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As it is known, the plot of the poem
was suggested to Gogol by A.S. Pushkin. Probably, the plot grew out of
the Pushkin’s letter to P.A. Pletnev dated of 16 February 1831, «I am
getting married in a few days; and here is my household report: I
pledged my 200 souls, took 38000 roubles, and this is how I had them
distributed: 11000 to my mother-in-law who wanted by alls means her
daughter to be with a dowry, which makes it lost money. 10 000 to
Nashchokin to help him out in a bad situation: that is sure money. The
remaining 17000 – for house arrangements and one-year living. In June
I will be visiting you and will at last start living en bourgeois,
which seems to be impossible here with aunts and their stupid and
ridiculous demands, but what can I do. Now, I wonder if you understand
what a dowry means and why I got angry. I am able to marry a poor
woman who has no dowry, but to fall in debts because of her dresses
and stuff – this would be something I am unable to do.» In Dead Souls Chichikov is anxious to pledge the dead souls bought out from
landowners with the Trustees’ Council in order to live a life en
bourgeois and have that dowry for marrying a governor’s daughter.
Chichikov is not only the main character, he is also the core which
holds the whole plot of the Dead Souls. As Gogol ironically put it,
«if Chichikov had not had this idea (to buy all those who were dead
and to pledge them), then this poem would not have existed». The aunt
of the writer, Maria Grigorievna, was saying that the plot of this
poem also had its roots in Mirgorodchina, Gogol’s native town, «The
idea to write D.S. was taken by Gogol from my uncle Pivinsky. He had
200 hectars and 30 souls of peasants and five children. You can’t live
on that, so there were those Pivinsky’s vodka home factory. Many
landowners had their own vodka factories at the time, and there were
no excises. Suddenly, government officials started to travel around
gathering information about everyone who had his own vodka factory.
There was a talk that those landowners who have less than 50 peasants
are not entitled to manufacture their own vodka. Which was bad news
for these small landowners. However, Harlampy Pivinsky slapped himself
on the forehead and exclaimed, «Hey! I’ve got an idea!» And off he
went to Poltava where he left a deposit for his dead peasants as if
they were alive. And because even with those dead ones he still had
less than 50 souls, he went to his neighbours and bought their dead
peasants’ souls, registered them in his name and, thus having become
the owner of 50 souls (formally), was making vodka happily until he
died, and that suggested the plot to Gogol who would travel sometimes
to Fedunki, the Pivinsky’s estate, and besides, the whole town of
Mirgorodchina knew about Pivinsky’s dead souls.» On 07 October 1835, Gogol wrote to Pushkin from Saint-Petersburg,
«I started writing D.S.
The plot has extended up to a very lengthy novel and it looks like
it’s going to come out very funny. But for now I stopped it on the
third chapter. I am looking for a good sneak with whom to I could
easily agree. I want to show in this novel the whole Russia at least
from one side.» On his continuation of the novel Gogol wrote to V.A.
Zhukovsky from Paris in November 1836, «The autumn here is wonderful,
almost a summer. My room warmed up, and I resumed my writing D.S.
which I began in Petersburg. I rewrote the beginning, I rethought the
whole plan and now I am leading it happily as a chronicle… What an
enormous, what an original plot! This will be my first decent thing
which will bring out my name. I can see in front of me our landowners,
our clerical people, our officers, our muzhiks, our huts, in short,
all our orthodox Russia. It even seems funny to me that I am writing
the Dead Souls in Paris. Another Leviathan being made …» The remaining
bigger part of the poem was being written for a long a time in Rome.
There was no money left, he was almost beyond the poverty line, and
very ill. In late 1840 Gogol told to S.T. Aksakov that he was about to
start the final cleaning and finishing of the first volume. That took
another whole year. D.S. was censored in Moscow and was completely cut
down! Only the Emperor Nikolay I was able to help. At the same time,
he sent D.S. to Petersburg censors some of whom were his friends. Many
renowned trustees petitioned in favour of Nikolay Vasilievich, among
whom were Count S.G. Stroganov, Prince M.A. Dondukov, who was chief of
the Saint-Petersburg censors, Prince V.F. Odoevsky. Having received at
last the manuscript of Dead Souls, after various censorial obstacles
which were caused mainly by the Tale about Captain Kopeikin, Gogol
began its publishing. He had no money. The book was printed in Moscow
at the university’s printing house on credit. Pogodin took care of
paper expenses. Gogol started preparing a paperback cover for his poem
and painted the original. On the cover under the dashing tarantass
were depicted: on the left side – part of a village, on the right one
– a mile pole. Between them, from both sides, bottles with glasses,
fish starters on a plate; a salt caster and a bottle on top, were as
if they were crowning the whole array of images, and at the bottom
there were bottles with glasses and a dish with a big sturgeon and
small fish, which looked just like the table of that police chief whom
Sobakevich joined for an eating binge. There are very images of live
people, in fact only two: one the right field a drunk muzhik dancing
with a cup of vodka in his hand, and a couple dancing in the
ball-room. But the symbols of death were plenty, scattered around the
whole picture: skeletons, skeletons, and skulls, skulls… because it’s
a requiem for the Dead souls, their way to immortality, and just next
to them are fools, nasty roads and forever drunk muzhiks! Oh, Russia!
After 2 months, in spring 1842, the book was released in the amount of
2400 copies. By the time of Gogol’s departure abroad everything was
ready, he wanted to take twenty copies with him. Soon after he left
Gogol’s Dead Souls were sold out in Moscow and later throughout
Russia. The book was sold like wildfire and the Russian Troika stepped
into its immortality… |
