Dead Souls charts the nefarious dealings of Chichikov, a member of the middle aristocracy in a time when serfs were considered the property of landowners, who could buy, sell, or mortgage them. Chichikov concocts a scheme to purchase ownership of deceased male serfs in order to create an illusion of increased wealth against which he intends to borrow. A master of the absurd with a gift for hilarious satire, in Dead Souls Gogol offers a wildly entertaining tale that simultaneously excoriates the ailing social system of his day. Originally intended as a three-volume work styled after Dante’s Divine Comedy, Gogol burned much of volume two. The novel, nonetheless, is considered by many to be a finished work and Gogol’s masterpiece. This unique Warbler Press edition includes an extensive biographical timeline.
Tabella dei contenuti
Contents
Author’s Preface to the First Portion of This Work1
PART I
Chapter I5
Chapter II16
Chapter III34
Chapter IV52
Chapter V76
Chapter VI92
Chapter VII104
Chapter VIII120
Chapter IX134
Chapter X142
Chapter XI152
PART II
Chapter I178
Chapter II201
Chapter III206
Chapter IV235
Biographical Timeline276
Circa l’autore
NIKOLAI Vasilyevich GOGOL (1809-1852) was a Ukrainian-born humorist, dramatist, and novelist whose works, written in Russian, significantly influenced the direction of Russian literature. As enigmatic as he was influential, Gogol’s novel Dead Souls and his short story ‘The Overcoat’ provided the literary foundations of nineteenth-century Russian realism. His shorter works are gathered in Selected Stories of Nikolai Gogol: Ukrainian and St. Petersburg Tales, available from Warbler Press.
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