I'm reading Gogol right now and am interested in hearing what others have to say about Dead Souls. Also, does anyone have sources of good blogs, literary criticism, etc?.

One of my favorite books. Nabokov had a lot to say about it, and his Lectures on Russian Literature is worth picking up for his comments on Gogol.

For now, here is a NYT article on Nabokov and Dead Souls.

I read Dead Souls very recently and enjoyed it, apart from a bit of a boring part about two thirds of the way through. Much of the dialogue with Chichikov trying to persuade the landowners to part with their dead serfs was very humorous, though of course a tragic comment on the attitude towards serfs at the time.

If someone brand new to 19th century Russian literature asked me for a starter recommendation, I would propose this and Tolstoy's short stories as tasters.

I am a huge fan of Gogol. I am not a particular fan of Dead Souls, and I know I am not alone after having talks with others on this topic. It's a wonderful book, but in my opinion is one of the lesser works of Gogol.

Shawnd,

I'm fairly new to classics in general and Russian Lit in particular (I've read some Tolstoy and Dostoevsky). Anywhoo, what other works of Gogol can you recommend? My TBR pile is hovering around 200, but I'll ask anyway!

Dear Sandydog1,
Thanks for asking. Unfortunately perhaps most of Gogol's work is short stories. I'd recommend reading as many of these as you can. Taras Bulba in my mind is indispensable, I am sure others would recommend other stories. One good long book with multiple stories would be good.

I just finished Dead Souls. It was ok, but clearly unfinished.

I enjoyed the background on the protagonist, provided at the end of the book.

Thanks so much for the suggestions.

Dead Souls is hilarious and I love it. It's one of the best and funniest novels I've ever read, especially towards the end. Also, I somewhat disagree that it's "clearly unfinished..." for me the book peaked when Chichikov was just about to lose it all, started repenting, but when he got off the hook he just went back to business as usual (the scene with him putting his suit back on and looking in the mirror at himself). What an awesome book.

Wait, I should recommend some other Gogol, shouldn't I?

Well, see if you can pick up a collection of his short stories. The Nose and The Overcoat are his strongest, in my opinion, and in that order.

I can second #9 : I read The Nose and The Overcoat a few years ago and still think about them from time to time. This mostly means I'm still digesting the weirdness and the surprise (which is a good thing!) I read Dead Souls more recently, during my last Great Russians period, but even though I liked it it didn't grip me as much as I had expected. I read Lermontov's A hero of our time after that, which I liked more.

I really enjoyed dead souls, though there were sections that lost my interest. I've heard good things about the nose and so will try and read that when my TBR pile is smaller:)

@11 - The Nose is very good. I liked the first part of Dead Souls very much, but the second part not so much...

Dead Souls is nice, but as far as Gogol goes, inferior. It is very funny in parts, but he was at his best writing very short pieces, not novels. His style is so florid and decorous it just doesn't work for anything over five thousand words. I recommend the short stories, and his masterpiece of a play, Revizor.

His earlier works demonstrate remarkable descriptive powers (Taras Bulba, The Sorcerer) but don't hold a candle to his later output.

Anyone familiar with the Shostkavich opera of "The Nose"? The Met's putting it on next season. I'd probably go, and will try to read the story first, if I can. Also any strong opinions about Gogol translators?