Dead Souls

Fiction Satire

Author: Nikolai Gogol

Since its publication in 1842, Dead Souls has been celebrated as a supremely realistic portrait of provincial Russian life and as a splendidly exaggerated tale; as a paean to the Russian spirit and as a remorseless satire of imperial Russian venality, vulgarity, and pomp. As Gogol’s wily antihero, Chichikov, combs the back country wheeling and dealing for “dead souls”–dec….Read More

13 Books Similar to Dead Souls

A Hero of Our Time

The first example of the psychological novel in Russia, A Hero of Our Time influenced Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, and Chekhov, and other great nineteenth-century masters that followed. Its hero, Pechorin, is… Continue Reading Posted in: European Literature, Gothic & Romantic Literary Criticism, History, Military, Russian Language, Social Life And Customs

First Love

When the down-at-heel Princess Zasyekin moves next door to the country estate of Vladimir Petrovich's parents, he instantly and overwhelmingly falls in love with his new neighbour's daughter, Zinaida. But… Continue Reading Posted in: Fiction In Russian, First Loves, Social Conditions

The Overcoat and Other Short Stories

Four works by great 19th-century Russian author - "The Nose," a savage satire of Russia's incompetent bureaucrats; "Old-Fashioned Farmers," a pleasant depiction of an elderly couple living in rustic seclusion;… Continue Reading Posted in: Short Stories, Translations Into English

The Devils

The Devils, or The Posessed, is the most controversial of Dostoyevsky's masterpieces. A political drama, it has been both hailed as a grim prophesy of the Russian Revolution and denounced… Continue Reading Posted in: Foreign Language Reference, Manners And Customs, Russian Fiction, Russian Literary Criticism, Stories

Poor Folk and Other Stories

Poor Folk was Dostoyevsky's first great triumph in fiction and the work that looks forward to the double-acts and obsessions of his later genius. It takes place in a world… Continue Reading Posted in: Friendship, Linguistics, Short Stories In Russian, Translations Into English

Нос = The Nose

Text in Russian, with an introduction and notes in English. Includes a glossary (p. 30-44). Gogol's most remarkable exercise in the genre of the absurd. Continue Reading Posted in: Bibliography, European Literature, Nose, Playwriting, Readers

Eugene Onegin

Tired of the glitter and glamour of St Petersburg society, aristocratic dandy Eugene Onegin retreats to the country estate that he has recently inherited. There he begins an unlikely friendship… Continue Reading Posted in: 1799 1837, Aleksandr Sergeevich, Bibliography, Fiction, Literary Criticism & Theory, Pushkin, Russian Poetry

Tales of Belkin and Other Prose Writings

Alexander Pushkin was Russia's first true literary genius. Best known for his poetry, he also wrote sparkling prose that revealed his national culture with elegance and understated humour. Here, his… Continue Reading Posted in: Bibliography, Manners And Customs, Short Stories, Short Stories Anthologies, Victorian Literary Criticism

Petersburg Tales

A new translation of comic tales by one of the leading figures in 19th-century Russian literature,,Written in the 1830s and early 1840s, these comic stories tackle life behind the cold… Continue Reading Posted in: Classics, Fiction, Short Stories

Oblomov

Ilya Ilyich Oblomov is a member of Russia's dying aristocracy - a man so lazy that he has given up his job in the Civil Service, neglected his books, insulted… Continue Reading Posted in: Allegories, Classic Historical Fiction, Classic Humor Fiction, Ivan Aleksandrovich), Oblomov (Goncharov, Russian Literature

War and Peace

At a glittering society party in St Petersburg in 1805, conversations are dominated by the prospect of war. Terror swiftly engulfs the country as Napoleon's army marches on Russia, and… Continue Reading Posted in: Bibliography, Military Historical Fiction, Russia (Federation), Social Conditions, War Fiction

In Revere, In Those Days

In this richly evocative novel--the moving story of one boy's coming of age--acclaimed author Roland Merullo will make you nostalgic for a small Massachusetts city called Revere even if you've… Continue Reading Posted in: Fiction, Literary Fiction

Dead Souls

Since its publication in 1842, Dead Souls has been celebrated as a supremely realistic portrait of provincial Russian life and as a splendidly exaggerated tale; as a paean to the… Continue Reading Posted in: Criticism And Interpretation, Fiction Satire, Operas, Russian Literary Criticism, Social Life And Customs

Leave a Reply