Mapped
Dead Souls
Nikolai Gogol
The smooth swindler Chichikov travels the Russian provinces buying up 'dead souls', serfs who have died but still count on the tax rolls, in a scheme to mortgage them for a fortune, and in doing so exposes a whole gallery of grotesque landowners. Gogol maps a satirical but recognisable Russia: the provincial town where Chichikov charms the officials, the estates of the misers and dreamers he visits, and the endless road along which his carriage rolls.
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Fathers and Sons
Ivan Turgenev
The young graduate Arkady brings his friend Bazarov, a self-declared nihilist who believes in nothing but science and reason, home to his father's estate, and the clash between the generations plays out across the estates and towns of provincial Russia. Turgenev maps a real rural world: the Kirsanov estate of Maryino, the provincial town and its society, the estate where Bazarov meets the woman who defeats his creed, and the humble farm of his devoted parents.
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