According to the school curriculum, each of us should read one of the greatest works of world literature - "Dead Souls" by Gogol. And at the same time, teachers always focus on the fact that it belongs to the genre of the poem. How can this be? Why is Dead Souls not considered, for example, a novel or a novella? After all, it is written in prose, and all known poems are created in poetic form ... We will answer this question for you today.

The opinion of the author himself

According to the literary tradition, "Dead Souls" must be attributed to the social-satirical story. But it is generally known that Gogol himself defined his "offspring" as a poem, and he had his own ideas on this.

Nikolai Vasilievich, as the highest literary thought, elevated the epic genre, but at the same time noticed that there is an intermediate form between the epic and the novel - the so-called "less epic form." This term best describes the genre and semantic features of Dead Souls, but such a long title is too difficult to comprehend, so Gogol uses the term “poem”. This term also allowed the author, in addition to the epic beginning, to use lyrical elements in the narrative.

Features of the poem as a genre

A poem is a genre that harmoniously absorbed the elements of epic and lyric poetry. In the traditional sense, such works should have a poetic form, but in literary practice, prose poems are also known - in addition to "Dead Souls", in this regard, mention should be made of "Moscow-Petushki" by V. Erofeev, as well as "Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy" by L. Stern. Thus, a poem can really be written in prose if the following conditions are met:

• the presence of voluminous lyrical digressions on the background of an epic depiction of reality;
• the presence of heroes and / or antiheroes;
• a special prosaic narrative language (close to the poetic one in melodiousness, rhythm, a wide range of expressive means of vocabulary, etc.).

All these signs can be found in Gogol's Dead Souls.

Combination of lyrics and epic

Gogol's poetics is the poetics of contrasts, contradictions. This writer became a master of a complex and bitter grotesque, which was emphasized by sharp leaps from comic to serious, from laughter to pathos. This is the combination of lyrics and epic.

In the author's narration, two contrasting styles are very clearly traced, which correspond to two completely different genres: the poetics of sublimity (which is characteristic of lyrics) and the poetics of triviality, realism (which is characteristic of the epic). The first of them was embodied in lyrical digressions, which can be confidently called full-fledged poems in prose.

The epic component is realized in the main storyline of Dead Souls, where the author describes the vulgarity and ugliness of the Russian reality of that era.

So, we see that the work combines epic and lyrical principles, which is quite consistent with the poem as a genre.

The presence of heroes and / or antiheroes

In Dead Souls, a whole line of antiheroes is depicted (including the main character Chichikov). In search of his "dead serfs" Chichikov travels around the landowners' estates near the city of N., where he meets negative characters.

So, Manilov, despite his outwardly likableness, is an overly sentimental and sugary character, the embodiment of rosy optimism and stupid daydreaming. He has neither character nor will of his own. The rest of the landowners also cannot be called otherwise than "antiheroes": these are Korobochka, limited by narrow thinking, and the adventurer Nozdrev, and the cunning "fist" Sobakevich, and, of course, the greedy and completely degrading Plyushkin. So, the second sign of the genre of the poem is also evident.

A special narrative language

Gogol's comparisons are one of the most famous tricks in the author's poetics. Comparisons of people and animals, ironic metaphors, multifaceted allusions help the writer achieve stunning effects. Gogol plays on the contrast of basic epic forms with rhythmic constructions and comic content.

The unusual imagery of all the characters is achieved by exaggerating some of their characteristics, which is not typical for the genre of a story or novel. Gogol does not penetrate the psyche of the heroes, but with the help of describing distinctive gestures, facial expressions and posture, he gives the reader the opportunity to independently compose the correct image.

Numerous lyrical digressions, inserted elements, lofty reflections and sincere feelings of the author for the fate of his homeland take Dead Souls beyond the epic genre. Especially indicative in this regard is the finale, in which Gogol gives a pictorial portrait of the "bird of three" - a great generalization of the writer's thoughts about people and Russia.

Outcomes

Summarizing all of the above, the work "Dead Souls" can really be attributed to the genre of the poem. Moreover, to a unique poem, which has no analogues in world literature. Thanks to simple forms, harsh satire and sincere author's emotions, Dead Souls are recognized as a poignant and very capacious portrait of serf Russia.

The poem Dead Souls was conceived by Gogol as a grandiose panorama of Russian society with all its peculiarities and paradoxes. The central problem of the work is spiritual death and the rebirth of representatives of the main Russian estates of that time. The author denounces and ridicules the vices of the landowners, venality and pernicious passions of the bureaucracy.

The title of the work itself has a twofold meaning. "Dead Souls" are not only deceased peasants, but also other actually living characters of the work. Calling them dead, Gogol emphasizes their devastated, pitiful, "dead" souls.

History of creation

Dead Souls is a poem to which Gogol devoted a significant part of his life. The author repeatedly changed the concept, rewrote and altered the work. Initially, Gogol conceived Dead Souls as a humorous novel. However, in the end he decided to create a work that exposes the problems of Russian society and will serve its spiritual revival. This is how POEM "Dead Souls" appeared.

Gogol wanted to create three volumes of the work. In the first, the author planned to describe the vices and decay of the serf society of that time. In the second, give your heroes hope for redemption and rebirth. And in the third, he intended to describe the further path of Russia and its society.

However, Gogol managed to finish only the first volume, which appeared in print in 1842. Until his death, Nikolai Vasilievich worked on the second volume. However, just before his death, the author burned the manuscript of the second volume.

The third volume of Dead Souls was never written. Gogol could not find an answer to the question of what will happen next with Russia. Or maybe he just didn’t have time to write about it.

Description of the work

Once, in the city of NN, a very interesting character appeared, which stands out strongly against the background of other old residents of the city - Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov. After his arrival, he began to actively get acquainted with the important persons of the city, attended feasts and dinners. A week later, the visitor was already on "you" with all the representatives of the city nobility. Everyone was delighted with the new man who suddenly appeared in the city.

Pavel Ivanovich goes out of town to pay visits to the noble landowners: Manilov, Korobochka, Sobakevich, Nozdrev and Plyushkin. With every landowner, he is kind, tries to find an approach to everyone. Natural resourcefulness and resourcefulness help Chichikov to get the favor of every landowner. In addition to empty talk, Chichikov talks with the gentlemen about the peasants who died after the revision ("dead souls") and expresses a desire to buy them. The landlords cannot understand why Chichikov needs such a deal. However, they agree to it.

As a result of his visits, Chichikov acquired more than 400 "dead souls" and was in a hurry to finish things faster and leave the city. Useful acquaintances made by Chichikov upon arrival in the city helped him to settle all the issues with the documents.

After a while the landowner Korobochka let slip in the city that Chichikov was buying up "dead souls". The whole city learned about Chichikov's affairs and was perplexed. Why would such a respected gentleman buy dead peasants? Endless rumors and speculations have a detrimental effect even on the prosecutor, and he dies from fear.

The poem ends with Chichikov hastily leaving the city. Leaving the city, Chichikov sadly recalls his plans to buy dead souls and pledge them to the treasury as living.

main characters

A qualitatively new hero in Russian literature of that time. Chichikov can be called a representative of the newest, newly emerging class in serf Russia - entrepreneurs, "acquirers". The activity and activity of the hero distinguishes him favorably against the background of other characters in the poem.

The image of Chichikov is distinguished by its incredible versatility, versatility. Even by the appearance of the hero, it is difficult to immediately understand what a person is and what he is. "In the chaise sat a gentleman who was not handsome, but not bad-looking, neither too fat, nor too thin, one cannot say that he was old, but not so that he was too young."

It is difficult to understand and grasp the nature of the protagonist. He is changeable, multifaceted, able to adapt to any interlocutor, to give his face the desired expression. Thanks to these qualities, Chichikov easily finds a common language with landowners, officials and gains the necessary position in society. Chichikov uses the ability to charm and win over the right people to achieve his goal, namely, the receipt and accumulation of money. His father also taught Pavel Ivanovich to deal with those who are richer and take care of money, since only money can pave the way in life.

Chichikov did not earn money honestly: he deceived people, took bribes. Over time, Chichikov's machinations are gaining in scope. Pavel Ivanovich seeks to increase his condition by any means, not paying attention to any moral norms and principles.

Gogol defines Chichikov as a man with a mean nature and also considers his soul to be dead.

In his poem, Gogol describes typical images of landowners of that time: "business executives" (Sobakevich, Korobochka), as well as not serious and wasteful gentlemen (Manilov, Nozdrev).

Nikolai Vasilievich masterfully created the image of the landowner Manilov in the work. By this image alone, Gogol meant a whole class of landowners with similar features. The main qualities of these people are sentimentality, constant fantasies and lack of vigorous activity. The landlords of such a warehouse let the economy take its course, do not do anything useful. They are stupid and empty inside. This was exactly what Manilov was - not bad at heart, but a mediocre and stupid poser.

Nastasya Petrovna Korobochka

The landowner, however, differs significantly in character from Manilov. Korobochka is a good and tidy mistress; everything in the estate is going well with her. However, the landowner's life revolves exclusively around her economy. The box does not develop spiritually, is not interested in anything. She does not understand absolutely nothing that does not concern her economy. The box is also one of the images by which Gogol meant a whole class of such limited landowners who do not see anything beyond their household.

The author unequivocally classifies the landowner Nozdryov as a non-serious and wasteful gentleman. Unlike sentimental Manilov, energy boils in Nozdryov. However, the landowner uses this energy not for the good of the economy, but for the sake of his momentary pleasures. Nozdryov is playing, wasting money. Differs in its frivolity and idle attitude to life.

Mikhail Semenovich Sobakevich

The image of Sobakevich, created by Gogol, echoes the image of a bear. There is something of a large wild beast in the appearance of the landowner: sluggishness, gravity, strength. Sobakevich is concerned not with the aesthetic beauty of the things around him, but with their reliability and durability. Behind a rude appearance and a stern character hides a cunning, intelligent and resourceful person. According to the author of the poem, it will not be difficult for landowners like Sobakevich to adapt to the upcoming changes and reforms in Russia.

The most unusual representative of the landlord class in Gogol's poem. The old man is distinguished by his extreme stinginess. Moreover, Plyushkin is greedy not only in relation to his peasants, but also in relation to himself. However, this kind of economy makes Plyushkin a truly poor person. After all, it is his stinginess that does not allow him to find a family.

Bureaucracy

Gogol has a description of several city officials in his work. However, the author in his work does not significantly differentiate them from each other. All officials in Dead Souls are a gang of thieves, crooks and embezzlers. These people really only care about their own enrichment. Gogol literally describes in a few outlines the image of a typical official of that time, rewarding him with the most unflattering qualities.

Analysis of the work

The plot of Dead Souls is based on an adventure conceived by Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov. At first glance, Chichikov's plan seems incredible. However, if you look at it, the Russian reality of those times with its rules and laws made it possible for all sorts of machinations associated with serfs.

The fact is that after 1718, a capitation census of peasants was introduced in the Russian Empire. The master had to pay tax for every male serf. However, the census was carried out quite rarely - once every 12-15 years. And if one of the peasants escaped or died, the landowner was forced to pay tax for him anyway. The dead or escaped peasants became a burden for the master. This created fertile ground for various kinds of fraud. Chichikov himself hoped to carry out such a scam.

Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol knew very well how Russian society was organized with its serf system. And the whole tragedy of his poem lies in the fact that Chichikov's scam absolutely did not contradict the current Russian legislation. Gogol denounces the distorted relations between man and man, as well as between man and the state, and speaks of the absurd laws in force at that time. Because of such distortions, events become possible that are contrary to common sense.

Dead Souls is a classic work that, like no other, is written in the style of Gogol. Quite often, Nikolai Vasilyevich based his work on some kind of anecdote or a comic situation. And the more ridiculous and unusual the situation, the more tragic the real state of affairs is.

Genre originality of "Dead Souls"

Starting to work on Dead Souls, N.V. Gogol did not yet know exactly what genre he would classify his future work into. So, in 1835, in a letter to A.S. He wrote to Pushkin: "The plot stretched out into a pre-long novel." However, already in 1836, while in Europe, Gogol decided to call "Dead Souls" a poem. While in Paris, on November 12, he wrote to Zhukovsky: “ Every morning, in addition to breakfast, I wrote three pages into my poem". Gogol realizes the unusual genre nature of Dead Souls and admits on November 28, 1836 to M. Pogodin: “ The thing that I sit and work on now does not look like a story or a novel, long, long, in several volumes, its name is "Dead Souls" If God helps me to fulfill my poem as it should, then this will be my first decent creation».

On the other hand, when the first edition of Dead Souls was already created, he wrote to Maksimovich in January 1840: “ I have, however, a novel from which I do not want to announce anything until the time of its appearance.". In the text of Dead Souls, Gogol calls his work either a poem or a story. All this indicates the writer's hesitation in defining the genre, but it is obvious that the writer strove to construct a completely new "genre whole" (J. Mann). To designate it, Gogol decided to use the word "poem", although it was less familiar than "novel" or "story."

When the first volume of Dead Souls appeared in print in 1842, many of Gogol's contemporaries began to argue about why the writer called his new work a poem. Some believed that such a genre definition was accidental, erroneous, because traditionally, poetry was called a poem, and "Dead Souls" were written in prose. Others believed that Gogol, being a satirist writer, called Dead Souls a poem in order to amuse and amuse his readers. Still others (and among them were Aksakov and Belinsky) argued that Gogol puts a special meaning in this genre definition. So, in the seventh issue of the journal "Otechestvennye zapiski" for 1842, Belinsky, in a review of a new Gogol's work, wrote: " In earnest, Gogol called his novel a "poem" and he does not mean a comic poem by it ...". K.S. Aksakov expressed a similar opinion, arguing that Gogol called "Dead Souls" a poem, wishing to emphasize the special significance and uniqueness of his work.

Will help to understand the genre originality of "Dead Souls" "Educational book of literature for Russian youth", on which Gogol worked in the mid-forties. The writer systematized the theoretical literary material and gave a list of the most typical, characteristic examples of genre classification. This book bore the stamp of the author's personal tastes and preferences, but Gogol could not introduce into it the genre of "Dead Souls" as a special and unique one, since such a genre had not yet existed in literature. The "textbook" gives us not a definition of the genre of "Dead Souls", but a Gogolian understanding of those genres, in processing and repulsion from which he creates his own literary text. Dead Souls is closest to the genre "A lesser kind of epic". This genre is “ as if the middle between the novel and the epic". Yielding to the large (Homeric type) epic in the breadth and universality of depicting reality, the small epic, however, surpasses the novel in this respect, including "the full epic volume of remarkable private phenomena." The "lesser kind of epic" is also peculiar in the character of its hero. If in the big epic in the center of the narrative there is a "significant person", outstanding, then in the center of the small epic - " a private and invisible person, but, nevertheless, significant in many respects for the observer of the human soul. The author leads his life through a chain of adventures and changes in order to present the correct picture of the shortcomings, abuses, vices and everything that he noticed inthe era and time taken worthy of attracting the eye of any observant contemporary, seeking in the past, past living lessons for the present».

But the description of the genre of the "lesser kind of epic" does not fully reveal the peculiarities of the plot of "Dead Souls". In his work, Gogol, indeed, "leads" his hero, Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, through a chain of adventures, giving a picture of the shortcomings and vices of the Russian world of the 19th century, but the general plot setting of Gogol's text is not only moral.

The writer, of course, was right, not finally opposing his work to the genre novel... "Dead Souls" was created as a large epic canvas, in which a single artistic concept, the development of an end-to-end storyline united the depiction of a wide range of phenomena of reality. In the novel, as Gogol wrote in The Educational Book of Literature, all faces are presented in advance, “ the author is concerned about the fate of each of them and cannot carry and move them quickly and in a multitude, in the form of phenomena flying by. Every arrival of a person already announces his participation later". In Dead Souls, most of the faces are released “on the stage” in the very first chapter: Chichikov with his servants Selifan and Petrushka, officials of the provincial town, three out of five landowners (Manilov, Nozdryov, Sobakevich). Almost all of Chichikov's visits from the first half of the volume in the second half are, as it were, "replayed" again - with the help of the versions reported by Korobochka, Manilov, Sobakevich, Nozdrev. Information about the character traits of these landowners at the same time hides the impulses for the further course of development. So, Korobochka, having arrived in the city of NN to find out "how much dead souls walk," involuntarily gives the first impetus to Chichikov's misadventures. Then the reader involuntarily recalls Nastasya Petrovna's suspicion, her fear of selling too cheap. Nozdrev, aggravating Chichikov's situation, at the governor's ball calls Pavel Ivanovich a buyer of "dead souls", and the reader recalls Nozdrev's extraordinary passion to nourish, to mess with his neighbor.

In the novel, according to Gogol, the disclosure of the "case" follows after the presentation of the persons participating in it and presupposes a skillfully deliberate plot. In "Dead Souls" at the end of the first chapter (exposition), "one strange property of the guest and the enterprise" is reported, which has to be the subject of further narration. In the novel, as indicated in the "Study Book", not the whole life of the character is taken, but only one particularly characteristic incident. In Dead Souls, the focus is not on the biographies of the characters (we know very little about the past of almost all landowners and officials), but on the main event, a “strange undertaking” (which does not exclude the background biographies of Chichikov and Plyushkin). In the novel, a "remarkable incident" affects the interests and requires the participation of all actors. In "Dead Souls" it is shown how Chichikov's scam unexpectedly determined the lives of many people, becoming for some time the center of attention of the residents of the city of NN.

How the epic work Dead Souls is related to the genre rogue novel (picaresque), whose masters are considered Alain René Lesage ("The Story of Gilles Blaz from Santillana"), Quevedo y Villegas ("The story of the life of a rascal named Pablos"), Grimmelshausen ("Simplicissimus"). In Russian literature, in the spirit of a rogue novel, the works of V.T. Narezhny "Russian Zhilblas, or the Adventures of Gavrila Simonovich Chistyakov" and F. Bulgarin "Ivan Vyzhigin", and in the XX century the novels of Ilf and Petrov "Twelve Chairs" and "Golden Calf". It brings Dead Souls closer to rogue novels, firstly, the presence of a rogue hero, a rogue, and secondly, episodes united by the adventures and tricks of this hero, and thirdly, the satirical orientation of the literary text. However, the work "Dead Souls" was devoid of compositional looseness, often inherent in the Picaresque XVII-early. XIX centuries.

The work "Dead Souls" is also associated with the genre romance ways, which is represented by the texts of Cervantes (Don Quixote Lamansky), Novalis (Heinrich von Ofterdingen) and L. Tieck (The Wanderings of Franz Sternbald), where knowledge of the truth comes to the heroes only after they commit strange, confusing and illogical (as it seems at first glance) travel, the purpose and meaning of which are revealed only at the end. (This is the principle behind Gogol's first poem, Ganz Kuchelgarten, where the hero has to go a long and difficult path in order to recognize in his dear Louise, abandoned by him, the Peri he dreamed of in his “desert”).

Indeed, from the historical and literary point of view, "Dead Souls" are a complex fusion of various literary and folklore genres (from fairy tales, proverbs, sayings, epics to the novel).

However, it is worth remembering that the author himself called his work a poem, he wrote this word in the largest letters and on the famous cover of his work. The epics of Homer, and Dante's Divine Comedy, and the works of Ariosto's Furious Roland, Pushkin's Ruslan and Lyudmila, Byron's Childe Harold's Pilgrimage were called poems in the 19th century.

So, Gogol referred "Dead Souls" to the genre of the poem, firstly, because he wanted to emphasize the special role of his "moralizing" work, with the help of which he dreamed of helping people (and himself) find spiritual transformation. The framework of the novel seemed to the writer too narrow. Most readers of the 19th century perceived novels as entertaining works, and Gogol wanted not so much to entertain as to teach people, to help them find the right path in life. Secondly, the poem "Dead Souls" makes the presence of a lyrical, subjective element. It is clear that in the chaise next to Chichikov there is an invisible lyric narrator, evaluating and explaining all the events that are taking place. The pathos of subjectivity is manifested in the story of the most prosaic subjects, and in the author's reflections, and in "lyrical digressions" about youth, about the Russian language, about the road, about the whole country.

The composition of the poem by N.V. Gogol "Dead Souls"

It is known that N.V. Gogol intended to create three volumes of the poem Dead Souls. The writer compared his work to a temple or a palace. In a letter to P.A. Pletnev on March 17, 1842, Gogol confessed that the first volume was presented “ nothing more than the porch to the palace that" in him " was built».

The construction of the poem was supposed to remind readers of the composition of the "Divine Comedy" (1307-21) by the Italian Renaissance author Dante Alighieri. The Divine Comedy consisted of three kantik (parts): Hell, Purgatory, Paradise, respectively, the first volume of Dead Souls would be associated with Dante's Hell, the second volume with Purgatory, and the third with "Paradise". Since the third volume of the poem was not written, and most of the second was burned by the writer, we can only talk about the composition of the first volume.

Conventionally, the first volume of the poem "Dead Souls" can be divided into three parts: the first - the arrival of Chichikov and his servants in the provincial town of NN, meeting the dignitaries, visiting the governor's house; the second - a trip to the landowners; the third - the completion of the deeds of sale, communication with the governor's daughter and the hasty departure of Chichikov from the city of NN due to bad rumors that a catcher of "dead souls" had arisen.

The exposition of the poem can be considered the first chapter, in which the readers get acquainted with many heroes of the work, including Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, and residents of the city NN (from ordinary men talking about the wheel of Chichikov's chaise to the governor himself), and some landowners (Manilov, Sobakevich , Nozdryov), whose estates Chichikov will visit. The first chapter gives a broad panorama of life, which will be presented in more detail later. Here is also the plot of the poem - it mentions the idea of ​​Chichikov, about his swindle.

Particularly significant in terms of composition is the part where the series of Chichikov's trips to various estates is shown. The description of these visits is given in accordance with a clear scheme: initially, a description of the peasant huts and the entire economy as a whole is given, then follows a story about the manor house, the interior of the house, the appearance of the owner (face, character, hobby - "enthusiasm", speech characteristics), after - a description of the feast, a conversation between Chichikov and the landowner about dead souls, Chichikov's departure from the estate.

Each previous landowner in Gogol's poem is opposed to the next. So, the mismanaged dreamer Manilov, who does not have any "enthusiasm", is opposed to the overly petty Nastasya Petrovna Korobochka, who is interested only in the everyday sphere of life and collects money in " variegated bags placed on the drawers of the dressers". The money-grubber Korobochka is opposed by the reckless driver Nozdryov, who burns out his life and collects greyhounds. The destroyer of the economy, Nozdryov, who often plays "to the fluff" at fairs, is given in contrast to the cunning huckster Sobakevich, who loves delicious food. Mikhail Semyonovich Sobakevich himself, who has a strong large farm, opposes himself to Stepan Plyushkin, whose estate is in desolation, and the peasants are dying of hunger: “ This is not what some Plyushkin will sell you».

There is a literary myth, according to which each subsequent landowner, to whom Pavel Ivanovich comes, “is more dead than the previous one” (A. Bely). This myth arose, probably due to a literal reading of Gogol's statement given in Four Letters to Various Persons Concerning “Dead Souls” ”(letter 3):“ One after another, my heroes follow one more vulgar than the other».

The researcher of Gogol's creativity Yu.V. Mann was able to debunk this myth and prove the incorrectness of the assumption that Manilov and Korobochka are "less dead" than Nozdrev and Sobakevich. Let's remember that Gogol writes about Manilov: “ You will not expect any living or even arrogant word from him if you touch the object that is bullying him. Everyone has their own enthusiasm: one of them turned to greyhounds "(this can be said about Nozdryov), another “ dashing master"(This is Sobakevich)," but Manilov had nothing". If by "deadness" is meant the harm that landowners inflict on the peasants, then in this aspect Manilov does not seem more "alive". He absolutely does not know the specifics of the life of the Russian peasantry (therefore, he absurdly assumes that the peasants will buy goods from merchants, climbing onto the bridge that stretches over the pond), does not know how many peasants work for him, and how many have already died. Sobakevich knows by name all of his peasants, he can imagine which of them is capable of what kind of work. The serfs of Sobakevich live in strong huts, cut down "wonderfully". All this proves that Manilov is no better than Sobakevich or Nozdrev.

Gogol opens the gallery of landowners precisely by the Manilovs for many reasons. Firstly, Chichikov began his detour of the landowners from Manilov because, even in the governor's house, he seemed to him a cordial and amiable person, from whom it would be easy to acquire dead souls. This calculation turned out to be correct. Manilov became the only landowner who presented Chichikov with dead peasants without even thinking of asking for money for them. It is important for the writer to show that on his wrong path Chichikov does not at first encounter serious obstacles and difficulties. Manilov only, dropping his chubuk from surprise, is surprised at the request of Pavel Ivanovich. Such a reaction should prompt the reader to the uncommonness and strangeness of Chichikov's activities. Secondly, the general emotional tone around the image of Manilov is still serene, the colors that the writer mentions in connection with this hero are light (green, blue, yellow) or muted gray. In the future, the light spectrum changes, dark, gloomy tones begin to dominate in it, and Chichikov is in trouble one after another. Researcher I. Zolotussky in the monograph "Gogol" (Series ZhZL) writes: " The poem began in a fun-prosaic way: the entrance to the city, the detour of officials, pleasant conversations, evenings. Then came the comic Manilov, not causing alarm, then Korobochka, when something stirred in the left side of his chest. Then, as if muffling this alarm, Nozdrev's booth - and here Sobakevich with his soul hidden at the bottom of the cache, and the image of old age, foreshadowing death».

Can it be assumed that the peculiarity of building a "gallery of landowners" is that it is more and more difficult for Chichikov to acquire dead peasants from each subsequent landowner? Indeed, for a long time, Korobochka could not understand what Chichikov wanted from her ("After all, I never sold the dead"), Nozdryov began to offer to buy a barrel organ, horses or greyhound puppies along with dead souls, and in the end he did not sell the peasants to Chichikov at all, and Sobakevich probably guessing that such a deal was beneficial to Pavel Ivanovich, he asked for a hundred rubles for the dead, i.e. as much as a living peasant was worth. However, Stepan Plyushkin not only sold to Chichikov the greatest number of dead and fugitive peasants, but also incredibly rejoiced at the opportunity to free himself from "dead souls", for which he now would not have to pay a poll tax.

The composition of the "gallery of landowners" has one more important feature. It is important to note that Chichikov rarely gets to the estate he planned to get into. So, he goes to Zamanilovka, and ends up in Manilovka, goes to Sobakevich, but, having lost his way, at two o'clock in the morning gets to Korobochka, from Korobochka again plans to go to Sobakevich, but stops in a tavern, and then goes to Nozdrev, with whom he met in the provincial town, but was not going to visit him. After Nozdrev, Chichikov still ends up with Sobakevich, but he is no longer going to go anywhere from him. However, Mikhail Semyonovich reports about the landowner Plyushkin, who starves his peasants with hunger. Taking an interest, Chichikov goes to this landowner too. Here "side passages" (A. Bely) make themselves felt: " the improper turns on the way to Nozdrev, to Korobochka are carefully listed ...". If the poem showed how Chichikov planned to go to Manilov and Sobakevich and ended up safely with them, then there would be something schematic in such a construction. But if Gogol had shown that Chichikov, having conceived to go to Manilov and Sobakevich, in the end does not end up with either of them, but comes, for example, to "Bobrov, Svinin, Kanapatiev, Kharpakin, Trepakin, Pleshakov" (these names are mentioned by Korobochka ), then in such a construction there would be something invented, unnatural.

In the third part, an image of the provincial city NN and its inhabitants is given. The static description of estates is being replaced by a dynamic image of disputes between city officials, gossip of ladies belonging to a "secular" society.

In the finale of the poem, Gogol refers to the principle of compositional inversion, used by Pushkin in his novel Eugene Onegin, where the introduction was given in the last stanza of the seventh chapter. Gogol turns to the protagonist's past, tells about Chichikov's childhood and youth, giving readers the opportunity to find out how the character and worldview of the acquirer was formed.

A special place in the composition of the first volume of the poem "Dead Souls" is occupied by the author's reflections and inserted stories. So, for example, at the beginning of the work, the author's reflections are for the most part ironic (for example, discussions about fat and thin gentlemen), but, starting from the fifth chapter, pathetic (about the great and rich Russian language) or lyrical reflections (about " youth and freshness", About the road and about Russia). The Tale of Captain Kopeikin and the parable of Kif Mokievich and Mokiy Kifovich become a kind of key to understanding the poem.

The composition of Gogol's poem "Dead Souls" was carefully thought out by the author. She is the embodiment of architectonic harmony and originality.

The role of inserted stories in the poem "Dead Souls"

When residents of the provincial town of NN begin to argue about who the "Kherson landowner" Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov is and assume that he is a noble robber or Napoleon Bonaparte who escaped from St. Helena, the postmaster expresses the opinion that Chichikov “ none other than captain Kopeikin". The postmaster calls the story about this captain a poem in some way, therefore, we have before us a "micropoem" in the "macropoem" "Dead Souls".

It is known that the censorship in 1842 forbade Gogol to print “ The Tale of Captain Kopeikin". So, on April 1, censor Nikitenko informed Gogol: “ The episode of Kopeikin turned out to be absolutely impossible to pass - no power could protect him from death ...". Gogol, shocked by this message, reports N.Ya. Prokopovich: " They threw away a whole episode of Kopeikin, which is very necessary for me, more even than they think"; On April 10, he writes to Pletnev: “ The destruction of Kopeikin confused me a lot! This is one of the best places in the poem, and without it - a hole, which I am unable to pay and sew up.". These statements of the author make it possible to understand what place the writer of "Tale ..." took, considering it not an accidental plug-in novel that has no connection with the general plot, but an organic part of the poem "Dead Souls".

The central hero of The Tale has real, folklore and literary prototypes. The real ones include, firstly, Colonel of the Life Guards Fyodor Orlov, who was injured in the war of 1812 (lost his leg in the battle of Bautzen), and after the hostilities became a robber. The second prototype of Kopeikin is considered to be the soldier Kopeknikov, who turned to Arakcheev for help, but received nothing from him. The folklore prototype is the robber Kopeikin, the hero of folk songs. These songs are recorded by P.V. Kireevsky were well known to N.V. Gogol. (One of them says that the leader of a gang of robbers, thief Kopeikin, has a prophetic dream: “ Get up, brothers are amicable, I had a bad dream. As if I were walking along the edge of the sea, I stumbled with my right foot, grabbed a fragile tree, a frail tree, a buckthorn"- remember that Captain Kopeikin lost his leg and arm). Kopeikin's literary prototypes are Rinaldo Rinaldini (the hero of the novel by the German writer Vulpius), Pushkin's Dubrovsky, a legless German in N.A. Field "Abadonna".

Censorship did not let The Tale of Captain Kopeikin go to print, since this part of the poem Dead Souls had a sharp satirical focus on the St. Petersburg bureaucracy, the authorities as such, which “will not cross” until “thunder breaks out”. It is significant that for the sake of preserving the "Tale ..." Gogol decided to weaken its accusatory sound, about which he wrote to Pletnev: " I'd rather decided to remake it than to lose it altogether. I threw out all the generals, Kopeikin's character meant stronger ...».

"The Tale of Captain Kopeikin" existed in three editions. The second is considered canonical, which is now printed in all modern editions. In 1842, the censorship did not pass it, just as it did not pass the version given in the first edition. In the first edition of "The Tale ..." it was said that Kopeikin became the leader of a gang of robbers, the head of a huge detachment (" in a word, my sir, he just has an army ..."). Kopeikin, fearing persecution, leaves the country and writes a letter to the emperor, where he explains the reasons for his revolutionary actions. The tsar stopped the persecution of Kopeikin's accomplices, formed "invalid capital". But such a denouement was more politically ambiguous than reliable.

Kopeikin's special place among robbers – the people's avengers of literature of those years was that his revenge was purposefully directed at the bureaucratic state. It is characteristic that Kopeikin, who is seeking justice, Gogol confronts not with petty bureaucrats, but with the largest representatives of the St. Petersburg authorities, showing that in contact with them, his hopes collapse just as quickly as they would undoubtedly disappear if he turned to the lower strata of the bureaucratic hierarchy. ...

At first glance, it may seem that the rapprochement between Chichikov and Captain Kopeikin is absurd and ridiculous. Indeed, if the captain is a cripple, disabled, who lost his leg and arm in battles, then Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov looks completely healthy and very cheerful. However, there is still a hidden connection between these heroes. The very surname of the captain (originally the surname was Pyatkin) is associated with the slogan of Chichikov's life: "Save a penny!" A penny is a sign of gradual, slow accumulation based on patience and diligence. Both Chichikov and Captain Kopeikin do not strive to achieve the goal instantly, they are ready for a long wait, a gradual approach to the desired goal. The goal of the heroes is to receive money from the state. However, Kopeikin wants to receive a legal pension, the money that rightfully belongs to him. Chichikov, on the other hand, dreams of deceiving the state, using a scam, a cunning trick to lure money from the Board of Trustees. The word “penny” is also associated with reckless prowess, courage (the expression “life is a penny” was in the draft version of the first volume of the poem “Dead Souls”). Captain Kopeikin showed himself in the war with the Napoleonic army as a brave and courageous man. Chichikov's peculiar courage is his scam, his planned "little business" is buying up dead souls.

However, if the "scoundrel" and the acquirer Chichikov is accepted by the high society, in the provincial town of NN they treat him with great respect, even Sobakevich speaks flattering words about him, then the honest and decent Captain Kopeikin is not accepted by society: an important general, having learned that Kopeikin " it is expensive to live in the capital", Sends it" to the state account". The "little man", feeling that his life is worth a penny (a penny!), Decides to rebel: " When the general says that I should look for the means to help myself - well, he says, I, he says, will find the means!". After two months " a gang of robbers appeared in the Ryazan forests", Of which Captain Kopeikin became the chieftain. (The theme of the revolt of the "little man", from whom the state turned its back, appears already in Pushkin's poem "The Honey Horseman" in 1833 and is especially poignant in Gogol's story "The Overcoat" and in the tenth chapter of "Dead Souls").

If the ladies of the city of NN (the lady is simply pleasant and the lady is pleasant in all respects) compare Chichikov with the robber Rinaldo Rinaldini (“ is armed from head to toe, like Rinaldo Rinaldini”), Then Kopeikin actually becomes a noble robber.

In the story about Kopeikin, the theme of the Patriotic War is clearly emerging. This theme not only accentuates the selfishness and greed of landowners and officials, but also reminds of those lofty duties that did not exist for "significant persons". Precisely because the image of Kopeikin is the image of the defender of the fatherland, he carries a positive, “living” principle, which puts him significantly higher than any “creators” and acquirers.

The theme of the Patriotic War, closely related to the "Tale of Captain Kopeikin", appears in the poem in a different form. Trying to figure out who Chichikov is, provincial officials remember Napoleon. “… We got thoughtful and, considering this matter, each one for himself, found that Chichikov’s face, if he turns and turns sideways, is very much like a portrait of Napoleon. The Chief of Police, who served in the campaign for 12 years and personally saw Napoleon, could not help but admit that he would not be taller than Chichikov in any way, and that Napoleon, too, could not be said to be too fat and not so thin in the shape of his figure ...". In itself, Chichikov's rapprochement with Napoleon is ironic, but the image of Napoleon appears in the poem not only as an element of comparison, but also has an independent meaning. " We all look at Napoleons", - wrote Pushkin in" Eugene Onegin ", emphasizing the desire of his contemporaries, as if spellbound by the unusual fate of the French emperor, to be or seem like this" little great man. "

The plot and composition of "Dead Souls" are conditioned by the subject of the depiction - Gogol's desire to comprehend Russian life, the character of the Russian person, the fate of Russia. We are talking about a fundamental change in the subject of the image in comparison with the literature of the 20-30s: the artist's attention is transferred from the image of an individual person to the portrait of society. In other words, the romance aspect of the genre content (the depiction of the private life of an individual) is replaced by the moral aspect (the portrait of society at the non-heroic moment of its development). Therefore, Gogol is looking for a plot that would make it possible to cover the widest possible coverage of reality. Such an opportunity was opened by the plot of the journey: "Pushkin found that the plot of Dead Souls was good for me," Gogol said, "that it gives complete freedom to travel with the hero all over Russia and bring out many of the most diverse characters." Therefore, the motive of movement, road, path turns out to be the leitmotif of the poem. This motive gets a completely different meaning in the famous lyrical digression of the eleventh chapter: the road with the rushing chaise turns into the path along which Russia flies, "and, looking sideways, other peoples and states look back and give it a path." This leitmotif also contains the unknown paths of Russian national development:

In the image of the road is embodied both the everyday path of the hero ("but for all that, his road was difficult ..."), and the creative path of the author: "And for a long time it was determined for me by the wonderful power to go hand in hand with my strange heroes ..." Not only that. that Chichikov travels in it, that is, thanks to her, the plot of the journey becomes possible; the chaise also motivates the appearance of the characters of Selifan and the horses; thanks to her, he manages to escape from Nozdryov; the chaise collides with the carriage of the governor's daughter and thus a lyrical motive is introduced, and at the end of the poem Chichikov even appears as the kidnapper of the governor's daughter. The chaise is, as it were, endowed with its own will and sometimes disobeys Chichikov and Selifan, goes its own way and at the end dumps the rider into impassable mud - so the hero, against his will, gets to Korobochka, who meets him with affectionate words: "Oh, my father, yes you, like a hog, your back and side are covered in mud! Where did you get greasy like that? " In addition, the chaise, as it were, defines the ring composition of the first volume: the poem opens with a conversation between two men about how strong the wheel of the chaise is, and ends with the breakage of that very wheel, which is why Chichikov has to stay in the city. The plot of the trip gives Gogol the opportunity to create a gallery of images of landowners. At the same time, the composition looks very rational: the exposition of the travel plot is given in the first chapter (Chichikova meets officials and some landowners, receives invitations from them), then five chapters follow, in which the landowners "sit", and Chichikov travels from chapter to chapter, buying up dead souls. Gogol in Dead Souls, as in The Inspector General, creates an absurd artistic world in which people lose their human essence, turn into a parody of the possibilities inherent in them by nature. In an effort to find in the characters signs of mortification, the loss of spirituality (of the soul), Gogol resorts to the use of subject and everyday detail. Each landowner is surrounded by many objects that can characterize him. Details associated with certain characters not only live autonomously, but also "add up" into a kind of motives. For example, the motive of desolation, mortification, degradation is associated with Plyushkin, as a result of which the grotesque metaphorical image of "a hole in humanity" arises. With Manilov - the motive of oversweetness, creating a kind of parody of the hero of sentimental novels. The position in the gallery of images of landowners also characterizes each of them. It is widely believed that each subsequent landowner is "deader" than the previous one, that is, according to Gogol, "my heroes follow one more vulgar than the other." But was this what Gogol had in mind? Is Plyushkin the worst of them all? After all, this is the only hero who has a prehistory, only a semblance of life flashed on his face, "some warm ray suddenly slipped, not a feeling was expressed, but some pale reflection of feeling." Therefore, one cannot judge Plyushkin as the worst - just the very measure of vulgarity by the sixth chapter becomes unbearable. Y. Mann considers the sixth chapter to be a turning point. Plyushkin's evolution introduces the theme of change for the worse into the poem. After all, Plyushkin - the only one who was once "alive" appears in the most disgusting guise of a dead soul. It is with this image that the lyrical digression in the sixth chapter about a fiery young man who "would have jumped back with horror if shown him his own portrait in old age" is connected. Therefore, we can call the sixth chapter the culmination of the poem: presenting the tragic theme of change for the worse for Gogol, it completes the plot of the journey, because Plyushkin is the last of the landowners whom Chichikov visited. So, the plot of the journey has been exhausted, but the poem still has five chapters: therefore, the work is based on some other plot. Such a plot, from the point of view of J. Mann, turns out to be a mirage intrigue. Indeed, the purpose of Chichikov's journey is mirage in the truest sense of the word: he buys "one sound, intangible to the senses." The outbreak of a mirage intrigue occurs during a conversation with Manilov, when a strange guest offers the owner a "negotiation". At this moment, the purpose of Chichikov's journey becomes clear. The purchase of the "dead", who, however, would be listed as alive according to the revision, is undertaken by the hero to commit fraud on a legal basis: he wants not only to gain weight in society, but also to put his strange purchase on the board of trustees, that is, to receive money. In essence, Chichikov's journey is an endless pursuit of a mirage, of emptiness, of people who have passed away, something that cannot be in human will.

And according to the laws of Gogol's artistic world, the mirage begins to materialize, to acquire real features. The more dead Chichikov buys, the more weighty his purchase is: dead souls come to life, become reality. Indeed, why does Sobakevich begin to praise his dead peasants and say complete nonsense: “Another swindler will deceive you, sell you rubbish, not souls; Does he want to simply deceive Chichikov while describing the merits of the coachman Mikheev, the carpenter Stepan Cork, the shoemaker Maxim Telyatnikov, the brick-maker Milushkin? But this is impossible, both are well aware that they simply do not exist and all their qualities are in the past. It’s more likely not a deception, but Sobakevich’s unintentionalness: in the same way he will describe the merits of his peasants in the city, after the deed of the fortress, when no deception is needed: the dead souls bought by Chichikov become alive before our eyes, and the landowners say about them as alive. The purchased peasants also "come to life" at the beginning of the seventh chapter, when Chichikov draws up the documents for the purchase of the fortress, and "a strange feeling, incomprehensible to him, took possession of him." "It seemed as if the men were still alive yesterday." The author, as it were, intercepts the inner monologue of his hero, tells about the fate of the peasants, in which all aspects of the Russian folk character are embodied.

By the beginning of the seventh chapter, the plot of the journey is exhausted - Chichikov comes to the city to draw up the deed of sale. This moment, the happy ending of the plot of the journey, turns out to be the culmination of a mirage intrigue: the mirage, in pursuit of which Chichikov was striving, materializes legally, the hero becomes a Kherson landowner and himself forgets that "souls are not quite real." Emptiness, fiction, bought up by Chichikov, receives a full-fledged legal status! He begins to live his life, gives birth to a lot of rumors in the city, acquires more and more plausible details. The peasants who were bought without land, it turns out, are being bought for withdrawal to the Kherson province; there is a river and a pond; celebrating the purchase, they drank to the prosperity of the peasants and their happy resettlement; upon Chichikov's return, Selifan receives some household orders: "to gather all the newly resettled peasants in order to make a complete roll call to everyone personally." And at that moment, when the hero himself forgets about the nature of his "negotiation", Nozdryov and Korobochka appear in the city, breaking Chichikov's crystal mirage. But having broken, the mirage, like a crumbling mirror, forms many fragments, in which its creator, Chichikov, is reflected in a distorted light. In the judgments of the inhabitants of the city, he turns out to be a millionaire, a maker of counterfeit banknotes, the kidnapper of the governor's daughter, Napoleon, who fled from the island, and Captain Kopeikin. It is in the last four chapters of the poem that the image of the provincial town N is concretized. In the drafts of the times when he was working on the first volume, the writer formulated the meaning of this image "The Idea of ​​the City, Emptiness Arising to the Highest Degree. Empty talk, Gossip, overstepping limits, how all this arose from idleness and took expression funny in the highest degree. " "The mirage intrigue ends at the moment when all the gossip about Chichikov stops. The death of the prosecutor puts the end to them. All the attention of the townspeople switches to this event. Only after that Chichikov, forgotten, leaves the city. The ideological and compositional role of Chichikov's image is predetermined in the first place. the fact that he owns the idea of ​​a scam, for its implementation he was given the right to freely move around the artistic space of the poem, the author almost never parted with it. But it is not they, not his fate that are the main subject of Gogol's depiction.

The genre nature of Gogol's work is complex and not easy to define. The writer himself tried to point out the originality of "Dead Souls" by calling his book a poem, but he did not give a decoding of this concept, which makes Gogol's readers and researchers - from the moment the book was published to the present day - look for a clue to the interpretation of its genre appearance. Can Dead Souls be considered a novel? Speaking of a novel, they usually mean an epic work of a large artistic form, in which the narrative is focused on the fate of an individual in his relation to the world around him, on the formation, development of his character and self-consciousness.

In the event that the story about the origin, upbringing and attempts of the hero to provide himself "life in all the pleasures, with all the prosperity" would appear at the beginning of the narrative, the faces and events would unite around the hero, become connected with his fate, turning " Dead Souls "into a novel, a rogue-type novel where the antihero goes through a series of successes and failures. But Chichikov's adventures for Gogol are only a path to solving another, main task for him. What was it? Let's return to the definition that Gogol himself gave to "Dead Souls". He called his work a poem, just as Pushkin considered "Eugene Onegin" "a novel in verse." Gogol's work can rightfully be called a poem. This right was given to him by the poetry, musicality, expressiveness of the language, saturated with such figurative comparisons and metaphors that can be found only in poetic speech. And most importantly - the constant presence of the author, which makes Dead Souls a lyric-epic work. All reality depicted in it passes through the prism of the author's consciousness. In lyrical digressions, Gogol poses and solves literary questions.

The peculiar genre structure of Dead Souls allows Gogol to depict a picture of the mores of all of Russia, while showing the general, not the particular, not the life story of one person, but a “diverse bunch” of Russian characters. The lyrical beginning brings these observations to the level of philosophical reflections on the fate of Russia in the family of mankind.

№46 Philosophy of the Russian World and the Uniqueness of the Hero in the Poem "Dead Souls"

The creativity of N.V., Gogol is multifaceted and diverse. The writer has a talent for captivating the reader, makes him cry and laugh with the heroes, experience failure and rejoice in success. He encourages a person to reflect on the fate of his homeland, over himself, exposes the shortcomings of society and every citizen. In my opinion, the author perfectly manages to reveal the hero's soul, his inner world. It was in the poem "Dead Souls" that the author raised the most painful and burning questions of contemporary life. He vividly showed the decay of the serf system, the doom of its representatives. The very title of the poem had a tremendous revelatory power, carried in itself "something terrifying." One cannot but agree with AI Herzen, who said that "he could not have called her otherwise; not revision dead souls, but all these nostrils, manilovs and all the others — these are dead souls, and we meet them at every step." Who are these heroes, about whom the great critic spoke?

A very courteous Mr. PI Chichikov comes to a certain city. In its appearance, we are initially struck by the sophistication of taste, accuracy, good manners. True, we are still only guessing about the purpose of his visit. Chichikov pays visits to local landowners. Here he comes to Manilov. This landowner somehow reminds me of Chichikov himself. He considers himself well-mannered, noble and highly educated. However, let's look into his office. A dusty book, which has been open for 2 years on the fourteenth page, everywhere heaps of ash, dust, disorder. Manilov selflessly dreams of the "well-being of a friendly life", makes fantastic plans for future improvements. But this is an empty phrase-mongering; His words and actions do not jibe. And we see that in the description of the owners of the estates, their hobbies and interests, the author's ability to show in several details of the situation the lack of spirituality and pettiness of aspirations, the emptiness of the soul.

From one chapter to another, the accusatory satirical pathos of Gogol grows. From Manilov to Sobakevich, the feeling of numbness of the landlord's souls intensifies. Sobakevich, in the words of Gogol, is "a devil's fist." An unbridled passion for enrichment pushes him to cunning, makes him seek more and more new means of profit. This is what makes him actively apply innovations: in his estate, he introduces a monetary quitrent. Oddly enough, but the sale and purchase of dead souls does not surprise him at all. He is only interested in how much he gets for them.

Another representative of the landowners is Nozdryov. This is a fidget, a hero of fairs, drinking and a card table. His farm is extremely neglected. Only the kennel is in excellent condition. Among dogs, he is like a "native father" among a large family. He immediately drinks the income received from the peasants. This speaks of his moral decline, indifference to people.

Korobochka has a completely different attitude to farming. She has a pretty village, she has a yard full of all kinds of poultry, there are "spacious vegetable gardens with cabbage, onions, potatoes", there are apple trees and other fruit trees. The little box does not see anything further than its nose. Everything new scares her. This is a typical representative of small provincial landowners engaged in subsistence farming. Her behavior is also guided by a passion for profit.

Complete moral impoverishment and loss of human qualities are characteristic of Plyushkin. I guess the writer was right when he christened it "a hole in humanity." Talking about Plyushkin, Gogol exposes the horrors of serfdom. He considered the chapter about him one of the most difficult. After all, Plyushkin not only completes the gallery of landowners' "dead souls" - this man carries the most obvious signs of an incurable, fatal disease ... Once Plyushkin was a hardworking owner, not devoid of intelligence and everyday vigilance. But everything went to pieces: his family collapsed and he remained the only guardian and sovereign owner of his treasures. Constant loneliness increased his suspicion and stinginess. It sank lower and lower until it turned into a "hole in humanity." Why did this happen? I think that not only accidents were at work here, but also the conditions of life. Gogol reports that Plyushkin is a swindler, he starved all people to death, that convicts live better in prison than him
serfs.

Gogol's satire is addressed to the contradictions of reality itself. The degrading estates of society are clearly outlined in different groups of characters: the district nobility, the provincial bureaucracy and the nobility, entrepreneurs of a new type, courtyards, servants, peasants, the capital bureaucracy and the nobility. Gogol discovers a brilliant artistic skill, finds witty methods of exposing "antiheroes": speaking details of the hero's appearance, correlating him with a certain type of person. I am amazed at Gogol's ability to put revelatory speeches into the mouths of typical ordinary people. They themselves do not even suspect that their usual and habitual rantings reveal, first of all, their rudeness and hopeless stupidity. In the poem, even ordinary household items perform a sharply accusatory function. The writer's thoughts are turned to the general processes of reality. He emphasizes the terrible confusion, the futility of public undertakings.

Genre originality of "Dead Souls"

A genre can be understood as an emerging type of work, which has certain features. “Not a novel, not a story. Something completely original ”, - wrote Leo Tolstoy about“ Dead Souls ”. This work embodied both irony, and artistic sermon, and a novel, and a poem. Gogol harmoniously combined features inherent in different genres.

N. V. Gogol called "Dead Souls" a poem. On the famous cover of the first edition, based on a drawing by Gogol, the word "poem" dominates both the title and the author's surname. The word "poem" in the time of Gogol denoted different types of works.

The poem was called Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, a genre that Gogol considered unrecoverable in the post-Homeric time. However, some critics believed that Dead Souls was modeled after the Iliad and The Odyssey. The analogy with Odysseus' wanderings is obvious. Gogol added one more to the main title of the work - "The Adventures of Chichikov". Adventures, travel, wanderings of Odysseus and described by Homer. So, for example, the analogy of these two works can be traced in the episode with Korobochka, where Chichikov is like Odysseus, Korobochka is like Queen Circe. "Ah, sir, father, you have, like a hog, your whole back is covered in mud." As you know, Circe meets Odysseus's companions and turns them into real pigs. In addition, Odysseus and Chichikov travel, wander.

The word "poem" evoked associations with Dante's creation. This tradition had a special meaning for the author of Dead Souls. In the minds of Russian society, the "Divine Comedy" existed at that time precisely as a poem. Usually, in connection with Dante's tradition, it is indicated that the poem was to consist of three parts compositionally, by analogy with "Hell", "Purgatory" and "Paradise". Separate chapters of Dead Souls represent the circles of hell. Comparing Russia to hell in the first volume of his work, Gogol makes it clear that Russia must perk up and go from Hell to Purgatory, and then to Paradise. “In this novel I would like to show at least one side of the whole of Russia,” says Gogol's famous letter to Pushkin. But after a while Gogol emphasizes in a letter to Pogodin that his work is not a story, not a novel, but a poem. Probably, in striving to create a modern poem-trilogy, Gogol could be guided by a philosophical understanding of the genre. In other words, the division of the poem into three parts could be supported by philosophical tradition.

As you know, the idea of ​​creating such a work by Gogol belonged to Pushkin. On the one hand, Gogol's "great composition" began to form, on the one hand, like a roguish novel. So, for example, the central figure is not the hero, but the antihero. The type of rogue, adventurer turned out to be one of the most suitable for the role that Gogol assigned to Chichikov. In the novel, all faces are presented in advance, before their action begins. In Dead Souls, most of the characters appear before the reader in the very first chapter: almost all the city officials, Chichikov and his companions. In the novel, the development of the plot follows the presentation of the characters and suggests an unusual plot. In "Dead Souls" after the exhibition, it is reported about "one strange property" of the guest and the company. In the novel, a "remarkable incident" affects the interests and requires the participation of all actors. In Dead Souls, Chichikov's scam unexpectedly determined the lives of hundreds of people, becoming for some time the center of attention of the city of NN. It seems that in the development of the plot lies the history of the development of character, that is, the change that in Gogol's work puts "Dead Souls" in a special place as an epic work.

In Gogol, like in Pushkin, the story is about the name of the author. However, in Eugene Onegin, as in A Hero of Our Time, the author's presence is still combined with the author's participation in the action. In Dead Souls, the narrative is different: the author-narrator is not a participant in the events, does not enter into relations with the characters. He only sets out the events, describes the life of the heroes. Thus, the constant presence of the author makes Dead Souls a lyric-epic work. Speaking of an epic work, we mean a narrative focused on the fate of an individual person, on the relationship to the world around him. It is the image of the author that helps to determine the character of the heroes, their worldview. This image is created with the help of lyrical digressions, comments on certain actions, thoughts, events in the lives of the heroes.

So, in the work of Gogol "Dead Souls" you can see a combination of many genres. Such a combination of features gives the work the character of a parable or a teaching.