Which Russian author wrote 'Dead Souls'?

Nikolai Gogol wrote Dead Souls. First published in 1842, the work follows Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, a schemer who travels through provincial Russia buying the names of deceased serfs still listed on official records.

The title refers to these “dead souls”: serfs who had died but remained on government tax rolls until the next census. Chichikov hopes to acquire them cheaply and use the paper ownership to appear wealthy or secure loans. Gogol turns this bizarre legal loophole into a broad satire of bureaucracy, greed, vanity, and social hypocrisy.

Gogol described Dead Souls as an “epic poem in prose,” and the book is often considered a landmark of nineteenth-century Russian literature. He planned a three-volume structure, but burned much of the second volume shortly before his death. The answer is sometimes confused with Pushkin because Pushkin encouraged Gogol’s literary work and reportedly supplied the premise for the novel.