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Description edit
Dead Souls is one of the most unusual works of nineteenth-century fiction and a devastating satire on social hypocrisy. Chichikov, a mysterious stranger, arrives in a provincial town and visits a succession of landowners to make each a strange offer. He proposes to buy the names of dead serfs... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Characters edit
- 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
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“"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."”
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““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!””
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“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.”
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“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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“The inner state of his soul might be compared to a demolished building, which has been demolished so that from it a new one could be built; but the new one has not been started yet, because the definitive plan has not yet come from the architect and the workers are left in perplexity.”
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“So I am to go and run off to the market to sell him!”
First Sentence edit
Through the gate of a hostelry in a provincial capital that will remain nameless rolled a small, rather handsome britska on springs, of the kind in which bachelors travel: retired lieutenant-colonels, staff-captains,1 landowners possessing a hundred or so peasant souls - in a word, all those who are known as gentlemen of the middling sort.
Series & Lists edit
This book is in Books to Read in 2011. (community list)
This book is in The Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge. (community list)
This is book 914 of 1286 in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (authoritative list)
This is book 33 of 91 in The Novel 100: A Ranking of the Greatest Novels of All Time, 2004. (authoritative list)
This book is in Penguin Classics. (publisher edition list)
This book is in Guardian 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read. (authoritative list)
This book is in School Library (Школьная Библиотека). (publisher edition list)
This is book 54 of 10 in Classics and Contemporaries. (publisher edition list)
Authors & Contributors edit
- Nikolai Gogol (Author)
Other Contributors:
- George Gibian
- Richard Pevear (Translator)
- Larissa Volokhonsky (Translator)
First Edition edit
Original Language: Russian
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Country: USA
Publication Date: 1842
ISBN: 978-0140448078
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Country: USA
Publication Date: 1842
ISBN: 978-0140448078
Page Count: 512
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
- Dewey: 891.733
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