| Dead Souls Revised Edition Contributor(s): Gogol, Nikolai (Author), Maguire, Robert A. (Translator), Maguire, Robert A. (Introduction by) |
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ISBN: 0140448071 ISBN-13: 9780140448078 Publisher: Penguin Group OUR PRICE: $14.40 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: December 2004 Annotation: 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"--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. This lively, idiomatic English version by the award-winning translator Robert A Maguire makes accessible the full extent of the novel's lyricism, sulphurous humor, and delight in human oddity and error. "From the Trade Paperback edition. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Fiction | Classics - Fiction | Literary - Fiction | Political |
| Dewey: FIC |
| LCCN: 2004275517 |
| Lexile Measure: 1080 |
| Series: Penguin Classics |
| Physical Information: 0.8" H x 5.1" W x 7.7" (0.76 lbs) 512 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - Russia |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: One of the most unusual works of nineteenth-century fiction and a devastating satire on social hypocrisy Chichikov, a mysterious stranger, arrives in a provincial town and visits a succession of landowners to make each a strange offer. He proposes to buy the names of dead serfs still registered on the census, saving their owners from paying tax on them, and to use these "souls" as collateral to reinvent himself as a gentleman. In this ebullient masterpiece, Gogol created a grotesque gallery of human types, from the bear-like Sobakevich to the insubstantial fool Manilov, and, above all, the devilish con man Chichikov. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators. |