Мертвые души

The great poem, a celebration of absurdity and grotesque, from which the history of Russian realism is paradoxically measured. Having conceived a three-part work in the style of the "Divine Comedy," Gogol managed to complete only the first volume — in which he introduced a new hero to literature, a businessman and a rogue, and created the immortal image of Russia as a troika flying in an unknown direction.

"Main Books of Russian Literature" is a joint series by the publishing house "Alpina. Proza" and the online project "Polka." The works published in it are chosen by contemporary writers, critics, literary scholars, and educators. This is both an attempt to define what the Russian literary canon looks like today and a new perspective on well-known works: each book is accompanied by a preface from the authors of "Polka."