{"product_id":"9781593080921","title":"Dead Souls (Barnes \u0026 Noble Classics Series)","description":"\u003ci\u003eDead Souls\u003c\/i\u003e, by \u003cb\u003eNikolai Gogol\u003c\/b\u003e, is part of the \u003ci\u003eBarnes \u0026amp; Noble Classics\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003eseries, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of \u003ci\u003eBarnes \u0026amp; Noble Classics\u003c\/i\u003e: \u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNew introductions commissioned from today's top writers and scholars \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBiographies of the authors \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eChronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, and cultural events \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFootnotes and endnotes \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSelective discussions of imitations, parodies, poems, books, plays, paintings, operas, statuary, and films inspired by the work \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eComments by other famous authors \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eStudy questions to challenge the reader's viewpoints and expectations \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBibliographies for further reading \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIndices \u0026amp; Glossaries, when appropriate\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003eAll editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. \u003ci\u003eBarnes \u0026amp; Noble Classics \u003c\/i\u003epulls together a constellation of influences—biographical, historical, and literary—to enrich each reader's understanding of these enduring works.\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRussia’s first major novel, and perhaps still its most popular, \u003cb\u003eNikolai Gogol\u003c\/b\u003e’s \u003ci\u003eDead Souls\u003c\/i\u003e is a comic epic of greed and gluttony that is admired not only for its colorful cast of characters and devastating satire, but also for its sense of moral fervor.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe anti-hero of the novel is a man named Chichikov, who hatches a brilliant plan to get rich quick. He will journey through Russia and buy up, at reduced rates, the recently deceased serfs of landowners, who now won’t have to pay government taxes on the ‘dead souls.’ With this list of fictitious serfs as collateral, Chichikov can buy an estate and begin amassing his fortune. What follows is a series of grotesquely humorous transactions with Russian landowners, each more queer and repellant than the last. Although Gogol spends much of the novel exposing the evils of the Russian gentry through absurd and hilarious satire, he also expresses a passionate love for his country that resonates with readers even today.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA stylistic tour de force, encompassing an astonishing range of voices from delicate, intimate lyricism to robust, bawdy ribaldry, \u003ci\u003eDead Souls\u003c\/i\u003e is an intensely felt anatomy of the human condition.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eJeffrey Meyers\u003c\/b\u003e, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, has published forty-three books, including biographies of Ernest Hemingway, Robert Frost, D. H. Lawrence, Joseph Conrad, and George Orwell. He also wrote the Introductions and Notes to the Barnes \u0026amp; Noble Classics editions of Edith Wharton’s \u003ci\u003eThe House of Mirth\u003c\/i\u003e and Rudyard Kipling’s \u003ci\u003eKim.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Barnes \u0026 Noble","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47031131242736,"sku":"9781593080921","price":11.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781593080921_p0.jpg?v=1763808328","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781593080921","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}