Dead Souls (Cyclopedia of Literary Places)
At a glance:
- Author: Nikolai Gogol
- First Published: 1842
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Social satire
- Time of Work: Early nineteenth century
- Genres: Long fiction, Satire
- Subjects: Nineteenth century, Wills, Russia or Russian people, Feudalism, Swindling or swindlers, Taxation
- Locales: Russia
Places Discussed
Provincial capital. Unnamed Russian city in which the novel opens with Chichikov’s arrival. The city serves as the base from which he makes a series of trips into the countryside to visit local landowners. Nikolai Gogol’s descriptions of the town, with its poor sidewalks, unimpressive architecture, and sparse vegetation, highlight the pretentiousness of its officials and merchants, as readers may contrast the essential meagerness and inanity of the physical locale with the exaggerated claims made about the site in official plaques and shop signs.
...[The entire page is 908 words long]
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