Chichikov, a mysterious stranger, arrives in a provincial town and visits a succession of landowners to make each a strange offer. He proposes to buy the names of dead serfs still registered on the census, saving their owners from paying taxes on them, and to use these 'souls' as collateral to re-invent himself as a gentleman. In this ebullient masterpiece, Gogol created a grotesque gallery of human types, from the bear-like Sobakevich to the insubstantial fool Manilov, and, above all, the devilish con man Chichikov. Dead Souls , Russia's first major novel, is one of the most unusual works of nineteenth-century fiction and a devastating satire on social hypocrisy.

In his introduction to this new translation, Robert A. Maguire discusses Gogol's life and literary career, his depiction of Russian society, and the language and narrative techniques employed in Dead Souls . This edition also includes a chronology, further reading, appendices, a glossary, map and notes.

Chichikov, a mysterious stranger, arrives in a provincial town and visits a succession of landowners to make each a strange offer. He proposes to buy the names of dead serfs still registered on the census, saving their owners from paying taxes on them, and to use these 'souls' as collateral to re-invent himself as a gentleman. In this ebullient masterpiece, Gogol created a grotesque gallery of human types, from the bear-like Sobakevich to the insubstantial fool Manilov, and, above all, the devilish con man Chichikov. Dead Souls, Russia's first major novel, is one of the most unusual works of nineteenth-century fiction and a devastating satire on social hypocrisy.

In his introduction to this new translation, Robert A. Maguire discusses Gogol's life and literary career, his depiction of Russian society, and the language and narrative techniques employed in Dead Souls. This edition also includes a chronology, further reading, appendices, a glossary, map and notes.

A literatura gótica, igualmente conhecida como a de suspense e terror, teve início na Inglaterra, em meados do século XVIII, e nunca deixou, desde então, de ser valorizada pelos leitores. Os textos que compõem este livro, criados pela imaginação dos grandes autores russos, ilustram as principais vertentes dessa literatura: o conto de terror (O retrato, de Nikolai Gógol), a narrativa de suspense (Os fantasmas, de Ivan Turguênev, O monge negro, de Anton Tchêkhov), o conto de fundo histórico (A família do vurdalak e O encontro trezentos anos depois, de Alexei Tolstói) e a paródia dos escritos góticos (Bobok, de Fiódor Dostoiévski). Interessantes e fáceis de ler, caracterizam-se tanto pela singularidade das histórias narradas quanto por seu estilo denso, enérgico e pitoresco. Não se desapontará quem os conhecer: vislumbrará, em meio a impressões arrepiantes, aquele lado obscuro e enigmático da Rússia que talvez ignore ainda!

The Overcoat which is generally acknowledged as the finest of Gogol's memorable Saint Petersburg stories, is a tale of the absurd and misplaced obsessions.