Nikolai Gogol

Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol

Dead Souls, novel by Nikolay Gogol, published in Russian as Myortvye dushi in 1842. This picaresque work, considered one of the world's finest satires, traces the adventures of the landless social-climbing Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, a dismissed civil servant out to seek his fortune. It is admired not only for its enduring comic portraits but also for its sense of moral purpose.