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. The landowner receives a payment and a relief of his tax burden, and the stranger receives-- what? Gogol's comic masterpiece offers a vast and satirical painting of the Russian panorama as it traces the path and encounters of its mysterious protagonist in pursuit of his dubious scheme. Dead Souls, regarded as both a realistic portrait of nineteenth-century Russia and a work of great symbolism, continues to inspire twenty-first century authors and readers.

果戈理（Н.В. Гоголъ, 1809-1852）是俄國批判現實主義文學界的奠基人，被車爾尼雪夫斯基稱之為“俄羅斯散文之父”。他齣生於烏剋蘭一個不太富裕 的地主傢庭。他所處的19世紀上半期，正是俄國農奴製瓦解和資本主義生産關係發展的時期。1830年開始瞭他的創作生涯年，第一部浪漫主義故事集《狄康卡近鄉夜話》，引起瞭當時進步文學界的注意，1835年，發錶瞭中篇小說集《密爾格拉德》和《彼得堡的故事》，給作者帶來瞭聲譽。在描寫“小人物”悲慘命運方麵的作品中，以《狂人日記》、《外套》最有代錶性。1836年發錶瞭諷刺喜劇《欽差大臣》，以現實主義手法，深刻而無情地揭露瞭官僚集團恣意橫行，違法亂紀的醜惡麵貌，獲得瞭驚人的成功。1842年發錶的《死魂靈》，辛辣地諷刺、暴露瞭地主階級的貪婪和殘暴，描繪瞭一幅醜惡、腐朽的專製農奴製畫捲。