Review of the poem Dead Souls. “Dead Souls”, analysis of Gogol’s work. The humble beginning of a great poem
"is one of the most serious mysteries of world literature. This is not only a poem similar to a satirical novel. This is a book about hell, written by a genius in a feverish state.
The author makes you laugh and scares at the same time, winking meaningfully: don’t be afraid, I know the door through which we will go out into the light together and leave the limits of evil! When the door was firmly closed or not discovered at all, Gogol died at the age of forty-two. He died so purposefully, rejecting all options for recovery, that the thought of the death of a guide to heaven who had lost his way is logical. Gogol left us with a delightfully funny narrative, which for the author himself was a message about the Last Judgment. He left us in a cheerful hell, dying heroically while ascending to the heights of goodness and light.
At the same time, the reader has the opportunity to evaluate “Dead Souls” as an artistic guide to organizing an effective business. The enterprising Chichikov, a master of creating “leftist” financial schemes, came to one of the provincial cities with a clearly defined task. It is necessary to buy for pennies from local landowners the names of deceased peasants, which have not yet been crossed out from the official lists by the slow-moving bureaucracy, and play a risky game with society and banks, which should bring a rich landowner and very real money.
Gogol tells us: if an official, landowner or rogue without a specific place tries to engage in bad business, he is under the power of Satan. Maybe, as a governor, you can expertly embroider on tulle, or, like a police chief, you can be considered a “father and benefactor,” flaunting your “perfect nationality”... If you lie in your official position, get fat at the state expense and take advantage of loopholes for unjust enrichment, hell is yours place. Neither character, nor polite communication with colleagues, nor love of children will save you.
What is literature and art in general for Gogol? A master class in humor, a pleasant break from everyday worries, or killing time with the help of correctly composed words? No, the artist must save a person from base feelings, show the possibility of salvation from numerous sins, and call for immortality. There are examples, of course: the Christian Dante with his “Divine Comedy”, the pagan Homer with the “Iliad” and “Odyssey”. Among ours is Alexander Ivanov, who worked selflessly for many years on “The Appearance of Christ to the People.” Art for Gogol is religion in images and colors!
What are the characteristics of talent? With a predatory gaze, Gogol explodes everyday life and presents his readers with pettiness and vulgarity, the everyday demonism of a generally normal person, who has long since turned sour without significant goals and serious feelings. The everyday swamp (who is not familiar with its oceanic volumes?) is filled with laughter, the faces of the inhabitants turn out to be hilarious faces. Human vices, our readiness for some kind of habitual idiocy, are immediately picked up by the writer, brought to the point of absurdity, turning into signs of a terribly funny life. This funny thing can really be scary, and words about Gogol’s heavy and dangerous laughter are often heard. " There is murder in his work", wrote the philosopher Berdyaev. And the philosopher Rozanov assured that “Dead Souls” is not only the title of the poem, but Gogol’s recognition of his main vice, his inability to feel and portray a warm-hearted person.
Your talent is to make people laugh, and your deepest desire is to save. What should Gogol do? Take a risk! Take a low story about a former customs officer who decides to turn into a serious landowner, and turn something funny into something great. Something that will transport the laughing reader to the lofty realms of spiritual truths. An example would be the medieval “Divine Comedy”. First - “Hell”: this is what we study (“Dead Souls, Volume”) at school. Then - “Purgatory”: from it, burned by Gogol, some pages were miraculously preserved. Finally - “Paradise”: it didn’t work out, nothing was written at all.
What kind of hero is destined to rise from the abyss to Heaven? Here he is - Chichikov! Not fat, not thin, knowing “the great secret of being liked,” carefully monitoring his precious health and carefully thinking about his unborn offspring. Chichikov - who managed to hear his father’s words about pleasing teachers and bosses, about saving a penny. He is the one who learned to be stingy and ascetic, to live without comrades and love, to be a hypocrite and to step over commandments for the sake of... For the sake of what, exactly? Gogol never ceases to be a realist: “He imagined a life ahead of him in all comforts, with all sorts of prosperity, carriages, a well-appointed house, delicious dinners - that’s what was constantly running through his head.” Chichikov’s vulgarity is a variant of the norm: of the Gogol era, of our time...
It’s as if two Pavel Ivanovich Chichikovs are sitting in Gogol’s mind. We know one - a petty criminal with a good knowledge of psychology. But Gogol constantly keeps in mind another Chichikov, who is more like the Apostle Paul than a former college adviser. The Apostle Paul was a persecutor of Christ, then - after a miracle happened - he became his most needed disciple. So Pavel Ivanovich will be completely transformed, repent of his sins and carry the word of truth along the Russian road. Maybe he will become a monk. And the worse he is in the first volume, the happier his image will be in the third volume! Gogol gladly conveys the rumors that shackled the provincial city: Chichikov is an auditor... No, Napoleon in disguise... Worse, he is the Antichrist!
Gogol anticipates the transformation for which the novel-poem was conceived. But it’s still a long way off. And talent directs its action to areas under its control. Chichikov's meetings with landowners are a benefit performance for an ironic psychologist, capable of presenting a “type” in exhaustive detail. “Sugar” Manilov is an empty delight about a wonderful event that will never happen, because a new delight will soon come, and therefore the dream of a new unrealizable business will shine. Whether it’s an underground passage or a stone bridge for drinking tea together... And the book is always open on page fourteen. Manilov, this sentimental “brake,” celebrates the “name day of the heart” every day and kisses so hard, so sincerely that the victim’s front teeth hurt until the evening.
“Oh, my father, you’re like a hog, your whole back and side are covered in mud! Where did you get so greasy?... Maybe you're used to having someone scratch your heels at night? My deceased couldn’t fall asleep without this,” Korobochka says, having divided her soul into food and clothing parts with the same thoroughness with which she put her cap on a scarecrow scaring away birds in the garden. Next comes the “historical man” Nozdryov: this is an extremely dangerous brute that is encountered at all times, capable of setting up, slandering and bringing any righteous person to death. Scandal is the only interesting form of existence for someone who has been “repeatedly beaten with boots.” Nearby is Sobakevich, looking like a “medium-sized bear.” Nozdryov is a “trashy man”, Sobakevich is a fist “that cannot be straightened into the palm of your hand”: only condemn your neighbors, only digest a side of lamb with “other exciting blessings”, only grab a coin, praising the human qualities of dead peasants. The parade ends with Plyushkin, who drove away and cursed the children, becoming a grave for himself, where rusting coins and rotting pieces of old food are safely stored. This sour suicide evokes the utmost contempt from Gogol.
...And trembling hope: Plyushkin will change and become a good wanderer, Chichikov will turn from the Antichrist into a useful Christian, dead souls will be resurrected! Hell is not forever! Gogol urges himself and the heroes: quickly, quickly, we must transform! So that “The Tale of Captain Kopeikin”, told by a frightened postmaster, does not come to life: a serviceman came from the war without an arm and a leg, wanted to get legal help from the big bosses, but he was simply sent away - first politely, then rudely. Kopeikin had to go into the forests, put together a gang, and then start a revolution...
Rus' should help. Gogol knows well that it is here that the insignificance of an everyday fact and the greatness of a resurrecting feeling are combined. Gogol believes: the Russian road is so significant for the destinies of the world, and the running of horses here is so fast that it cannot simply get by, be forgotten, or end in nothing. Either Christ will reign here in all power and glory, or vice versa. Either - or.
But here's the problem - a person has a body. His goals, motives and desires fill “Dead Souls”, making the hell of the poem understandable and bearable. " Be living souls, not dead ones!“- Gogol appeals to his characters. And they answer: “Yes, we are fine anyway... We breathe - that means souls. We love to eat and gossip, we know how to say the right word...” “No, not this, that… Life is not about this!” - Nikolai Vasilyevich gets excited. The heroes do not give in: “What! We are living bodies. Do you know what this is? Thinking about food all the time, eating it is like performing a sacred act. Compare the face of a pretty girl with a “fresh testicle,” a woman’s face with a “long cucumber,” and a man’s face with a “Moldovan pumpkin.” These are your words, writer. You are a master at deliciously describing mushrooms, pies, shanezhki, pancakes, flatbreads, beluga, pressed caviar, smoked tongues, cutlets with truffles. And the main thing is to deliciously depict the feelings that a person experiences while eating all this.” “This is private! The main thing is to fight hell and move to heaven!” - Gogol defends himself. But the characters are also strong in their arguments: “It’s all you, Nikolai Vasilyevich, who came up with: hell, heaven, Dante... A sweet afternoon dream is your Virgil. A big dumpling in sour cream - this is your Beatrice. Do you think you fought with dead souls? No, you've learned well how to write about living bodies. About people like us. And you yourself, Gogol, are a living body. Like every person who wants to eat, drink, and be in abundance...”
I think that in his depression, which lasted for many years, Gogol heard similar arguments. Having failed to reach heaven within the boundaries of “Dead Souls”, Gogol wrote “Selected passages from correspondence with friends” - a journalistic sermon on how to defeat sin, how to move towards salvation. There is too much screaming and fear in this book for all of us to simply rejoice at Gogol's victory. But I won’t hide: many believe that “Selected Places...” is the true completion of “Dead Souls”, the triumph of the spirit over irony, the paradise accessible to us. Check it out for yourself.
INTERESTING FACTS
Gogol's mother was known as the first beauty of the Poltava region; she was married at the age of 14 to the writer's father, twice her age. It is believed that it was his mother who contributed to the development of Nikolai Gogol’s religious and mystical feelings. Gogol never started his own family. True, in the spring of 1850 Nikolai Vasilyevich made an offer (first and last) to A. M. Vielgorskaya, but was refused. The source of the plot of the play “The Inspector General” was a real incident in one of the cities of the Novgorod province, which Pushkin told Nikolai Vasilyevich about. He also offered him the plot of “Dead Souls”. According to rumors, Gogol loved to cook and treat his friends to dumplings and dumplings. One of his favorite drinks was goat's milk, which he boiled with rum. He called this concoction gogol-mogol and often, laughing, said: “ Gogol loves eggnog!" What happened shortly before his death on February 12, 1852 (and the writer died on February 21), no one still knows. Biographers say that Gogol prayed earnestly until three in the morning, after which he burned the contents of his briefcase (the second volume of Dead Souls), and then sobbed until the morning in his bed. In his will, the author of “Dead Souls” warned that his body should be buried only in case of obvious signs of decomposition. This then became the reason for the assumption that in reality the writer was buried in a state of lethargic sleep. During his reburial in 1931, a skeleton with a skull turned to one side was found in his coffin, and the upholstery of the coffin was damaged.
PRODUCTIONS
Directors loved the poem. It was staged at the Moscow Art Theater, in the theater named after. Stanislavsky, Lenkom, Sovremennik. By the way, the Krasnodar Musical Theater is not far behind them - we have the light opera “Gogol. Chichikov. Souls." This year she competed for the highest Russian theater award, “Golden Mask” in three categories.
FAMOUS QUOTES
- Rus', where are you going? Give me the answer. Doesn't give an answer.
“Fear is stickier than the plague.”
- Eh, Russian people! He doesn't like to die his own death!
“There is only one decent person there: the prosecutor; and even that one, to tell the truth, is a pig.
- No, whoever has a fist cannot straighten into a palm.
- No matter how stupid the words of a fool are, sometimes they are enough to confuse an intelligent person.
— There are people who have a passion to spoil their neighbor, sometimes for no reason at all.
“Love us black, and everyone will love us white.”
“Sometimes, really, it seems to me that a Russian person is some kind of lost person.” There is no willpower, no courage to persist. You want to do everything, but you can’t do anything. You keep thinking - from tomorrow you will start a new life, from tomorrow you will go on a diet - nothing has happened: by the evening of the same day you will have eaten so much that you can only blink your eyes and your tongue will not move; you sit like an owl, looking at everyone - really, and that’s all.
Alexey TATARINOV
This material was published on the BezFormata website on January 11, 2019,Below is the date when the material was published on the original source website!
In his “Author's Confession,” Gogol indicates that Pushkin gave him the idea to write “Dead Souls.” (This material will help you write competently on the topic Review of the poem Dead Souls. The summary does not allow you to understand the whole meaning of the work, so this material will be useful for a deep understanding of the work of writers and poets, as well as their novels, stories, stories, plays, poems .) “He had been urging me for a long time to start writing a large essay, and finally, once after I had read one small image of a small scene, but which, however, struck him more than anything else I had read before, he told me: “ How, with this ability to guess a person and a few features, they suddenly make him appear as if he were alive, with this ability not to start a large essay. This is simply a sin!..”, and, in conclusion, he gave me his own plot, from which he wanted to make something like a poem himself and which, according to him, he would not give to anyone else. This was the plot of “Dead Souls”... Pushkin found that the plot of “Dead Souls” was good for me because it gave me complete freedom to travel all over Russia with the hero and bring out many different characters.”
Gogol followed Pushkin’s advice, quickly got to work and in a letter dated October 7, 1835, informed him: “I began to write Dead Souls.” The plot is spread out over a long novel and, it seems, will be very funny... In this novel I want to show at least from one side the whole of Rus'.”
However, in the process of work, Gogol planned to give not one, but three volumes, in which it would be possible to show Rus' not “from one side,” but comprehensively. The second and third volumes of “Dead Souls” were, according to the author, supposed to bring out positive characters along with the negative ones and show the moral revival of the “scoundrel-acquirer” Chichikov.
Such breadth of the plot and the richness of the work with lyrical passages, allowing the writer to reveal in a variety of ways his attitude to the depicted, inspired Gogol with the idea of calling “Dead Souls” not a novel, but a poem.
But Gogol burned the second volume of Dead Souls, and he did not begin the third. The reason for the failure was that Gogol was looking for positive heroes in the world of “dead souls” - representatives of the dominant social strata at that time, and not in the popular, democratic camp.
Belinsky, back in 1842, predicted the inevitability of Gogol’s failure in implementing such a plan. “Much, too much has been promised, so much that there is nowhere to get what to fulfill the promise, because it does not yet exist in the world,” he wrote.
The chapters of the second volume of Dead Souls that have reached us confirm the validity of Belinsky’s thoughts. In these chapters there are brilliantly written characters akin to the landowners of the first volume (Petr Petrovich Petukh, Khlobuev, etc.), but the positive heroes (the virtuous governor-general, the ideal landowner Kostanzhoglo and the tax farmer Murazov, who made over forty million “in the most impeccable way”) not typical, not vitally convincing.
The idea of “travelling all over Rus' with the hero and bringing out many different characters” predetermined the composition of the poem. It is structured as the story of the adventures of the “acquirer” Chichikov, who buys souls that are actually dead, but legally alive, that is, not crossed out from the audit lists.
Images of officials
The central place in the first volume is occupied by five “portrait” chapters (from the second to the sixth). These chapters, constructed according to the same plan, show how different types of serfdom developed on the basis of serfdom and how serfdom in the 20-30s of the 19th century, in connection with
The poem "Dead Souls" is a brilliant satire on feudal Rus'. But fate has no mercy for the One whose noble genius Became an exposer of the crowd, Its passions and delusions. The creativity of N.V. Gogol is multifaceted and diverse. The writer has talent...
Among the characters in Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls,” Chichikov occupies a special place. Being the central (from the point of view of plot and composition) figure of the poem, this hero remains a mystery to everyone - not only to officials - until the last chapter of the first volume...
Work plan: 1. Introduction 2. Main part 2.1. Plyushkin's estate 2.2. Plyushkin's feelings and emotions, their manifestation 2.3. Plyushkin's path to complete degradation 2.4. The influence of loved ones on the fate of the main character 2.5. Appearance...
Gogol, according to V. G. Belinsky, “was the first to look boldly and directly at Russian reality.” The writer's satire was directed against the “general order of things,” and not against individuals, bad executors of the law. Predatory money-grubber Chichikov, landowners...
Russian classics
Review of Gogol's book "Dead Souls"
Even during the writer’s lifetime, contemporaries (K. S. Aksakov, S. P. Shevyrev) dubbed his famous novel the Russian “Iliad.” After a hundred and fifty years, this assessment has not become outdated. Gogol's novel-poem is one of the few books that define the very face of Russian literature. And her spirit too. For the present times, the ideas of “Dead Souls” are no less relevant than for the middle of the last century. Are the words of the final chord of Gogol’s poem not addressed to our days: “Rus, where are you rushing? Give me the answer. No answer? Is there at least one person today who could intelligibly answer the classic’s question? There is no such thing! And it never will be!
And the immortal types created by Gogol are much more relevant. Starting with the seeker of dead souls - Chichikov, whose main distinguishing feature is acquisition. The person who acquires - isn't he our contemporary? Isn’t it a sign of today’s Russia? How many newly minted Chichikovs - born acquirers - are now scouring the world in search of their “dead souls”. Buy, sell, deceive, profit by hook or by crook, and then at least the grass won’t grow. What people? Which country? After us - even a flood. Everything else is exactly according to Gogol. Here he is - a modern hero-acquirer:
Who is he? So, a scoundrel? Why be a scoundrel, why be strict with others? Nowadays we don’t have scoundrels, we have well-intentioned, pleasant people, and there are only two or three people who would expose their physiognomy to public disgrace, and even those are already talking about virtue. It is fairer to call him: owner, acquirer. Acquisition is the fault of everything; because of him, deeds were carried out that the world calls not very pure. “...” Human passions are as countless as the sands of the sea, and all are unlike one another, and all of them, low and beautiful, are at first submissive to man and then become his terrible masters.
The last phrase is worthy of the lips of a great philosopher. However, Gogol was a philosopher. For, as is well known, Russian philosophy for a long time was created mainly through Russian literature - poetry, prose, journalism, criticism and the epistolary genre. “Dead Souls” is one of the most philosophical books. And at the same time - one of the most poetic. It is called by the author - a poem. A poem about Russia! About her people! About his heroes! Chichikovs, Manilovs, Korobochki, Sobakevichs, Nozdrevs, Plyushkins - they are all flesh and blood of our people. So this is who we are. “There’s no point in blaming the mirror...” - as the same Gogol noted in another place.
By the way, those who are usually classified as “the people” are debunked by the writer with the same frank mercilessness as the representatives of the so-called “high society.” And not only the servant Petrushka, the coachman Selifan and the two men who philosophize at the very beginning of the novel about the chaise wheel: it will reach Moscow or Kazan. But the very essence of the people, their beauty and glory - the blacksmiths, the indisputable heroes of songs and fairy tales - are presented by Gogol without any embellishment or exaggeration, but as they were and remain in reality:
... The blacksmiths, as usual, were notorious scoundrels and, realizing that the work was needed in a hurry, they charged exactly six times. No matter how he [Chichikov] got excited, he called them swindlers, robbers, robbers of passers-by, he even hinted at the Last Judgment, but the blacksmiths were not moved by anything: they completely maintained their character - not only did they not budge on the price, but they even fussed about the work instead of two hours whole five and a half.
So here we are “forging the keys of happiness”! By the way, about happiness. If you look at Gogol’s heroes from this side (from the point of view of the classical concept of eudaimonism, that is, the doctrine of happiness - see: essay on Feuerbach), then they are all, in many ways, the embodiment of already achieved happiness. Isn't Chichikov happy, acquiring another portion of dead souls? Or Sobakevich, throwing off the worthless “product”? And the lucky Manilov? rowdy Nozdryov? hoarder Box? superscope Plyushkin? Their ideas about achieved happiness are fully consistent with the teaching of eudaimonists about the human desire for happiness as the main driving force of all social development. But is this kind of happiness people need? This silent question is precisely what Gogol asks along with his immortal types.
Gogol created a sad poem because life itself is sad. “God, how sad our Russia is!” - Pushkin said after reading the handwritten sketches for “Dead Souls”. A sad book about sad Russia. But Russia is impossible without holy faith in its greatness and immortality, in its inexhaustible mystery and fabulous radiance. And therefore all this cannot but be in Gogol’s poem. And everything is there, of course. And all of it is the anthem of Russia, solemn and majestic:
Rus! Rus! I see you, from a wonderful, beautiful distance I see you; poor, scattered and uncomfortable in you; The daring divas of nature, crowned by the daring divas of art, will not amuse or frighten the eyes. “...” Everything about you is open, deserted and even; like dots, like icons, your low cities stick out inconspicuously among the plains; nothing will seduce or enchant the eye. But what incomprehensible, secret force attracts you? Why is your melancholy song, rushing along your entire length and width, from sea to sea, heard and heard incessantly in your ears? What's in it, in this song? What calls and cries and grabs your heart? What sounds painfully kiss and strive into the soul and curl around my heart? Rus! what do you want from me? What incomprehensible connection lies between us? Why are you looking like that, and why has everything in you turned its eyes full of expectation to me? And still, full of bewilderment, I stand motionless, and already a menacing cloud, heavy with the coming rains, has overshadowed my head, and my thoughts are numb in front of your space. What does this vast expanse prophesy? Isn’t it here, in you, that a boundless thought will be born, when you yourself are endless? Shouldn't a hero be here when there is room for him to turn around and walk? And a mighty space envelops me menacingly, and is reflected in my depths with terrible power; My eyes lit up with an unnatural power: what a sparkling, wonderful, unfamiliar distance to the earth! Rus!
But here’s what’s even more striking: Gogol’s “beautiful is far away” - not only sunny Italy, from where he addressed his compatriots. Today this is already a temporary category, and the great Russian writer turns from his distant time to our present and not our future, to that Russia in which he always wholeheartedly believed and in which he believes and teaches us all!
Review by Ekaterina Petrochenko of N. V. Gogol’s book “Dead Souls” as part of the “My Favorite Book” competition of the literary portal “Buklya”. .
When I picked up the book, I had a very vague idea of what it was about. You could say I didn’t know at all.
Gogol always knew how to expose and ridicule human sins and vices (specifically here: stinginess, greed and stupidity), and in this work this especially stands out and catches the eye. No one escaped the watchful eye of Nikolai Vasilyevich, everyone got it. The author christened the characters with telling names, which cannot be unnoticed; each character has one or another essence thoroughly revealed. That is why this work remains relevant to this day.
As always, Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol pleases us with his description of nature. Russian nature! It is by the endless pages of expressions of love for his native land that the great writer is recognized.
A very interesting, unusual and unexpected plot. A fascinating read accompanies this book. There was a feeling of unhurriedness in the story, there was a desire to find out everything to the end. The book conveys all the features of everyday life.
I also liked the main character Chichikov. His character and intelligence. Gogol managed to present it from all sides. But he amazed me with his cunning, resourcefulness, good manners and upbringing. You can probably even learn something from him. In general, the book contains a lot of good advice and many conclusions can be drawn.
Books most often play the role of a time machine, a kind of guide on an excursion into the past. Also, this one takes the reader to that era of Rus', conveys the spirit of that time, all the nuances and subtleties in certain classes. The author notices all the small details, which creates a unique cozy atmosphere. It even seems to me that the work has a certain historical value.
It is interesting to note that the title of the work has two interpretations:
- These are the souls of peasants who have long since died, but according to the lists they are listed as alive
- These are landowner “dead souls” who need to go through the path of purification and change for the better
After reading, many probably felt how missing the complete second volume was, in which the writer promised to continue the adventures of Chichikov. But maybe this is fortunate, since the reader himself can come up with the missing continuation of the book.
The most important thing is to read the book slowly, do not force yourself to do it under pressure and do not allow others to do it. Even if you need it for school, it’s better if you take care of it in advance and get acquainted with the book in the summer. And then the amazing work of the great Russian classic will open for you!
The review was written as part of the “” competition.
Friends, this is a review of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls” and even though this work has been said and retold, and such a review will most likely be a complete “accordion”, I cannot say anything about the wonderful book of the wonderful author who will be talked about whole generations after me, of which I am sure.
Here I will even omit the fact how mystical and interesting the figure of Gogol himself is for researchers and fans and how many mysteries his biography hides.
So it will never be superfluous to talk about Gogol’s work. Even at school, I was hooked by “Dead Souls,” and now, after many years, I decided to re-read this novel, or rather the poem, because the author himself calls his work a poem.
Many have probably seen the Internet meme about Gogol: Do you want to surprise a girl? Be unpredictable - call the novel a poem.
What prompted me to re-read the poem was precisely the fact that in all souvenir shops in Lviv a collection of clothes (T-shirts) called “Ukraine, know your heroes” appeared. And the T-shirts depict Taras Shevchenko, Lesya Ukrainka, Ivan Franko and of course Nikolai Gogol! But the authors on the T-shirts look like modern young people: tattooed Gogol, “Sheva” with a smoking pipe, dressed in hoodies and fashionable. I really liked the T-shirts and I would like to buy such a “gogol” for myself.
But this is not about this, but about “Dead Souls”. As I said, I liked the work at school, but reading it as an already formed person, the impression I have is even deeper. And, knowing more about society, reading becomes much more interesting, Gogol’s subtle humor becomes closer and each unique character in his poem reminds of his contemporaries.
Such attention by Gogol to details in everyday life, the appearance of the characters, and their behavior simply cannot but arouse admiration! In the poem, Gogol characterizes himself as an attentive and observant author who spied, overheard, and described. And he certainly is. He described the time in which he himself lived, but can one really say that his poem is not relevant to this day? It seems to me that in every character you can find a piece of yourself, although often a shameful piece that people usually try to hide from others. Gogol tears away the veil from each character, exposes and exposes everything that is hidden. But at the same time, the author does not condemn any of his heroes, because he writes about people, and people remain people, with all their shortcomings. Also, reading about Chichikov, Korobochka, Manilov, Sobakevich, Nozdryov and Plyushkin, it is simply impossible not to draw parallels with acquaintances from real life with whom we were lucky enough to cross paths. Undoubtedly, the types described by Gogol continue to live in many people in our time. As he himself says, “he probably hasn’t died on earth yet.”
What about society? Perhaps it has become even more corrupt, self-serving, deceitful, ingratiating, opportunistic with the main principle of “washing hands with each other”, full of gossip, notoriety, or overwhelming blind popularity.
The main character Chichikov is a typical opportunist, patient and ingratiating, ready to do anything to move up the career ladder, one might say a chameleon who, for the sake of his own goals, will find an approach to any person and deftly get out of any tricky situation, so that others will only see how he shines heels.
Even at school, such a character as Plyushkin made me laugh. Reading about him now, I felt sorry for him. My new favorite hero is Nozdryov! Its description alone is worth it:
<Лицо Ноздрева, верно, уже сколько-нибудь знакомо читателю. Таких людей приходилось всякому встречать немало. Они называются разбитными малыми, слывут еще в детстве и в школе за хороших товарищей и при всем том бывают весьма больно поколачиваемы>…<Они скоро знакомятся, и не успеешь оглянуться, как уже говорят тебе «ты». Дружбу заведут, кажется, навек: но всегда почти так случается, что подружившийся подерется с ними того же вечера на дружеской пирушке. Они всегда говоруны, кутилы, лихачи, народ видный. Ноздрев в тридцать пять лет был таков же совершенно, каким был в осьмнадцать и двадцать: охотник погулять.>…<Чуткий нос его слышал за несколько десятков верст, где была ярмарка со всякими съездами и балами; он уж в одно мгновенье ока был там, спорил и заводил сумятицу за зеленым столом, ибо имел, подобно всем таковым, страстишку к картишкам. >…<И что всего страннее, что может только на одной Руси случиться, он чрез несколько времени уже встречался опять с теми приятелями, которые его тузили, и встречался как ни в чем не бывало, и он, как говорится, ничего, и они ничего.>
Well, haven’t you met the broken Nozdryov, whose whole life is a party? Or have you never met a middle-aged woman, narrow-minded, but at the same time capable of causing panic and raising people almost to revolt, such as the landowner Korobochka? I think we have.
But the fun ends quickly. On February 24, 1852, Nikolai Vasilyevich burned the almost completed second volume of Dead Souls, and at the end of the first part he wrote that he planned to turn the poem into a trilogy. So, unfortunately, we are not destined to know how the adventures of the cunning Chichikov will end. For us, he will forever remain a hero, riding in his chaise along broken Russian roads, forward to his dreams and aspirations. We can only imagine how much more noise he would have made.
I advise everyone to re-read Gogol’s work “Dead Souls”, because every time in this book you can notice something that was not noticed before. Or meet the heroes again and remember that you’ve already seen them somewhere. With my own eyes.