Name: Dead Souls
Rating: 3.833333333333333 (63 reviews)
ISBN: 9781619492240

Nikolai Vasil'evich Gogol

A middle-class social climber named Chichikov embarks upon a journey to collect 'dead souls.' These 'dead souls' are in fact serfs who have died since the last census was taken-though dead, they have not yet been removed from official records, and are therefore subject to taxation. In an entertaining story about Chichikov's bizarre plan to take out a loan against all the 'dead souls' he acquires, Gogol presents his shady protagonist against a grimly humorous backdrop of supporting characters.

Dead Souls

Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol

In a new translation of the comic classic of Russian literature, Chichikov, an enigmatic stranger and schemer, buys deceased serfs' names from their landlords' poll tax lists hoping to mortgage them for profit and to reinvent himself as a gentleman. Reprint.

Alfredo santos

Gogol and his beautiful witty writing (only read him in french if you dont know russian) made it to my favorite top 5 authors so far.

Cams Campbell

RU3022 essay.

Examine the significance of the title 'Dead Souls'

https://www.dropbox.com/s/bfvpcwjbzkf...

Diana Platgalve

Great read on ever present human grief and corrupt nation system!
People have always taken extreme measures to increase respect towards themselves and increase their status. Not always money is the end goal of schemes, rather acknowledgement of ones value within society. As a satire on Tsar Russian society and people, Gogol is unraveling the absurdity of class system and corrupt hierarchy. A fish rots from the head down, right?
This book is particularly interesting in the context of how this system lead to Russian revolution and influence on Dostoyevsky. At the same time, Gogol is manipulating with morality of the main character, calling the dead-soul-business as business even the lowest thief would not touch. 
The title of the book relative to the text, is one of the best ever- including both: absurdity of the system the book criticizes as well as criticism towards character of the main persona. A dead soul that manipulates with dead souls.
Each of us make faults even without having bad intentions at the beginning, however we still affect happiness of others due to our grief (a worm that eats us from the inside). Such is human nature, as Gogol concludes. 
Of course it is better to read in Russian.

Jeni Enjaian

I have come to the conclusion that the great works of Russian literature simply are not for me. I haven't really enjoyed a single one, obviously including this one. I found this book to be incredibly boring and more than a bit confusing. As a word of warning/advice, I will say that the concept of "souls" and "dead souls" should be known before starting to read this book. I did not know this. Upon reading another review that explained the concept, the book made a bit more sense but not much more. The gap in time and primary subject that takes place between parts one and two confuses the reader (me) even more. Additionally, even though this is not the fault of the author, the missing manuscript pages does nothing to alleviate the confusion. This book is simply difficult to read. I can't honestly recommend this book although those interested in the Russian literary classics and classics in general may still want to read the book.

Nikolai Gogol

Gogol's 1842 novel Dead Souls, a comic masterpiece about a mysterious con man and his grotesque victims, is one of the major works of Russian literature. It was translated into English in 1942 by Bernard Guilbert Guerney; the translation was hailed by Vladimir Nabokov as "an extraordinarily fine piece of work" and is still considered the best translation of Dead Souls ever published. Long out of print, the Guerney translation of Dead Souls is now reissued. The text has been made more faithful to Gogol's original by removing passages that Guerney inserted from earlier drafts of Dead Souls. The text is accompanied by Susanne Fusso's introduction and by appendices that present excerpts from Guerney's translations of other drafts of Gogol's work and letters Gogol wrote around the time of the writing and publication of Deal Souls. "I am delighted that Guerney's translation of Dead Souls [is] available again. It is head and shoulders above all the others, for Guerney understands that to 'translate' Gogol is necessarily to undertake a poetic recreation, and he does so brilliantly."—Robert A. Maguire, Columbia University "The Guerney translation of Dead Souls is the only translation I know of that makes any serious attempt to approximate the qualities of Gogol's style—exuberant, erratic, 'Baroque,' bizarre."—Hugh McLean, University of California, Berkeley "A splendidly revised and edited edition of Bernard Guerney's classic English translation of Gogol's Dead Souls. The distinguished Gogol scholar Susanne Fusso may have brought us as close as the English reader may ever expect to come to Gogol's masterpiece. No student, scholar, or general reader will want to miss this updated, refined version of one of the most delightful and sublime works of Russian literature."—Robert Jackson, Yale University

Nathan Griffin

Definitely a break from the usual monstrosity that is the Russian novel. Dead Souls is funny, sarcastic, and a little cynical. Overall I enjoyed it, but it did drag towards the end and it took me way longer to finish than I thought it would.

Younes Ben Amara

Since its publication in 1842, Dead Souls has been celebrated as a supremely realistic portrait of provincial Russian life and as a splendidly exaggerated tale; as a paean to the Russian spirit and as a remorseless satire of imperial Russian venality, vulgarity, and pomp. As Gogol's wily antihero, Chichikov, combs the back country wheeling and dealing for "dead souls"--deceased serfs who still represent money to anyone sharp enough to trade in them--we are introduced to a Dickensian cast of peasants, landowners, and conniving petty officials, few of whom can resist the seductive illogic of Chichikov's proposition.

Dead Souls

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