Nikolai Gogol called his 1842 work Dead Souls an “epic poem in prose,” though most critics and scholars now refer to it as a novel. Structured in part as an analog to Dante’s Inferno, Dead Souls is an absurdist social satire of imperial Russia before the emancipation of the serfs, especially the foibles and customs of the Russian nobility. Though Gogol is not interested in strict realism, his portraits of nobles who speak French more than Russian, daydream rather than become adequate estate managers, and are so blinded by rank and status they cannot detect a con artist, made the work an instant classic. It cemented Gogol’s reputation as a deft and humorous social commentator.

The work—intended to be a trilogy—remains incomplete, ending mid-sentence, as Gogol burned the original conclusion to the second part before his death in 1852.

Gogol was born in 1809 in what is now Ukraine, to a minor noble family. In adulthood, he moved to the imperial capital of Saint Petersburg, where he worked as a minor civil servant and wrote his first collection of stories in 1831, Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka, which depict Ukrainian life. Gogol’s fame as a satirist grew with his 1836 play, The Government Inspector, which, along with Gogol’s other plays is still regularly performed in theaters. Gogol is regarded as one of Russia’s literary giants, alongside Pushkin, Dostoevsky, and Tolstoy.

This guide is based on the 2017 English translation by Donald Rayfield, and all citations refer to the ebook location numbers.

Plot Summary

Dead Souls is the tale of Chichikov, an itinerant mid-rank bureaucrat desperate to make his fortune. He seeks to do so not by conventional means, but by purchasing peasants who have died since the last census, and thus are only alive on paper. He can then mortgage these “dead souls” and get rich. Throughout every episode, Gogol’s intrusive, digressive narrator offers commentary on each character, the text’s structure, and Chichikov’s fitness as a protagonist. The narrator frequently comments on the author’s choices, fate, and responsibilities, adding metaliterary analysis to descriptions of the plot and its development.

In the novel’s first part, Chichikov meets many landowners, in scenes that illuminate the conditions of Russia’s landed aristocracy. Most of the nobles in town at first regard Chichikov as trustworthy and charming, and his scheme proceeds mostly smoothly. The dreamy Manilov is easily taken in by Chichikov’s fine manners, while the cunning Sobakevich sees Chichikov’s scheme as a moneymaking enterprise. Nozdryov’s servants almost beat Chichikov, who escapes only because the bellicose Nozdryov is arrested.

The cruel and capricious Nozdryov, an elaborate liar and compulsive gambler, refuses to cooperate. When Chichikov gets overly confident, showing too much interest in the governor’s daughter at a ball, Nozdryov loudly declaims Chichikov’s intent to purchase dead souls from everyone, which alarms Chichikov. The nobles grow anxious, entertaining rumors about the newcomer’s identity and motives—Chichikov may elope with the governor’s daughter, or he may be a government spy. They never fully realize either Chichikov’s identity or the nature of his project, in a biting commentary on the failure of the Russian nobility to look beyond appearances or their own anxieties.

The narrator reveals Chichikov’s long career of confidence schemes and smuggling operations, fueled by lifelong dreams of becoming wealthy and living in comfort. The narrator, taking on the voice of the author, defends his choice of a morally flawed hero as a worthy literary subject, and identifies Chichikov’s journey with Russia itself.

In Part 2, Chichikov continues his quest, in what is likely present day Ukraine (78). He meets an idealistic nobleman, Tentetnikov, whose utopian dreams and high ideals are so unattainable they thwart his own marriage prospects. Chichikov mocks the young man, but ultimately brings him together with the woman he loves because her father, a prominent general, will help Chichikov acquire more dead peasants.

Chichikov wonders whether there may be more to life than schemes to get rich quickly. He is enraptured by the landowner Konstantin Konstanzhglo’s luxurious estate, built entirely through tireless labor and fair treatment of the peasants who labor on it. Chichikov borrows money in the hopes of becoming a landowner himself. A scheme involving a fraudulent will soon goes awry, but Chichikov engages a clever lawyer, even more corrupt than Chichikov himself.

When the tsar’s governor-general arrests Chichikov, the moralizing and upright alcohol monopolist, Murazov, offers Chichikov hope in the form of a pardon, if he promises to truly reform his life and abandon the pursuit of wealth above all else. Chichikov agrees, but in the end, his lawyer breaks him out of prison. The governor-general agrees to let Chichikov leave town, and the narrator suggests that he may yet reform himself.