Dead Souls is a novel by Nikolai Gogol, first published in 1842, and widely
regarded as an exemplar of 19th-century Russian literature. The purpose of the
novel was to demonstrate the flaws and faults of the Russian mentality and
character. Gogol masterfully portrayed those defects through Pavel Ivanovich
Chichikov and the people whom he encounters in his endeavours. These
people are typical of the Russian middle-class of the time. Gogol himself
saw it as an "epic poem in prose", and within the book as a "novel in verse".
Despite supposedly completing the trilogy's second part, Gogol destroyed
it shortly before his death. Although the novel ends in mid-sentence, it is
usually regarded as complete in the extant form.
Title The original title, as shown on the
illustration, was "The Wanderings of Chichikov, or Dead Souls. Poema", which
contracted to merely "Dead Souls". In the Russian Empire, before the
emancipation of the serfs in 1861, landowners had the right to own serfs to
farm their land. Serfs were for most purposes considered the property of the
landowner, who could buy, sell or mortgage them, as any other chattel. To
count serfs, the measure word "soul" was used: e.g., "six souls of serfs". The
plot of the novel relies on "dead souls" which are still accounted for in
property registers. On another level, the title refers to the "dead souls" of
Gogol's characters, all of which represent different aspects of poshlost.
It is also described as a picaresque novel, the literary genre virtually
non-existent in Russian literature of the times.
Background The first part of the novel was intended
to represent a modern-day Inferno of the Divine Comedy. Gogol reveals to his
readers an encompassing picture of the ailing social system in Russia after the
war of 1812. As in many of Gogol's short stories, the social criticism of Dead
Souls is communicated primarily through absurd and hilarious satire. Unlike the
short stories, however, Dead Souls was meant to offer solutions rather than
simply point out problems. This grander scheme was largely unrealized at Gogol's
death; the work was never completed, and it is primarily the earlier, darker part
of the novel that is remembered. In their studies of Gogol, Andrey Bely,
D. S. Mirsky, Vladimir Nabokov, and other modernist critics rejected the
commonly held view of Dead Souls as a reformist or satirical work. For
instance, Nabokov regarded the plot of Dead Souls as unimportant and Gogol as a
great writer whose works skirted the irrational and whose prose style
combined superb descriptive power with a disregard for novelistic clichés. True,
Chichikov displays a most extraordinary moral rot, but the whole idea of buying
and selling dead souls is, to Nabokov, ridiculous on its face; therefore, the
provincial setting of the novel is a most unsuitable backdrop for any of the
progressive, reformist or Christian readings of the work.
Structure The novel has a circular structure,
following Chichikov as he visits the estates of landowners living around the
capital of a guberniya. Although Gogol aspired to emulate the Odyssey and the
Divine Comedy, many critics derive the structure of Dead Souls from the
picaresque novels of the 16th and 17th centuries in that it is divided into a
series of somewhat disjointed episodes, and the plot concerns a gentrified
version of the rascal protagonist of the original picaresques.
Konstantin Aksakov was the first to bring out a detailed juxtaposition of
Gogol's and Homer's works: "Gogol's epic revives the ancient Homeric epic; you
recognize its character of importance, its artistic merits and the widest
scope. When comparing one thing to another, Gogol completely loses himself
in the subject, leaving for a time the occasion that gave rise to his
comparison; he will talk about it, until the subject is exhausted. Every reader
of The Iliad was struck by this device, too." Nabokov also pointed out the
Homeric roots of the complicated absurdist technique of Gogol's
comparisons and digressions. Characters
Of all Gogol's creations, Chichikov stands out as the incarnation of
poshlost. His psychological leitmotiv is complacency, and his geometrical
expression roundness. The other characters — the squires Chichikov
visits on his shady business — are typical "humors". Sobakevich, the
strong, silent, economical man, square and bearlike; Manilov, the silly
sentimentalist with pursed lips; Mme Korobochka, the stupid widow; Nozdryov,
the cheat and bully, with the manners of a hearty good fellow — are all types of
eternal solidity. Plyushkin, the miser, stands apart, for in him Gogol sounds a
note of tragedy — he is the man ruined by his "humor"; he transcends poshlost,
for in the depth of his degradation he is not complacent but miserable; he has
a tragic greatness. The lamentful description of Plyushkin's garden was
hailed by Nabokov as the pinnacle of Gogol's art.
Plot The story follows the exploits of
Chichikov, a middle-aged gentleman of middling social class and means.
Chichikov arrives in a small town and turns on the charm to woo key local
officials and landowners. He reveals little about his past, or his purpose,
as he sets about carrying out his bizarre and mysterious plan to acquire
"dead souls." The government would tax the landowners
based on how many serfs the landowner owned, determined by the census.
Censuses in this period were infrequent, so landowners would often be paying
taxes on serfs that were no longer living, thus the "dead souls." It is
these dead souls, existing on paper only, that Chichikov seeks to purchase
from the landlords in the villages he visits; he merely tells the prospective
sellers that he has a use for them, and that the sellers would be better off
anyway, since selling them would relieve the present owners of a needless tax
burden. Although the townspeople Chichikov comes
across are gross caricatures, they are not flat stereotypes by any means.
Instead, each is neurotically individual, combining the official
failings that Gogol typically satirizes with a curious set of personal quirks.
Setting off for the surrounding estates, Chichikov at first assumes that the
ignorant provincials will be more than eager to give their dead souls up in
exchange for a token payment. The task of collecting the rights to dead people
proves difficult, however, due to the persistent greed, suspicion, and general
distrust of the landowners. He still manages to acquire some 400 souls,
swears the sellers to secrecy, and returns to the town to have the
transactions recorded legally. Back in the town, Chichikov continues to
be treated like a prince amongst the petty officials, and a celebration is
thrown in honour of his purchases. Very suddenly, however, rumours flare up that
the serfs he bought are all dead, and that he was planning to elope with the
Governor's daughter. In the confusion that ensues, the backwardness of the
irrational, gossip-hungry townspeople is most delicately conveyed. Absurd
suggestions come to light, such as the possibility that Chichikov is Napoleon
in disguise or the notorious vigilante 'Captain Kopeikin'. The now disgraced
traveller is immediately ostracized from the company he had been enjoying and has
no choice but to flee the town in disgrace.
Chichikov is revealed by the author to be a former mid-level government
official fired for corruption and narrowly avoiding jail. His macabre
mission to acquire "dead souls" is actually just another one of his "get
rich quick" schemes. Once he acquires enough dead souls, he will take out an
enormous loan against them, and pocket the money.
In the novel's second section, Chichikov flees to another part of Russia and
attempts to continue his venture. He tries to help the idle landowner
Tentetnikov gain favor with General Betrishchev so that Tentetnikov may
marry the general's daughter, Ulinka. To do this, Chichikov agrees to visit many
of Betrishchev's relatives, beginning with Colonel Koshkaryov. From there
Chichikov begins again to go from estate to estate, encountering eccentric and
absurd characters all along the way. Eventually he purchases an estate from
the destitute Khlobuyev but is arrested when he attempts to forge the will of
Khlobuyev's rich aunt. He is pardoned thanks to the intervention of the kindly
Mourazov but is forced to flee the village. The novel ends mid-sentence
with the prince who arranged Chichikov's arrest giving a grand speech that rails
against corruption in the Russian government.
Adaptations Mikhail Bulgakov adapted the novel for
the stage for a production at the Moscow Art Theatre. The seminal theatre
practitioner Constantin Stanislavski directed the play, which opened on 28
November 1932. The extant sections of Dead Souls formed
the basis for an opera in 1976 by Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin. In it
Shchedrin captures the different townspeople with whom Chichikov deals in
isolated musical episodes, each of which employs a different musical style to
evoke the character's particular personality.
The novel was adapted for screen in 1984 by Mikhail Schweitzer as a television
miniseries Dead Souls. In 2006 the novel was dramatised for
radio in two parts by the BBC and broadcast on Radio 4. It was played more
for comic than satirical effect, the main comedy deriving from the
performance of Mark Heap as Chichikov and from the original placing of the
narrator. Michael Palin narrates the story, but is revealed actually to be
following Chichikov, riding in his coach for example, or sleeping in the same
bed, constantly irritating Chichikov with his running exposition.
The first UK theatre production was staged by Theatre Collection in London
during November 2014, directed by Victor Sobchak and starring Garry Voss as
Chichikov and Vera Horton as Korobochka. English translations
1886: Isabel Hapgood 1916: D.J. Hogarth
1936: Constance Garnett. 1942: Bernard Guilbert Guerney.
Considered to be the best English version by Vladimir Nabokov.
1957: George Reavey. 1961: David Magarshack.
1961: Andrew R MacAndrew. 1996: Richard Pevear and Larissa
Volokhonsky. 1998: Christopher English.
2004: Robert A. Maguire. 2008, 2012: Donald Rayfield.
References Sources
External links Dead Souls at Project Gutenberg — D. J.
Hogarth's English translation. (Russian) Full text of Dead Souls in the
original Russian Theatre Collection
Dead Souls - Streaming Audiobook.