Dead Souls - Modern Library Author:Nikolai Gogol "I want to show all Russia in this novel," wrote Nikolai Gogol to Alexander Pushkin as he began writing Dead Souls in 1835. Published seven years later, Gogol's sardonic, bizarre tale revolves around Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, a mystifying swindler who travels through provincial Russia trafficking in "souls"--those serfs who, even if dead, could... more » still be bought and sold for profit. Though Gogol never realized his full ambition for Dead Souls--it helped propel him into insanity and he burned the second part of the book--the work endures as one of the most dazzling pieces of fiction ever written.
"Dead Souls belongs to that group of picaresque novels in which the episodic adventures of a single character open up the world," observed V. S. Pritchett. "Chichikov is a superb comic device. The originality and farce of the idea which animate him take the breath away." Vladimir Nabokov agreed: "Gogolian gusto and wealth of weird detail lift the whole thing to the level of a tremendous epic poem."
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For a complete list of titles, see the inside of the jacket. This Modern Library edition uses the translation of Bernard Guilbert Guerney that was described by Nabokov as "an extraordinarily fine piece of work."« less