Transcript Nikolai Gogol Dead Souls

Nikolai Gogol
Dead Souls
Title: Dead Souls
Author: Nikolai Gogol
Format: Paperback
Language: English
Pages: 464
Publisher: , 0
ISBN: 0140448071
Format: PDF / Kindle / ePub
Size: 9.8 MB
Download: allowed
Description
Dead Souls is eloquent on some occasions, lyrical on others, and pious and reverent
elsewhere. Nicolai Gogol was a master of the spoof. The American students of today are not
the only readers who have been confused by him. Russian literary history records more
divergent interpretations of Gogol than perhaps of any other classic.
In a new translation of the comic classic of Russian literature, Chichikov, an enigmatic stranger
and schemer, buys deceased serfs' names from their landlords' poll tax lists hoping to mortgage
them for profit and to reinvent himself as a gentleman.
Insightful reviews
Rick: Gogol’s masterpiece was never finished. Volume 1 is complete but Volume 2 has missing
pages and incomplete sentences and then doesn’t so much finish as just stops. (Gogol
announced it as a trilogy, completed the second volume but destroyed the manuscript, and
scholars rescued the existing second volume from his papers. Some insist it was never really
meant to be more than one volume, though the existence of much of a second volume
draft—over 130 printed pages—suggests a rather elaborate red herring were that to be the truth.)
The novel’s protagonist is a low level member of the nobility named Chichikov. Educated and
interested in being rich, but not necessarily becoming so in a strictly legal way, he develops a
scheme where he will invest in the acquisition of serfs, or souls, as they are referred to when
gauging a landowner’s wealth: he has 300 souls or he has an estate of 1000 souls. Souls are
male serfs and they are counted during a census that occurs irregularly. Chichikov’s scheme
involves acquiring dead souls, serfs who have passed on but whose departure is not yet
granted official notice by the census. They are, in short, a tax burden and Chichikov assumes
landowners will be glad to rid themselves of them, some for free and the more ignorantly canny
for a few kopecks. The novel tells of his travels through Russia to acquire the serfs,
accompanied by two servants, a coachman and a valet. They serve a role similar to the clowns
in Shakespeare, foils for their supposed betters, and kinds of exemplars of the folly and sloth
that seems to pervade tsarist society—not to mention attributes not reflected in the servant class,
greed, self-importance and entitlement.
Gogol wrote with sly wit and great powers of characterization and description. The novel evokes
Russia in all its raw beauty and the vast diversity of people and interests. Like Twain, he could
evoke a landscape that puts a longing on the reader to see the places he wrote about. Like
Dickens, he could do satire with heart. There is some debate, by the way, as to what level of
satire Dead Souls pursues and whom it targets, with some even arguing that the satire is beside
the point; but it seems to me a pretty strong indictment of the uselessly powerful and the
selfishly short-sighted, not that that has any relevance in today’s world. It’s been a hundred
and seventy or so years and the world has changed remarkably. Although it may no longer be
relevant, Dead Souls remains an amusing artifact even if the world of today is far removed from
one dominated by a small set of vain, self-indulgent egoists who think they are the world the sun
rotates around and if they want to ruin lives, waste resources, and operate with no stronger
compass than raw appetite that’s how it’s supposed to be.
Michela: Continua il mio viaggio alla scoperta della letteratura russa, sono arrivata a Gogol’
passando da Dostoevskij, ed è proprio il caso di dire meglio tardi che mai.
“Le Anime Morte” staziona nella mia libreria dal 2006 quando, mi decisi a comprarlo dietro
ispirazione di un personaggio televisivo della serie ‘Gilmore Girls’.
Durante la lettura di “Delitto e Castigo” più di una volta si è fatto riferimento a Gogol’, cosi che
non ho potuto far altro che pensare fosse un segno, un indizio, per la mia prossima lettura.
E’ stato più forte di me confrontare i due stili di scrittura e trovare delle grandi affinità che mi
hanno fatto sorridere –come quando ritrovi un vecchio amico- ma anche delle difformità
importanti: Dostoevskij raffigura l’umanità in maniera cupa e fortemente introspettiva, non
possiamo far altro che sentirci addosso quell’aria afosa e soffocante di Pietroburgo, tanto che
quando chiudi le pagine ti riesce difficile, per un po’, riemergere da quell’atmosfera
angosciante.
Gogol è una sagoma! Il suo stile arguto e caustico posso rintracciarlo solo nei personaggi e
nelle storie di Jane Austen, è furbo e pungente e si diverte ad indicarci da un angolino da che
parte guardare, e poi se la ride alle nostre spalle come un matto mentre cerchiamo di capire se
quello che ci ha mostrato è una buffonata o è la realtà; non gli piace mostrarci la profondità e la
sfaccettatura della mente umana, no, lui ci descrive i fatti, e dobbiamo essere noi a capire lo
scopo di quello che accade, quali sono le intenzioni dei personaggi, quali sono i buoni, e quali i
cattivi.
Dostoevskij invece ci alleggerisce il compito, mettendoci di fronte ai fatti già compiuti, a
riflessioni già fatte, a posizioni già prese.
Gogol’rischia di più lasciando al lettore il libero arbitrio .
La sua intraprendenza però, gli costa cara, l’uscita infatti de “Le anime morte” è seguita da
moltissime critiche e polemiche; è proprio il suo grande amico Puskin a spiegargli dove ha
sbagliato: “nessuno scrittore, prima di lui ha saputo rappresentare con tanta chiarezza la
volgarità della vita e dell’uomo banale, nessuno ha descritto con maggior nitidezza tutte quelle
piccolezze che sfuggono allo sguardo dei più. Ha spaventato la Russia perché ha mostrato una
volgarità senza salvezza e senza tregua."
Lui si difende dicendo che non ha descritto i difetti della Russia, ma i propri: ogni personaggio
raffigura una bruttura del proprio carattere, li trasferisce nel romanzo e quasi per miracolo riesce
a liberarsene.
Forse una giustificazione fantasiosa, forse è la verità, ma quello che è certo è che Gogol’ ha
scritto un’opera di rottura nella letteratura russa che fino a quel momento sembrava non
accorgersi della realtà dei fatti.
La sua intenzione era quella di scrivere un grande poema seguendo il modello dantesco, diviso
in tre libri, partendo cioè dagli aspetti negativi del popolo russo per arrivare alla salvezza
interiore di questi ultimi, una vera e propria evoluzione dall’Inferno fino al Paradiso.
Purtroppo “Le Anime Morte” non era destinato ad avere vita facile.
Dopo l’uscita del primo volume, Gogol’ rimane impressionato dai giudizi negativi ricevuti, si
ammala di esaurimento nervoso ed impiega cinque anni a scrivere il secondo volume che poi
brucerà integralmente a causa di una crisi religiosa.
Prova a riscriverlo da capo ma non arriverà mai alla fine,il terzo libro non verrà mai alla luce.
Seppur incompleto, “Le Anime Morte” è un’opera superba e d’indubbio valore.
Il protagonista è caratterizzato da tratti cosi ambigui e destabilizzanti che faticherete a collocarlo
all’interno dei vari generi. Il suo obiettivo è quello di crearsi, sulla carta, un buon numero di
servitori in modo da farsi assegnare delle terre , così come prevedeva la legge dell’epoca, e
quindi arricchirsi. Per arrivare a questo ha intenzione di acquistare, per pochi rubli, le anime
morte, ossia i servi della gleba morti tra un censimento e l’altro e per i quali i proprietari
dovevano continuare a pagare la tassa governativa fino al censimento successivo.
Le anime morte però, sono anche le anime perse, vendute e corrotte che Gogol’ descrive
pagina dopo pagina.
La lingua è di un'incredibile forza e originalità, le parole assumono una quantità di significati
intrecciati che contribuiscono a rendere estremamente densa la lettura dell'opera.
Vi esorto a compiere questa lettura perché più che soffermarci sulla trama –che purtroppo è
incompleta- credo sia importante indugiare sulle riflessioni che ne scaturiscono.
Che poi, pensandoci bene, è il vero scopo della lettura.
“Siamo tutti usciti dal cappotto di Gogol.”. F.Dostoevskij
Joselito Honestly and Brilliantly: I was a bit surprised by this. Old Russian novels usually are like
long, black trains loaded with ponderous themes travelling the entire length and breadth of
Russia and ending up in Siberia with all its passengers dead or dying. The title of this book
itself, "Dead Souls," suggests a good halloween read. I made a grave mistake.
This is more like Huckleberry Finn, except that its principal protagonist (or "hero," as Nikolai
Gogol calls him), named Chichikov, is not a young clever boy but a wily, selfish bachelor whose
only aim in life is to amass wealth. This was written in the mid-19th century, still during the time
of the Tsars, and apparently during those days those who work on vast landholdings, the
peasants/serfs, are not treated as human beings but mere properties. Their owners pay taxes
for them (like what we do now, say, for our cars) and they can be sold or encumbered. It often
happens that when a peasant dies his owner would fail to report his death, even for years, so
that on paper this peasant would still be alive. Chichikov buys these "dead souls" cheap (one
landowner even gladly gave his "dead souls" to him for free) with the intention of mortgaging
them later for profit.
Gogol mocked, ridiculed and exposed the flaws and foibles of these landowners--mostly rich,
stupid and idle--the corrupt bureaucrats who connive with them, the petty royalties and the
hypocrisy of high society, and placed them in one comic scene after another. But he was no
social reformer. He gave no hint of disagreement with the prevailing feudal system, nor was
there any perceivable effort to gain sympathy for the peasants where-"the truth of the matter is that all sorts of foulnesses are practised amongst them. They are
troubled by sectarians and all sorts of vagabonds, incited to rise against the authorities, against
law and order, and if a man is oppressed he will easily be incited to rebellion....It will be bad
when fists begin to fly: no good will ever come of that, only quick profit for thieves....(I)t will..be
useful to comfort them with a word and still better to impress upon them that God bid us suffer
without murmur and pray when we are unhappy, and not go wild and take the law into our own
hands...."
Maybe this was Russian literature's last attempt at humor. About half a century after this was
first published, the people will go wild, take the law into their own hands, and end up with
gulags, Stalin and his twenty million murdered victims.
Ksenia Anske: learn this translation and no other. You’ll chuckle your pants off. want Gogol did
not lose center and did not spoil a part of the manuscript sooner than his death. yet even
incomplete, this can be a masterpiece and entire in its incompleteness.
Simona: Può un romanzo che sogni di leggere da molto, troppo pace non corrispondere alle tue
aspettative? Sì, se si sta parlando de "Le anime morte" di Gogol'. Non facile, ostico, di difficile
comprensione, non solo consistent with lo stile, ma anche according to los angeles storia
narrata. Bellissime le descrizioni della Russia, una Russia diversa da quella che si è soliti
immaginare, una Russia di desolazione, di solitudine, di scompiglio, una Russia abitata da
personaggi di cui Gogol' dipinge virtù e difetti in un caleidoscopio di umanità, di vita e di
vicissitudini. Oltre le descrizioni della Russia e dei suoi personaggi, l. a. storia non mi ha
emozionato molto, lasciandomi un po' di amaro in bocca e los angeles consapevolezza che il
miglior Gogol' sia l'autore di racconti come "Il naso" o "Il cappotto".
Sidharth Vardhan: Serfs in Russia have been also known as souls which supplies for literal
intending to the story. The symbolic that means of name is straightforward to wager – humans
whose moral sense is useless (in the story, they're typically landlords) the 1st half reads as a
gentle satire on Russian landlords and society. The tone is of mild humor and conversational
nature (often relating ‘reader’ and ‘author’) and makes a quick read. just about all landlords
within the e-book are caricatures in their character style – and so there are sentimentalists, silly
previous widows, spendthrift bullies who're vulnerable to lying, misers, highbrow with out
universal sense, appealing damsels simply out of faculty with golden hair and cheek dimples
and so on. NG frequently leaves off telling-story to discuss a selected topic (servants, women,
executive offices, highways, horses, Russia etc) yet often it's anything humorous. even though it
fails Bechdel test, it makes up for that via giving enough room to servants … and never to
disregard horses. Anti-hero It is whilst NG eventually all started studying his hero, Chichikov that
the e-book earned the fourth star. Chichikov very like different characters refused to get painted
in black or white. he's opportunist and butt-kisser to indicate of fault. Gogol refuses to pass
judgement on him –arguing occasionally it's the simply technique to upward thrust in life: “That
he's no hero compounded of virtues and perfections has to be already clear. Then what's he? A
villain? Why should still we name him a villain? Why should still we be so not easy upon a fellow
man? today our villains have ceased to exist. quite it'd be fairer to name him an ACQUIRER. the
affection of acquisition, the affection of gain, is a fault universal to many, and offers upward
push to many and plenty of a transaction of the sort generally called "not strictly honourable."
True, this type of personality comprises a component of ugliness, and an identical reader who,
on his trip via life, might take a seat on the board of a personality of this kind, and spend a such
a lot agreeable time with him, may be the first to examine him askance if he may still look within
the guise of the hero of a unique or a play. yet clever is the reader who, on assembly one of
these character, scans him carefully, and, rather than shrinking from him with distaste, probes
him to the springs of his being. The human character comprises not anything that could not,
within the twinkling of an eye, develop into altogether changed—nothing in which, ahead of you
could glance round, there would possibly not spring to beginning a few cankerous computer
virus that's destined to suck thence the basic juice. …. and Chichikov himself see no faults in no
matter what methods he undertake in getting rich. I easily enjoyed above passage. Who rather
are lifeless souls? Just prior to finishing half 1, NG choices up without delay with readers and
asking them in the event that they themselves have sit down by myself and considered morality
in their actions: “ but which of you, while quiet, and alone, and engaged in solitary selfcommunion, wouldn't do good to probe your personal souls, and toput to YOURSELVES the
solemn question, "Is there no longer in ME a component of Chichikov?" for a way may still there
no longer be? Which of you isn't really responsible at any second to be handed on the street via
an acquaintance who, nudging his neighbour, might say of you, with a slightly suppressed
sneer: "Look! there is going Chichikov! that's Chichikov who has simply long gone by!" within
the end, readers themselves should be just like the lifeless souls they're trying to find within the
book.Gogol additionally solutions upfront the feedback from‘pseudo-paroits’ who will most
likely criticize him for Russia-bashing. half 2 NG wasn’t basically writing to criticize, he had
ideas to offer. The ebook was once purported to be divided into 3 components mirroring the 3
elements of Dante’s Divine Comedy yet NG died earlier than completing it, he even attempted
to burn it - fortunately, now not with out a lot success. the incomplete paintings that we've got
comprises half 1(mirroring inferno) and some chapters of half 2 (Purgatory) prior to it involves
abrupt end.In no matter what of half 2 stayed with us, Chichikov had already stumble upon
sincere how one can be wealthy. the second one half really appeared extra taken with easy
methods to enhance agrarian economy. Unfortunately, these recommendations will stay
unknown for many part.Imperfect characters, unique personality descriptions, the insistence to
examine a character’s adolescence to correctly comprehend him, wondering latest morality
criteria and cliches – you may see how the e-book may have encouraged FD.
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