Among the greatest nineteenth-century Russian novels, Dead Souls continues to inspire twenty-first century authors and readers. Some readers consider his novel a realistic portrait of nineteenth-century Russia others regard it as a work of great symbolism, proclaiming the trickster Chichikov an accurate image of commercial travelers the world over, whose success rests less upon their actual wares than on their grasp of human nature and powers of persuasion.

Although intended as a three-part novel, only the first part and a few fragments of a draft of the second part exist Gogol completed and destroyed the second part, and died in the course of his ascetic preparations for writing the third. The plot of Dead Souls is reputed to have been inspired by an actual episode related to the author by his friend, the poet Pushkin. The landowner receives a payment and a relief of his tax burden, and the stranger receives - what? Gogol's comic masterpiece offers the answer in a vast and satirical painting of the Russian panorama, as it traces the path and encounters of its mysterious protagonist, Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, in pursuit of his dubious scheme. Gogol's works have inspired numerous stage, film and television adaptations including the movie Inspector General (1949), based loosely on his play with the same name.A stranger arrives in a Russian backwater community with a bizarre proposition for the local landowners: cash for their 'dead souls,' the serfs who have died in their service and for whom they must continue to pay taxes until the next census. His stories include the short story 'The Nose' and the famous satirical novel Dead Souls. When creating «Dead Souls», which he called a poem, Gogol was guided, among other things, by Dantes «Divine Comedy». Gogol has been attached to a range of different literary styles, including Russian literary realism and even surrealism. His unconventional works are often touched by folklore or a hint of the unusual, providing the reader with surprising turns and characters.

Ukrainian-born writer and dramatist Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852) is considered one of the most prominent figures in Russian literature. The satiric story has been turned into theatre, opera, radio, television and film productions alike, including the Soviet television miniseries Dead Souls (1984). The writer himself described Dead Souls as an 'epic poem in prose' and a 'novel in verse.' Although intended by Gogol as the first part of a trilogy, the story never saw a follow-up before or after his death. Chichikov is a mysterious man, who arrives at a small town with a strange plan of acquiring 'dead souls.' Marked by eccentric characters and heated town gossip, this story is a social satire that keeps the reader guessing. A savage satire of the corruption and avarice of nineteenth-century Russia, Gogols celebrated prose poem recounts the misadventures. Nikolai Gogol's novel Dead Souls is one of the best-known pieces of 19th-century Russian literature.

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