Nikolai Vasil'evich Gogol George Reavey George Gibian
A few factual points ought to be explained to the reader, even though the novel itself eventually suffices to clarify some of them. First, the title of the book. Among Russian serf-owning gentry, the idiomatic way to assess someone's wealth was to express it in terms of the number of "souls" he owned--that is, male, adult serfs. Taxes on serfs had to be paid by the owner until the next census or registration date even if they may have died in the meantime. Gogol's "dead souls," in addition to this literal reference to serfs who had died since the last registration date for serfs, are also a...
A few factual points ought to be explained to the reader, even though the novel itself eventually suffices to clarify some of them. First, the title o...
