A socially adept newcomer fluidly inserts himself into an unnamed Russian town, conquering first the drinkers, then the dignitaries. All find him a...
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reviews
Mar 23, 2011
Stephen
rated it: 
2.0 stars. As much as I hate to say this about a book that is both a classic of Russian literature and considered one of the best satires ever written, THIS BOOK BORED ME TO DEATH!!! Okay, not quite "coffin ready" dead, but certainly bored to the point of suffering intermittent bouts of narcolepsy. I can certainly say without hyperbole that this is not a book I would recommend as an “enjoyable” experience, no matter how much Vodka you have standing by.
My assessment of the b More...
My assessment of the b More...
4 comments
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(25 people liked it)
Jan 28, 2009
Erik
rated it: 
I had long resisted reading this book because Gogol didn't finish it. But Virgil didn't finish the Aeneid, which I think ends perfectly, and Bolano didn't finish 2666, which is plenty complete for me, so I figured I'd give this thing a whirl. Besides, there's a translation by Pevear and Volokhonsky, and their translations are sublime, so it was all the more reason to read it.
My instincts were pretty right. For what is there, it is marvelous, but I sure miss what Gogol didn't have More...
My instincts were pretty right. For what is there, it is marvelous, but I sure miss what Gogol didn't have More...
9 comments
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(11 people liked it)
Jan 07, 2008
Vanja
rated it: 
Gogol's "Dead Souls" is a true masterpiece. It is the only Russian novel that I have read that brings me as much deep satisfaction as Dostoevsky’s great novels. The novel is satirical, intellectual, political, and also entertaining.
The intriguing plot is sketched as follows:
A somewhat mysterious middle class man, named Chichikov, comes to a town and attempts to build prestige by impressing minor officials of the place. The man spends beyond his means in order t More...
The intriguing plot is sketched as follows:
A somewhat mysterious middle class man, named Chichikov, comes to a town and attempts to build prestige by impressing minor officials of the place. The man spends beyond his means in order t More...
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(8 people liked it)
Dec 16, 2009
Simon A.
rated it: 
I didn't enjoy this novel nearly as much as I enjoyed Gogol's short stories. A couple of things...
1. Several times throughout, the text breaks off and a line is inserted that reads something like, "and here there are many pages missing..." and then the story picks back up in the middle of nowhere again. I didn't know that going in and it was a little confusing.
2. The first 100 pages are very funny and highly engrossing. Starting on about 150 there begins the More...
1. Several times throughout, the text breaks off and a line is inserted that reads something like, "and here there are many pages missing..." and then the story picks back up in the middle of nowhere again. I didn't know that going in and it was a little confusing.
2. The first 100 pages are very funny and highly engrossing. Starting on about 150 there begins the More...
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(4 people liked it)
Mar 03, 2011
Rick
rated it:
Gogol’s masterpiece was never finished. Volume 1 is complete but Volume 2 has missing pages and incomplete sentences and then doesn’t so much finish as just stops. (Gogol announced it as a trilogy, completed the second volume but destroyed the manuscript, and scholars rescued the existing second volume from his papers. Some insist it was never really meant to be more than one volume, though the existence of much of a second volume draft—over 130 printed pages—suggests a rather elaborate red herr
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(3 people liked it)
Apr 28, 2011
Erik
rated it:
By the last two years of high school many of my friends were older fellows already in college. Most were poorer than the average Maine South student, so their colleges weren't far away. As a consequence, I was afforded opportunites to visit and sometimes stay at Roosevelt University, Loyola University, Kendall College, Oakton Community College, the University of Illinois (Chicago and Champaign), the University of Chicago, Oxford University etc.--a practice continued, by reciprocally now, when
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(1 person liked it)
Feb 05, 2008
Jeff
rated it:
Some have compared this book to the Divine Comedy. The main characters journey through early 19th century Russia. Dead Souls refers to serfs (slaves) that have died. In Russia, landowners had slaves that were counted decennial for the cenus. The landowners were taxed for these slaves, also referred to as souls, every year, even if they were dead. Chichikov, our "hero", develops a scheme to purchase these dead souls as if they were living. Therefore, relieving the burden from the landow
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Oct 06, 2007
Kelly
rated it:
Almost a decade has passed since I read Dead Souls and I still find occasion to tell the story and recommend the author. The hero of the story, Chichikov, is a poor man living in Empirial Russia. During the historical period in which the story occurs, wealth is measured in terms of a man's property, including the number of souls (or serfs) he owns. Our cunning hero travels the country relieving this landed gentry of the paperwork for their deceased and growing a notorious unreal- estate of his o
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(2 people liked it)
Oct 30, 2011
Joselito
rated it:
I was a bit surprised by this. Old Russian novels usually are like long, black trains loaded with ponderous themes travelling the entire length and breadth of Russia and ending up in Siberia with all its passengers dead or dying. The title of this book itself, "Dead Souls," suggests a good halloween read. I made a grave mistake.
This is more like Huckleberry Finn, except that its principal protagonist (or "hero," as Nikolai Gogol calls him), named Chichikov, is not a More...
This is more like Huckleberry Finn, except that its principal protagonist (or "hero," as Nikolai Gogol calls him), named Chichikov, is not a More...
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(6 people liked it)
Sep 01, 2011
Jamie
rated it:
When thinking of Russian literature, Dostoyevsky (Crime and Punishment) and Tolstoy (War and Peace) are usually the first, and often only, authors to come to mind. That was how it was for me anyway, before I discovered Nikolai Gogol over Summer break.
Gogol’s Dead Souls is as bizarre as it is vividly descriptive and downright hilarious. This novel’s hero (as Gogol affectionately refers to his character) is a man by the name of Chichikov, a visitor to a small town where the new and out of p More...
Gogol’s Dead Souls is as bizarre as it is vividly descriptive and downright hilarious. This novel’s hero (as Gogol affectionately refers to his character) is a man by the name of Chichikov, a visitor to a small town where the new and out of p More...
Aug 18, 2011
What is this book?
I can't remember any more if Gogol described it as a Poem or an Epic, maybe it doesn't matter what he called it since he had great chunks of the manuscript fed into the fire on the advice of his religious advisor.
So we are left with part one, some bits of part two and an outline of the three part whole of the work, the rest having gone up in smoke.
What there is of the first part is generally read as a comedy. It is funny, but bear in mind th More...
I can't remember any more if Gogol described it as a Poem or an Epic, maybe it doesn't matter what he called it since he had great chunks of the manuscript fed into the fire on the advice of his religious advisor.
So we are left with part one, some bits of part two and an outline of the three part whole of the work, the rest having gone up in smoke.
What there is of the first part is generally read as a comedy. It is funny, but bear in mind th More...
Jul 27, 2011
Matti
rated it:
KUOLLEET SIELUT
Mielenkiintoinen idea, jonka merkitys paljastetaan lukijalle vasta aivan viime sivuilla. Kirjan kerrontatapa on miltei häiritsevä – tyyli, jossa tekijäksi kolmannessa persoonassa itseään kutsuva kirjailija puhuttelee lukijaa suoraan (kutsuen tätä lukijaksi) ja punnitsee kirjoittamisensa ratkaisuja. Tämä metateksti välillä vieraannuttaa tarinasta ja muistuttaa että se on nimenomaan tarinaa, juuri kun siihen alkoi eläytyä.
Omituinen ratkaisu oli myöskin täysin takavase More...
Mielenkiintoinen idea, jonka merkitys paljastetaan lukijalle vasta aivan viime sivuilla. Kirjan kerrontatapa on miltei häiritsevä – tyyli, jossa tekijäksi kolmannessa persoonassa itseään kutsuva kirjailija puhuttelee lukijaa suoraan (kutsuen tätä lukijaksi) ja punnitsee kirjoittamisensa ratkaisuja. Tämä metateksti välillä vieraannuttaa tarinasta ja muistuttaa että se on nimenomaan tarinaa, juuri kun siihen alkoi eläytyä.
Omituinen ratkaisu oli myöskin täysin takavase More...
Feb 01, 2011
James
rated it:
I have to give the whole thing five stars just for chapter's 9 and 10 of the first part where the town becomes suspicious of Chichikov and institutes an inquiry. There, the narrative takes on the very funny and intense absurdism that you find in "The Cloak" or "Diary of Madman" or "The Nose." The whole Captain Kopeiken digression is fantastic as is the testimony of Nozdrev--the pathological liar. Both passages work a bit like Monty Python's Dead Parrot Sketch. The P
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Jun 11, 2009
Matt
rated it:
I'm not sure how much I have to add to a discussion of this book. It's awesome, especially in the first half, where Chichikov is still working out his rather obscure program, and along the way is encountering all sorts of weird and wonderfully funny folks. The writing is great, lots of really amazing similes like people always talk about, but just generally, an incredible level of energy in the writing-- it's the kind of thing that could wear you out if it wasn't so generous. I'm not certain wha
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Aug 09, 2011
Mike
rated it: 
Awful. Awful, awful, awful.
Here’s the story behind Dead Souls, according to translator Andrew MacAndrew: “Gogol wrote Dead Souls over a period of years, and, as the writing advanced, his mental balance became more and more precarious…[After] the publication of the first chapters of Dead Souls, a cry of outright betrayal was raised. In the later chapters, Gogol answers his critics with defensive digressions and a promise of a sequel with ‘positive’ characters and a ‘positive’ messa More...
Here’s the story behind Dead Souls, according to translator Andrew MacAndrew: “Gogol wrote Dead Souls over a period of years, and, as the writing advanced, his mental balance became more and more precarious…[After] the publication of the first chapters of Dead Souls, a cry of outright betrayal was raised. In the later chapters, Gogol answers his critics with defensive digressions and a promise of a sequel with ‘positive’ characters and a ‘positive’ messa More...
Jan 19, 2011
Dawn
rated it:
Ah, troika, troika, swift as a bird, who was it first invented you? Only among a hardy race of folk can you have come to birth—only in a land which, though poor and rough, lies spread over half the world, and spans versts the counting whereof would leave one with aching eyes. Nor are you a modishly-fashioned vehicle of the road—a thing of clamps and iron. Rather, you are a vehicle but shapen and fitted with the axe or chisel of some handy peasant of Yaroslav. Nor are you driven by a coachman cloMore...
2 comments
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Jun 05, 2011
Michael
rated it:
LENA
Yeah.
BARRY
So that pudding was bought, I
bought that pudding because of a
pretty interesting promotion that's
sponsored by Healthy Choice and
American Airlines. It's designed to
encourage airline travel and
obviously designed to encourage
buying Healthy Choice products.
They make frozen meals, deli meats,
pasta sauce, breads, soups and ice
creams, this sort of thing.....
LENA
Yeah?
BARRY More...
Yeah.
BARRY
So that pudding was bought, I
bought that pudding because of a
pretty interesting promotion that's
sponsored by Healthy Choice and
American Airlines. It's designed to
encourage airline travel and
obviously designed to encourage
buying Healthy Choice products.
They make frozen meals, deli meats,
pasta sauce, breads, soups and ice
creams, this sort of thing.....
LENA
Yeah?
BARRY More...
Mar 23, 2010
Lewis
rated it:
Gogol wrote dead souls perhaps with a view to a kill, to warn society of the inherent dangers of federal bureaucracy, semi-fuedalistic society and underhand businessmen who will go to any means to achieve their ends.
The story portrays Chichikov, of the merchant class, a cunning individual who resolves to acquire the dead serfs (souls) of the country's land owners. These souls still appear on the census and thus the landowners arestill paying tax on them even though they are not usefu More...
The story portrays Chichikov, of the merchant class, a cunning individual who resolves to acquire the dead serfs (souls) of the country's land owners. These souls still appear on the census and thus the landowners arestill paying tax on them even though they are not usefu More...
Aug 05, 2011
Hansen
rated it:
Familiarity with Gogol’s short stories prepares one for something brilliant. The first chapter of Dead Souls approaches that degree, as do many moments of subtlety and charm. And the general scope of the narrative is clever. But for the most, the novel drags with, typically Russian, too many characters, unnecessary action and interruptions of philosophical and economic theory. This is not a complete work, so perhaps it needn’t be read completely.
A few gems: “Political economy… Just one fo More...
A few gems: “Political economy… Just one fo More...
Jan 25, 2012
Dead Souls has a lot to recommend it. Gogol's style is lively and wide ranging, he's capable of showing how venal, petty and corrupt every level of his society, from the poorest serfs to the most officious princes can be. And it totally demolishes the idiotic idea that people living in far flung provinces are all somehow provincial, romantic innocents. The book has a wild sort of energy to it, especially compared to a lot of subsequent 19th century Russian literature, which is really great, but
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Dec 17, 2010
Abigail
rated it:
Welcome to Gogol's Russia, a place where even the clerks at banks must be bribed for a transaction to be completed. Here, customs officials "shop" for their wives and mistresses from the piles of unreported goods they've confiscated from travellers. And here, intelligent and talented students are punished unjustly for making insecure teachers feel stupid, while obsequious and flattering students are promoted to government jobs.
One of these students is Pavel Ivanovich Chichi More...
One of these students is Pavel Ivanovich Chichi More...
May 20, 2009
Richard
rated it:
It is terribly sad to think that Gogol originally wanted this to be a three-part work, of which only most of Part One survives as he wanted it. He evidently burned up Part Two manuscripts several times and only an incomplete manuscript survives of it. The Third Part was sketched only in outline, evidently. Even Part one has sections of the narrative that are missing, especially some key encounters near the end of the book. Gogol has the broad satiric rapier of Mark Twain, with uproariously humor
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Jul 25, 2010
فکر میکنم راجع به یک کتاب مهمترین چیز حسیه که نسبت بهش داریم یا هر اثر هنری دیگه.نفوس مرده منو خیلی جذب نکرد..خوب نکته ی مثبتش پرداختن به وجوه شخصیتی مثبت و منفی یک آدم بود اما در همین مورد هم به نظر من داستایفسکی یک سر و گردن از گوگول بالاتره.شخصیت قهرمان و واکنش هاش یکنواخت و بدون فراز و فرود و تضادهای احساسات درونی هست نکته ای که داستایفسکی درش استاده.نسبت به قهرمان داستان احساس خاصی پیدا نمیکنیم،هرچند توصیفات منفی نویسنده از قهرمان قاعدتا باید این احساس منفی رو در مخاطب ایجاد کنه.
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Jan 02, 2009
Judy
rated it:
Rascal! Villain! Wiseacre!
A satirical depiction of 19th century Russian society, including many hilarious character studies. There’s a great portrait of a miser, a pathological liar, and a glutton. The hero of the novel travels about buying up dead serfs while sleazily and bullheadedly attempting to drag himself up the social ladder. He is not entirely unlikeable, pretty much a go-getter, liked good suits. Briefly ends up in prison, crying and pulling his hair out in clumps but manag More...
A satirical depiction of 19th century Russian society, including many hilarious character studies. There’s a great portrait of a miser, a pathological liar, and a glutton. The hero of the novel travels about buying up dead serfs while sleazily and bullheadedly attempting to drag himself up the social ladder. He is not entirely unlikeable, pretty much a go-getter, liked good suits. Briefly ends up in prison, crying and pulling his hair out in clumps but manag More...
Dec 17, 2009
rachelle
rated it:
As much as I hate to two-star Gogol, I must be honest with myself and admit that any book I can put down after 100 pages - with relief - and never return to again, can't rate much higher. I'm pleased that I gave it a shot, but ultimately, a wry contemplation of the status of the Russian serf just didn't do it for me. Funny in places, but sadly, a bore.
Aug 25, 2010
My first encounter with Gogol was "The Nose," read at age 19 in a combination tobacconist and espresso place occupied by a mixture of MFA students and raving homeless, and I'm sure that's how Nikolai would want it. A nose could have gotten chopped off in there at any moment. I doubt anyone would have noticed or cared.
Gogol had a theater background, and the dialogue often has a very stage-y feel, as Chichikov haggles over the price of peasant souls. No one's safe. The ca More...
Gogol had a theater background, and the dialogue often has a very stage-y feel, as Chichikov haggles over the price of peasant souls. No one's safe. The ca More...
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Feb 10, 2012
Edward
rated it:
Wow! Fantastic so far. I know it's stupid, but I always approach literature that's more than 100 years old with a sense of 'This will probably suck, mainly because people didn't have the internet back then and didn't believe in germs,' but again I'm reading something great. With old literature, I try to think about its value as a story, and not just focus on its ability to take me back to its time, but when reading Dead Souls, I completely feel like I'm trundling along in a horse-drawn carriage
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Aug 03, 2011
John
rated it:
Dead Souls is a provocative work of fiction from a master of blending the comic and the tragic. Gogol effectively uses absurdity and his narrator's flights of fancy to engage the reader, all the while slowly building a case that society has degraded itself, bowing at the feet of even the illusions of money, power, and fame.
Gogol cleverly avoids giving virtually any details about his protagonist, the oddly named Chichikov, until the final chapter of volume 1. Instead, the author turns h More...
Gogol cleverly avoids giving virtually any details about his protagonist, the oddly named Chichikov, until the final chapter of volume 1. Instead, the author turns h More...
Mar 16, 2011
David
rated it:
The surreal symbolism that flows so freely and evenly through Dead Souls is an experience everyone should have. It's a poem for sure, and a beautiful long form Russian boner of a poem. The insights into disparate mental states, the concepts delivered by individual people who are fully fleshed out people, not just a device to deliver content...it's all skillful, albeit a bit too effete and daydreamy at times (although how much of that is intentional or where Gogol drew the line in his head, if he
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