Book " Dead Souls", on the first volume of which Gogol worked from 1835 to 1841, is the pinnacle of his creativity. The book shows Nikolaev Russia with its bureaucratic apparatus, the decomposition of the feudal economic system and the beginning of the development of bourgeois relationships. The poem shows the decline human personality, cut off from the healing sources of creative labor.

The plot for this poem was suggested to Gogol by Pushkin. “Pushkin found out that the content of “Dead Souls” was not bad for me because it gave me complete freedom to travel all over Russia together with the hero and bring out a lot of very different morals.”

Any of the types, from the outwardly pleasant Manilov to the Plyushkin who has lost his human appearance, is a “dead soul.” These are morally degenerate people. Not one of them lacks the thought of public duty and service to the fatherland, which makes a person respectable and selfless. And if there is energy in them, as, for example, in Nozdryov or Sobakevich, then it is not oriented in the right direction and is transformed from a positive property into its own opposite. Such Vital energy has the ability to cause people only torment. Realizing this, Gogol writes about Sobakevich: “No, whoever is a fist cannot straighten it into a palm! And if you straighten your fist with one or two fingers, it will turn out even worse.”

The landowners depicted in the poem are in no way people, moral monsters, “dead souls.” This reveals the meaning of the title of the poem.
As soon as Pushkin listened to the poem being read by Gogol himself, he said with sadness in his voice: “God, how sad our Russia is!”

Gogol lovingly and tirelessly develops the content given to him by Pushkin, expands and deepens the initial plan. The writer completed the first volume of his own brilliant poem abroad by 1841.

With extraordinary observation and amazing power, Gogol in “Dead Souls” depicted the state and temper of the ruling class, taken in his “private life”. He demonstrated the ugly appearance of the local “existents”, presented the “acquiring heroes” born of a cynical century, and revealed the very essence of the unclean and disgusting life of landowner Russia.
The first volume of “Dead Souls” is the pinnacle of Gogol’s realism. The writer gives exorbitant typical generalizations of Russian reality, depicts human morals in their conditioning by obvious social circumstances. In the gallery depicted by Gogol dead souls“human passions” are revealed, formed in the “emptiness and savagery” of local life. The writer himself, in “Reflections of the Creator on Certain Heroes of the First Volume of Dead Souls,” perfectly characterizes the destructive impact of his progressive life on a person. He writes: “...They coolly embrace, completely imperceptibly, the vulgar habits of the world, conditions, decency in the absence of the work of a moving community, which, in the end, only entangle and clothe a person, as if he himself does not remain in him, but only a multitude of conditions and habits belonging to the world. And when you try to get to the soul, it’s already missing: a petrified piece and a whole person who has turned into a terrible Plyushkin, from whom, if sometimes something similar to a feeling flutters out, it’s similar to the last effort of a drowning man...”

To the reader from the author

Whoever you are, my reader, no matter what place you stand, no matter what rank you are in, whether you are respected by a higher rank or a person of a simple class, but if God has taught you to read and write and my book has already fallen into your hands, I ask you help me. The book before you, which you have probably already read in its first edition, depicts a man taken from our own state. He travels around our Russian land, meeting people of all classes, from noble to simple. He was taken more to show the shortcomings and vices of the Russian person, and not his dignity and virtues, and all the people who surround him were also taken to show our weaknesses and shortcomings; the best people and the characters will be in other parts. In this book, much is described incorrectly, not as it is and as it really happens in the Russian land, because I could not find out everything: a person’s life is not enough to learn one hundredth part of what is happening in our land. Moreover, from my own oversight, immaturity and haste, many different mistakes and blunders occurred, so that on every page there is something to correct: I ask you, reader, to correct me. Don't neglect this matter. Whatever you are high education and high life, and no matter how insignificant my book may seem in your eyes, and no matter how petty it may seem to you to correct it and write comments on it, I ask you to do this. And you, reader of low education and simple rank, do not consider yourself so ignorant that you cannot teach me something. Every person who has lived and seen the world and met people has noticed something that another has not noticed, and has learned something that others do not know. Therefore, do not deprive me of your comments: it is impossible that you will not find something to say at some point in the entire book, if only you read it carefully. How good it would be, for example, if at least one of those who are rich in experience and knowledge of life and know the circle of those people whom I have described, made his notes throughout the entire book, without skipping a single page of it, and began to read it in no other way than by picking up a pen and putting a sheet of notepaper in front of him, and after reading a few pages he would remember his whole life and all the people he met, and all the incidents that happened before his eyes, and everything that he saw myself or what I heard from others like that, what is depicted in my book, or the opposite of it, he would describe it all in the exact form in which it appeared to his memory, and would send me each sheet as it was written, until in this way he had read the whole book. What a vital service he would have done me! There is no need to worry about style or beauty of expressions; the thing is in fact and in truth deeds, not in syllables. There is also no need for him to behave in front of me if he wanted to reproach me, or scold me, or point out to me the harm that I caused instead of benefit by a thoughtless and incorrect depiction of anything. I will be grateful to him for everything. It would also be good if someone were found from the upper class, removed by all life and education from the circle of people depicted in my book, but who knew the life of the class among which he lives, and decided to read it again in the same way my book and mentally recall to yourself all the people of the higher class with whom you have met throughout your life, and consider carefully whether there is any rapprochement between these classes and whether sometimes the same thing is repeated in the higher circle that happens in the lower? and everything that comes to his mind on this matter, that is, every incident of the highest circle that serves to confirm or refute this, he would describe how it happened before his eyes, without omitting people with their morals, inclinations and habits, nor the soulless things that surround them, from clothes to furniture and the walls of the houses in which they live. I need to know this class, which is the flower of the people. I cannot publish the last volumes of my work until I somehow get to know Russian life from all its sides, although to the extent that I need to know it for my work. It would also not be bad if someone who is endowed with the ability to imagine or vividly imagine various situations of people and pursue them mentally in various fields - in a word, who is capable of delving into the thought of every author he reads or developing it, would closely follow every face , derived in my book, and would tell me what it should do in such and such cases, what, judging from the beginning, should happen to it next, what new circumstances might present itself to it and what would be good to add to what is already described by me; I would like to take all this into consideration by the time a new edition of this book follows, in a different and better form. I strongly ask one thing from anyone who would like to give me his comments: not to think at this time how he will write, that he is writing them for a person of his equal in education, who has the same tastes and thoughts as him and can already understand a lot on his own without explanation; but instead of imagining that in front of him stands a man incomparably inferior to his education, who has learned almost nothing. It’s even better if instead of me he imagines some village savage, whose whole life has been spent in the wilderness, with whom he needs to enter into detailed explanation any circumstance and be simple in speech, as with a child, fearing every minute so as not to use expressions beyond his understanding. If someone who begins to make comments on my book constantly keeps this in mind, then his comments will turn out to be more significant and interesting than he himself thinks, and will bring me true benefit. So, if it happened that my heartfelt request would be respected by my readers and there would be truly such kind souls who would like to do everything the way I want, then this is how they can send their comments: having first made a package in my name, then wrap it in another package, or in the name of the rector of St. Petersburg University, His Excellency Peter Alexandrovich Pletnev, addressed directly to St. Petersburg University, or to the name of the professor of Moscow University, his honor Stepan Petrovich Shevyrev, addressed to Moscow University, depending on which city is closer to whom. And to everyone, both journalists and writers in general, I sincerely thank you for all their previous reviews of my book, which, despite some immoderation and hobbies characteristic of man, nevertheless brought great benefit to both my head and soul, I ask Don’t leave me alone this time with your comments. I sincerely assure you that whatever they say for my admonition or instruction will be accepted by me with gratitude.

February 24, 1852 Nikolay Gogol burned the second, final edition of the second volume of “Dead Souls” - the main work in his life (he also destroyed the first edition seven years earlier). Walked Lent, the writer ate practically nothing, and the only person he gave to read his manuscript called the novel “harmful” and advised him to destroy a number of chapters from it. The author threw the entire manuscript into the fire at once. And the next morning, realizing what he had done, he regretted his impulse, but it was too late.

But the first few chapters of the second volume are still familiar to readers. A couple of months after Gogol’s death, his draft manuscripts were discovered, including four chapters for the second book of Dead Souls. AiF.ru tells the story of both volumes of one of the most famous Russian books.

The title page of the first edition of 1842 and the title page of the second edition of “Dead Souls” of 1846, based on a sketch by Nikolai Gogol. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

Thanks to Alexander Sergeevich!

In fact, the plot of “Dead Souls” does not belong to Gogol at all: interesting idea suggested to my “colleague in writing” Alexander Pushkin. During his exile in Chisinau, the poet heard an “outlandish” story: it turned out that in one place on the Dniester, judging by official documents, no one had died for several years. There was no mysticism in this: the names of the dead were simply assigned to runaway peasants who, in search of better life ended up on the Dniester. So it turned out that the city received an influx of new labor force, the peasants had a chance to new life(and the police could not even identify the fugitives), and statistics showed no deaths.

Having slightly modified this plot, Pushkin told it to Gogol - this most likely happened in the fall of 1831. And four years later, on October 7, 1835, Nikolai Vasilyevich sent Alexander Sergeevich a letter with the following words: “I started writing Dead Souls.” The plot stretches out into a long novel and, it seems, will be very funny.” Gogol's main character is an adventurer who pretends to be a landowner and buys up dead peasants who are still listed as living in the census. And he pawns the resulting “souls” in a pawnshop, trying to get rich.

Three circles of Chichikov

Gogol decided to make his poem (and this is how the author designated the genre of “Dead Souls”) three-part - in this the work is reminiscent of “ Divine Comedy» Dante Alighieri. In Dante's medieval poem, the hero travels through the afterlife: he goes through all the circles of hell, passes through purgatory and, in the end, having become enlightened, ends up in heaven. Gogol's plot and structure are conceived in a similar way: main character, Chichikov, travels around Russia, observing the vices of the landowners, and gradually changes himself. If in the first volume Chichikov appears as a clever schemer who is able to gain the trust of any person, then in the second he is caught in a scam with someone else's inheritance and almost goes to prison. Most likely, the author assumed that in the final part his hero would end up in Siberia along with several other characters, and after going through a series of tests, together they would become honest people and role models.

But Gogol never began writing the third volume, and the contents of the second can only be guessed from the four surviving chapters. Moreover, these records are working and incomplete, and the characters have “different” names and ages.

"Sacred Testament" of Pushkin

In total, Gogol wrote the first volume of Dead Souls (the same one that we now know so well) for six years. The work began in his homeland, then continued abroad (the writer “went there” in the summer of 1836) - by the way, the writer read the first chapters to his “inspiration” Pushkin just before leaving. The author worked on the poem in Switzerland, France and Italy. Then he returned to Russia in short “forays,” read excerpts from the manuscript at social evenings in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and then went abroad again. In 1837, Gogol received news that shocked him: Pushkin was killed in a duel. The writer considered that it was now his duty to finish “Dead Souls”: thereby he would fulfill the “sacred will” of the poet, and he set to work even more diligently.

By the summer of 1841, the book was completed. The author came to Moscow planning to publish the work, but encountered serious difficulties. Moscow censorship did not want to let “Dead Souls” through and was going to ban the poem from publication. Apparently, the censor who “got” the manuscript helped Gogol and warned him about the problem, so that the writer managed to transport “Dead Souls” through Vissarion Belinsky (literary critic and publicist) from Moscow to the capital - St. Petersburg. At the same time, the author asked Belinsky and several of his influential friends from the capital to help pass censorship. And the plan was a success: the book was allowed. In 1842, the work was finally published - then it was called “The Adventures of Chichikov, or Dead Souls, a poem by N. Gogol.”

Illustration by Pyotr Sokolov for Nikolai Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls.” "Chichikov's arrival to Plyushkin." 1952 Reproduction. Photo: RIA Novosti / Ozersky

First edition of the second volume

It is impossible to say for sure when exactly the author began writing the second volume - presumably, this happened in 1840, even before the first part was published. It is known that Gogol worked on the manuscript again in Europe, and in 1845, during a mental crisis, he threw all the sheets into the oven - this was the first time he destroyed the manuscript of the second volume. Then the author decided that his calling was to serve God in the literary field, and came to the conclusion that he had been chosen to create a great masterpiece. As Gogol wrote to his friends while working on Dead Souls: “... it is a sin, a strong sin, a grave sin to distract me! Only one person who does not believe my words and is inaccessible to lofty thoughts is allowed to do this. My work is great, my feat is saving. I am now dead to everything petty.”

According to the author himself, after burning the manuscript of the second volume, insight came to him. He realized what the content of the book should really be: more sublime and “enlightened.” And inspired Gogol began the second edition.

Character illustrations that have become classics
Works by Alexander Agin for the first volume
Nozdryov	Sobakevich	Plyushkin	Ladies
Works by Peter Boklevsky for the first volume
Nozdryov	Sobakevich	Plyushkin	Manilov
Works by Peter Boklevsky and I. Mankovsky for the second volume
Peter Rooster	Tentetnikov	General Betrishchev	Alexander Petrovich

"Now it's all gone." Second edition of the second volume

When the next, already second, manuscript of the second volume was ready, the writer persuaded his spiritual teacher, Rzhevsky Archpriest Matthew Konstantinovsky to read it - the priest was just visiting Moscow at that time, in the house of a friend of Gogol. Matthew initially refused, but after reading the edition, he advised that several chapters be destroyed from the book and never published. A few days later, the archpriest left, and the writer practically stopped eating - and this happened 5 days before the start of Lent.

Portrait of Nikolai Gogol for his mother, painted by Fyodor Moller in 1841, in Rome.

According to legend, on the night of February 23-24, Gogol woke up his Semyon's servant, ordered him to open the stove valves and bring the briefcase in which the manuscripts were kept. To the pleas of the frightened servant, the writer replied: “It’s none of your business! Pray!” - and set fire to his notebooks in the fireplace. No one living today can know what motivated the author then: dissatisfaction with the second volume, disappointment or psychological stress. As the writer himself later explained, he destroyed the book by mistake: “I wanted to burn some things that had been prepared for a long time, but I burned everything. How strong the evil one is - that’s what he brought me to! And I understood and presented a lot of useful things there... I thought I would send out a notebook to my friends as a souvenir: let them do what they wanted. Now everything is gone."

After that fateful night, the classic lived for nine days. He died in a state of severe exhaustion and without strength, but until the last he refused to take food. While sorting through his archives, a couple of Gogol's friends, in the presence of the Moscow civil governor, found the draft chapters of the second volume a couple of months later. He didn’t even have time to start the third... Now, 162 years later, “Dead Souls” is still read, and the work is considered a classic not only of Russian, but of all world literature.

"Dead Souls" in ten quotes

“Rus, where are you going? Give an answer. Doesn't give an answer."

“And what Russian doesn’t like driving fast?”

“There is only one decent person there: the prosecutor; and even that one, to tell the truth, is a pig.”

“Love us black, and everyone will love us white.”

“Oh, Russian people! He doesn’t like to die his own death!”

“There are people who have a passion to spoil their neighbors, sometimes for no reason at all.”

“Often, through the laughter visible to the world, tears flow invisible to the world.”

“Nozdryov was in some respects a historical person. Not a single meeting where he attended was complete without a story.”

“It is very dangerous to look deeper into women’s hearts.”

“Fear is stickier than the plague.”

Illustration by Pyotr Sokolov for Nikolai Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls”. "Chichikov at Plyushkin's." 1952 Reproduction. Photo: RIA Novosti / Ozersky

In the poem “Dead Souls” Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol managed to depict the numerous vices of his contemporary. He raised questions that remained relevant still. After reading the summary of the poem, the main character, the reader will be able to find out the plot and main idea, as well as how many volumes the author managed to write.

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Author's intention

In 1835, Gogol began work on the poem “Dead Souls.” In the annotation to the poem, the author states that story line future masterpiece was donated by A.S. Pushkin. Nikolai Vasilyevich’s idea was enormous; it was planned to create a three-part poem.

1. The first volume was supposed to be made primarily accusatory in order to reveal painful places in Russian life, study them, and explain the reasons for their occurrence. In other words, Gogol depicts the souls of the heroes and names the reason for their spiritual death.
2. In the second volume, the author was going to continue creating a gallery of “dead souls” and, first of all, to pay attention to the problems of the consciousness of the heroes, who are beginning to understand the full extent of their fall and feel for ways out of the state of death.
3. It was decided to devote the third volume to depicting the difficult process of spiritual resurrection.

The idea of ​​the first volume of the poem was fully implemented.

The third volume has not even been started, but researchers can judge its contents from the book “Selected Passages from Correspondence with Friends,” dedicated to intimate thoughts about the ways of transforming Russia and the resurrection of human souls.

Traditionally, the first volume of Dead Souls is studied at school as an independent work.

Genre of the work

Gogol, as you know, in the annotation to the book called “Dead Souls” a poem, although in the process of work he defined the genre of the work in different ways. For a brilliant writer, following genre canons is not an end in itself; the author’s creative thought should not be constrained by any boundaries and, and soar freely.

Moreover, artistic genius always goes beyond the genre and creates something original. A letter has been preserved, where in one sentence Gogol three times defines the genre of the work he is working on, calling it alternately a novel, a story and, finally, a poem.

The specificity of the genre is associated with the author’s lyrical digressions and the desire to show the national element of Russian life. Contemporaries repeatedly compared Gogol's work with Homer's Iliad.

The plot of the poem

We offer summary by chapter. First comes the annotation to the poem, where, with some irony, the author wrote a call to readers: read the work as carefully as possible, and then send your comments and questions.

Chapter 1

The action of the poem develops in small county town where he comes main character named Chichikov Pavel Ivanovich.

He travels accompanied by his servants Petrushka and Selifan, who will play an important role in the story.

Upon arrival at the hotel, Chichikov went to the tavern to find out information about the most important people in the city, here he made acquaintance with Manilov and Sobakevich.

After lunch, Pavel Ivanovich walks around the city and makes several important visits: he meets the governor, vice-governor, prosecutor, and chief of police. The new acquaintance endears himself to everyone, and therefore receives many invitations to social events and home evenings.

Chapter 2

The second chapter details Chichikov's servants. Parsley is distinguished by a silent disposition, a peculiar smell and a passion for superficial reading. He looked through the books without delving particularly into their contents. Chichikov's coachman Selifan, in the author's opinion, did not deserve a separate story, since he had a very low origin.

Further events develop as follows. Chichikov goes out of town to visit the landowner Manilov. It is difficult to find his estate. The first impression that almost everyone got when looking at the owner of Manilovka was was positive. At first it seemed that it was a nice and a kind person, but then it became obvious that he lacked any character, his own tastes and interests. This undoubtedly had a repulsive effect on those around him. There was a feeling that time had stopped in Manilov’s house, flowing sluggishly and slowly. The wife was a match for her husband: she was not interested in housekeeping, considering this task unnecessary.

Guest announces true goal of his visit, asks a new acquaintance to sell him peasants who have died, but according to the papers are listed as alive. Manilov is discouraged by his request, but agrees to the deal.

Chapter 3

On the way to Sobakevich, the protagonist's carriage goes astray. To wait out the bad weather e, Chichikov asks to spend the night with the landowner Korobochka, who opened the door only after she heard that the guest had noble title. Nastasya Filippovna was very thrifty and thrifty, one of those who would not do anything for nothing. Our hero had to have a long conversation with her about the sale of dead souls. The hostess did not agree for a long time, but eventually gave in. Pavel Ivanovich felt great relief that the conversation with Korobochka was over, and continued on his way.

Chapter 4

On the way, he comes across a tavern, and Chichikov decides to dine there; the hero is famous for his excellent appetite. Here I met with an old acquaintance Nozdryov. He was a noisy and scandalous man, constantly getting into trouble because of features of your character: constantly lied and cheated. But since Nozdryov is of great interest to the business, Pavel Ivanovich accepts the invitation to visit the estate.

While visiting his noisy friend, Chichikov starts a conversation about dead souls. Nozdryov is stubborn, but agrees to sell the papers for the dead peasants along with a dog or horse.

The next morning, Nozdryov offers to play checkers for dead souls, but both heroes try to deceive each other, so the game ends in a scandal. At this moment, the police officer came to Nozdryov to inform him that a case had been opened against him for beating. Chichikov, taking advantage of the moment, disappears from the estate.

Chapter 5

On the way to Sobakevich, Pavel Ivanovich's carriage falls into a small a road accident, the image of a girl from a carriage moving towards him sinks into his heart.

Sobakevich's house is striking in its resemblance to its owner. All interior items are huge and ridiculous.

The image of the owner in the poem is very interesting. The landowner begins to bargain, trying to get more money for the dead peasants. After this visit, Chichikov is left with an unpleasant aftertaste. This chapter characterizes the image of Sobakevich in the poem.

Chapter 6

From this chapter the reader learns the name of the landowner Plyushkin, since he was the next person Pavel Ivanovich visited. The landowner's village could well live richly, if not for the enormous stinginess of the owner. He made a strange impression: at first glance it was difficult to determine even the gender of this creature in rags. Plyushkin sells a large number of shower for the enterprising guest, and he returns to the hotel satisfied.

Chapter 7

Having already about four hundred souls, Pavel Ivanovich is in high spirits and strives to quickly finish his business in this city. He goes with Manilov to the court chamber to finally certify his acquisitions. In court, the consideration of the case drags on very slowly; a bribe is extorted from Chichikov to speed up the process. Sobakevich appears and helps convince everyone of the legitimacy of the plaintiff.

Chapter 8

A large number of souls acquired from landowners give the main character enormous weight in society. Everyone begins to please him, some ladies imagine themselves in love with him, one sends him a love letter.

At a reception with the governor Chichikov is introduced to his daughter, whom he recognizes as the very girl who captivated him during the accident. Nozdryov is also present at the ball, and he tells everyone about the sale of dead souls. Pavel Ivanovich begins to worry and quickly leaves, which arouses suspicion among the guests. Adding to the problems is the landowner Korobochka, who comes to the city to find out about the value of the dead peasants.

Chapters 9-10

Rumors are spreading around the city that Chichikov not clean at hand and is allegedly preparing to kidnap the governor’s daughter.

Rumors are growing with new conjectures. As a result, Pavel Ivanovich is no longer accepted into decent homes.

The city's high society is discussing the question of who Chichikov is. Everyone gathers at the police chief's. A story comes up about Captain Kopeikin, who lost an arm and a leg on the battlefield of 1812, but never received a pension from the state.

Kopeikin became the leader of the robbers. Nozdryov confirms the fears of the townspeople, calling everyone's recent favorite a counterfeiter and a spy. This news shocks the prosecutor so much that he dies.

The main character is hastily preparing to escape from the city.

Chapter 11

This chapter gives a brief answer to the question of why Chichikov bought dead souls. Here the author talks about the life of Pavel Ivanovich. Noble origins was the only privilege of a hero. Realizing that in this world wealth does not come on its own, from an early age he worked hard, learned to lie and cheat. After another fall, he starts all over again and decides to submit information about the dead serfs as if they were alive in order to receive financial payments. That is why Pavel Ivanovich so diligently bought papers from landowners. How Chichikov’s adventures ended is not completely clear, because the hero is hiding from the city.

The poem ends with a beautiful lyrical digression about the three-bird, which symbolizes the image of Russia in the poem by N.V. Gogol "Dead Souls". We will try to briefly outline its contents. The author wonders where Rus' is flying, where is she going?, leaving everything and everyone behind.

Dead Souls - summary, retelling, analysis of the poem

Conclusion

Numerous reviews of Gogol's contemporaries define the genre of the work as a poem, thanks to lyrical digressions.

Gogol's creation has become an immortal and wonderful contribution to the collection of great works of Russian literature. And many questions related to it are still awaiting answers.