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Gogol was a strange creature, but then genius is always strange. (Vladimir Nabokov)"
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Chichikov, a mysterious stranger, arrives in the provincial town of N', visiting a succession of landowners and making each a strange offer. He proposes to buy the names of dead serfs still registered on the census, saving their owners from paying tax on them, and to use these souls' as collateral to re-invent himself as a gentleman. In this ebullient masterpiece, Gogol created a grotesque gallery of human types, from the bear-like Sobakevich to the insubstantial fool Manilov, and, above all, the devilish con man Chichikov. Dead Souls, Russia's first major novel, is one of the most unusual works of nineteenth-century fiction and a devastating satire on social hypocrisy.
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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. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
A daring con man, and a stratagem that involves buying and mortgaging "dead souls" !,
By M. B. Alcat "Curiosity killed the cat, but sa... (Los Angeles, California) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Penguin Classics Dead Souls (Paperback)
"Dead souls" (1842) is a book written by an important Russian author, Nikolai Gogol, that criticizes the Russian society of his time by means of a well-told satire.The main character of "Dead souls" is Chichikov, a man that wants to be rich, and turns into a con man in order to achieve that objective. His stratagem is simple, yet strange: he will buy "dead souls" from landowners, and then mortage them in order to earn a lot of money. That was possible because in pre 1861 Russia, landowners owned serfs ("souls") that helped to farm the land, and that could be bought, sold or mortgaged whenever the owners felt the need to do so. The "dead souls" were serfs that had already died, but that were still listed as living in property registers. Will Chichikov be able to buy "dead souls" at a low price and then mortgage them, turning into a rich landowner? Or will his proposal seem so outlandish to others that he won't be able to convince them that he is not joking? You will find answers to those questions in this book, along with beautiful (albeit extremely long) descriptions of the Russian scenery. All in all, I can say that I liked this book, even though some parts of the manuscript are missing, and you go from the middle of the story to the last chapter in a rush, without knowing exactly what happened. If you know that will happen (I didn't), and still want to read "Dead souls", go ahead. At 3.5 stars, it is worth your time :) Belen Alcat
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.1 out of 5 stars (14 customer reviews) 34 of 39 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
Kindle version NOT the Maguire translation,
By John Schaffer Work - Published on Amazon.com
I found "Dead Souls" through the Amazon search and clicked on the hardbound Maguire translation. The 6 customer reviews extoled the Maguire version as one of the better ones. The webpage also mentioned a Kindle version and included a link. I clicked the link. The same customer reviews appeared as for the hardbound version. There was no contradicting information about the translator, so I bought expecting the Kindle version of the Maguire translations. When I opened the Kindle version, I was surprised to see credits for translation by D.J. Hogarth. This difference should be made clear, especially when the reviews on the same page extol the Maguire version and you don't get that translation.
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best Translation!,
By N. Lee - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Penguin Classics Dead Souls (Paperback)
Robert Maguire's translation of _Dead Souls_ is the best one out on the market right now. It is even superior to that of the superstar Russian novel translation-duo Pevear & Volkhonsky (their translation, however, is also worth purchasing, as well as all of their other ones). Robert Maguire was a Gogol specialist and had an intimate understanding of this particular work.
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A classic of Russian humor,
By Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Penguin Classics Dead Souls (Paperback)
This is considered one of the great works of Russian Literature. The ambitious Chichikov schemes to buy up the 'dead souls'( The names of serfs who have died since the last census and are not listed officially as dead) from their previous owners. In doing so he hopes to establish himself as the owner of many ' souls' and by pawning the souls become a wealthy man.In doing this he travels through Russia meeting a variety of odd and interesting characters. One character,Manilov gives his souls free of charge. Another the greedy Korobotchka makes a bargain of fifteen rubles per soul. Sobakevitch demands a hundred rubles but his rudeness gets him only two- and - one half rubles per soul. Chichikov pulls it off for a time, is recognized as wealthy, has many ladies running after him, but is last exposed by a character, Nozdrev, who has refused to make a bargain with him. Gogol's fiercely satirical humor has made this work a Russian reader's delight. I am not sure however that the humor and the delight translate very well to English. |
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