Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol - 9 out of 10
Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol
9 out of 10
Notes and thoughts on other books are available at:
- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVa4_CsRStSBBDo4uJWT8BSWtTTn0N1E and http://realini.blogspot.ro/
Dead Souls is one of the best books ever written
It has been included on The Norwegian Book Club list of the top 100 books of all time, available on The Guardian Site here:
In the preface of the masterpiece, the reader learns about the impact that Dead Souls has had on the Russian Literature.
And given that we talk about a chef d’oeuvre with international recognition, the acclaimed work has influenced authors everywhere.
Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov is the protagonist of this stupendous book and he is a complicated, intriguing character.
At the start of the novel, we see him gaining the admiration and friendship of the notables, officials and gentry.
He is a likeable, polite, well regarded, entertaining, shrewd, and keen to establish relationships and applying for that the rules of:
- How to Win Friends and Influence People
Anticipating for a while, he does have strong ties with the governor, the nobility, head of the post and many others, but only up to a point.
The humor that is ever present in the masterpiece has a serious intent, that of criticizing excesses and immoral attitudes, among other misgivings of Russian society, wherein landowners had serfs in their property.
Pavel Ivanovich has a scheme, that he developed as he worked in various departments of the Russian state, wherein he buys Dead Souls, peasants that have died but are still “in existence” for official, tax purposes.
This trick would allow the owner selling them to save the money for the taxes related to the souls and to Chichikov to grow rich.
There are all sorts of characters involved in these transactions, from the generous and artistic, to the Miser and the old widow, most of them interested in the sale, if for different reasons and in some cases keen on giving the dead for free.
Nozdryov for instance has an abject attitude, lying and becoming even violent, when his counter offers are not accepted by Pavel Ivanovich.
But the ruthless figure is also hilarious, when he is promoting his merchandise with vigor and absurdity-
- But my dead souls are magnificent…Aliosha was a great shoe maker…you don’t find dead souls like mine anywhere…
Madame Korobochka is first overwhelmed by the crazy proposal that Chichikov makes, to buy souls from her…
How on earth is that even possible- or words to that effect – but just a little later, he wants to haggle over the price and even considers holding the sale and to the protestations of the buyer that these are dead people, no good to anyone anymore, the old widow has a totally different view now, that these dead souls must be kept, because if Pavel Ivanovich wants them, somebody else might as well be interested.
After the initial infatuation with the visiting Chichikov, the small town, its crème de la crème turns against him.
Nozdryov is the first to voice accusations and talks about the buying of dead souls and incriminates the big buyer.
Then gossip is spread, much like in the film Doubt, with Philip Seymour Hoffman, and it refers to the kidnapping of the governor’s daughter.
It is preposterous, for Pavel Ivanovich was taken with the beautiful girl, but had no intention to take her away without proper form.
In many ways, the situation described by Nikolai Gogol is still very relevant in the world of today, and not just in Russia.
Of course, we do not talk about dead souls or serfs, even if in some remote areas, people are still abused and trafficked.
But in terms of corruption, extreme use of power by officials, one could watch Leviafan a superb fresco of
- The Dead Souls in the modern world…
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