Dead Souls. A Poem

Gogol burned the second volume of Dead Souls 10 days before his death... It is believed that Chichikov's journey through Russia was conceived in the image and likeness of Dante's journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. The first volume —... Russian Hell — was magnificently crafted by Gogol and became an immortal classic. In the second volume — in Purgatory, a place for repentant sinners — Gogol was disappointed and destroyed the manuscript. And the third — Russian Paradise — he didn't even find the strength to start writing. No enlightened person in Russia remained indifferent to Gogol's new work; the book moved everyone and left no one indifferent. Even in modern Russia, it is not difficult to find Gogolian characters. In this book, the reader will find the first and restored second volume of Dead Souls, based on letters and drafts, as well as the best illustrations for Gogol's poem created by the artist Alexander Agin.