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Dead Souls - Community Reviews back

by Nikolai Gogol, Donald Rayfield
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K.H. Leigh's Blogstravaganza
K.H. Leigh's Blogstravaganza rated it 9 years ago
I wish only the complete first part of this novel had been published, because I thoroughly enjoyed it. However, I found the fragmented, crumbling second part to be agitating more than anything. Several times the narrative ends abruptly with the explanation, "Here a large section of the original is m...
Unimportant Musings
Unimportant Musings rated it 10 years ago
We can thank our lucky stars for writer's block, as we'd likely have set fire to the Dead Souls manuscript ourselves if Nikolai Gogol hadn't. Had he, overcome with religious fervor, forged ahead with his plan and complete this three-parter, separated into volumes each of crime, punishment, and redem...
Julian Meynell's Books
Julian Meynell's Books rated it 11 years ago
The book is a satire of 19th century Russian society specifically and the human condition in general. It concerns a minor bureaucrat who is going around Russian society and buying up dead souls as part of a scam. The book is at times quite funny. It is also clearly foreshadow all sorts of stuff a...
Calyre
Calyre rated it 11 years ago
Finalement, les deux interlocuteurs franchirent la porte ensemble, mais chacun d'eux s'étant placé légèrement de biais, ils se cognèrent quelque peu l'un à l'autre.Il s'éveilla, le lendemain, assez tard. Un rayon de soleil, à travers la fenêtre, lui tombait droit dans les yeux, et les mouches, qui, ...
proustitute
proustitute rated it 12 years ago
I need to read the new translation of this by Donald Rayfield, published by NYRB.
Amadan na Briona
Amadan na Briona rated it 12 years ago
Only with trepidation do I give a measly 2 stars to classic books on the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list. Even if I didn't particularly like the book (e.g., Steppenwolf, The Sea, Wuthering Heights, or The Kreutzer Sonata - dear God, the Kreutzer Sonata!), I'll usually give it 3 stars ou...
In laywoman's terms
In laywoman's terms rated it 12 years ago
When I got this book I had close to no idea what it was about, only that it had an interesting title and featured a con man. I was expecting something darker, not the aristocratic quality of the characters. The writing is good, old-fashioned to the point I had to have a dictionary at hand while read...
madbkwm
madbkwm rated it 13 years ago
So this isn't so much a novel as a work of philosophical commentary. Gogol wrote it in the mid 1800s and it is purported to be incomplete. Volume 1 is done, Volume 2 is patchy (and just stops) and Volume 3 (rumors of it a trilogy abound) does not exist. Personally, I'm not sure what can be missing....
Kinga's Reading
Kinga's Reading rated it 13 years ago
Review to follow.
Edward
Edward rated it 14 years ago
AcknowledgementsChronologyIntroductionFurther ReadingA Note on the Texts, Translation and TransliterationMap--Dead SoulsAppendicesI: Russian Names and Pronunciation GuideII: Table of RanksNotesGlossary
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