Part 1: Chapters 8-9

[Thomas]

At the start of Chapter 8 it looks like our hero has it made. There's gossip around town, but it's all in his favor because the rumor is that he's rich. As a result, he becomes the object of fascination, particularly for "the ladies". Chichikov receives an anonymous letter. It is a strange, melancholy letter, but it promises that the writer will be at the governor's ball the following evening. Chichikov is intrigued. What are we to make of this letter?

'What is our life? A vale wherein grief dwells. What is this world? A crowd of people who do not feel... the ending of the letter even rang with decided despair and concluded with these verses:

Two turtledoves will show
My cold remains to thee,
With languid cooing so
As to say that in tears died she.

The ball is a rollicking success for Chichikov. He rediscovers the captivating blonde that he saw on the road from Nozdryov's when his britzka was entangled with another, though it's uncertain whether Chichikov is actually in love because "it is even doubtful that gentlemen of his sort, that is, not really fat and yet not really thin, are capable of love..." In any case, his interest in the girl irritates the ladies and he only manages to bore the poor girl with his "heavy conversation."

Things have started to go downhill already when Nozdryov arrives and tries to expose Chichikov as a swindler. Fortunately for Chichikov, Nozdryov is an inveterate liar and nobody believes him. But Chichikov senses that the question has been raised and he's worried. Meanwhile, Mrs. Korobochka arrives in town.

Chapter 9 begins with a conversation between two women whom the narrator calls "the lady agreeable in all respects" and the "simply agreeable lady." He quotes them saying each other's names, but he won't name them himself. Is the narrator a little intimidated by the ladies? He depicts them in a poor light for the most part, superficial and gossipy, but he also seems to respect them, at times at least.

They too want to know Chichikov's motives for buying dead souls, but they focus on the governor's daughter as his primary motivation. They say the dead souls are just a cover. This doesn't seem to follow exactly, but it doesn't matter, and it's hilarious. At one point the narrator compares the ladies to scholars who start with a "timid supposition" which they prove with quotations from other authorities, convincing themselves of their newly discovered truth in the process and going on to gather followers and admirers.

The public is greatly confused by the rumors swirling around town, the dead souls, and the governor's daughter and Chichikov. They demand an accounting. Some say there is no reason. It's just a story. Others separate into camps -- the men's camp and the women's. The men's is "the more witless of the two" and is concerned with the dead soul issue. The women's camp is concerned with the governor's daughter. But it all has the air of cheap gossip and scandal.

By the end of Chapter 9, all they know is that "they did not know for certain what Chichikov was, and that the same Chichikov must certainly be something." And they decide that they must resolve this one way or the other.

Readers have more information about Chichikov at this point than the townspeople do, but even so, I wonder: do we know with certainty who, or what, Chichikov is?

[Thomas]

Gogol is certainly body conscious, and he has a keen interest in appetites and food. And noses. Why this is and what we are to make of it, I'm not sure, but he never passes up an opportunity to comment on a character's physical attributes.

[Rhonda]

Thomas wrote: "'What is our life? A vale wherein grief dwells. What is this world? A crowd of people who do not feel" The ending of the letter even rang with decided despair and concluded with these verses:
Two turtledoves will show
My cold remains to thee,
With languid cooing so
As to say that in tears died she.

The image of the two turtledoves, a species said to mate forever and be at one another's side, indicates that the writer believes that Chichikov was in a life-relationship which ended badly, so much so that the person died pining for Chichikov. Are these two turtledoves which will show the remains of this woman real or figurative?
More, this implies that Chichikov treated the woman badly and, perhaps, abandoned her dishonorably.
The most interesting part of this is in Chichikov's reaction to the letter: instead of being alarmed, he folds it carefully and puts it away like he does everything else. If nothing else, Chichikov has a singularity of purpose and will allow no one or nothing to interfere....as long as he can.

[Rhonda]

Susanna wrote: "Is Gogol suggesting that boarding-schools didn't feed their students enough?"

My supposition would be that Russian boarding schools for girls of the time, (typically local and privately funded,) taught young girls how to read and write, music, sewing and how to remain attractive for marriage. I sense that Gogol is saying that women were taught to maintain their figures in order to attract a husband...and that this figure disintegrated when exposed to home cooking once more. One supposes that it might not be funny for those of us opposed to starving ourselves to achieve social approbation.
Interestingly, although women in mid-19th century Russia broke into the theatrical arenas, including drama as well as music, they were forbidden to attend university in 1864. The first Russian women to earn university degrees received their schooling abroad.

[Mike]

At this point in the story I do not think the narrator is anyone who is in the story themselves and is just a third person who is critical at times of the society they are telling the story of.

[Thomas]

Rhonda wrote: "the writer believes that Chichikov was in a life-relationship which ended badly, so much so that the person died pining for Chichikov. ....The most interesting part of this is in Chichikov's reaction to the letter: instead of being alarmed, he folds it carefully and puts it away like he does everything else. If nothing else, Chichikov has a singularity of purpose and will allow no one or nothing to interfere....as long as he can."

That's an interesting theory, and possible, given the fact that we know so little about Chichikov's past. I think Gogol lures us into making guesses about Chichikov because we know so little -- and Gogol tells the story this way deliberately, making us guess -- and in the process we become like the townspeople and the rumor mill they operate.

My guess is that Chichikov has no idea what the letter means. He puzzles over it for an hour, then gives up and goes to get ready for the ball.

[Thomas]

Mike wrote: "At this point in the story I do not think the narrator is anyone who is in the story themselves and is just a third person who is critical at times of the society they are telling the story of."

That sounds right to me too. But the narrator is an insider, maybe someone who lived in the town and saw it from that perspective. He doesn't strike me as completely omniscient. He has a certain point of view and it makes me wonder if he has an agenda. Why is he telling the story, and why in this way?

[Tamara]

Mike wrote: "At this point in the story I do not think the narrator is anyone who is in the story themselves and is just a third person who is critical at times of the society they are telling the story of."

I agree. I don’t see how the narrator can be a character in the narrative since he gives us access to the thinking and internal machinations of other characters. He would be unable to do so if he were a character in the story.

I think the narrative voice is third-person limited omniscient. The narrator is outside the story; is not averse to injecting his comments; has a great sense of humor; shows a real talent for sniffing out human foibles, exaggerating them, and exposing them for ridicule.

[Tamara]

I see the two chapters as dripping with satire. Gogol doesn’t spare anyone.

He holds the men up for ridicule for arguing about Chichikov’s ability to handle so many peasants. He jabs at the nature of Russian peasantry. He takes aim at the ladies for their superficial concerns, their attempts at appearing sophisticated, and their hypocrisy. Their interest in Chichikov comes after the rumors spread of his wealth.

The anonymous love letter from a woman who pines away for love of Chichikov is riddled with a syrupy ‘woe is me’ tone. Plagued with sorrow, weeping for her mother, inviting Chichikov to join her in the wilderness, with doves leading him to her “cold, sad bier” where they tell him she died “shedding a tear.” Presumably, for him. Sigh.

Chichikov is full of himself, spending an hour primping and preening for the ball where he is the center of attention with everyone fawning all over him. But once the women realize his focus is exclusively on the governor’s daughter, they become indignant. One of them has the unmitigated gall to brush her dress against the girl and sweep her scarf into the girl’s face. Oh, the horror! The horror!

I thought the dialog between the two women in Chapter IX was brilliant and hilarious. Fake news in the making. The women go after the jugular by using the traditional tools at their disposal: they impugn the girl’s character and destroy her reputation. The poor girl doesn’t know what hit her or why her mother explodes at her with a barrage of questions. Meanwhile, the men are worried that their connection with Chichikov will expose all manner of their shading dealings. And what better way to throw the scent off themselves than to dig up dirt on Chichikov. And so they investigate him.

The satire has become far more pronounced here. The chapters are hilarious and border on being farcical.

[Rhonda]

Tamara wrote: "I see the two chapters as dripping with satire. Gogol doesn’t spare anyone.... Chichikov is full of himself, spending an hour primping and preening for the ball where he is the center of attention with everyone fawning all over him."

I was looking at some etchings by Marc Chagall on Dead Souls and in one, Chichikov, preparing himself for this ball, looks like a potato in a mirror. Chagall capitalizes on the complete absurdity of the characters. It is only a shame that they are not larger.
https://medium.com/@bluebed/gogol-and...

[Tamara]

Rhonda wrote: "I was looking at some etchings by Marc Chagall on Dead Souls and in one, Chichikov, preparing himself for this ball, looks like a potato in a mirror.."

Thanks for sharing these, Rhonda. They are delightful and so well suited with the spirit of the novel.

[Kathy]

Two turtledoves will show
My cold remains to thee,
With languid cooing so
As to say that in tears died she.

I didn't see this as a reference to Chichikov's past. As I read it, the lady who writes it is anticipating her own sorrowful death if Chichikov doesn't return her affections. But I also figured the letter was actually an attempt by someone to set him up in some way. I don't have a theory about who. It just seemed that a setup would be in keeping with the rest of the action!

[Kathy]

Tamara wrote: "Mike wrote: "At this point in the story I do not think the narrator is anyone who is in the story themselves and is just a third person who is critical at times of the society they are telling the ..."

The narrator makes lots of writerly observations. While we might not want to say he is Gogol himself, he is certainly a writer. I loved the little digression on how difficult it is to name characters without offending a reader in some far-flung corner of the country. So, he names the ladies "a lady agreeable in all respects" and "the simply agreeable lady." And then, two pages later, sneaks in very specific names for them--Sofya Ivanovna and Anna Grigorievna, which he then repeats over and over again. Ha!

[Tamara]

Kathy wrote: "I didn't see this as a reference to Chichikov's past. As I read it, the lady who writes it is anticipating her own sorrowful death if Chichikov doesn't return her affections...."

I read it the same way, Kathy. I read her letter as a very obvious attempt to manipulate him.

[Rhonda]

At the risk of offending some, I have to say that i found most of chapter 9 rather tedious. I gave it a chance and read it twice, but it was as if I were listening to a joke in a foreign language, one I could barely follow. I do see, very clearly, in fact, that the development of the movement against Chichikov must be very funny. However, it is like viewing something at a distance, in this case, arm's length.
The two women in the parlor are very strange, indeed, but I have a difficult time recognizing them. It is humorous how they, essentially, are looking for something interesting, a subject matter, but it only becomes interesting when they allow their imaginations to flow.
It reminds me a great deal of middle school where various people, in small socially approved groups, maligned others for sport, which amounted to just being mean, just because of vague imaginings. In our case, the two women begin to roll a tiny snowball of criticism down a hill, and it becomes a huge basis for the criticism of Chichikov, something which is picked up by the other women of the town.
The men have a different method, but it is the same basic will to disparagement of another human being. The only person who is capable of keeping his mind is a postmaster who is, essentially because he incredibly limited, incapable of thinking such dastardly thoughts as the others. They ultimately decide to restrain themselves because they fear that Chichikov might bring retribution on them for their failure to protect others in a recent incident.
The men, however, get the idea that Chichikov must be a kind of official for the new governor-general's office, sent to check up on the village. I truly want to find it funny and I can see the humor, but it seems to belong to another time. and place.
The women try to convince the men of their point of view, but the women's beliefs are dismissed. The funniest thing about this was the observation that the men make of women, that women are like a sack: it holds everything you put into it. It is disparaging, but it's very funny.
But the men themselves are not any better than the women but become convinced that the issue of the dead souls has to do with parties which, as always, we are told, ended with a fight.
The words "dead souls" sounded so indefinite that there was even a suspicion that they might contain an allusion to some bodies hastily buried following two quite recent incidents.
All the names and references include some very funny names and such, but then there is a reference to two documents, one in which the governor says that they are to be on the watch for a man in the province providing forged banknotes. The second document has to do with being advised to be on the lookout for a man who is fleeing prosecution and should be detained. While this is the first real evidence that might be applied to Chichikov, it is summarily dismissed. But how?
Oddly, and one gathers that this is part of the extreme satire, no one can think to apply either of these notices to Chichikov. One gathers that their fear of being implicated in what they see as an impropriety, keeps them from seeing past their collective noses. They are more interested in protecting themselves than anything else.

Korobochka seems to think Chichikov is undoubtedly a crook. The men decide that she is only a stupid old woman. Manilov stands up for Chichikov as does Sobokevich, albeit he still appears to think of his dead serfs as alive. Nevertheless, three unreliable people testify for and against him.
The whole search carried out by the officials revealed to them only that they did not know for certain what Chichikov was, and that all the same Chichikov must certainly be something.
The entire satire of village life ought to be rollicking good fun, and there are funny parts, but in many ways, it is describing an horrific scene, one which reminds me of our modern politics, with the exception that I think our own government knows that it is deceiving us. I apologize for including the political reference.

[Thomas]

Tamara wrote: "I think the narrative voice is third-person limited omniscient. The narrator is outside the story; is not averse to injecting his comments;."

I like that -- 3rd person limited. I was thinking 3rd person intrusive, if there is such a thing. The narrator pops out of the background every once in a while to give his opinion about what's going on, and in the process makes his presence known. This could be very annoying if overdone because it breaks the narrative flow, but Gogol does it sparingly.

[Thomas]

Rhonda wrote: "The two women in the parlor are very strange, indeed, but I have a difficult time recognizing them.."

They remind me of the pepper pot ladies in Monty Python. And like some of those old Python sketches they can get a little tiresome, but I think that's the point. Everyday debates about superficial things are exceedlingly common and terribly boring. The flouce vs. festoon discussion, for example, is completely tedious, but that is in fact the sort of thing that people debate about every day, and Gogol is poking fun at it.

[Tamara]

Thomas wrote: "The flouce vs. festoon discussion, for example, is completely tedious, but that is in fact the sort of thing that people debate about every day, and Gogol is poking fun at it..."

I think the whole point of that discussion was to show how seriously the women take something as trivial as flounce vs. festoon. They debate the pros and cons as if it were a matter of utmost importance. The irony, of course, is that it is important to them. Reputations can rise and fall depending on one's fashion choices. Gogol is obviously poking fun.

On the other hand, I think he is also satirizing a society that has relegated women to the margins so they have little else to debate but trivial fashion choices. Further, in their attack on the governor's daughter, he is showing us that women cannot openly exercise power. They have to exercise it indirectly and through subterfuge by spreading nasty rumors, ruining reputations, and exerting their influence on men to do the acting for them.

It's funny but it is also pretty sad.

[Chris]

Tamara wrote: "I see the two chapters as dripping with satire. Gogol doesn’t spare anyone.

He holds the men up for ridicule for arguing about Chichikov’s ability to handle so many peasants. He jabs at the natur..."

I so agree with you Tamara. I was laughing at so many descriptions in chap8 ( i am behind after being away), The women's appearance, dress and behavior was hysterical. I also thought the satire was evident in the whole theme of acquisition for the sake of impressing others trying to move to a higher social stratum as well as those who like to show off - i.e. discussion of languages.

[Kerstin]

Thomas wrote: "Chapter 9 begins with a conversation between two women whom the narrator calls "the lady agreeable in all respects" and the "simply agreeable lady." He quotes them saying each other's names, but he won't name them himself. Is the narrator a little intimidated by the ladies? He depicts them in a poor light for the most part, superficial and gossipy, but he also seems to respect them, at times at least."

Here is what I see: I don't think Gogol is intimidated by the women. In this scene he is illustrating the busybody as a type. If he had chosen to introduce them to us with their names, then we would focus on the individuals, but that is not what he has in mind.

[Chris]

I found Chap 9 to be full of the absurd and very enjoyable! The gossip runs amok, and it made me think of the Telephone game where the subject starts with one thing and may be completely different by the end of the tag. I particularly was taken with the narrator's description of the ladies stirring up the populous.
The ladies manage to blow so much smoke in everyone's eyes that for a while everyone, the official's especially, remained dumbfounded.
Once again, no surprise that Gogol divides the focus of interest into men and women's camps. The men wanting to get to the bottom of the dead souls and the women, the crazy story of the plan to abduct the Governor's daughter. Skewering women's superficial & silly thinking.
I see the narrator also refers to the story as a Russian poem again. Now that i am this far into it, I don't see it.

[Kerstin]

Tamara wrote: "Chichikov is full of himself, spending an hour primping and preening for the ball where he is the center of attention with everyone fawning all over him. But once the women realize his focus is exclusively on the governor’s daughter, they become indignant. One of them has the unmitigated gall to brush her dress against the girl and sweep her scarf into the girl’s face. Oh, the horror! The horror!"

The girl represents innocence. Innocence in the sense of being free of all vice, all sorts of pettiness, and the hollow superficiality the local elite is steeped in. This is underscored by the fact that she has been away at school - the contagion has had no influence on her. Then she is dressed in white, has blond hair, and her skin is white to the point of being translucent. No shadow marres her. She is Snow White. Authentic innocence has a radiant quality to it. It is beautiful, good, and true. It is universally attractive. Gogol is right to depict his image of innocence as a beautiful girl on the cusp of womanhood.

Chichikov laments the fact that before long she will be just like all the other women, her innocence spoiled by the vices and pettiness of life. Yet he is drawn to her like a moth to a flaming candle, but the chasm between them is unsurmountable as in the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man. The first time he encounters her they are in two different carriages and she isn't even aware of him. All his prattle to garner her attention at the ball only elicits boredom.

Meanwhile, the women of town are smitten by Chichikov, the new celebrity among them. They have primped themselves to garner his attention, and then they are outmaneuvered by the no longer attainable beauty of a mere girl - who is totally unaware of the impact she is having. "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?" So in predictable petty fashion they turn not only on her, but also on him.

[Kathy]

Thomas wrote: "Tamara wrote: "I think the narrative voice is third-person limited omniscient. The narrator is outside the story; is not averse to injecting his comments;."

I like that -- 3rd person limited. I was thinking 3rd person intrusive, if there is such a thing. ..."

"Third person intrusive"--I love it! Perfect term for it. Though I don't find it sparing enough. That's the part I'm finding to be tedious.