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DEAD SOULS: A POEM

DEAD SOULS: A POEM

By,,
PoetryHistorical FictionHumor
Pages
448
Published
1842
Language
English

Synopsis

Chichikov, a mysterious gentleman of ambiguous means, travels through provincial Russia buying up the "souls" of dead serfs still on the local tax rolls — a scheme whose purpose only gradually becomes clear. Gogol's satire skewers the greed, vanity, and bureaucratic absurdity of Russian landowning society through the string of grotesque provincial figures Chichikov meets along the way. Left unfinished at Gogol's death, the novel survives as the first of a planned trilogy.

Prose complexity
7/10

Vibe

DarkSatiricalThought-ProvokingReflective
BetrayalRevenge

Genres

Historical Fiction Humor Satire Classics Literary Fiction Poetry

Authors

A
Anthony Briggs

Anthony Briggs is the author of The Death of Ivan Ilyich. He writes literary fiction.

G
Gustave Aucouturier

Gustave Aucouturier is a French writer known for his translation of Nikolai Gogol's Les âmes mortes. His work primarily involves bringing Russian literary classics to French readers.

Н
Николай Васильевич Гоголь

Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol (Russian: Николай Васильевич Гоголь; Ukrainian: Микола Васильович Гоголь) (31 March [O.S. 19 March] 1809 – 4 March [O.S. 21 February] 1852) was a Ukrainian-born Russian novelist, humourist, and dramatist He is considered the father of modern Russian realism. His early works, such as Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka, were heavily influenced by his Ukrainian upbringing and identity. His more mature writing satirised the corrupt bureaucracy of the Russian Empire, leading...

Characters

TchitchikovProtagonist
ManilovSupporting
Pavel Ivanovitch TchitchikofSupporting
All characters in DEAD SOULS: A POEM

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