Dead Souls

"Dead Souls" is a novel by Nikolai Gogol, first published in 1842 and widely regarded as an exemplar of 19th-century Russian literature. The novel presents the chronicles of the travels and adventures of Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov and the people he encounters. These people typify the Russian middle aristocracy of the time, which embodied pretentiousness, fake significance, and low morals, which was also hinted at in the novel's title.