Dead Souls (1842) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit

Write a ridiculously simplified synopsis.

Characters edit see section history

• Tchitchikov: An irredeemable con man who makes and loses fortunes with his scheme to buy dead souls (serfs) against which he hopes to get a loan to finance the lifestyle to which he would like to become accustomed.
• Nozdryov: Add a description of this character.
• Manilov
• Pavel Ivanovitch
• Platonov
• Sobakevitch
• Selifan
• Petrushka
• Hlobuev
• Ivan Antonovitch
• Afanasy Vassilyevitch
• Murazov
• Anna Grigoryevna
• Andrey Ivanovitch
• Plyushkin
• Tyentyetnikov
• Konstantin Fyodorovitch
• Skudronzhoglo
• Kopeykin
• Pyotr Petrovitch
• Ivan Grigoryevitch
• Nastasya Petrovna
• Ichitchikov
• Madame Mani
• Alexandr Petrovitch
• Koshkaryov
• Betrishtchev
• Tchitchlkov
• Porfiry
• Alexandra Stepanovna
• Napoleon
• Madame Korobotchka
• Alexey
• Lyenitsyn

Quotes edit see section history

• “"the very man in whose hands the fate of so many now lies, the very man whom no prayer for mercy could ever have influenced, himself desires to make a request of you. Should you grant that request, all will be forgotten and blotted out and pardoned, for I myself will intercede with the Throne on your behalf."”

• ““Thanks to the efforts of our Civil Governor, the town has become enriched with a pleasaunce full of umbrageous, spaciously-branching trees. Even on the most sultry day they afford agreeable shade, and indeed gratifying was it to see the hearts of our citizens panting with an impulse of gratitude as their eyes shed tears in recognition of all that their Governor has done for them!””

• “Thus at the end of this little story we have these two denizens of a peaceful corner of Russia looking thence, as from a window, in less terror of doing what was scandalous that of having it said of them that they were acting scandalously.”

• “If you made up your mind to grow rich, sooner or later you would find yourself a wealthy man….You would merely need to be fond of work: otherwise you would effect nothing.”

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• In a word, all was somehow desolate and splendid, as it is given to neither nature nor art to devise, but as happens only when they join together, when across the often senselessly accumulated toil of man, nature passes a finishing touch of the chisel, lightens the heavy masses, eliminates the crudely palpable symmetry and the beggarly rips through which peers the unconcealed, bare plan, and confers a wondrous warmth on everything that has been created in the chill of calculated purity and tidiness.

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• narrator looks to the Romantics to define a true writer as one who does not undertake easy, crowd-pleasing subjects, but dares to ‘summon forth… all the dreadful, appalling morass of trifles that mires our lives’, and from this ‘ignoble’ picture fashions a ‘pearl of creation’. This is the best single statement of Gogol’s artistic credo.

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• It’s enough for you to have one stupid side to your character out of nine other good ones for you to be regarded as a fool.

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• The author is certain that there are readers curious enough to wish to learn about the plan and internal layout of the casket. That’s fine with me: indeed, why not satisfy them!

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• What winding, dead-end, narrow, impassable, far-straying roads have been chosen by mankind in its attempts to attain eternal truth, whereas before it the straight path lies open,

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• Alas! The fat ones of this world know how to manage their affairs better than the thin ones. The thin ones are mostly employed on special assignments or are merely carried on the civil service list, and flit about hither and yon. Their existence is weightless, insubstantial and utterly insecure. The fat men, on the other hand, never occupy peripheral positions but always central ones, and if they do sit down somewhere, then they sit securely and firmly, and the seat would sooner crack and sag beneath them than they would fly off it.

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• is to blame for everything; because of it, things have been done which the world terms ‘not very clean’.

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• a man is generous with the word ‘fool’ and is prepared to dish it out to his neighbour twenty times a day.

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• And in boarding schools, as we know, three main subjects constitute the foundation of human virtues: the French language, which is indispensable for a happy family life; the piano, for affording one’s spouse some pleasant moments; and, finally, in the specifically homemaking skills, the knitting of purses and other surprises.

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• Ukrainian albeit faintly comic ‘Gogol’ (meaning ‘golden-eyed duck’).

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Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Russia
• Petersburg
• Moscow
• Navarino
• Kherson
• Ulinka
• Paris

First Sentence edit see section history

Series & Lists edit see section history

Preceded by The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, and followed by Tess of the D'Urbervilles.

Preceded by A Christmas Carol, and followed by The Charterhouse of Parma.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Nikolai Gogol (Author)

Other Contributors:

1. George Gibian

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
• Dewey: 891.733

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Add a note to help parents select a book for a child.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › Authors, A-Z › ( G ) › Gogol, Nikolai
• Books › Literature & Fiction › History & Criticism › Criticism & Theory
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Classics
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Literary

More Books Like This edit see section history