Gogol's great Russian classic is the Pickwick Papers of Russian Literature. It takes a sharp but humorous look at life in all its strata, but especially the devious complexities in the country with its landowners and serfs. We are introduced to Chichikov, a businessman who, in order to trick the tax authorities, buys up dead `souls' or serfs whose names still appear on the government census. Despite being a dealer in phantom crimes and paper ghosts, he is the most beguiling of Gogol's characters. Gogol's obsession with attempting to display `the untold riches of the Russian soul' eventually led him to madness, religious mania and death. Dismissed by him as merely `a pale introduction to the great epic poem which is taking shape in my mind', Dead Souls is the culmination of Gogol's genius.
