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Title: Dead Souls by Nikolai Vasil'evich Gogol, George Reavey, George Gibian ISBN: 0-393-00600-X Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: November, 1971 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.67 (39 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Social criticism with a great sense of humor
Comment: The plot is simple: Pavel Chichikov arrives to a provincial capital of Russia, impresses everyone with his social skills, gets adopted by the "high society" of the town, and then sets out to business: trying to persuade landowners (who are also lifeowners) to give or sell to him all the peasants who have died since the last census. These people, although dead, still generate taxes for the owner, so in principle it is convenient for them. But, of course, everyone asks themselves: "Why would anyone want to buy dead people who cause taxes?". I won't spoil the plot by giving the answer. The important thing is that Gogol uses this plot to paint an exhilarating (but in fact sad) portrait of the Russian society of his time, and of human nature in any time and place, which gives this novel its status as a classic work of art. Corruption, stupidity, naiveté, extreme individualism instead of a spirit of community, and other social vices, present in any society, are represented here by the very funny characters created by the author. Every landowner is a particular form of strange person, procuring Chichikov with crazy adventures. Gogol's writing intersperses the narrative with social reflection and thoughts on human nature, never boring or pretentious, but always funny and satirical. In fact, Gogol's irony and cynicism are probably the most valuable assets of this novel. It belongs to that literary family of books which portray heroes or anti-heores, wandering around, pursuing a fixed, idealized goal. Sometimes this goal is foolish but noble (like Don Quixote), sometimes it is narrow or despicable. These characters illustrate the virtues and vices of us humans, and that makes them live through the centuries. "Dead souls" is undoubtedly a dignifed member of that family, a book which will make you laugh, think and laugh again. By the way, another valuable thing is the way in which Gogol depicts the Russian countryside.
Rating: 5
Summary: The best over-200 page novel in the history of literature
Comment: Nikolai Gogol has a very creative mind as well as a unique style of writing. While reading Dead Souls, one is more likely to view the world from Gogol's point of view than his own. His writing contradicts everything Americans think they know about Russian literature. This book is a discussion of a world whose values are radically flexible. Though the concept can be frightening to those who do not take time to ask questions about their lives, Gogol has used crazy comic genius to exhibit an honest and impartial view on what is known today as "The Human Race." His book shows that humans' actions are motivated by greed and that the idea of money does not have any real significance because the value of everything that is sold is created by the human who is selling it. Gogol has also written the book in such a way that every single sentence is a universe of its own.
Dead Souls takes place in the Russia of the late 1800s, where, unlike in America, one must be born into a prosperous family in order to have opportunities. The main character, Chichikov, is clever enough to develop a scheme in which he can rise from being a petty clerk to a respected landowner. In order to do this, Chichikov moves into a new town, pretending to already be a landowner, and begins a quest to buy the names of dead serfs who have not yet been officially reported dead. Each person that Chichkov presents this offer to has a different reaction, starting with the shy and introverted Manilov. Though he does not understand Chichikov's need for the names of these dead serfs, Manilov is a character that is so desperate for company that it does not take any effort to trick him into selling his dead souls cheaply. However, as Chichikov continues his journey, he starts to deal with more clever landowners who become suspicious of his scheme.
Chichikov finds that the townsmen known as Sobakevich and Nozdrev are much harder to negotiate with. This is because they are more and attempt to trick Chichikov even though in truth, Chichikov is the one who is playing the trick on them. Nozdrev agrees to sell Chichikov his serfs under the condition that he can sell him something else along with the serfs, such as a horse or a pair of hunting dogs. Chichikov, of course, refuses the offer because he owns no land and has nowhere to keep any horses or dogs. Because of this, Nozdrev curses Chichikov and orders two of his guards to beat him up. However, by sheer luck, the police show up at that exact time to arrest Nozdrev because of crimes he committed in the past. Seeing this, Chichikov runs away and immediately sets off to visit Sobakevich. In his encounter with Sobakevich, Chichikov offers him less than one hundredth of what Sobakevich claims is the rightful price. However, the reason for Sobakevich's logic is that he claims the serfs have just as much value now that they are dead as they did when they were alive. In the end, however, Chichikov's stubbornness surmounts Sobakevich's absurd logic and Chichikov ends up buying the souls for the price he offered.
Unfortunately, as they say, "there is no such thing as a perfect crime." In the end of Dead Souls, Chichikov is stabbed in the back by the people he does business with, and does not get away with his ingenious plan. The main thing that Gogol is proving in his novel is that the entire human race is very similar to Chichikov; their interest lies in money and in prosperity. So if human beings are constantly trying to outsmart each other, a perfect society will never be obtained.
Rating: 2
Summary: An Unfinished Masterpiece?
Comment: unfinished -yes! masterpiece-no!
i didn't like this book. you can read the other reviews to get the flavor of the plot. i didn't think it was laugh out loud funny like "catch 22" or "the world according to garp". it did in areas make me smile though. it does also give the reader a feel for tsarist russia.
the problem is it has no meaning. it is not satirical. There is no moral. chichikov has no redeeming qualities. russian society is painted as lazy, drunk, and corrupt--not necessarily in that order. but gogol never finished the book leaving it meaningless. what is his message to russian society? who are the good characters and who are the bad? the most interesting character is kostanzhoglo whom we meet in part 2. he is hard working, intelligent and successful. he helps chichikov buy an estate, but we never know what happens as that part of the book is missing. the inference is that chichikov used him as he did everybody else.
what we end up with is a self centered antihero who uses everybody to satisfy his greed. his corruption is insatiable, but we never learn of his denouement.
gogol worked on this book and a sequel (which he repeatedly destroyed) for much of his life. he clearly had difficulty bringing any meaning to the story and must have also felt unfulfilled by it. It was an interesting premise that lead him nowhere.
there are too many great russian novelists to waste your time on this book. if you want a flavor of gogol, try his short stories.
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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: Fathers and Sons (Oxford World's Classics) 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: 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: The Complete Tales of Nikolai Gogol Vol. 2 by Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol, Leonard J. Kent, Nikolai Vasil'evich Gogol ISBN: 0226300692 Publisher: University of Chicago Press (Trd) Pub. Date: March, 1985 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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