their merits when they were alive. Nozdrev is a gambler, drunk and compulsive liar who even cheats at checkers. Throw in the overly affectionate Manilov and the miserly and paranoid Plewshkin and one is provided with an entertaining cast of characters. It is due to the idiosyncracies of these characters and the gossip mongering of the neighborhood that leads to a result in which a sort of justice occurs to get rid of the protagonist Chichikov. Of course, in the world created by Gogol, there does not seem to be a moral authority and as a result a sequel would definitely have been feasible. Chichikov did not learn the error of his ways (nor did the town notice amid its idle speculation) and I would have enjoyed Gogol's follow-up.
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Summary: An Unfinished Masterpiece?
Review: unfinished -yes! masterpiece-no! i didn't like this book. you can read the other reviews to get the flavor of the plot. i didn't think it was laugh out loud funny like "catch 22" or "the world according to garp". it did in areas make me smile though. it does also give the reader a feel for tsarist russia. the problem is it has no meaning. it is not satirical. There is no moral. chichikov has no redeeming qualities. russian society is painted as lazy, drunk, and corrupt--not necessarily in that order. but gogol never finished the book leaving it meaningless. what is his message to russian society? who are the good characters and who are the bad? the most interesting character is kostanzhoglo whom we meet in part 2. he is hard working, intelligent and successful. he helps chichikov buy an estate, but we never know what happens as that part of the book is missing. the inference is that chichikov used him as he did everybody else. what we end up with is a self centered antihero who uses everybody to satisfy his greed. his corruption is insatiable, but we never learn of his denouement. gogol worked on this book and a sequel (which he repeatedly destroyed) for much of his life. he clearly had difficulty bringing any meaning to the story and must have also felt unfulfilled by it. It was an interesting premise that lead him nowhere. there are too many great russian novelists to waste your time on this book. if you want a flavor of gogol, try his short stories.
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Summary: Interest commentary on Russian society
Review: An ambitious man in 19th century rural Russia attempts to increase his wealth and societal rank by purchasing dead peasants who, due to lengthy delays between census-takings, are still on the books. It's a brilliant premise for a Russian novel because it says so much about Russian society, both past and present. In this premise is reflected the endemic corruption of the Russian public sector. It also paints an ugly but not far from accurate picture of moral bankruptcy taken to extremes. And it portrays a prevalent truism that persists in modern-day Russia, namely that the appearance of wealth is just as important as wealth itself. For the premise alone, this novel deserves to be recognized as an important work in the annals of Russian literature. But the credit for the premise belongs not to Nikolai Gogol, but rather to Alexander Pushkin, Gogol's contemporary and Russia's poet laureate. Pushkin suggested the idea to Gogol, and Gogol enthusiastically developed it into a 400 page novel that could easily have been written in half that length. Gogol's writing is whimsical and entertaining, but it's also sloppy. Of all the 19th century Russian authors, Gogol is the one who suffered most from not having a word processor. There are structural flaws to this novel that one assumes could have easily been corrected by the author if he only had the ability to cut and paste. There are also numerous passages of the original manuscript that were lost, presumably not by fault of the author, but nonetheless frustrating to the reader. The novel is divided into two volumes, but they are seriously disjointed, and volume two fails to live up to the standard set by the promising beginning. As a social critique, this is excellent work. So excellent, in fact, that it surprises me that this book made it past the official censors in tsarist Russia. As literature, however, I'd have to give it a less enthusiastic endorsement.
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Summary: sublime, witty and entertaining
Review: Gogol is the master of imagery; in _Dead Souls_ he also shows his skills at hyperbole and satire, showing the vanity and ridiculousness of the Russian gentry in the middle of the 19th century. The plot of the story revolves around a newcomer to an unnamed Russian village (immeadiately under susupicion being an "outsider"), who manages to charm his way into the local scene as a "harmless fellow." Yet soon his plans are revealed: he wishes to purchase the "souls" of dead serfs, the better to establish himself as a member of the landed gentry. Gogol's masterpiece is almost Dickensian in its character development (and in the personalities of some of the characters), but on a deeper level comments on the superfulousness of appearance. It is a wonderful, witty and thoroughly enjoyable read. Highly recommended.
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Summary: funny book
Review: this is a very funny story of philistinism, of dreadfully banal people trying to pull of a perfectly dreadful crime. gogol rivals dickens for creating hilarious characters. i especially loved nozdryov, the russian 'everyman'. and gogol's portrayal of russian provincial society is delightful. too bad gogol never finished the book.
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Summary: A pilgrim's progress of a different sort.
Review: This is probably the best translation available. Guerney, who has Russian roots, is able to fully capture Gogol's masterwork. Guerney also provides valuable background information in helping to understand the nexus for Gogol's strange journey into the heartland of Russia. Gogol was apparently given the idea of "Dead Souls" by Pushkin, so the story goes, because Pushkin felt Gogol could do a better job with this theme than he could. However, it was an uncle who had seemingly first concocted the scheme of using dead souls to boost the number of registered serfs on his estate so that he could get a license to distill vodka. This seems more likely the case, because Gogol appears to draw much from biographical sources in creating this quixotic set of characters, which the enigmatic Chichikov comes across on his pursuit of "Dead Souls." The first book is filled with so much robust humour, that you are left dying for more. However, the second book is not as satisfying as the first, much like that quixotic knight errant, who apparently served as a literary inspiration for this "poema." Gogol is part of the basis for any serious undertaking of Russian literature. He was of the same literary period as Pushkin and Lermontov, and in many ways is more satisfying than either of them. One should also read Gogol's short stories, such as "The Nose" and "The Overcoat," which tumble into the theatre of the absurd.
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