Dead Souls (Penguin Classics)

Gogol toppled into madness and died before he could finish this novel, and only the first book of the three is fully completed. The second he purportedly completed, before destroying in a moment of religious fanaticism. Consequently there is only about a third of what he apparently composed here, and a tiny fraction of his proposed third part.
I've long been a fan of Russian literature, and have recently been plodding through Lermontov and Turgenev, who are made to seem pale beside Gogol, although they are undoubtedly brilliant authors. 'Dead Souls' is more comic than many a Russian novel, and sits more in line with Dostoevsky in his more existential themes (there are big parallels with Kafka thematically too). I won't cover the plot of the novel here (others have already done that), but simply recommend this as one of the essential works of Russian literature. Tragically, one can only imagine how phenomenal the completed version would have been.

Awfull! (1/3 people found this helpful)

I know this is a classic. And I appreciate that it is a good look into/critique of Russian society in Gogol's day... However, quite frankly this was one of the most boring books I have ever read. Classic or not the fact is that it is boring. It fails to grip the reader past the 50th page and even the author's untimely death (the book is actually unfinished) was unable to make it a gripping read. When I finished it I was actually glad that the book was unconcluded as it saved me reading another page! If you want to read Gogol, read his short stories - they're much better.

A daring con man, and a stratagem that involves buying and mortgaging "dead souls" ! (2/2 people found this helpful)

"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

Has a few flaws but manages to scrape four stars (3/5 people found this helpful)

Dead Souls is a good read with a plot that kept me reading. I was always hoping that the main character would succeed and avoid danger, but Gogol’s constant direct writing to the reader aggravated me and I found it hard to not skip those parts. Although Part 1 is a good read, due to missing parts of the manuscripts, Part 2 is missing vast chunks of plot line. This meant that the final situation left me confused, and angry because of it. I advise you to buy this book but not to attempt to read Part 2.

Frustratingly incomplete (6/12 people found this helpful)

Gogol’s ‘DS’ is a classic of Russian literature, often cited as being the archetype for the great novels of the nineteenth century. The story was suggested to Gogol by Pushkin, and he originally intended to write it in three parts. Part one is complete, and makes up the bulk of the book. Part two was completed, but burned by Gogol a few days before his death, at the advice of his spiritual advisor. Only a few chapters exist. The third part is only fragmentary, consisting of bits of the final chapter. As a novel it is therefore far from complete.
The story concerns a scam by Chichikov to acquire social status by buying serfs that are listed as alive in the last census but have since died (the ‘Dead Souls’ of the title). He visits the local landowners in turn to buy the souls, allowing Gogol to introduce many different ‘Russian types’ and provide detailed descriptions of each. Initially Chichikov’s social standing increases, but as rumours begin to circulate he finds himself increasingly slipping from his exalted position. As the narrative comes to an end, he is surrounded by scandal.
I was disappointed by ‘DS’. It was easy to see its influence on later Russian literature, particularly with regards to the minute examination of Russian people and the obsession with class in society. These ideas dominate Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. However, ‘DS’ is a bit of an unrewarding slog. The descriptions of everybody and everything are long and detailed. I don’t mind this so much, but the curtailing of the narrative (by the destruction of the manuscript) really destroys any sense of story, so that ‘DS’ effectively becomes a series of descriptive essays about Russian people. There is just about enough surviving to get an idea of where Gogol wanted to take it, but I think that its chief interests now are in its historical importance and its tragic history, not as a novel in itself. Some books do not suffer from being incomplete. I don’t think that this is true of ‘DS’.

Dead Souls (Penguin Classics)

Nikolai Gogol

Reader Reviews:

Tragically unfinished (0/0 people found this helpful)

Awfull! (1/3 people found this helpful)

A daring con man, and a stratagem that involves buying and mortgaging "dead souls" ! (2/2 people found this helpful)

Has a few flaws but manages to scrape four stars (3/5 people found this helpful)

Frustratingly incomplete (6/12 people found this helpful)

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