He returned to Russia and fell under the influence of a spiritual director who told him to destroy his writings as they were sinful. He made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1848, but was bitterly disappointed in the lack of feeling that the journey kindled. He lived a great deal abroad, mostly in Rome, and in his last years became increasingly prey to religious mania and despair.

Gogol also wrote the play The Inspector (1836), Dead Souls (1842), and several moralizing essays defending the Tsarist regime, to the horror of his liberal and radical friends.

Diary of a Madman and The Story of the Quarrel between Ivan Ivanovich and Ivan Nikiforovich appeared in 1934, The Nose in 1836, and The Overcoat in 1842. He even managed for a short period to be Professor of History at the University of St. Gogol was introduced to Zhukovsky, the romantic poet, and to Pushkin, and with the publication of Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka (1831) he had an entrée to all the leading literary salons. He went to St Petersburg in 1829 and with the help of a friend gained a post in one of the government ministries. He attended school in Nézhin and gained a reputation for his theatrical abilities. Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol was born in 1809 his family were small gentry of Ukrainian cossack extraction, and his father was the author of a number of plays based on Ukrainian popular tales. This lively, idiomatic English version by the award-winning translators Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky makes accessible the full extent of the novel's lyricism, sulphurous humor, and delight in human oddity and error. As Gogol's wily antihero, Chichikov, combs the back country wheeling and dealing for 'dead souls'-deceased serfs who still represent money to anyone sharp enough to trade in them-we are introduced to a Dickensian cast of peasants, landowners, and conniving petty officials, few of whom can resist the seductive illogic of Chichikov's proposition. 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. For questions about this book club, email Matt at The Fiction Book Club will meet to discuss Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol on Tuesday, February 14 th, 2023 at 7:30pm.

With an eclectic mix of authors, themes, periods, and styles, this group will explore both classic and contemporary literature. Join our Fiction Book Club in a monthly meeting to discuss a wide array of literary fiction.

Dead souls pevear