قصة الكتاب :
Dead Souls is a novel by Ukrainian author Nikolai Gogol that was published in Russian in 1842. It is regarded as an archetype of 19th century Russian literature. First published under the title Myortvye dushi, it chronicles the life and adventures of Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov and the people he encounters. The title is significant as it describes more than what it literally implies. The book is admired for its comic portraits as well as its sense of moral purpose. It is often referred to as a picaresque novel, a literary genre that was non-existent and unheard of at the time Gogol created it. \r\n
\r\nThe protagonist is Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, a landless social climber who was once a civil servant and is seeking his way to a good fortune. He comes up with a shrewd plan of purchasing dead serfs. In the Russian that Chichikov lived in landowners continued to pay taxes to dead serfs until their names were formally removed from the rolls. Chichikov devises a scheme where he proposes to purchase many of these dead serfs and relieve their landowners of their existing tax burden. He charms his way into their homes and presents his ingenious plan without revealing his true intentions. The plan works and he proceeds to use his list of fictitious slaves to purchase land in order to ‘help re-settle them’ and become a landowner himself. The dead souls in the tile refer both to the ones Chichikov uses for his own gain as well as people like Chichikov himself – unremarkable people who seem agreeable but scheme unscrupulously when opportunities come knocking their way. Eventually people get suspicious about Chichikov and he leaves town. That does not stop him from continuing his schemes. He tries to forge a will that will help him get the estate he seeks, but eventually gets caught. He employs a cunning lawyer who manages to weave every juicy scandal in town with his client’s deeds and embarrass the officials. The ploy works and the officials request Chichikov to leave town, which he does. \r\n
\r\nThe people encountered by the protagonist are depictions of the Russian middle class in Gogol’s time. His book is seen by many as social criticism in the form of satire. Gogol himself described his work as an ‘epic poem in prose’. The book ends in mid-sentence indicating that it may be incomplete although the novel is regarded by many to be a complete piece of work in its existing form. A sequel to the book is purported to have been completed by Gogol, but destroyed before his death. Dead Souls is described as a book that possesses the free energy of anything that is the first of its kind without having the burden to emulate or fear anything else like it. The book has been adapted into theatre productions, television series, radio productions and even the opera. \r\n