The Ukrainian Who Wrote What Was Called Russian Masterpieces

 

Most often the amazing and absolutely ingenious Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852) is called a "Russian writer", but he was born in Ukraine although he died and was buried in Russia. He was a very prolific writer and both wrote novels, short stories and plays, all of it with the mark of something special that should be recognized even today. In some ways he resembles George Orwell and will definitely be loved by those who love his works. My own favorites are his later writings which satirise the utter political and moral corruption of his contemporary, Feudal Russia. Actually, I think that his novel "Dead Souls" portrays what might be called a precocity of the abominable system of the oligarchs we see today, and which I see as a development of or maybe even "rebirth" of the old Feudal system.

"Dead Souls" was first published in 1842, and Gogol himself called it a"poem in prose". It's a well-turned satire about a sleek conman, Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, who has a plan of gaining riches in a very special manner: He is out to buy "dead souls", i.e. dead serfs, from landed nobility. That may look VERY strange, but it's a genious way of telling what the Feudal System was all about. 

It's a fact that the Russian nobility had "serfs", and they were called "souls". These people were not "slaves" like in e.g. the American African-based slavery, but they were connected to the property of the noblemen who owned it. The system has been called "chattel slavery" which may - or may not - be a proper description of what was going on at the time.

One might gain social status by having many "souls". An ad in a newspaper my look like this: "Sale by Count X: 300-acre country estate, including a mansion, a pond for ducks and geese, shops as well as 200 souls." These "souls" were part of the estate, as they were bound to it. Every 4-5 years the official government census noted the number of "souls" a landowner had when the taxes were set. In the meantime some of these "souls" may have died, but were still counted for tax purposes. This was seen as very unfair by the landed aristocracy so in the novel they are depicted as very happy to sell the dead "souls" to the devious conman, Chichikov. His purpose, on the other hand, is to obtain as many "dead souls" as possible so that he may use them as collateral for a huge (scam) loan. 

"Dead Souls" is only the first, unfinished part of the three-volumed work Gogol had planned to write, but never did. For some reason he burned the second part shortly before his death. However, most critics see "Dead Souls" as a finished work as it is laid out. 

 

https://youtu.be/Xn4X5fC5Pd0?feature=shared 

 

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1081 

 

Britannica

 

Wikipedia