As for men and women of the better sort, I propose to portray them in subsequent volumes. Him I have taken as a type to show forth the vices and the failings, rather than the merits and the virtues, of the commonplace Russian individual and the characters which revolve around him have also been selected for the purpose of demonstrating our national weaknesses and shortcomings.

This man travels about the Russian land and meets with folk of every condition-from the nobly-born to the humble toiler. Reader, whosoever or wheresoever you be, and whatsoever be your station-whether that of a member of the higher ranks of society or that of a member of the plainer walks of life-I beg of you, if God shall have given you any skill in letters, and my book shall fall into your hands, to extend to me your assistance.įor in the book which lies before you, and which, probably, you have read in its first edition, there is portrayed a man who is a type taken from our Russian Empire. We have taken the liberty of highlighting some of the very many outstanding passages in the text below.Īn e-book is available for downloading below. It was finally approved for publication the following year, under the title imposed by the censorship of The Adventures of Chichikov. It had been scheduled for publication in 1841, but was initially rejected by the state censorship for its severe mockery of government bureaucracy. This rambling but utterly captivating novel was elevated almost instantaneously to the status of one of the most important Russian novels of all time on its initial publication in Saint Petersburg in 1842. The account of the not-always-successful attempts of the traveling schemer Chichikov to make his way in the world by ingratiating himself with important people and devising complicated schemes to achieve financial and social success by wile and charm - notably to purchase deceased surfs (“dead souls” in the language of the time) to defraud the government with - and above all by not doing anything involving hard work.Īlthough only partially completed - in a crisis of depression Gogol burnt almost the entire manuscript ot the second part, and several pages are missing from the first part - the immensely talented author’s mastery of language, of the psychology of his fellow countrymen of all levels of society, of the glories of the Russian landscapes and also and even especially his quite wonderful sense of humour that permeates the work from beginning to end have made Chichikov one of the most celebrated personnages of Russian fiction.

Gogol lost souls