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Title: Dead Souls (Oxford World's Classics) by Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol, Christopher English, Nikolai Vasil'evich Gogol, Robert A. Maguire ISBN: 0-19-281837-6 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: November, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.74 (38 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Mad, bad, and dangerous to know
Comment: The strange thing about this unbelievably hilarious novel is that Gogol originally intended it as part of an answer to Dantes Divine Comedy.
Dead Souls is the Inferno, where we are plunged into a world of hypocrites, liars, flatterers and cheats that Dante could never imagine. Russian ladies titter and mumble french platitudes, immoral slave owners haggle over the prices of their (dead) slaves, and the corpulent hero at the center of it all hops from estate to estate, dinner to dinner, until his scheme is found out and his erstwhile admirers run him out of town.
Gogol has a gift for physical description, and he will never throw away a phrase unless it is to launch into a particularly delicious narrative diatribe. He elevates the ugliness of his characters.
Moreover, if this were not enough, to keep the reader (and himself, perhaps) truly engaged, Gogol offers authorly asides about Russian cuisine, the motivation of his characters, and the flaws of his novel...No, this is not done in an annoying, self-indulgent manner that devotees of Seinfeld and David Eggers find so damn amusing.
Dead Souls is satire at its best: Intelligent, fun, and relevant. Reading this novel will put a nasty smirk on your face and make you wish that Gogol had indeed finished his Comedy. Then again, I dont know if the world could handle Gogols take on heaven.
Rating: 5
Summary: Dead Souls
Comment: Dead souls is a book which starts of amusing you and leads you to believe that it must have an intricate plot and Chichikov, the protagonist, leaves you wondering about his devilish motives. Chichikov is here in this town to purchase serfs who have died since the last government census. The landowners therefore, must still pay taxes on these 'dead souls' until the next census. Chichikov, in possession of these cheaply purchased dead souls would appear to be a rich and prosperous landowner to those ignorant of his scheme.
Gogol describes how Chichikov ingratiates himself with the town's most powerful and respected officials. There are vivid descriptions of his various excursions to meet different landowners. The first meeting between Chichikov and landowner Manilov was absolutely hilarious in its description of how two absolutely disparate and removed people can feign such affection and friendliness, one out of greed, and the other simply from a naïve sense of propriety. As the story progresses, you tend to realize that the book doesn't really attempt to maintain a plot, but Gogol's criticism of the depicted Russian society is much more apparent and seems much sharper and more incisive. The story unfolds in such as a way so as to create the most opportunity for observation and comment on all the characters and situations rather than a story that drives itself towards a particular climax. Gogol's style of writing soon pulls you out of the main story- the reader first being an observer of the general happenings around the various characters is soon put into a different position from where he witnesses how Gogol's subtle humour and sharp criticism blend to create a clear picture of Russian society. Gogol's masterly creation of humor in this book is the essence of its brilliance. Through certain generalizations and allusions made throughout the book, his subsequent observations on each character are much more amusing.
This book is absolutely wonderful in that Gogol, sharply criticizing the kind of culture depicted in this book, earnestly regards these people as in fact, very Russian. The consummate Russian society would have to include besides great writers, thinkers and scholars, those such as Chichikov, Nozdrev and Manilov. Gogol sharply criticizes them but acknowledges their existence as very much a part of Russian Society.
As much as you would scorn the fatuous lives of the landowners and senior officials portrayed in this book, you would fall in love with the image of that perennially drunk Russian serf who's likely to be a swindler or that sincere, unlauded worker ...who might even be dead and purchased by our Chichikov!
Rating: 5
Summary: Dead Souls
Comment: The last novel to be written by Russian author Gogol. Modern Library edition, published by Random House. Introduction by Clifford Odets. Former owner's name stamped on title page. Hardcover has wear on spine, pages have some yellowing, otherwise in perfect condition.
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Title: The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol by Nikolai Gogol ISBN: 0375706151 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 29 June, 1999 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: A Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Lermontov ISBN: 0679413278 Publisher: Everyman's Library Pub. Date: 30 June, 1992 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov ISBN: 0679760806 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 19 March, 1996 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Fathers and Sons by Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev, Richard Freeborn ISBN: 0192833928 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: June, 1998 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
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Title: Anna Karenina by Mona Simpson, Leo Tolstoy ISBN: 067978330X Publisher: Modern Library Pub. Date: 10 October, 2000 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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