Gogol’s “laughter through tears” in the poem “Dead Souls”. Gogol’s “laughter through tears” in the poem “Dead Souls” He preaches love with a hostile word of denial... N

Gogol's laughter through tears in the poem Dead Souls. There is a famous saying relating to Gogol's work: laughter through tears. Gogol's laughter Why is it never carefree? Why is the ending ambiguous even in the Sorochinskaya Fair, one of Gogol’s brightest and most cheerful works? The celebration of the wedding of the young heroes ends with a dance of the old women.

We detect some dissonance. This amazing, Chistogolevsky feature of smiling sadly was first noticed by V.G. Belinsky, giving the way to great literature to the future author of Dead Souls. But mixed with Gogol’s laughter is more than one sadness. It contains anger, rage, and protest. All this, merging into a single whole under the brilliant pen of the master, creates an extraordinary flavor of Gogol’s satire.

Chichikov, along with Selifan and Petrushka, gets into the britzka, and now it is rolling along the potholes of the Russian off-road, and begins to write nonsense and walk on the sides of the road. On this journey, the reader will see representatives of a wide variety of social groups, the peculiarities of their lives, and will see all sides of the many-sided Russia. On this road, he will always hear Gogol’s laughter, full of amazing love for Russia and its people.

Gogol's laughter can be kind and crafty, then extraordinary comparisons and stylistic turns are born, which constitute one of the characteristic features of Gogol's poem. Describing the ball and the governor, Gogol talks about the division of officials into fat and thin, and the thin officials, in black tailcoats, standing around the ladies, looked like flies that had sat on refined sugar. It is impossible not to mention very small comparisons, which, like sparkling diamonds, are scattered throughout

poem and create its unique flavor. So, for example, the face of the governor’s daughter looked like a freshly laid egg, the head of Feodulia Ivanovna Sobakevich looked like a cucumber, and Sobakevich himself looked more like a pumpkin, from which balalaikas are made in Rus'. When meeting Chichikov, Manilov’s expression was like that of a cat whose ears were lightly scratched. Gogol also uses hyperbole, for example, when talking about Plyushkin’s toothpick, which was used to pick teeth

before the French invasion. The appearance of the landowners described by Gogol also evokes laughter. The appearance of Plyushkin, which struck the lass and hypocrite Chichikov himself, he could not figure out for a long time whether the housekeeper was in front of him or the housekeeper, the habits of a beggar fisherman, blossoming in Plyushkin’s soul - all this is surprisingly witty and funny, but Plyushkin, it turns out , is capable of causing not only laughter, but also disgust, indignation and protest.

This degraded personality, who cannot even be called a person, ceases to be funny. How exactly Gogol said about him - a hole in humanity! Is a person who has lost all human appearance, soul, and heart really funny? Before us is a spider, for which the main thing is to swallow its prey as quickly as possible. This is what he does to his peasants, pumping bread and household utensils out of them, and then rotting them

in their bottomless barns. He does the same with his own daughter. The greedy and fearful Plyushkin is disgusting to us not only because of his moral qualities. Gogol gives a decisive no to Plyushkin the landowner, Plyushkin the nobleman. After all, it was believed that the Russian state rested on the nobles, on these same Plyushkins. What a stronghold this is, what a support

The antisociality of the nobility is a cruel fact, the existence of which horrifies Gogol. Plyushkin, how incredibly typical this is for Russian society in the mid-19th century. Gogol is a harsh and angry accuser. This is how he appears on the pages of Dead Souls. What does he condemn, what does he classify as unacceptable in normal human society? It would seem that, speaking about Manilov, the word condemnation is somehow inappropriate.

After all, before us is such a sweet, pleasant in all respects, courteous and kind person. He is also a very educated landowner who looks like a learned man compared to Korobochka and Sobakevich. And how funny his children are, named Alcides and Themistoclus, we must not forget that this is happening in Russia. But Gogol is ashamed and painful for Manilov, who is building projects in the temple of solitary reflection

and reading the book, always on page fourteen, does not notice the theft and drunkenness of his men. Manilov lives in idleness and laziness with everything that was created by his peasants, without thinking about anything. Other Gogolian heroes are antisocial and generally harmful to those around them: Korobochka, a cudgel-headed and feeble-minded hoarder, and Nozdryov, a scoundrel, a libertine and generally a historical person, and

Sobakevich, a goblin and a fist that cannot be straightened into a palm. These are all malicious pests. What do they, these bloodsuckers, care about state interests? Gogol's laughter is not only angry, satirical, accusatory, it is a cheerful and affectionate laughter. It is with a feeling of joyful pride, if it is possible to put it this way, that the writer speaks about the Russian people. This is how the image of a man appears who, like a tireless ant, carries a thick log.

Chichikov asks him how to get to Plyushkin, and having finally achieved an answer, he laughs at the apt nickname that the men gave Plyushkin. Gogol speaks of the burning Russian word coming from the very heart. He writes about a Russian peasant who was sent to Kamchatka, given an ax in his hands, and he would go cut himself a new hut. In these words there is hope and faith in the Russian people, with whose hands the troika bird was made.

And like a brisk, unstoppable troika, Russia rushes, inspired by God, and other peoples and states sidestep and give way to it.

Lecture, abstract. Gogol’s “laughter through tears” in the poem “Dead Souls” - concept and types. Classification, essence and features. 2018-2019.

There is a famous saying relating to Gogol’s work: “laughter through tears.” Gogol's laughter... Why is it never carefree? Why is the ending ambiguous even in “Sorochinskaya Fair,” one of Gogol’s brightest and most cheerful works? The celebration of the wedding of the young heroes ends with the dance of the old women. We detect some dissonance. This amazing, purely Gogolian feature of smiling sadly was first noticed by V.G. Belinsky, giving way to great literature for the future author of Dead Souls. But Gogol’s laughter is mixed with more than just sadness. It contains anger, rage, and protest. All this, merging into a single whole under the brilliant pen of the master, creates an extraordinary flavor of Gogol’s satire. Chichikov, together with Selifan and Petrushka, gets into the chaise, and now it has rolled along the potholes of the Russian off-road, and has gone to “write nonsense and game on the sides of the road.” On this journey, the reader will see representatives of various social groups, the peculiarities of their lives, and will see all sides of the many-sided Rus'. On this road, he will always hear Gogol’s laughter, full of amazing love for Russia and its people. Gogol's laughter can be kind and crafty - then extraordinary comparisons and stylistic turns are born, which constitute one of the characteristic features of Gogol's poem. Describing the ball and the governor, Gogol talks about the division of officials into fat and thin, and the thin officials, standing around the ladies in black tailcoats, looked like flies that had sat on refined sugar. It is impossible not to mention very small comparisons, which, like sparkling diamonds, are scattered throughout the poem and create its unique flavor. So, for example, the face of the governor’s daughter looked like a “just laid egg”; The head of Feoduliya Ivanovna Sobakevich looked like a cucumber, and Sobakevich himself looked more like a pumpkin, from which balalaikas are made in Rus'. When meeting Chichikov, Manilov’s facial expression was like that of a cat whose ears were lightly scratched. Gogol also uses hyperbole, for example, when talking about the Plyushkin toothpick, which was used to pick teeth even before the French invasion. The appearance of the landowners described by Gogol also evokes laughter. Plyushkin’s appearance, which struck the wicked and hypocrite Chichikov himself (he couldn’t figure out for a long time whether the housekeeper was in front of him or the housekeeper), the “fisherman-beggar” habits that blossomed in Plyushkin’s soul - all this is surprisingly witty and funny, but... Plyushkin, It turns out that it is capable of causing not only laughter, but also disgust, indignation and protest. This degraded personality, who cannot even be called a personality, ceases to be funny. As Gogol accurately said about him: “a hole in humanity”! Is a person who has lost everything human: appearance, soul, heart really funny? Before us is a spider, for which the main thing is to swallow its prey as quickly as possible. This is what he does to his peasants, pumping bread and household utensils out of them, and then rotting it in his bottomless barns. He does the same with his own daughter. The greedy and terrible Plyushkin is disgusting to us not only because of his moral qualities. Gogol gives a decisive “no” to Plyushkin the landowner, Plyushkin the nobleman. After all, it was believed that the Russian state rested on the nobles, on these same Plyushkins. What kind of stronghold is this, what kind of support?! The antisociality of the nobility is a cruel fact, the existence of which horrifies Gogol. Plyushkin, scary as it may be, is a typical phenomenon for Russian society of the mid-19th century. Gogol is a harsh and angry accuser. This is how he appears on the pages of Dead Souls. What does he condemn, what does he classify as unacceptable in normal human society? It would seem that, speaking about Manilov, the word “condemnation” is somehow inappropriate. After all, before us is such a sweet, pleasant in all respects, courteous and kind person. He is also a very educated landowner who looks like a learned man compared to Korobochka and Sobakevich. And how funny are his children, named Alcides and Themistoclus (we must not forget that this is happening in Russia). But Gogol is ashamed and pained for Manilov, who, building projects in the “temple of solitary reflection” and “reading a book always placed on page fourteen,” does not notice the theft and drunkenness of his men. Manilov lives in idleness and laziness with everything created by his peasants, without thinking about anything. Other Gogol heroes are antisocial and generally harmful to others: Korobochka, a “club-headed” and feeble-minded hoarder, and Nozdryov, a scoundrel, a libertine and generally a “historical person” ", and Sobakevich, the live-swallower and the "fist" who "cannot straighten into the palm of his hand." These are all malicious pests. What do they, these bloodsuckers, care about state interests? Gogol's laughter is not only angry, satirical, accusatory, there is cheerful and affectionate laughter. It is with a feeling of joyful pride, so to speak, that the writer speaks about the Russian people. This is how the image of a man appears who, like a tireless ant, carries a thick log. Chichikov asks him how to get to Plyushkin, and having finally received an answer, laughs at the apt nickname that the men gave Plyushkin. Gogol speaks of the burning Russian word coming from the very heart. He writes about a Russian peasant who was sent to Kamchatka, given an ax in his hands, and he would go cut himself a new hut. In these words there is hope and faith in the Russian people, with whose hands the troika bird was made. And “like a brisk, unstoppable troika,” Rus' rushes, “inspired by God,” and “other peoples and states sidestep and make way for it.”

Gogol’s “laughter through tears” in the poem “Dead Souls”.

There is a famous saying relating to Gogol’s work: “laughter through tears.” Gogol's laughter... Why is it never carefree? Why is the ending ambiguous even in “Sorochinskaya Fair,” one of Gogol’s brightest and most cheerful works? The celebration of the wedding of the young heroes ends with the dance of the old women. We detect some dissonance. This amazing, purely Gogolian feature of smiling sadly was first noticed by V.G. Belinsky, giving way to great literature for the future author of “Dead Souls”. But Gogol’s laughter is mixed with more than just sadness. It contains anger, rage, and protest. All this, merging into a single whole under the brilliant pen of the master, creates an extraordinary flavor of Gogol’s satire.

Chichikov, along with Selifan and Petrushka, gets into the chaise, and now it has already rolled along the potholes of the Russian off-road, and has gone to “write nonsense and game on the sides of the road.” On this journey, the reader will see representatives of various social groups, the peculiarities of their lives, and will see all sides of the many-sided Rus'. On this road, he will always hear Gogol’s laughter, full of amazing love for Russia and its people.

Gogol's laughter can be kind and crafty - then extraordinary comparisons and stylistic turns are born, which constitute one of the characteristic features of Gogol's poem.

Describing the ball and the governor, Gogol talks about the division of officials into fat and thin, and the thin officials, standing around the ladies in black tailcoats, looked like flies that had sat on refined sugar. It is impossible not to mention very small comparisons, which, like sparkling diamonds, are scattered throughout the poem and create its unique flavor. So, for example, the face of the governor’s daughter looked like a “just laid egg”; The head of Feoduliya Ivanovna Sobakevich looked like a cucumber, and Sobakevich himself looked more like a pumpkin, from which balalaikas are made in Rus'. When meeting Chichikov, Manilov’s facial expression was like that of a cat whose ears were lightly scratched. Gogol also uses hyperbole, for example, when talking about the Plyushkin toothpick, which was used to pick teeth even before the French invasion.

The appearance of the landowners described by Gogol also evokes laughter. Plyushkin’s appearance, which struck the wicked and hypocrite Chichikov himself (for a long time he could not figure out whether the housekeeper was in front of him or the housekeeper), the habits of the “beggar fisherman” that blossomed in Plyushkin’s soul - all this is surprisingly witty and funny, but... Plyushkin, It turns out that it is capable of causing not only laughter, but also disgust, indignation and protest. This degraded personality, who cannot even be called a personality, ceases to be funny. As Gogol accurately said about him: “a hole in humanity”! Is a person who has lost everything human: appearance, soul, heart really funny? Before us is a spider, for which the main thing is to swallow its prey as quickly as possible. This is what he does to his peasants, pumping bread and household utensils out of them, and then rotting it in his bottomless barns. He does the same with his own daughter. The greedy and terrible Plyushkin is disgusting to us not only because of his moral qualities. Gogol gives a decisive “no” to Plyushkin the landowner, Plyushkin the nobleman. After all, it was believed that the Russian state rested on the nobles, on these same Plyushkins. What kind of stronghold is this, what kind of support?! The antisociality of the nobility is a cruel fact, the existence of which horrifies Gogol. Plyushkin, scary as it may be, is a typical phenomenon for Russian society of the mid-19th century.

Gogol is a harsh and angry accuser. This is how he appears on the pages of Dead Souls. What does he condemn, what does he classify as unacceptable in normal human society? It would seem that, speaking about Manilov, the word “condemnation” is somehow inappropriate. After all, before us is such a sweet, pleasant in all respects, courteous and kind person. He is also a very educated landowner who looks like a learned man compared to Korobochka and Sobakevich. And how funny are his children, named Alcides and Themistoclus (we must not forget that this is happening in Russia). But Gogol is ashamed and hurt for Manilov, who, while building projects in the “temple of solitary reflection” and “reading a book always placed on page fourteen,” does not notice the theft and drunkenness of his men. Manilov lives in idleness and laziness through everything created by his peasants, without thinking about anything.

Other Gogol heroes are antisocial and generally harmful to those around them: Korobochka, a “club-headed” and feeble-minded hoarder, and Nozdryov, a scoundrel, a libertine and generally a “historical person”, and Sobakevich, a crab-eater and a “fist” who “cannot bend into the palm of his hand.” These are all malicious pests. What do they, these bloodsuckers, care about state interests?

Gogol's laughter is not only angry, satirical, accusatory, there is a cheerful and affectionate laughter. It is with a feeling of joyful pride, so to speak, that the writer speaks about the Russian people. This is how the image of a man appears who, like a tireless ant, carries a thick log. Chichikov asks him how to get to Plyushkin, and having finally received an answer, laughs at the apt nickname that the men gave Plyushkin. Gogol speaks of the burning Russian word coming from the very heart. He writes about a Russian peasant who was sent to Kamchatka, given an ax in his hands, and he would go cut himself a new hut. In these words there is hope and faith in the Russian people, with whose hands the troika bird was made. And “like a brisk, unstoppable troika,” Rus' rushes, “inspired by God,” and “other peoples and states sidestep and make way for it.”

There is a famous saying relating to Gogol’s work: “laughter through tears.” Gogol's laughter... Why is it never carefree? Why is the ending ambiguous even in “Sorochinskaya Fair,” one of Gogol’s brightest and most cheerful works? The celebration of the wedding of the young heroes ends with the dance of the old women. We detect some dissonance. This amazing, purely Gogolian feature of smiling sadly was first noticed by V.G. Belinsky, giving way to great literature for the future author of “Dead Souls”. But Gogol’s laughter is mixed with more than just sadness. It contains anger, rage, and protest. All this, merging into a single whole under the brilliant pen of the master, creates an extraordinary flavor of Gogol’s satire.

Chichikov, along with Selifan and Petrushka, gets into the chaise, and now it has already rolled along the potholes of the Russian off-road, and has gone to “write nonsense and game on the sides of the road.” On this journey, the reader will see representatives of various social groups, the peculiarities of their lives, and will see all sides of the many-sided Rus'. On this road, he will always hear Gogol’s laughter, full of amazing love for Russia and its people.

Gogol's laughter can be kind and crafty - then extraordinary comparisons and stylistic turns are born, which constitute one of the characteristic features of Gogol's poem.

Describing the ball and the governor, Gogol talks about the division of officials into fat and thin, and the thin officials, standing around the ladies in black tailcoats, looked like flies that had sat on refined sugar. It is impossible not to mention very small comparisons, which, like sparkling diamonds, are scattered throughout the poem and create its unique flavor. So, for example, the face of the governor’s daughter looked like a “just laid egg”; The head of Feoduliya Ivanovna Sobakevich looked like a cucumber, and Sobakevich himself looked more like a pumpkin, from which balalaikas are made in Rus'. When meeting Chichikov, Manilov’s facial expression was like that of a cat whose ears were lightly scratched. Gogol also uses hyperbole, for example, when talking about the Plyushkin toothpick, which was used to pick teeth even before the French invasion.

The appearance of the landowners described by Gogol also evokes laughter. Plyushkin’s appearance, which struck the wicked and hypocrite Chichikov himself (for a long time he could not figure out whether the housekeeper was in front of him or the housekeeper), the habits of the “beggar fisherman” that blossomed in Plyushkin’s soul - all this is surprisingly witty and funny, but... Plyushkin, It turns out that it is capable of causing not only laughter, but also disgust, indignation and protest. This degraded personality, who cannot even be called a personality, ceases to be funny. As Gogol accurately said about him: “a hole in humanity”! Is a person who has lost everything human: appearance, soul, heart really funny? Before us is a spider, for which the main thing is to swallow its prey as quickly as possible. This is what he does to his peasants, pumping bread and household utensils out of them, and then rotting it in his bottomless barns. He does the same with his own daughter. The greedy and terrible Plyushkin is disgusting to us not only because of his moral qualities. Gogol gives a decisive “no” to Plyushkin the landowner, Plyushkin the nobleman. After all, it was believed that the Russian state rested on the nobles, on these same Plyushkins. What kind of stronghold is this, what kind of support?! The antisociality of the nobility is a cruel fact, the existence of which horrifies Gogol. Plyushkin, scary as it may be, is a typical phenomenon for Russian society of the mid-19th century.

Gogol is a harsh and angry accuser. This is how he appears on the pages of Dead Souls. What does he condemn, what does he classify as unacceptable in normal human society? It would seem that, speaking about Manilov, the word “condemnation” is somehow inappropriate. After all, before us is such a sweet, pleasant in all respects, courteous and kind person. He is also a very educated landowner who looks like a learned man compared to Korobochka and Sobakevich. And how funny are his children, named Alcides and Themistoclus (we must not forget that this is happening in Russia). But Gogol is ashamed and hurt for Manilov, who, while building projects in the “temple of solitary reflection” and “reading a book always placed on page fourteen,” does not notice the theft and drunkenness of his men. Manilov lives in idleness and laziness through everything created by his peasants, without thinking about anything.

Other Gogol heroes are antisocial and generally harmful to those around them: Korobochka, a “club-headed” and feeble-minded hoarder, and Nozdryov, a scoundrel, a libertine and generally a “historical person”, and Sobakevich, a crab-eater and a “fist” who “cannot bend into the palm of his hand.” These are all malicious pests. What do they, these bloodsuckers, care about state interests?

Gogol's laughter is not only angry, satirical, accusatory, there is a cheerful and affectionate laughter. It is with a feeling of joyful pride, so to speak, that the writer speaks about the Russian people. This is how the image of a man appears who, like a tireless ant, carries a thick log. Chichikov asks him how to get to Plyushkin, and having finally received an answer, laughs at the apt nickname that the men gave Plyushkin. Gogol speaks of the burning Russian word coming from the very heart. He writes about a Russian peasant who was sent to Kamchatka, given an ax in his hands, and he would go cut himself a new hut. In these words there is hope and faith in the Russian people, with whose hands the troika bird was made. And “like a brisk, unstoppable troika,” Rus' rushes, “inspired by God,” and “other peoples and states sidestep and make way for it.”

Dead and living souls in the poem by N.V. Gogol “Dead Souls”

N.V. Gogol is a writer whose work is rightfully included in the classics of Russian literature. Gogol is a realist writer, but his connection between art and reality is complicated. He in no way copies the phenomena of life, but always interprets them in his own way. Gogol knows how to see and show the everyday from a completely new angle, from an unexpected perspective. And an ordinary event takes on an ominous, strange coloring. This is what happens in Gogol’s main work - the poem “Dead Souls”.

The artistic space of the poem consists of two worlds, which we can conditionally designate as the “real” world and the “ideal” world. The author builds a “real” world by recreating a contemporary picture of Russian life. According to the laws of the epic, Gogol recreates a picture of life in the poem, striving for maximum breadth of coverage. This world is ugly. This world is scary. This is a world of inverted values, the spiritual guidelines in it are perverted, the laws by which it exists are immoral. But living inside this world, having been born in it and having accepted its laws, it is almost impossible to assess the degree of its immorality, to see the abyss that separates it from the world of true values. Moreover, it is impossible to understand the reason causing spiritual degradation and moral decay of society.

In this world live Plyushkin, Nozdrev Manilov, the prosecutor, the police chief and other heroes, who are original caricatures of Gogol’s contemporaries. Gogol created a whole gallery of characters and types devoid of soul in the poem, they are all diverse, but they all have one thing in common - none of them have a soul. The first in the gallery of these characters is Manilov. To create his image, Gogol uses various artistic means, including landscape, the landscape of Manilov’s estate, and the interior of his home. The things surrounding him characterize Manilov no less than his portrait and behavior: “everyone has their own enthusiasm, but Manilov had nothing.” Its main feature is uncertainty. Manilov's external well-being, his goodwill and willingness to serve seem to Gogol to be terrible traits. All this is exaggerated in Manilov. His eyes, “sweet as sugar,” express nothing. And this sweetness of appearance introduces a feeling of unnaturalness in every movement of the hero: here on his face appears “an expression that is not only sweet,” but even cloying, similar to that medicine that the clever doctor sweetened mercilessly, imagining to please the patient with it.” What kind of “potion” did Manilov’s cloying sweetness sweeten? Emptiness, his worthlessness, soullessness with endless discussions about the happiness of friendship. While this landowner is prospering and dreaming, his estate is being destroyed, the peasants have forgotten how to work.

The box has a completely different attitude towards housekeeping. She has a “pretty village”, the yard is full of all kinds of birds. But the box doesn’t see anything beyond its nose; everything “new and unprecedented” scares it. Her behavior (which can also be noted in Sobakevich) is driven by a passion for profit, self-interest.

But Sobakevich is very different from Korobochka. He is, in Gogol’s words, “a devil’s fist.” The passion for enrichment pushes him to be cunning and forces him to seek out various means of profit. Therefore, unlike other landowners, he uses an innovation - cash rent. He is not at all surprised by the buying and selling of dead souls, but only cares about how much he will get for them.

A representative of another type of landowner is Nozdryov. He is a fidget, a hero of fairs and card tables. He is a carouser, a brawler and a liar. His farm has been neglected. Only the kennel is in good condition. Among dogs he is like a “father.” He immediately squanders the income received from the peasants, which indicates complete indifference to peasant labor. The portrait gallery of provincial landowners is crowned by Plyushkin. But he is fundamentally different from all previous landowners. We find all the other landowners as they are. Gogol emphasizes in every possible way that these heroes do not have a past that would differ from the present and explain something about it. Plyushkin’s deadness is not so absolute. This is a hero with development, that is, we can judge him as a developing, changing (albeit for the worse) person. Plyushkin's image corresponds to the picture of his estate. The same decay and destruction, loss of human appearance: he, a man, a nobleman, can easily be mistaken for a grandmother-housekeeper. In him and in his house one can feel the movement of decay and decay. It was not for nothing that the author dubbed it a hole in humanity. Chichikov also belongs to the same type of landowner - a rogue, a man for whom everything is calculated in advance, a man who is completely consumed by the thirst for enrichment, mercantile interest, a man who has ruined his soul. But still he looks more alive, compared to the rest of the landowners.

But besides the landowners, there is also the city of N, and in it there is a governor embroidering with silk on tulle, and ladies showing off fashionable fabric, and Ivan Antonovich the jug's snout, and a whole series of officials eating and losing their lives at cards.

There is another hero in the poem - the people. This is the same living soul that preserves and brings out all the best, fiery, Russian. Pain and hope, love and reproach live in the image of the people. Yes, Uncle Mityai and Uncle Minyai are funny, funny because of their narrow-mindedness, but in this laughter there is also sadness and pain. Their talent and their life lie in their work. Gogol loves the peasants and therefore hates all those manifestations of social and moral weakness that prevent them from becoming true citizens of Russia. And the people form part of the “ideal” world, a world that is built in strict accordance with true spiritual values, with the high ideal to which the human soul strives.

These worlds are mutually exclusive. In fact, the “ideal” world is opposed to the “anti-world”, in which virtue is ridiculous and absurd, and vice is normal. In technical terms, to achieve a sharp contrast between the dead and the living, Gogol resorts to many different techniques. Firstly, the deadness of the “real” world is determined by the dominance of the material in it. That is why long enumerations of material objects are widely used in descriptions, as if crowding out the spiritual. The poem is also replete with fragments written in a grotesque style: characters are often compared to animals or things. The title of the poem contains the deepest philosophical meaning. Dead souls are nonsense, because the soul is immortal. For the “ideal” world, the soul is immortal, since it embodies the divine principle in man. And in the “real” world there may well be a “dead soul”, because for him the soul is only what distinguishes the living from the dead. In the episode of the prosecutor’s death, those around him realized that he “had a real soul” only when he became “only a soulless body.” This world is crazy - it has forgotten about the soul, and lack of spirituality is the reason for the collapse. Only with an understanding of this reason can the revival of Rus' begin, the return of lost ideals, spirituality, and soul in its true, highest meaning.

The Chichikov chaise, ideally transformed in the last lyrical digression into a symbol of the eternally living soul of the Russian people - a wonderful “bird-three,” completes the first volume of the poem. Let us remember that the poem begins with a meaningless conversation between two men: will the wheel reach Moscow; with a description of the dusty, gray, dreary streets of the provincial city; from all sorts of manifestations of human stupidity and vulgarity. The immortality of the soul is the only thing that instills in the author faith in the obligatory revival of his heroes and all life, therefore, all of Rus'.