The arrival0% in

Chichikov

The town of N.

The arrival

Into the dull provincial town of N. rolls the affable, well-dressed Chichikov, who within days has flattered every official and made himself the toast of local society. Gogol opens on the smug, gossiping bureaucracy of provincial Russia, a world so hollow that a charming nobody with a mad scheme can become its favourite guest.

The opening chapters

inspired byThe unnamed provincial town of N., where Chichikov charms the officials, is Gogol's satirical everytown drawn from the district capitals of Russia; sited in the provinces of the setting.

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The dreamer25% in

Manilov

Manilov's estate

The dreamer

At the estate of the sugary, do-nothing dreamer Manilov, Chichikov makes his first strange purchase of dead serfs, which his host, too vague to question, hands over as a gift. Gogol begins his gallery of landowners here, each a monstrous distillation of a single vice, Manilov the emptiness of pure sentimental idleness.

The Manilov chapters

inferredThe estate of the sentimental idler Manilov is drawn from the country seats of the provincial gentry; sited near the town of the setting.

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The bargainers50% in

Sobakevich

Sobakevich's estate

The bargainers

At the solid, bear-like Sobakevich's, Chichikov meets a shrewd haggler who praises his dead serfs as if selling live ones and drives a hard bargain over men in their graves. Gogol's landowners multiply, the suspicious widow Korobochka, the reckless liar Nozdryov, each a grotesque, the whole tour a diagnosis of a stagnant, serf-owning society.

The landowner chapters

inferredThe estate of the bear-like, hard-dealing Sobakevich, and those of the other landowners Chichikov visits, are drawn from provincial Russia; sited in the setting.

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The miser75% in

Plyushkin

Plyushkin's estate

The miser

At the rotting estate of Plyushkin, a miser so far gone he lets his wealth and his serfs decay around a hoard of rubbish, Chichikov finds his richest source of dead souls. Gogol reaches the depths of his gallery here, in a portrait of avarice curdled into ruin that is also, unexpectedly, a glimpse of a soul that was once alive and human.

The Plyushkin chapters

inferredThe decayed estate of the ultimate miser Plyushkin is drawn from the ruined provincial gentry; sited in the setting.

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The troika100% in

Chichikov

The open road

The troika

When rumour and suspicion finally engulf his scheme, Chichikov's carriage rattles out of town along the open road, and Gogol breaks into his famous rhapsody on Russia herself as a hurtling troika, whither flyest thou, give answer. He ends the surviving book not with a verdict but with that unanswered question, the swindler's flight opening onto a vision of a whole nation racing toward an unknown destiny.

The closing chapters

explicitThe endless Russian road along which Chichikov's carriage flees the town once the scheme unravels is a real and recurring feature; sited in the provinces of the setting.

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