Gogol

I am an English Literature nerd, so when it comes to Russian Literature, I am a newbie. But I am always up for trying something new. I bought this book, Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol while I was in Indiana, and to my surprise, I am really enjoying it. The first part of this book was published in Russia in 1842. It is so intriguing I want to keep reading to find out what the "hero" is going to do next. It's a strange story, about a man, Tchitchikov, who is travelling about the Russian countryside stopping at various estates asking the owner if he can buy his dead souls, meaning, all the serfs who have died recently. He wants to buy their names so he can scheme the government by not paying taxes on his serfs so that he can purchase an estate for himself using those names as collateral. Sounds weird, right?

Well, it is very interesting because Tchitchikov is quite a character and he has goofy things happen to him along the way. And each estate he stops at presents another odd situation where I am kind of laughing at the humorous satire. He is referred to as a "hero" and yet what he is doing is very odd, and selfish. There are a lot of satirical comments in regards to Russian culture, but while it pokes fun at the society, it is clear that Gogol is a lover of the Russian culture as a whole. But we can all make fun of our own culture sometimes, right? I am so interested to keep reading this book to see what happens next. But I love this little exchange from Chapter Two:

...it is time for me to get back to my heroes, whom we have left standing for some minutes before the drawing-room door, each begging the other to pass in first.
"Pray, don't put yourself out on my account, I will follow you," said Tchitchikov.
"No, Pavel Ivanovitch, no, you are the visitor," said Manilov, motioning him to the door with his hand.
"Don't stand on ceremony, please; please go first," said Tchitchikov.
"No, you must excuse me, I cannot allow such an agreeable, highly-cultured guest to walk behind me."
"Why highly-cultured?....Please pass in."
"No, you, pray walk in."
"But why?"
"Why, because!" Manilov said with an agreeable smile.
Finally the two friends walked in at the door sideways, somewhat squeezing each other.