Dead Souls

The reason this is the best translation is that Maguire is an authority on Gogol and this work. He provides the most thorough footnotes for a work I have come across and explains all the Russian nuances. We read this for an IB class in which several native Russian speakers were included. They commented on how Maguire was able to maintain the quality and nuances of the language and satire in translation -- a very difficult task. Our local (Kyiv, Ukraine) book group of mostly American adults used the same translation and also loved it. The book makes for interesting discussion. Also read The Inspector General if you get a chance!

Among all humans, the sub-set of famous writers surely has a disproportionate share of strange birds, and one of the oddest was Nicolai Gogol. Born in the Ukraine in 1809, as a young man he re-located to Petersburg, intent on making a name for himself. When he discovered that the civil service was closed to him, he sought to make his fame as a writer - and he did. Today, his works, collectively, are generally regarded to be a brilliant critique of czarist Russia, exposing the inefficiencies and injustices of the czarist bureaucracy, the decadence and hypocrisy of the aristocracy and landowners, and the misery of all other Russians. Yet, curiously, Gogol was a political conservative who endorsed the existing order, including serfdom. By his lights, improvement in the average person's quality of life was primarily the responsibility of the individual, through education and religion. Gogol himself became consumed with a sort of religious mania. He became increasingly ascetic and he died in a state of delirium, just shy of 43 years of age; the immediate cause probably was self-starvation. The general consensus is that he also died a virgin; in the recesses of academia there is persistent speculation that he was a repressed homosexual. And it is generally accepted that he was a lifelong manic-depressive.Gogol's greatest works are his short stories - including "Nevsky Prospect", "The Overcoat", and "Diary of a Madman". DEAD SOULS is his one novel of note, and for some it is on a par with the best of his short stories. For various reasons, I don't regard DEAD SOULS quite that highly.First, it is unfinished. Part I (280 pages in this edition) was published in 1842. Gogol reportedly likened it to "Inferno" of Dante's "Divine Comedy". Off and on over the next ten years he worked on Part II, which was to be the counterpart to "Purgatory", but several times he condemned his manuscript to the flames, including just before he took to his deathbed. What now exists as Part II (150 pages in this edition) consists of an early manuscript, itself incomplete, that accidentally survived. Not only is it incomplete, it is, in my opinion, not of the same literary quality as Part I.Inasmuch as Gogol never was satisfied with any portion of Part II, I am inclined to ignore it in assessing the novel. But what about Part I? The underlying conceit of the novel is inspired: a relatively minor Russian functionary, Chichikov, stumbles on the scam of acquiring (on paper or in name only) deceased serfs, whom landowners presumably are willing to give away or sell cheaply so that they will not have to continue to pay taxes on them until the next census is conducted, and then mortgaging those dead souls to the government for hundreds of thousands of rubles. Part I tells of Chichikov's efforts to implement his scheme in the unnamed capital of a Russian province. Much of the writing is also brilliant. The novel features a variety of different, and highly modern, writing styles and techniques. Frequently Gogol steps back from the story itself and talks directly to the reader, at times seriously and other times facetiously. The descriptions range from the highly realistic (often in minute detail), to the poetic, to the exaggerated. Often the novel is wildly funny and often it is sharply satiric. I understand that the original Russian abounds with witty plays on words. (A plus of this edition is the translator's detailed footnotes, some of which seek to explain Gogol's inventive wordplay to the English reader.)But for me the conceit of the novel becomes old. And it is too episodic in nature. Like its predecessors among the great Russian novels - Pushkin's "Eugene Onegin" and Lermontov's "A Hero of Our Time" - DEAD SOULS consists essentially of separate stories that are strung together to make up a so-called novel. For example, Chapters Two through Six of Part I each consists of Chichikov's efforts to wheedle out of a different landowner his/her dead peasants. As discrete stories they would be more entertaining than they are strung together seriatim. Further, Gogol's numerous asides to the reader, with time, began to wear on me.There is no question but that DEAD SOULS is a landmark in Russian literature. And there is no question that it is remarkably modern for fiction written 170 years ago. But for this 20th-Century reader who has managed to survive into the 21st Century, it falls short of being enduringly great fiction.

The Russian author, Nikolai Gogol (1809 -1852), was a name vaguely familiar to me, and as part of my years'-long project of reading notable authors whom I had never read, I decided to read his best-known work, Dead Souls (1842). Dead Souls is considered a major work of 19th century Russian literature. Still, it's a strange book from an even stranger author. Gogol destroyed part two of the book shortly before his death, and Dead Souls ends in mid-sentence, with the plot unresolved.Because of their fame, information and critical studies about Gogol and Dead Souls are widely available. As for me, I enjoyed reading the book because its absurd characters and ridiculous plot were interesting and highly entertaining as satire and comedy. Most of all, Gogol's ability to take and thoroughly absorb me into the world of 19th century Russian provincial life, a time when serfs were still property, did for me what I expect from good literature, that is, to create an imaginary world in which I participate.

This is a very good translation of a Russian classic. The novel, which Gogol calls a poem, follows the life and schemes of a 19th century grifter named Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov. The real story however, is about the manners and mores of Russian nobility after the war of 1812. With great detail Gogol describes Russian stereotypes and records their conversations. Some of this is priceless, and very funny. The satire bites hard, and one can easily see why it was banned in St. Petersburg when first published. Unfortunately it tails off and becomes confused near the end because Gogol never actually finished the book. Again, I must comment on the excellent translation. It gave texture and nuance that must have been in the original.

This book in its original Russsian is a masterpiece, as beautiful inetersting to read today as it was 150 years ago. It's so well written you don't feel it's aged.After I read it in Russian I wondered how it reads in English, since its amazingly rich and flowing style seems impossible to render in translation. After I tried some rather lame older translations, I was very pleasently surprised by this one, it's a pleasure to read!

The reader experiences journey of Chichikov through the provincial lands of Russia, and is a good first read for those interested in Russian literature.

Though our prejudices on Russian lit and reading this book by its literal cover leads the reader to expect a frosty, sorrowful tale of Russia's waning years so eloquently captured in the frustrations of its authors, this book is a laugh-out-loud comedy. Anyone with interest in the life and tensions of Russia during this period would do well to pick up a copy of this book. Truly a Great Russian Novel.

Just wanting to let others know that the Kindle Edition is now the correct Penguin Classics translation by Robert Maguire. Do not fear that you are getting the wrong version--the kindle version and paperback are now in sync.

The standard recommendation for an English translation has been for many years the one by Bernard Guilbert Guerney as revised by Susanne Fusso. It has many scholarly admirers, including Robert A. Maguire, the translator of this edition.I read the two translations side by side. I like Maguire’s better; it is more comfortable and less stilted. The annotations are more thorough, though I rather prefer how Guerney presents them as footnotes instead of endnotes as Maguire does.Maguire also includes Part 2, of which Guerney includes only excerpts. This may or may not be of interest to the casual reader, as it is not really part of the novel and is considered by many to be an extraneous sequel.Finally, it’s worth pointing out that although Guerney’s is in print (and available on Amazon), it is significantly more expensive, whether on paperback or Kindle.

I haven't read the book yet, but the thing that caught my attention as soon as it arrived (just did today) was the weird 'dirt-like' stains on the pages and the slightly bent cover. I myself don't mind the condition of the product since it could've been made while delivering. Although it is still odd. I'm giving three starts simply because of the condition. :)

Gogol was born in Ukraine in 1809, moved to the Russian capital and chose to write in Russian. Later he lived mainly in Italy. Dead souls is a strange mixture of satire and picaresque, originally intended to contain three very different parts. Only the first one was finished. Confusing fragments of the second part also exist. This translation has been highly praised for conveying much of the riches of Gogol's style and language. It also contains various notes to the text, something I do appreciate.The dead souls of the title are serfs who have died after the latest censure but where the owner still has to pay taxes for them. The protagonist of the story tries to buy such souls in order to enrich himself in an outrageous plan. The first part is a sarcastic description of the Russian province, while the second turns into attempts to create a miniature moral utopia.To enjoy a typical Russian novel asks for a rather particular mood in the reader. If you have it then this is one of the central products of the entire genre. In the choice between very many available translations this should probably be a winner. A penguin classic which vouches for a high quality.

Gogol was always on my to-read list. Cited by a few of my favourite writer, it was high time for me to read him. Don't go by the title, the book is surprisingly witty rather humorous. The book follows our main hero Chichikov in Post-Napoleonic Russia for its corruption at all levels of society.The novel takes you through a troika ride (literally) across the dramatic landscape of the Russian countryside. Chichikov visits the homes of various landowners, rounding up as many dead serfs/peasants/souls as possible in a hair-brained effort to climb the societal ladder.We meet a host of peculiar characters along the way, from the boisterous Nozdrev to the reclusive Tientietnikov, all hopelessly without qualities. The book is a satire on Russia's rich and privileged. We meet characters with no feeling for the workers and how low-class peasants become a commodity for the rich to sell and for the opportunist to acquire.The book takes time, but eventually, it grows on you. The writing is immersive and satirical with a pinch of dark humour. It was a perfect fit for me.There is no real closure, and we never really watch our hero till the end, no goodbyes. I have read most of the Russian classics and I think this book is a little less intense and more enjoyable to read than many of the other classics.Tolstoy and Dostoevsky can be too intense for some people, but Gogol is a happy middle. Long story short, this novel is a real delight to read.I highly recommend it! What an exceptional novel, incomplete yet exceptional.Happy Reading.

I went down a deep hole of finding a good English translation for a friend of mine (I am Russian myself). This one is good. There is one by Guerney that is claimed by many to be better, but I preferred this one, because of the interesting foreword, introduction, note from translator, and the appendices. There are notes at the end to help the reader understand certain unique words or aspects of the Russian culture, and I find that very nice.The book itself is perfectly fine in terms of product quality, font, paper, etc. Would recommend 👍