Dear friends! The network presents many versions of the summary of the unforgettable poems by N. Gogol "Dead Souls". There are both very short versions and more detailed ones. We have prepared for you the "golden mean" - the optimal version of the summary of the work "Dead Souls". The text of the brief retelling is divided into volumes and chapter by chapter.

Dead Souls - a summary of the chapters

Volume one of the poem "Dead Souls" (in summary)

Chapter first

In his work "Dead Souls" N.V. Gogol describes the events that took place after the expulsion of the French from the state. It all starts with the arrival of collegiate adviser Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov to the provincial town of NN. The adviser is settled in the best hotel. Chichikov is a middle-aged man, of medium build, good-looking, slightly rounded, but this does not spoil him at all. Pavel Ivanovich is very inquisitive, even in some situations he is too annoying and annoying. He asks the tavern servant about the owner of the tavern, about the income of the owner, about all city officials, about noble landowners. He is also interested in the state of the region where he arrived.

Arriving in the city, the collegiate adviser does not sit at home, he visits everyone, from the governor to the inspector of the medical board. Everyone treats Chichikov condescendingly, because he finds a certain approach to each of the people, says certain words that are pleasant for them. They also treat him well, and this even surprises Pavel Ivanovich. For all his professional activities, for all the truth that he simply had to tell people, he experienced many negative actions in his direction, even survived an attempt on his life. Now Chichikov was looking for a place where he could live in peace.

Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov attends a house party hosted by the governor. There he deserves universal favor and successfully gets acquainted with the landowners Sobakevich and Manilov. The chief of police invites him to dinner. At this dinner, Chichikov meets the landowner Nozdrev. Then he visited the chairman of the chamber and the vice-governor, the farmer and the prosecutor. After that, he goes to the Manilov estate. This campaign in the work of N.V. Gogol's "Dead Souls" is preceded by a large author's digression. The author certifies Petrushka, who is the visitor's servant, in the smallest detail. Parsley loves to read, he has a special ability to carry with him a special smell, which in essence brings a kind of residential peace.

Chapter Two

Chichikov goes to Manilovka. However, his journey takes longer than he thought. Chichikov is met on the threshold by the owner of the estate and hugs him tightly. The Manilov house stands in the center, and around it there are many flower beds and arbors. Signs hang on the pavilions with an inscription saying that this is a place for solitude and reflection. All this decoration to some extent characterizes the owner, who is not burdened with any problems, but is too cloying. Manilov admits that Chichikov's arrival is like a sunny day for him, like the happiest holiday. The gentlemen dine in the company of the mistress of the estate and two sons, Themistoclus and Alcides. After Chichikov decides to tell about his true reason for the visit. He wants to buy from the landowner all those peasants who have already died, but no one has yet announced their death in the audit certificate. He wants to legalize such peasants as if they were still alive. The owner of the estate was very surprised by such an offer, but then agreed to the deal. Chichikov goes to Sobakevich, and meanwhile Manilov dreams that Chichikov will live next door to him across the river. That he will build a bridge across the river, and they will be best friends, and the sovereign, having learned about this, would promote them to generals.

Chapter Three

On the way to Sobakevich, Chichikov's coachman Selifan, talking with his horses, misses the right turn. A heavy downpour begins and the coachman drops his master into the mud. They have to find shelter in the dark. They find him at Nastasya Petrovna Korobochka's. The lady turns out to be a landowner who is afraid of everyone and everything. Chichikov wastes no time in vain. He starts trading dead souls with Nastasya Petrovna. Chichikov diligently explains to her that he himself will now pay taxes for them. Cursing the stupidity of the old woman, he promises to buy all the hemp and lard from her, but another time. Chichikov buys souls from her and receives a detailed list, where they are all listed. On the list, his attention is attracted by Pyotr Savelyev Disrespectful-Trough. Chichikov, having eaten pies, pancakes, pies, and so on, leaves further. The hostess is very worried, because more money had to be taken for the souls.

Chapter Four

Chichikov, driving out onto the main road to the tavern, decides to stop for a bite to eat. The author of the work, in order to bring something mysterious into this action, begins to think about all those properties of appetite that are inherent in people like our hero. During such a snack, Chichikov meets Nozdryov. He was on his way from the fair. Nozdryov complains that he lost everything at the fair. He also talks about all the delights of the fair, talks about dragoon officers, and also mentions a certain Kuvshinnikov. Nozdryov takes away his son-in-law and Chichikov. Pavel Ivanovich thinks that with the help of Nozdrev, one can profit well. Nozdryov turned out to be a man who loves history. Wherever he was, whatever he did, nothing was without history. On the table during lunch there were many dishes and a large number of drinks of dubious quality. After dinner, the son-in-law leaves for his wife, and Chichikova decides to get down to business. However, it is impossible to buy or beg for souls from Chichikov. The owner of the house offers his own conditions: to exchange, to take in addition to something, or to make a bet in the game. An insurmountable disagreement arises between the men about this, and they go to bed. The next morning, their conversation resumes again. They meet at a game of checkers. During the game, Nozdryov tries to cheat, and Chichikov notices this. It turns out that Nozdrev is on trial. Chichikov runs away in view of the arrival of the police captain.

Chapter Five

On the way, Chichikov's carriage crashes into another carriage. All the witnesses of the incident are trying to untangle the reins and return the horses to their places. Chichikov, meanwhile, admires the sixteen-year-old young lady, begins to dream of living together with her, of their future family. Sobakevich's estate is a solid building, in fact, completely to match the owner. The owner treats the guests to dinner. At the meal they talk about city officials. Sobakevich condemns them, because he is sure that all of them, without exception, are scammers. Chichikov tells the owner about his plans. They make a deal. Sobakevich is not at all afraid of such a deal. He bargained for a long time, pointing out the best qualities of each of his former serfs, provides Chichikov with a detailed list and lures a deposit from him. The bargaining continues for a long time. Chichikov assures Sobakevich that the qualities of the peasants are no longer important because they are inanimate and cannot bring physical benefit to the new owner. Sobakevich begins to hint to his potential buyer that transactions of this kind are illegal and can lead to terrible consequences. He even threatens to tell anyone who needs it, and Chichikov will face punishment. Finally, they agree on a price, draw up a document, fearing a set-up by each other. Sobakevich offers Chichikov to buy a housekeeper for the minimum price, but the guest refuses. However, later, reading the document, Pavel Ivanovich sees that Sobakevich nevertheless entered a woman - Elizabeth Vorobey. Chichikov leaves Sobakevich's estate. On the way, he asks a peasant in the village which road he needs to take to get to Plyushkin's estate. Plyushkin, among the people, behind the eyes, the peasants called patched.

The fifth chapter of the work "Dead Souls" by N.V. Gogol ends with the author making a lyrical digression about the Russian language. The author emphasizes the power of the Russian language, its richness and diversity. He also talks about such a feature of Russian people as giving nicknames to everyone. Nicknames do not arise at the wish of their owners, but in connection with some actions, various actions, a combination of circumstances. Nicknames accompany a person almost until death, you can’t get rid of them or pay off. On the territory of Russia, not only a huge number of churches, monasteries, but also a myriad of generations, tribes, peoples are rushing around the Earth ... Neither the word of a Briton, nor the word of a Frenchman, and even the word of a German can not be compared with an aptly spoken Russian word. Because only a Russian word can so briskly escape right from under the heart.

Chapter six

On the way to the landowner Plyushkin, whom Sobakevich told about, Chichikov meets a peasant. He strikes up a conversation with this guy. He gives Plushkin a clear, but not very printable nickname. The author begins the story of his former love for unfamiliar places, which now do not evoke any feelings in him. Chichikov, seeing Plyushkin, at first takes him for a housekeeper, and then in general for a beggar. The most surprising thing is that Plyushkin turned out to be a very greedy person. He even carries his old fallen off sole of his boot into a heap heaped in the master's chambers. Chichikov offers him a deal, points out all its advantages. He assures that now he will take over the taxes for the dead and runaway peasants. After a successful deal, Chichikov refuses tea with crackers. With a letter to the chairman of the chamber, he leaves in a good mood.

Chapter Seven

Chichikov spends the night at the hotel. Waking up, a pleased Chichikov studies the lists of acquired peasants, reflects on their alleged fate. Then he goes to the civil chamber in order to solve all his affairs as quickly as possible. At the gates of the hotel, he meets Manilov. He accompanies him to the very chamber. Sobakevich is already sitting at the reception in the chairman's apartment. The chairman, out of the kindness of his soul, agrees to be Plyushkin's attorney, and thereby, to a large extent, speeds up all other transactions. A discussion began on Chichikov's latest acquisitions. It was important for the chairman whether he bought so many peasants with land or for withdrawal, and to what places he would take them. Chichikov intended to bring the peasants to the Kherson province. At the meeting, all the properties possessed by the sold men were also revealed. After all this, champagne was opened. Later, everyone went to the chief of police, where they drank to the health of the new Kherson landowner. Everyone is quite excited. They even try to forcibly leave Chichikov there, on the condition that they will soon find him a worthy wife.

Chapter Eight

Everyone in the city is talking about Chichikov's purchases, many even gossip that he is a millionaire. Girls go crazy for him. Before the ball at the governor's, Chichikov even receives a mysterious love letter, which even a fan did not deign to sign. Having dressed up for the event, in full readiness, he goes to the ball. There he moves from one embrace to another, circling from one to the other in a dance. Chichikov tried to find the sender of that unnamed letter. There were even a lot of disputes between the girls for his attention. However, his search stops when the governor's wife approaches him. He forgets absolutely everything, because next to him is a sixteen-year-old blonde, it was with her crew that he ran into on the way here. With this behavior, he instantly loses the location of all the ladies. Chichikov is completely immersed in a conversation with a chic and charming blonde, neglecting the attention from other ladies. Suddenly, Nozdryov comes to the ball, his appearance promises Pavel Ivanovich huge troubles. Nozdryov asks Chichikov for the whole hall and at the top of his voice whether he has bought a lot of the dead. Despite the fact that Nozdryov was pretty drunk, and the whole resting society had no time for such statements, Chichikov becomes uneasy. And he leaves in complete sadness and confusion.

Chapter Nine

At the same time, due to increasing anxiety, the landowner Korobochkova arrives in the city. She hurries to find out at what price one can buy dead souls at the present time. The news about the buying and selling of dead souls becomes the property of one pleasant lady, then another. This story gets even more interesting details. They say that Chichikov, armed to the teeth, rushes to Korobochka at dead midnight, demands the souls that have died. He instantly inspires fear and terror in people. People are even starting to think that dead souls are just a cover. But in fact, Chichikov just wants to take the governor's daughter away. Having discussed in full the details of this event, Nozdryov's participation in it and the dignity of the governor's daughter, both ladies tell the prosecutor about everything and are going to start a riot in the city.

Chapter ten briefly

In a fairly short time, the city revived. News continues to appear one after another. There is news about the appointment of a new governor-general. New papers appear in the case of fake banknotes and, of course, about the insidious robber who fled from legal persecution. Due to the fact that Chichikov spoke little about himself, people have to collect his image by thread. They recall what Chichikov said about the people who attempted on his life. In his statement, the postmaster, for example, writes that Chichikov, in his opinion, is a kind of captain Kopeikin. This captain seemed to take up arms against the injustice of the whole world and became a robber. However, this version was rejected by everyone, since it follows from the story that the captain was missing one arm and one leg, and Chichikov was safe and sound. There are various assumptions. There is even a version that he is Napoleon in disguise. Many are beginning to see a certain similarity in them, especially in profile. Interrogations of participants in the actions, such as Korobochkin, Manilov and Sobakevich, do not yield results. Nozdryov only increases the already existing confusion of the citizens. He declares Chichikov a spy who makes false banknotes and intends to take the governor's daughter away. Such a huge number of versions negatively affect the prosecutor, he has a stroke, and he dies.

Chapter Eleven

Chichikov, meanwhile, is sitting at his hotel with a slight cold and is sincerely surprised that none of the officials has ever visited him. Soon he himself goes to the governor and realizes that he is not wanted there and will not be accepted. In other places, all people fearfully shun him. Nozdryov, when visiting Chichikov at the hotel, tells him about everything that happened. He assures Pavel Ivanovich that he agrees to help in the kidnapping of the governor's daughter.

The very next day, Chichikov hurriedly leaves. However, on his way there is a funeral procession, and he is simply forced to look at all the officials, and at the prosecutor Brichk lying in the coffin. Having decided that it is time for the hero, who has already done a lot of things, to rest, the author decides to tell the whole story of Pavel Ivanovich's life. The story is about his childhood, schooling, where he was already able to show all his mind and ingenuity. The author also talks about the relationship of the protagonist with his comrades and teacher, about his service, work in the commission of a state-owned building, subsequent departure to other, not so profitable places, transfer to the customs service. Around him he made a lot of money, concluding fake contracts, conspiracies, working with smuggling, and so on. During his life, he was even able to avoid a criminal trial, but was forced to retire. He became a trustee. During the fuss about the pledge of the peasants, he laid down his insidious plan in his head. And only then he began to go around the space of Russia. He wanted to buy dead souls, put them in the treasury as if they were alive, get money, buy a village and provide for future offspring.

The author partly justifies his hero, calling him the owner, who acquired a lot, who was able to build such an entertaining chain of actions with his mind. Thus ends the first volume of N.V. Gogol "Dead Souls".

Volume two of the poem Dead Souls (summary of chapters)

The second volume of the work of N.V. Gogol " Dead Souls ” begins with a description of the nature that makes up the estate of Andrei Ivanovich Tentetnikov, nicknamed the smoker of the sky. The author tells about all the futility of his pastime. Then comes the story of a life that is full of hope at its very beginning, then overshadowed by the pettiness of the service and subsequent troubles. The hero retires, intending to improve his estate. He dreams of reading many books. But reality does not give the expected results, the man remains idle. Tentetnikov's hands drop. He cuts off all his acquaintances with neighbors. He was greatly offended by the treatment of General Betrishchevai. Because of this, she stops visiting him, despite the fact that she cannot forget his daughter Ulinka.

It is to Tentetnikov that Chichikov is on his way. He justifies his arrival by the breakdown of the crew, and, of course, he is overcome by the desire to pay his respects. Pavel Ivanovich liked the owner because he had an amazing ability to adapt to anything. After Chichikov goes to the general, to whom he tells the story of his absurd uncle and, of course, does not forget to beg the owner for dead souls. The general laughs at Chichikov. Then Chichikov goes to Colonel Koshkarev. However, everything does not go according to his plan, and he ends up with Pyotr Petrovich Rooster. Pavel Ivanovich finds the rooster completely naked, hunting sturgeon. Pyotr Petrovich's estate was mortgaged, which means that buying dead souls is simply impossible. Pavel Ivanovich meets the landowner Platonov, persuades him to travel together in Russia and goes to Konstantin Fedorovich Kostanzhoglo, who is married to Platonov's sister. He, in turn, tells the guests about the ways of housekeeping, with the help of which you can significantly increase your income. Chichikov is terribly inspired by this idea.

Chichikov visits Colonel Koshkarev, who also mortgaged his estate, while dividing his village into committees, expeditions and departments. Returning, he listens to the curse of the bile Costanjoglo, addressed to factories and manufactories. Chichikov is touched, he awakens a craving for honest work. After listening to the story of the farmer Murazov, who made millions in an irreproachable way, he goes to Khlobuev. There he observes the unrest of his household in the neighborhood with a governess for children, a fashionable wife and other signs of luxury. Borrows money from Costanjoglo and Platonov. Gives a deposit for the estate. He goes to the Platonov estate, where he meets his brother Vasily, with a chic household. Then Lenitsyn receives dead souls from their neighbor.

Chichikov is in the city at the fair, where he acquires a lingonberry-colored fabric with a spark. He meets with Khlobuev, whom he annoyed, almost depriving him of his inheritance, by some kind of incitement. Meanwhile, denunciations are being found against Chichikov both about the forgery and about the sale and purchase of dead souls. Then a gendarme appears, taking away smart Chichikov to the governor-general. All the atrocities of Chichikov are revealed, he falls at the feet of the general, but this does not save him. Murazov finds Chichikov in a dark closet, tearing his hair and tailcoat. He persuades Pavel Ivanovich to live honestly and goes to soften the governor general. Many officials who want to harm their superiors and receive an award from Chichikov deliver a box to him, kidnap a witness and write denunciations, confusing even more an already difficult matter. Terrible riots begin to occur in the province. This worries the Governor General very much. Murazov, on the other hand, was a rather cunning person, giving advice to the general in such a way that he releases Chichikov. On this second volume of the work of N.V. Gogol's "Dead Souls" ends.

"Dead Souls" is a complex work with multi-level text, where even experienced readers can get lost. Therefore, a brief retelling of Gogol's poem chapter by chapter, as well as her, which will help students to penetrate the author's large-scale intentions, will not harm anyone.

Comments on the entire text or image of a particular class, he asks to be sent to him personally, for which he will be grateful.

Chapter first

The chaise of Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov (here is his) - a collegiate adviser - accompanied by the servants of Selifan and Petrushka, calls into the city of NN. Chichikov's description is quite typical: he is not handsome, but not bad-looking, not thin, but not fat, not young, but not old either.

Chichikov, showing masterful hypocrisy and the ability to find an approach to everyone, gets acquainted with all the important officials and makes a good impression on them. At the governor's, he meets the landowners Manilov and Sobakevich, and at the police chief, Nozdryov. All he undertakes to pay a visit.

Chapter Two

The author writes about Chichikov's servants: Petrushka and the drinking coachman Selifan. Pavel Ivanovich goes to Manilov (here is him), to the village of Manilovka. In the manners and portrait of the landowner, everything was too sugary, he thinks only about abstract things, he can’t finish reading one book and dreams of building a stone bridge, but only in words.

Manilov lives here with his wife and two children, whose names are Alkid and Themistoclus. Chichikov says that he wants to buy "dead souls" from him - dead peasants who are still on the revision lists. He refers to the desire to save the newfound friend from paying taxes. The landowner, after a short fright, gladly agrees to give them to the guest for free. Pavel Ivanovich hurriedly leaves him and goes to Sobakevich, satisfied with the successful start of his enterprise.

Chapter Three

On the way to Sobakevich's house, due to the inattention of the coachman Selifan, the britzka drives far from the right road and gets into an accident. Chichikov is forced to ask for a lodging for the night with the landowner Nastasya Petrovna Korobochka (here is her).

The old woman is too frugal, incredibly stupid, but very successful. Order reigns on her estate, she conducts business with many merchants. The widow keeps all her old things and receives the guest with suspicion. In the morning Chichikov tried to talk about "dead souls," but for a long time Nastasya Petrovna could not understand how the dead could be traded. Finally, after a small scandal, an irritated official makes a deal and sets off on a repaired chaise.

Chapter Four

Chichikov enters a tavern, where he meets the landowner Nozdrev (here he is). He is an avid gambler, a fan of inventing tall tales, a reveler and a talker.

Nozdryov calls Chichikov to his estate. Pavel Ivanovich asks him about "dead souls", but the landowner inquires about the purpose of such an unusual purchase. He offers the hero to buy other expensive goods along with the souls, but everything ends in a quarrel.

The next morning, the gambling Nozdryov invites the guest to play checkers: the prize is “dead souls”. Chichikov notices the landowner's fraud, after which he runs away from the danger of a fight, thanks to the police captain who has entered.

Chapter Five

Chichikov's chaise runs over the carriage, causing a slight delay. A pretty girl, noticed by Pavel Ivanovich, will later turn out to be the governor's daughter. The hero drives up to the huge village of Sobakevich (here is his), everything in his house is of impressive size, like the owner himself, whom the author compares with a clumsy bear. The detail is especially characteristic: a massive, roughly knocked together table, which reflects the disposition of the owner.

The landowner speaks rudely of everyone whom Chichikov speaks of, recalling Plyushkin, whose serfs endlessly die because of the stinginess of the owner. Sobakevich calmly sets a high price for the dead peasants, he himself begins to talk about the sale. After much bargaining, Chichikov manages to buy a few souls. The chaise goes to the landowner Plyushkin.

Chapter six

The village of Plyushkina has a miserable appearance: the windows are without glass, the gardens are abandoned, the houses are overgrown with mold. Chichikov takes the owner for an old housekeeper. Plyushkin (here he is), looking like a beggar, escorts the guest to a dusty house.

This is the only landowner whose past the author tells about. The master's wife and youngest daughter died, the rest of the children left him. The house was empty, and Plyushkin gradually sank to such a miserable state. He is glad to get rid of the dead peasants so as not to pay taxes for them, and happily sells them to Chichikov at a low price. Pavel Ivanovich goes back to NN.

Chapter Seven

Chichikov, on the way, examines the collected records and notices the variety of names of the dead peasants. He meets Manilov and Sobakevich.

The chairman of the chamber quickly draws up documents. Chichikov reports that he bought serfs for withdrawal to the Kherson province. Officials celebrate the success of Pavel Ivanovich.

Chapter Eight

Chichikov's huge acquisitions become known throughout the city. Various rumors are spreading. Pavel Ivanovich finds an anonymous letter of love content.

At the ball at the governor's, he meets a girl whom he saw on the way to Sobakevich. He is fond of the governor's daughter, forgetting about other ladies.

The sudden appearance of a drunken Nozdryov almost frustrates Chichikov's plan: the landowner begins to tell everyone how the traveler bought dead peasants from him. He is taken out of the hall, after which Chichikov leaves the ball. At the same time, Korobochka goes to find out from her friends whether her guest has set the right price for "dead souls".

Chapter Nine

Friends Anna Grigoryevna and Sofya Ivanovna gossip about a visiting official: they think that Chichikov is acquiring "dead souls" in order to please the governor's daughter or kidnap her, in which Nozdryov can become his accomplice.

The landlords are afraid of punishment for the scam, so they keep the deal a secret. Chichikov is not invited to dinners. Everyone in the city is busy with the news that a counterfeiter and a robber are hiding somewhere in the province. Suspicion immediately falls on the buyer of dead souls.

Chapter Ten

The police chief is debating who Pavel Ivanovich is. Some people think he is Napoleon. The postmaster is sure that this is none other than Captain Kopeikin, and tells his story.

When Captain Kopeikin fought in 1812, he lost his leg and arm. He came to St. Petersburg to ask for help from the governor, but the meeting was postponed several times. The soldier soon ran out of money. As a result, he is advised to return home and wait for the help of the sovereign. Shortly after his departure, robbers appeared in the Ryazan forests, whose chieftain, by all indications, is Captain Kopeikin.

But Chichikov has all the arms and legs, so everyone understands that this version is wrong. Because of the excitement, the prosecutor dies, Chichikov has a cold for the third day and does not leave the house. When he recovers, he is denied admission to the governor, and others treat him the same way. Nozdryov tells him about the rumors, praises him for the idea of kidnapping the governor's daughter and offers his help. The hero understands that he must urgently run away from the city.

Chapter Eleven

In the morning, after some delays in preparations, Chichikov sets off. He sees the prosecutor being buried. Pavel Ivanovich leaves the city.

The author tells about Chichikov's past. He was born into a noble family. His father often reminded his son of the need to please everyone and take care of every penny. At the school, Pavlush already knew how to earn money, for example, by selling pies and showing performances of a trained mouse for a fee.

Then he began to serve in the Treasury. Pavel Ivanovich made his way to a high position by announcing to the old official that he was going to marry his daughter. In all positions, Chichikov used his official position, which is why he once got on trial for a smuggling case.

One day, Pavel Ivanovich got excited about the idea of buying "dead souls" in order to ask Kherson province for their placement. Then he could get a lot of money on the security of non-existent people and make himself a big fortune.

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DEAD SOULS

Gogol called his work a "poem", the author meant "a lesser kind of epic ... A prospectus for an educational book of literature for Russian youth. The hero of the epic is a private and invisible person, but significant in many respects for observing the human soul. Nevertheless, the poem contains features of a social and adventurous-adventure novel. The composition of "Dead Souls" is built on the principle of "concentric circles" - the city, the estates of landowners, all of Russia as a whole.

Volume 1

CHAPTER 1

At the gates of the hotel in the provincial town of NN, a britzka drove in, in which the gentleman “is not handsome, but not bad-looking, not too fat, not too thin; one cannot say that he is old, but it is not so that he is too young. This gentleman is Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov. At the hotel, he eats a hearty meal. The author describes the provincial town: “The houses were one, two and one and a half stories high, with an eternal mezzanine, very beautiful, according to provincial architects.

In places, these houses seemed lost among the wide, field-like streets and endless wooden fences; in some places they crowded together, and here there was noticeably more movement of the people and liveliness. There were signs almost washed away by the rain with pretzels and boots, in some places with painted blue trousers and the signature of some Arshavian tailor; where is the store with caps, caps and the inscription: “Foreigner Vasily Fedorov” ... Most often, darkened double-headed state eagles were noticeable, which have now been replaced by a laconic inscription: “Drinking House”. The pavement was bad everywhere.”

Chichikov pays visits to city officials - the governor, vice-governor, chairman of the chamber * prosecutor, police chief, as well as the inspector of the medical board, the city architect. Chichikov builds excellent relations everywhere and with everyone with the help of flattery, gains confidence in each of those whom he visited. Each of the officials invites Pavel Ivanovich to visit him, although little is known about him.

Chichikov attended a ball at the governor's, where “he somehow knew how to find himself in everything and showed in himself an experienced secular person. Whatever the conversation was about, he always knew how to support it: if it was about a horse farm, he talked about a horse farm; whether they talked about good dogs, and here he reported very sensible remarks; whether they interpreted it with regard to the investigation carried out by the Treasury, he showed that he was not unfamiliar with judicial tricks; whether there was a discussion about the billiard game - and in the billiard game he did not miss; whether they talked about virtue, and he talked about virtue very well, even with tears in his eyes; about making hot wine, and in hot wine he knew Zrok; about customs overseers and officials, and he judged them as if he himself were both an official and an overseer. But it is remarkable that he knew how to clothe all this with some degree, knew how to behave well. He spoke neither loudly nor softly, but exactly as he should. At the ball, he met the landowners Manilov and Sobakevich, whom he also managed to win over. Chichikov finds out the condition of their estates and how many peasants they have. Manilov and Sobakevich invite Chichikov to their estate. While visiting the chief of police, Chichikov met the landowner Nozdrev, "a man of about thirty, a broken fellow."

CHAPTER 2

Chichikov has two servants - the coachman Selifan and the footman Petrushka. The latter reads a lot and everything in a row, while he is not interested in what he has read, but in folding letters into words. In addition, Parsley has a "special smell" because he very rarely goes to the bathhouse.

Chichikov goes to the Manilov estate. For a long time he cannot find his estate. “The village of Manilovka could lure a few with its location. The master's house stood alone in the south, that is, on a hill, open to all the winds that only take it into their head to blow; the slope of the mountain on which he stood was dressed in trimmed turf. Two or three flowerbeds with lilac and yellow acacia bushes were scattered on it in the English style; here and there five or six birches in small clusters raised their small-leaved thin tops. Beneath two of them was a gazebo with a flat green dome, blue wooden columns and the inscription: "Temple of Solitary Reflection"; lower down is a pond covered with greenery, which, however, is not a wonder in the English gardens of Russian landowners. At the foot of this elevation, and partly along the slope itself, gray log huts darkened up and down ... ”Manilov is glad to have a guest. The author describes the landowner and his household: “He was a prominent person; his features were not devoid of pleasantness, but this pleasantness seemed to have been conveyed too much sugar; in his manners and turns there was something ingratiating himself with favors and acquaintances. He smiled enticingly, was blond, with blue eyes. In the first minute of a conversation with him, you can’t help but say: “What a pleasant and kind person!” In the next minute you will not say anything, and in the third you will say: “The devil knows what it is!” - and move away if you don’t move away, you will feel mortal boredom. You won’t expect any lively or even arrogant words from him, which you can hear from almost anyone if you touch on a subject that provokes him ... You can’t say that he was engaged in farming, he never even went to the fields, farming went on somehow by itself. .. Sometimes, looking from the porch at the yard and at the pond, he talked about how good it would be if suddenly an underground passage was built from the house or a stone bridge was built across the pond, on which there would be shops on both sides, and so that in merchants sat there and sold various small goods needed by the peasants ... All these projects ended with only one word. In his study there was always some kind of book, bookmarked on the fourteenth page, which he had been constantly reading for two years. Something was always missing in his house: in the living room there was beautiful furniture, upholstered in smart silk fabric, which, no doubt, was very expensive; but it was not enough for two armchairs, and the armchairs were simply upholstered with matting... curled up on the side and covered in fat, although neither the owner, nor the hostess, nor the servants noticed this.

Manilov's wife is very suitable for him in character. There is no order in the house, because she does not follow anything. She is well brought up, she received her upbringing in a boarding school, “and in boarding schools, as you know, three main subjects form the basis of human virtues: the French language, which is necessary for the happiness of family life, the piano, for composing pleasant minutes for a spouse, and, finally, the economic part proper: knitting purses and other surprises.

Manilov and Chichikov show an exaggerated courtesy towards each other, which brings them to the point that they both squeeze through the same door at the same time. The Manilovs invite Chichikov to dinner, which is attended by both of Manilov's sons: Themistoclus and Alkid. The first has a runny nose and bites his brother's ear. Alkid, swallowing tears, all smeared with fat, eats a leg of lamb.

At the end of dinner, Manilov and Chichikov go to the owner's office, where they have a business conversation. Chichikov asks Manilov for revision tales - a detailed register of peasants who died after the last census. He wants to buy dead souls. Manilov is amazed. Chichikov convinces him that everything will happen in accordance with the law, that the tax will be paid. Manilov finally calms down and gives away the dead souls for free, believing that he has rendered Chichikov a great service. Chichikov leaves, and Manilov indulges in dreams, in which it comes to the point that for their strong friendship with Chichikov, the tsar will grant both of them the rank of general.

CHAPTER 3

Chichikov is poisoned at Sobakevich's estate, but gets caught in heavy rain and loses his way. His cart flips over and falls into the mud. Nearby is the estate of the landowner Nastasya Petrovna Korobochka, where Chichikov comes. He goes into the room, which “was hung with old striped wallpaper; pictures with some birds; between the windows there are small antique mirrors with dark frames in the form of curled leaves; behind every mirror there was either a letter, or an old pack of cards, or a stocking; a wall clock with painted flowers on the dial ... it was impossible to notice anything else ... A minute later the hostess entered, an elderly woman, in some kind of sleeping cap, put on hastily, with a flannel around her neck, one of those mothers, small landowners, who cry for crop failures, losses and keep their heads somewhat to one side, and meanwhile they collect a little money in colorful bags placed in drawers of chests of drawers ... "

Korobochka leaves Chichikov to spend the night in his house. In the morning, Chichikov starts a conversation with her about selling dead souls. The box cannot understand why he needs them, he offers to buy honey or hemp from her. She is constantly afraid to sell cheap. Chichikov manages to convince her to agree to a deal only after he tells a lie about himself - that he conducts government contracts, promises to buy both honey and hemp from her in the future. The box believes it. Bidding has been going on for a long time, after which the deal did take place. Chichikov keeps his papers in a box, consisting of many compartments and having a secret drawer for money.

CHAPTER 4

Chichikov stops at a tavern, to which Nozdryov's chaise soon drives up. Nozdryov is “of medium height, a very well-built fellow with full ruddy cheeks, teeth as white as snow, and sideburns as black as pitch. He was fresh as blood and milk; health seemed to spurt from his face. He said with a very pleased look that he lost, and lost not only his money,

I but also the money of his son-in-law Mizhuev, who is present right there. Nozdryov invites Chichikov to his place, promising a tasty treat. He himself drinks in a tavern at the expense of his son-in-law. The author characterizes Nozdryov as a “broken fellow”, from that breed of people who “even in childhood and at school are known as good comrades and, for all that, are heavily beaten painfully ... They soon get to know each other, and before you have time to look back, as they already say you "you". Friendship will start, it seems, forever: but it almost always happens that the one who makes friends will fight with them that same evening at a friendly feast. They are always talkers, revelers, reckless people, prominent people. Nozdryov at thirty-five was exactly the same as he had been at eighteen and twenty: a go-getter. His marriage did not change him at all, especially since his wife soon departed for the next world, leaving behind two children who he absolutely did not need ... At home, he could not sit for more than a day. His sensitive nose could hear him for several tens of miles, where there was a fair with all sorts of congresses and balls; he was already there in the twinkling of an eye, arguing and causing confusion at the green table, for, like all such, he had a passion for cards ... Nozdryov was in a certain sense a historical person. Not a single meeting he attended was without a story. Some kind of story was bound to happen: either they would lead him out of the gendarme hall by the arms, or they would be forced to push him out of his own friends ... And he would lie completely without any need: he would suddenly tell that he had a horse of some blue or pink wool, and such nonsense, so that the listeners finally all move away, saying: “Well, brother, it seems you have already begun to pour bullets.”

Nozdrev refers to those people who have "a passion to spoil their neighbor, sometimes for no reason at all." His favorite pastime was to exchange things and lose money and property. Arriving at Nozdryov's estate, Chichikov sees an unsightly stallion, about which Nozdryov says that he paid ten thousand for him. He shows a kennel where a dubious breed of dog is kept. Nozdrev is a master of lies. He talks about the fact that in his pond there is a fish of unusual size, that on his Turkish daggers there is a brand of a famous master. The dinner to which this landowner invited Chichikov was bad.

Chichikov begins business negotiations, while saying that he needs dead souls for a profitable marriage, so that the bride's parents believe that he is a wealthy person. Nozdryov is going to donate dead souls and, in addition, he is trying to sell a stallion, a mare, a hurdy-gurdy, and so on. Chichikov flatly refuses. Nozdryov invites him to play cards, which Chichikov also refuses. For this refusal, Nozdryov orders to feed Chichikov's horse not with oats, but with hay, which the guest is offended by. Nozdryov does not feel awkward, and in the morning, as if nothing had happened, he invites Chichikov to play checkers. He recklessly agrees. The landlord starts cheating. Chichikov accuses him of this, Nozdryov climbs in to fight, calls the servants and orders to beat the guest. Suddenly, a police captain appears, who arrests Nozdryov for insulting the landowner Maksimov while drunk. Nozdryov refuses everything, says that he does not know any Maksimov. Chichikov quickly leaves.

CHAPTER 5

Through the fault of Selifan, Chichikov's chaise collides with another chaise, in which two ladies are traveling - an elderly and sixteen-year-old very beautiful girl. The men gathered from the village separate the horses. Chichikov is shocked by the beauty of the young girl, and after the carts have parted, he thinks about her for a long time. The traveler drives up to the village of Mikhail Semenovich Sobakevich. “A wooden house with a mezzanine, a red roof and dark or, better, wild walls, is a house like those we build for military settlements and German colonists. It was noticeable that during the construction of its architect, he constantly fought with the taste of the owner. The architect was a pedant and wanted symmetry, the owner - convenience, and, apparently, as a result of this he boarded up all the corresponding windows on one side and turned in their place one small one, probably needed for a dark closet. The pediment also did not fit in the middle of the house, no matter how hard the architect struggled, because the owner ordered one column to be thrown out from the side, and therefore there were not four columns, as it was appointed, but only three. The yard was surrounded by a strong and unreasonably thick wooden lattice. The landowner seemed to be fussing a lot about strength. For the stables, sheds and kitchens, full-weight and thick logs were used, determined to stand for centuries. The village huts of the peasants were also built marvelously: there were no brick walls, carved patterns, and other frills, but everything was fitted tightly and properly. Even the well was lined with such strong oak, which is used only for mills and ships. In a word, everything he looked at was stubbornly, without shaking, in some kind of strong and clumsy order.

The owner himself seems to Chichikov like a bear. “To complete the resemblance, the tailcoat on him was completely bearish in color, the sleeves were long, the pantaloons were long, he stepped with his feet and at random and stepped incessantly on other people's legs. The complexion was red-hot, hot, which happens on a copper penny ... "

Sobakevich had a habit of expressing himself straightforwardly about everything. About the governor, he says that he is "the first robber in the world," and the police chief is "a swindler." Sobakevich eats a lot at dinner. He tells the guest about his neighbor Plyushkin, a very stingy man who owns eight hundred peasants.

Chichikov says that he wants to buy dead souls, to which Sobakevich is not surprised, but immediately starts bidding. He promises to sell 100 rudders for each dead soul, while saying that the dead were real masters. Trade for a long time. In the end, they agree on three rubles apiece, while drawing up a document, since each fears dishonesty on the part of the other. Sobakevich offers to buy female dead souls cheaper, but Chichikov refuses, although later it turns out that the landowner nevertheless entered one woman in the bill of sale. Chichikov leaves. On the way, he asks the peasant how to get to Plyushkina. The chapter ends with a lyrical digression about the Russian language. “The Russian people are expressing themselves strongly! and if he rewards someone with a word, then it will go to his family and offspring, he will drag him with him to service, and retirement, and to St. . And where is everything that came out of the depths of Russia, where there are neither German, nor Chukhonian, nor any other tribes, and everything itself is a nugget, a lively and lively Russian mind that does not go into the pocket for a word, does not hatch it , like a hen chickens, but immediately slaps like a passport on an eternal sock, and there is nothing to add later, what kind of nose or lips you have - you are outlined in one line from head to toe! Just as a myriad of churches, monasteries with domes, domes, and crosses are scattered over holy, pious Russia, so a myriad of tribes, generations, and peoples throng, dazzle, and rush about on the face of the earth. And every nation that bears within itself a guarantee of strength, full of the creative abilities of the soul, its bright features and other gifts of the foot, each in a peculiar way distinguished itself by its own word, which, expressing any object, reflects in the expression of it a part of its own character. The word of the Briton will echo with the knowledge of the heart and the wise knowledge of life; The short-lived word of a Frenchman will flash and scatter like a light dandy; the German will intricately invent his own, not accessible to everyone, cleverly thin word; but there is no word that would be so bold, so briskly burst out from under the very heart, so seething and quivering like a well-spoken Russian word.

CHAPTER 6

The chapter begins with a lyrical digression about travel. “Before, a long time ago, in the years of my youth, in the years of my irretrievably flashed childhood, it was fun for me to drive up to an unfamiliar place for the first time: it doesn’t matter whether it was a village, a poor county town, a village, a suburb, - I discovered a lot of curious things in him a childlike curious look. Every structure, everything that bore only on itself the imprint of some noticeable feature - everything stopped and amazed me ... Now I indifferently drive up to any unfamiliar village and indifferently look at its vulgar appearance; my chilled gaze is uncomfortable, it’s not funny to me, and what in previous years would have awakened a lively movement in the face, laughter and incessant speeches, now slips by, and my motionless lips keep an indifferent silence. O my youth! O my freshness!

Chichikov goes to Plyushkin's estate, for a long time he cannot find the master's house. Finally finds a "strange castle" that looks like a "decrepit invalid". “In places it was one floor, in places two; on the dark roof, which did not reliably protect his old age everywhere, two belvederes stuck out, one opposite the other, both already tottering, deprived of the paint that once covered them. The walls of the house slitted bare stucco lattice in places and, apparently, suffered a lot from all sorts of bad weather, rains, whirlwinds and autumn changes. Of the windows, only two were open; the rest were shuttered or even boarded up. These two windows, for their part, were also half-sighted; one of them had a dark pasted triangle of blue sugar paper. Chichikov meets a man of indeterminate sex (he cannot understand whether this is a man or a woman). He decides that this is the housekeeper, but then it turns out that this is the rich landowner Stepan Plyushkin. The author tells how Plyushkin came to such a life. In the past, he was a thrifty landowner, he had a wife who was famous for hospitality, and three children. But after the death of his wife, "Plyushkin became more restless and, like all widowers, more suspicious and stingy." He cursed his daughter, as she ran away and married an officer of the cavalry regiment. The youngest daughter died, and the son, instead of studying, decided to join the military. Every year Plyushkin became more stingy. Very soon the merchants stopped taking goods from him, because they could not bargain with the landowner. All his goods - hay, wheat, flour, canvas - everything rotted. Plyushkin, on the other hand, saved up everything, and at the same time picked up other people's things that he didn’t need at all. His stinginess knew no bounds: for all Plyushkin's household there were only boots, he kept rusk for several months, he knew exactly how much liquor he had in his decanter, because he made marks. When Chichikov tells him what he came for, Plyushkin is very happy. He offers the guest to buy not only dead souls, but also runaway peasants. Traded. The received money hides in a box. It is clear that this money, like others, he will never use. Chichikov leaves, to the great joy of the owner, refusing the treat. Returns to the hotel.

CHAPTER 7

The narrative begins with a lyrical digression about two types of writers. “Happy is the writer who, past the characters of boring, nasty, striking in their sad reality, approaches characters that show the high dignity of a person who, from the great pool of daily revolving images, chose only a few exceptions, who never changed the sublime order of his lyre, did not descend from his peak to his poor, insignificant brethren, and, without touching the earth, all plunged into his images, far torn away from her and exalted ... indifferent eyes do not see - all the terrible, amazing ^ lanu of trifles that have entangled our life, all the depth of the cold, fragmented, everyday characters that our earthly, sometimes bitter and boring road is teeming with, and with the strong force of the inexorable chisel that dares to expose them convexly and brightly on public eyes! He cannot gather popular applause, he cannot see grateful tears and the unanimous delight of the souls excited by him ... Without separation, without answer, without participation, like a familyless traveler, he will remain alone in the middle of the road. Severe is his field, and he will bitterly feel his loneliness.

After all the registered merchants, Chichikov becomes the owner of four hundred dead souls. He reflects on who these people were in life. Leaving the hotel on the street, Chichikov meets Manilov. Together they go to make a bill of sale. In the office, Chichikov gives a bribe to the official Ivan Antonovich Kuvshinnoye Rylo to speed up the process. However, the giving of a bribe goes unnoticed - the official covers the banknote with a book, and it seems to disappear. Sobakevich sits at the head. Chichikov arranges for the bill of sale to be completed within a day, since he supposedly needs to leave urgently. He gives the chairman a letter from Plyushkin, in which he asks him to be an attorney in his case, to which the chairman gladly agrees.

Documents are drawn up in the presence of witnesses, Chichikov pays only half of the fee to the treasury, while the other half "was attributed in some incomprehensible way to the account of another petitioner." After a successful deal, everyone goes to dinner at the police chief, during which Sobakevich eats a huge sturgeon alone. The tipsy guests ask Chichikov to stay and decide to marry him. Chichikov informs the audience that he is buying peasants for withdrawal to the Kherson province, where he has already acquired an estate. He himself believes in what he says. Parsley and Se-lifan, after sending the drunken owner to the hotel, go for a walk in a tavern.

CHAPTER 8

Residents of the city are discussing what Chichikov bought. Everyone tries to offer him help in delivering the peasants to the place. Among the proposed - a convoy, a police captain to pacify a possible rebellion, enlightenment of serfs. A description of the city dwellers follows: “they were all kind people, living in harmony with each other, treated in a completely friendly way, and their conversations bore the stamp of some special simplicity and brevity: “Dear friend Ilya Ilyich”, “Listen, brother, Antipator Zakharyevich!”... To the postmaster, whose name was Ivan Andreyevich, they always added: “Sprechen zadeich, Ivan Andreich?” - in a word, everything was very family. Many were not without education: the chairman of the chamber knew Zhukovsky’s Lyudmila by heart, which was still news that had not caught a cold ... The postmaster went more into philosophy and read very diligently, even at night, Jung’s Nights and The Key to the Mysteries of Nature ” Eckartshausen, from which he made very long extracts ... he was witty, flowery in words and loved, as he himself put it, to equip speech. Others were also more or less enlightened people: some read Karamzin, some Moskovskiye Vedomosti, some even read nothing at all... It is already known about plausibility, they were all reliable consumptive people, there was no one among them. All were of the kind to which the wives, in tender conversations taking place in solitude, gave names: egg-pods, chubby, pot-bellied, nigella, kicks, buzz, and so on. But in general they were kind people, full of hospitality, and a person who ate bread with them or spent an evening playing whist was already becoming something close ... "

The ladies of the city were “what they call presentable, and in this respect they could be safely set as an example to everyone else ... They dressed with great taste, drove around the city in carriages, as the latest fashion prescribed, a lackey swayed behind, and a livery in gold braids ... In morals, the ladies of the city of N. were strict, filled with noble indignation against everything vicious and all sorts of temptations, they executed all weaknesses without any mercy ... It must also be said that the ladies of the city of N. were distinguished, like many ladies from St. Petersburg, by unusual caution and propriety in words and expressions. They never said: “I blew my nose”, “I sweated”, “I spat”, but they said: “I relieved my nose”, “I managed with a handkerchief”. In no case was it possible to say: "this glass or this plate stinks." And you couldn't even say anything that would give a hint of this, but instead they said: "this glass is not behaving well" or something like that. In order to ennoble the Russian language even more, almost half of the words were completely thrown out of the conversation, and therefore it was very often necessary to resort to French, but there, in French, it’s another matter: words were allowed there that were much harder than those mentioned.

All the ladies of the city are delighted with Chichikov, one of them even sent him a love letter. Chichikov is invited to the governor's ball. Before the ball, he spins for a long time in front of the mirror. At the ball, he is in the spotlight, trying to figure out who the author of the letter is. The governor introduces Chichikov to her daughter - the very girl he saw in the britzka. He almost falls in love with her, but she misses his company. Other ladies are outraged that all of Chichikov's attention goes to the governor's daughter. Suddenly, Nozdryov appears, who tells the governor about how Chichikov offered to buy dead souls from him. The news quickly spreads, while the ladies pass it on as if they do not believe in it, since everyone knows the reputation of Nozdryov. Korobochka comes to the city at night, who is interested in the prices of dead souls - she is afraid that she has sold too cheap.

CHAPTER 9

The chapter describes the visit of a "pleasant lady" to a "lady pleasant in every way". Her visit falls an hour earlier than the usual time for visits in the city - she is in such a hurry to tell the news she has heard. The lady tells her friend that Chichikov is a robber in disguise, who demanded that Korobochka sell him dead peasants. The ladies decide that the dead souls are just a pretext, in fact Chichikov is going to take the governor's daughter away. They discuss the behavior of the girl, herself, recognize her as unattractive, mannered. The husband of the mistress of the house appears - the prosecutor, to whom the ladies tell the news, which confuses him.

The men of the city are discussing the purchase of Chichikov, the women are discussing the kidnapping of the governor's daughter. The story is replenished with details, it is decided that Chichikov has an accomplice, and this accomplice is probably Nozdrev. Chichikov is credited with organizing a peasant riot in Borovki, Zadi-railovo-tozh, during which the assessor Drobyazhkin was killed. In addition, the governor receives news that a robber has escaped and a counterfeiter has appeared in the province. There is a suspicion that one of these persons is Chichikov. The public can't decide what to do.

CHAPTER 10

Officials are so concerned about the current situation that many even lose weight from grief. They collect a meeting from the chief of police. The police chief decides that Chichikov is Captain Kopeikin in disguise, an invalid without an arm and a leg, a hero of the war of 1812. Kopeikin, after returning from the front, received nothing from his father. He goes to Petersburg to seek the truth from the sovereign. But the king is not in the capital. Kopeikin goes to the nobleman, the head of the commission, whose audience he has been waiting for a long time in the waiting room. The general promises help, offers to come in one of these days. But the next time he says that he cannot do anything without the special permission of the king. Captain Kopeikin is running out of money, and the porter won't let him see the general anymore. He endures many hardships, eventually breaking through to an appointment with the general, saying that he can no longer wait. The general escorts him very rudely, sends him out of St. Petersburg at public expense. After some time, a gang of robbers appears in the Ryazan forests, led by Kopeikin.

Other officials nevertheless decide that Chichikov is not Kopeikin, since both his arms and legs are intact. It is suggested that Chichikov is Napoleon in disguise. Everyone decides that it is necessary to interrogate Nozdryov, despite the fact that he is a known liar. Nozdryov says that he sold dead souls to Chichikov for several thousand and that already at the time when he was at school with Chichikov, he was already a counterfeiter and a spy, that he was going to kidnap the daughter of the governor and Nozdryov himself helped him. Nozdryov realizes that he has gone too far in his stories, and possible problems frighten him. But the unexpected happens - the prosecutor dies. Chichikov does not know anything about what is happening because he is ill. Three days later, having left the house, he discovers that he is either not received anywhere, or is received in a strange way. Nozdryov informs him that the city considers him a counterfeiter, that he was going to kidnap the governor's daughter, that the prosecutor died through his fault. Chichikov orders to pack things.

CHAPTER 11

In the morning Chichikov could not leave the city for a long time - he overslept, the chaise was not laid, the horses were not shod. Leave only in the evening. On the way, Chichikov meets a funeral procession - the prosecutor is being buried. Behind the coffin are all the officials, each of whom thinks about the new governor-general and their relationship with him. Chichikov leaves the city. Next - a lyrical digression about Russia. "Rus! Russia! I see you, from my wonderful, beautiful far away I see you: poor, scattered and uncomfortable in you; daring divas of nature, crowned with daring divas of art, will not amuse, will not frighten the eyes, cities with many-windowed high palaces, grown into cliffs, picture trees and ivy, grown into houses, in noise and in the eternal dust of waterfalls; the head will not tip back to look at the stone blocks piled up endlessly above it and in the heights; they will not flash through the dark arches thrown one on top of the other, entangled in vine branches, ivy and countless millions of wild roses; Why is your melancholy song, rushing along your entire length and width, from sea to sea, heard and heard incessantly in your ears? What's in it, in this song? What calls, and sobs, and grabs the heart? What sounds painfully kiss, and strive to the soul, and curl around my heart? Russia! what do you want from me? what incomprehensible bond lurks between us? Why do you look like that, and why did everything that is in you turn eyes full of expectation on me? .. And a mighty space menacingly embraces me, reflecting with terrible force in my depths; my eyes lit up with an unnatural power: wow! what a sparkling, wonderful, unfamiliar distance to the earth! Russia!..»

The author discusses the hero of the work and the origin of Chichikov. His parents are nobles, but he doesn't look like them. Chichikov's father sent his son to the city to an old relative so that he could enter the school. The father gave his son parting words, which he strictly followed in life - to please the authorities, to hang out only with the rich, not to share with anyone, to save money. He did not have any special talents, but he had a "practical mind." Chichikov knew how to make money as a boy - he sold treats, showed a trained mouse for money. He pleased the teachers, the authorities, and therefore graduated from school with a gold certificate. His father dies, and Chichikov, having sold his father's house, enters the service. He betrays a teacher expelled from school, who was counting on a fake of his beloved student. Chichikov serves, striving to please his superiors in everything, even caring for his ugly daughter, hinting at a wedding. Gets a promotion and doesn't get married. Soon Chichikov is included in the commission for the construction of a government building, but the building, for which a lot of money has been allocated, is being built only on paper. Chichikov's new boss hated his subordinate, and he had to start all over again. He enters the service at the customs, where his ability to search is revealed. He is promoted, and Chichikov presents a project to catch smugglers, with whom at the same time he manages to collude and get a lot of money from them. But Chichikov quarrels with a friend with whom he shared, and both are put on trial. Chichikov manages to save some of the money, starts everything from scratch as an attorney. He comes up with the idea of buying dead souls, which in the future can be pledged to the bank under the guise of living ones, and, having received a loan, hide.

The author reflects on how readers can relate to Chichikov, recalls the parable of Kif Mokievich and Mokiya Kifovich, son and father. The existence of the father is turned into a speculative side, while the son is rowdy. Kifa Mokievich is asked to appease his son, but he does not want to interfere in anything: “If he remains a dog, then let them not find out about it from me, let it not be me who betrayed him.”

At the end of the poem, the britzka is moving quickly along the road. “And what Russian does not like to drive fast?” "Oh, threesome! bird troika, who invented you? To know that you could only be born among a lively people, in that land that does not like to joke, but spread out evenly and evenly for half the world, and go and count the miles until it fills your eyes. And not a cunning, it would seem, road projectile, not captured by an iron screw, but hastily, alive with one ax and a hammer, a smart Yaroslavl peasant equipped and assembled you. The coachman is not in German boots: a beard and mittens, and the devil knows what he sits on; but he got up, and swung, and dragged on the song - the horses whirlwind, the spokes in the wheels mixed into one smooth circle, only the road trembled, and the pedestrian who stopped screamed in fright - and there she rushed, rushed, rushed! .. And it was already visible in the distance, as something dusts and drills the air.

Isn't that how you, Russia, that brisk, unbeatable troika, are rushing about? The road smokes under you, the bridges rumble, everything lags behind and is left behind. The contemplative, amazed by God's miracle, stopped: is it not lightning thrown from the sky? what does this terrifying movement mean? and what kind of unknown power lies in these horses unknown to the light? Oh, horses, horses, what horses! Are whirlwinds sitting in your manes? Does a sensitive ear burn in every vein of yours? They heard a familiar song from above, together and at once strained their copper breasts and, almost without touching the ground with their hooves, turned into only elongated lines flying through the air, and all inspired by God rushes! .. Russia, where are you rushing to? Give an answer. Doesn't give an answer. A bell is filled with a wonderful ringing; the air torn to pieces rumbles and becomes the wind; flies past everything that is on earth,
and, squinting, step aside and give her way to other peoples and states.

In a letter to Zhukovsky, Gogol writes that he sees his main task in the poem to portray "all of Russia." The poem is written in the form of a journey, and separate fragments of the life of Russia are combined into a common whole. One of Gogol's main tasks in "Dead Souls" is to show typical characters in typical circumstances, that is, to reliably depict modernity - the period of the crisis of serfdom in Russia. The key orientation in the image of landowners is a satirical description, social typification, and a critical orientation. The life of the ruling class and peasants is given by Gogol without idealization, realistically.

DEAD SOULS

A small chaise with a middle-aged gentleman of good appearance, not fat, but not thin, drove into the provincial town of NN. The arrival made no impression on the inhabitants of the city. The visitor stopped at a local tavern. During dinner, a new visitor asked the servant in the most detailed way, who used to run this institution, and who now, how much income and what kind of owner. Then the visitor found out who was the governor in the city, who was the chairman of the chamber, who was the prosecutor, that is, "he did not miss a single significant official."

In addition to the city authorities, the visitor was interested in all the large landowners, as well as the general state of the region: whether there were any epidemics in the province or general famine. After dinner and a long rest, the gentleman wrote down his rank, first and last name on a piece of paper to report to the police. Going down the stairs, the floorman read: "Collegiate adviser Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, landowner, according to his own needs."

The next day Chichikov devoted visits to all city officials. He testified his respect even to the inspector of the medical board and the city architect.

Pavel Ivanovich showed himself to be a good psychologist, since in almost every house he left the most favorable impressions about himself - "he was very skillfully able to flatter everyone." At the same time, Chichikov avoided talking about himself, but if the conversation turned to his person, he got off with general phrases and somewhat bookish turns. The visitor began to receive invitations to the houses of officials. The first was an invitation to the governor. Getting ready, Chichikov very carefully put himself in order.

During the reception, the guest of the city managed to show himself to be a skillful interlocutor, he successfully made a compliment to the governor's wife.

The male society was divided into two parts. The thin men followed the ladies and danced, while the thick men mostly concentrated at the gaming tables. Chichikov joined the latter. Here he met most of his old acquaintances. Pavel Ivanovich also met the wealthy landowners Manilov and Sobakevich, about whom he immediately made inquiries from the chairman and postmaster. Chichikov quickly charmed both and received two invitations to visit.

The next day the newcomer went to the chief of police, where from three o'clock in the afternoon they played whist until two in the morning. There Chichikov met Nozdryov, "a broken fellow, whom you began to say to him after three or four words." In turn, Chichikov visited all the officials, and a good opinion developed about him in the city. He could show a secular person in any situation. Whatever the conversation turned to, Chichikov was able to support it. Moreover, "he knew how to clothe all this with some degree, he knew how to behave well."

Everyone was pleased with the arrival of a decent person. Even Sobakevich, who in general was rarely satisfied with his surroundings, recognized Pavel Ivanovich as "a most pleasant person." This opinion in the city persisted until one strange circumstance led the inhabitants of the city of NN into bewilderment.

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Summary of dead souls chapter 1
dead souls chapter 1 summary
Summary of chapter 1 dead souls

Here is a summary of the 1st chapter of the work "Dead Souls" by N.V. Gogol.

A very brief summary of "Dead Souls" can be found, and the one below is quite detailed.

Chapter 1 - summary.

A small chaise with a middle-aged gentleman of good appearance, not fat, but not thin, drove into the provincial town of NN. The arrival made no impression on the inhabitants of the city. The visitor stopped at a local tavern. During dinner, a new visitor asked the servant in the most detailed way, who used to run this institution, and who now, how much income and what kind of owner. Then the visitor found out who is the governor in the city, who is the chairman of the chamber, who is the prosecutor, that is: “ did not miss a single significant official ».

Portrait of Chichikov

In addition to the city authorities, the visitor was interested in all the large landowners, as well as the general state of the region: whether there were any epidemics in the province or general famine. After dinner and a long rest, the gentleman wrote down his rank, first and last name on a piece of paper to report to the police. Going down the stairs, the sexton read: Collegiate adviser Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, landowner, according to his needs ».

The next day Chichikov devoted visits to all city officials. He testified his respect even to the inspector of the medical board and the city architect.

Pavel Ivanovich showed himself to be a good psychologist, since in almost every house he left the most favorable impressions about himself - “ very skillfully knew how to flatter everyone ". At the same time, Chichikov avoided talking about himself, but if the conversation turned to his person, he got off with general phrases and somewhat bookish turns. The visitor began to receive invitations to the houses of officials. The first was an invitation to the governor. Getting ready, Chichikov very carefully put himself in order.

During the reception, the guest of the city managed to show himself to be a skillful interlocutor, he successfully made a compliment to the governor's wife.

The next day the newcomer went to the chief of police, where from three o'clock in the afternoon they played whist until two in the morning. There Chichikov met Nozdrev, " a broken fellow, who, after three or four words, you began to say to him ". In turn, Chichikov visited all the officials, and a good opinion developed about him in the city. He could show a secular person in any situation. Whatever the conversation turned to, Chichikov was able to support it. Furthermore, " he knew how to clothe all this with some kind of gravity, knew how to behave well ».

Everyone was pleased with the arrival of a decent person. Even Sobakevich, who in general was rarely satisfied with his surroundings, recognized Pavel Ivanovich " the nicest person ". This opinion in the city persisted until one strange circumstance led the inhabitants of the city of NN into bewilderment.