Dead souls reduction by chapter. N.V

Retelling plan

1. Chichikov arrives in the provincial town of NN.
2. Chichikov's visits to city officials.
3. Visit to Manilov.
4. Chichikov is at Korobochka.
5. Acquaintance with Nozdrev and a trip to his estate.
6. Chichikov at Sobakevich's.
7. Visit to Plushkin.
8. Registration of bills of sale for "dead souls" purchased from landowners.
9. The attention of the townspeople to Chichikov, the "millionaire".
10. Nozdrev reveals the secret of Chichikov.
11. The Tale of Captain Kopeikin.
12. Rumors about who Chichikov is.
13. Chichikov hastily leaves the city.
14. Story about the origin of Chichikov.
15. The author's reasoning about the essence of Chichikov.

retelling

Volume I
Chapter 1

A beautiful spring cart drove into the gates of the provincial city of NN. In it sat “a gentleman, not handsome, but not bad-looking, neither too fat nor too thin; one cannot say that he is old, however, and not so that he is too young. His arrival made no noise in the city. The hotel in which he stayed “was of a certain kind, that is, exactly the same as there are hotels in provincial towns, where for two rubles a day travelers get a quiet room with cockroaches ...” The visitor, waiting for dinner, managed to ask who was in significant officials in the city, about all significant landowners, who has how many souls, etc.

After dinner, having rested in the room, for a message to the police he wrote on a piece of paper: “College adviser Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, landowner, according to his needs,” and he himself went to the city. “The city was in no way inferior to other provincial cities: the yellow paint on the stone houses was strong in the eyes and the gray on the wooden houses was modestly dark ... There were signs with pretzels and boots almost washed away by rain, where there was a shop with caps and the inscription: “Foreigner Vasily Fedorov”, where a billiard was drawn ... with the inscription: "And here is the institution." Most often came across the inscription: "Drinking house."

The whole next day was devoted to visits by city officials: the governor, the vice-governor, the prosecutor, the chairman of the chamber, the chief of police, and even the inspector of the medical board and the city architect. The governor, "like Chichikov, was neither fat nor thin, however, he was a great kind man and even sometimes embroidered tulle himself." Chichikov "very skillfully knew how to flatter everyone." He spoke little about himself and in some general phrases. In the evening, the governor had a "party", for which Chichikov carefully prepared. The men here, as elsewhere, were of two kinds: some were thin, curling around the ladies, and others were fat or the same as Chichikov, i.e. not so much too fat, but not thin either, they, on the contrary, backed away from the ladies. “Fat people know how to handle their affairs better in this world than thin ones. The thin ones serve more on special assignments or are only registered and wag hither and thither. Fat people never occupy indirect places, but all direct ones, and if they sit anywhere, they will sit securely and firmly. Chichikov thought for a moment and joined the fat ones. He met the landowners: the very courteous Manilov and the somewhat clumsy Sobakevich. Having completely charmed them with pleasant treatment, Chichikov immediately asked how many souls of peasants they had and in what condition their estates were.

Manilov, "still not at all an elderly man, who had eyes as sweet as sugar ... was oblivious of him," invited him to his estate. Chichikov also received an invitation from Sobakevich.

The next day, visiting the postmaster, Chichikov met the landowner Nozdrev, “a man of about thirty, a broken fellow, who, after three or four words, began to say “you” to him. He communicated with everyone in a friendly way, but when they sat down to play whist, the prosecutor and postmaster carefully looked at his bribes.

Chichikov spent the next few days in the city. Everyone had a very flattering opinion about him. He gave the impression of a man of the world, able to keep up a conversation on any topic and at the same time speak "neither loudly nor quietly, but exactly as it should."

Chapter 2

Chichikov went to the village to see Manilov. They searched for Manilov's house for a long time: “The village of Manilovka could lure a few with its location. The master's house stood alone at a brisk pace... open to all winds...' One could see a gazebo with a flat green dome, blue wooden columns and the inscription: 'Temple of Solitary Reflection'. An overgrown pond was visible below. Gray log huts darkened in the lowlands, which Chichikov immediately began to count and counted more than two hundred. In the distance was a pine forest. On the porch Chichikov was met by the owner himself.

Manilov was very glad to have a guest. “God alone could not say what the character of Manilov was. There is a kind of people known by the name: people are so-so, neither this nor that ... He was a prominent person; his features were not devoid of pleasantness... He smiled enticingly, was blond, with blue eyes. In the first minute of a conversation with him, you can’t help but say: “What a pleasant and kind person!” In the next minute you will not say anything, and in the third you will say: “The devil knows what it is!” - and you will move away ... At home he spoke little and for the most part reflected and thought, but what he thought about, too, God knew. It cannot be said that he was engaged in housekeeping ... it somehow went by itself ... Sometimes ... he said how good it would be if all of a sudden an underground passage was built from the house or a stone bridge was built across the pond, on which there would be shops on both sides, and so that merchants would sit in them and sell various small goods ... However, this ended with only one word.

In his study lay some kind of book, laid on one page, which he had been reading for two years. In the living room there was expensive, smart furniture: all the chairs were upholstered in red silk, but there were not enough for two, and for two years the owner had been telling everyone that they were not yet finished.

Manilov's wife ... "however, they were completely pleased with each other": after eight years of marriage, for her husband's birthday, she always prepared "some kind of beaded case for a toothpick." They cooked poorly in the house, the pantry was empty, the housekeeper stole, the servants were unclean and drunkards. But “all these subjects are low, and Manilova is well brought up,” in a boarding school where they teach three virtues: French, piano and knitting purses and other surprises.

Manilov and Chichikov showed unnatural courtesy: they tried to let each other through at the door without fail first. Finally, they both squeezed through the door at the same time. This was followed by an acquaintance with Manilov's wife and an empty conversation about mutual acquaintances. The opinion of all is the same: "a pleasant, most respectable, most amiable person." Then they all sat down to eat. Manilov introduced his sons to Chichikov: Themistoclus (seven years old) and Alkid (six years old). Themistoclus has a runny nose, he bites his brother on the ear, and he, having overcome tears and smeared with fat, eats dinner. After dinner, "the guest announced with a very significant air that he intended to talk about one very necessary matter."

The conversation took place in an office, the walls of which were painted with some kind of blue paint, even rather gray; on the table lay a few papers covered with writing, but most of all there was tobacco. Chichikov asked Manilov for a detailed register of peasants (revision tales), asking how many peasants had died since the last census of the register. Manilov did not remember exactly and asked why Chichikov needed to know this? He replied that he wanted to buy dead souls, which would be listed in the audit as living. Manilov was so taken aback that "as he opened his mouth, he remained with his mouth open for several minutes." Chichikov convinced Manilov that there would be no violation of the law, the treasury would even receive benefits in the form of legal duties. When Chichikov spoke about the price, Manilov decided to give away the dead souls free of charge and even took over the bill of sale, which aroused immoderate delight and gratitude from the guest. After seeing off Chichikov, Manilov again indulged in dreams, and now he imagined that the sovereign himself, having learned about his strong friendship with Chichikov, favored them with generals.

Chapter 3

Chichikov went to the village of Sobakevich. Suddenly it began to rain heavily, the driver lost his way. It turned out he was very drunk. Chichikov ended up in the estate of the landowner Nastasya Petrovna Korobochka. Chichikov was led into a room hung with old striped wallpaper, on the walls were paintings of some kind of birds, between the windows small antique mirrors with dark frames in the form of curled leaves. The hostess entered; “one of those mothers, small landowners, who cry for crop failures, losses and keep their heads somewhat to one side, and meanwhile they collect a little money in motley bags placed in drawers of chests of drawers ...”

Chichikov stayed overnight. In the morning, he first of all examined the peasant huts: “Yes, her village is not small.” At breakfast, the hostess finally introduced herself. Chichikov started talking about buying dead souls. The box could not understand why he did this, and offered to buy hemp or honey. She, apparently, was afraid to sell cheap, began to play up, and Chichikov, persuading her, lost patience: “Well, the woman seems to be strong-headed!” The box still could not decide to sell the dead: “Maybe the household will somehow need ...”

Only when Chichikov mentioned that he was holding government contracts did he manage to convince Korobochka. She wrote a power of attorney to make a bill of sale. After much bargaining, the deal was finally done. At parting, Korobochka generously treated the guest to pies, pancakes, cakes with various seasonings and other food. Chichikov asked Korobochka to tell her how to get out onto the main road, which puzzled her: “How can I do this? It’s tricky to tell, there are a lot of turns.” She gave a girl as an escort, otherwise it would not be easy for the crew to leave: "the roads spread in all directions, like caught crayfish when they are poured out of a bag." Chichikov finally got to the tavern, which stood on a high road.

Chapter 4

Dining in a tavern, Chichikov saw through the window a light britzka with two men driving up. In one of them Chichikov recognized Nozdryov. Nozdryov "was of medium height, a very well-built fellow with full ruddy cheeks, teeth as white as snow, and sideburns as black as pitch." This landowner, Chichikov recalled, whom he met at the prosecutor's office, after a few minutes began to say "you" to him, although Chichikov did not give a reason. Without stopping for a minute, Nozdryov began to speak, without waiting for the interlocutor's answers: “Where did you go? And I, brother, from the fair. Congratulate: blown out into the fluff! .. But how we had a spree in the first days! .. Do you believe that I alone drank seventeen bottles of champagne in the course of dinner! Nozdryov, not silent for a moment, spouted all sorts of nonsense. He drew from Chichikov that he was going to Sobakevich's, and persuaded him to stop by before that. Chichikov decided that he could “beg for something for nothing” from the lost Nozdryov, and agreed.

Author's description of Nozdrev. Such people “are called broken fellows, they are known even in childhood and at school for good comrades, and for all that they are very painfully beaten ... They are always talkers, revelers, reckless people, prominent people ...” Nozdryov used to even with his closest friends "Start with smoothness, and end with reptile." At thirty-five, he was the same as he was at eighteen. The deceased wife left two children who he did not need at all. He did not spend more than two days at home, he was always wandering around the fairs, playing cards "not entirely sinless and clean." “Nozdryov was in some respects a historical person. At not a single meeting where he was, there was a story: either the gendarmes would take him out of the hall, or his own friends would be forced to push him out ... or he would cut himself in the buffet, or he would lie ... The closer someone got along with him, the more he rather, he pissed everyone off: he dissolved a fable, which is more stupid than which it is difficult to invent, upset a wedding, a deal, and did not at all consider himself your enemy. He had a passion "to change everything that is for everything you want." All this came from some kind of restless briskness and glibness of character.

On his estate, the owner immediately ordered the guests to inspect everything he had, which took a little over two hours. Everything was abandoned, except for the kennel. In the owner's office, only sabers and two guns hung, as well as "real" Turkish daggers, on which "by mistake" was carved: "master Savely Sibiryakov." Over a poorly prepared dinner, Nozdryov tried to make Chichikov drunk, but he managed to pour out the contents of his glass. Nozdryov offered to play cards, but the guest flatly refused and finally started talking about business. Nozdryov, sensing that the matter was unclean, pestered Chichikov with questions: why does he need dead souls? After much squabbling, Nozdryov agreed, but on the condition that Chichikov would also buy a stallion, a mare, a dog, a hurdy-gurdy, etc.

Chichikov, having stayed the night, regretted that he had called on Nozdryov and started talking to him about the matter. In the morning it turned out that Nozdryov had not abandoned his intention to play for souls, and they finally settled on checkers. During the game, Chichikov noticed that his opponent was cheating and refused to continue the game. Nozdryov shouted to the servants: “Beat him!” and himself, "all in heat and sweat," began to break through to Chichikov. The soul of the guest went to the heels. At that moment, a cart with a police captain drove up to the house, who announced that Nozdryov was on trial for "inflicting personal insult on the landowner Maksimov with rods while drunk." Chichikov, not listening to the bickering, quietly slipped out onto the porch, got into the britzka, and ordered Selifan to "drive the horses at full speed."

Chapter 5

Chichikov could not move away from fear. Suddenly, his britzka collided with a carriage in which two ladies were sitting: one was old, the other was young, of extraordinary charm. They parted with difficulty, but Chichikov thought for a long time about the unexpected meeting and the beautiful stranger.

The village of Sobakevich seemed to Chichikov “quite large... The yard was surrounded by a strong and excessively thick wooden lattice. ... The village huts of the peasants were also cut down marvelously ... everything was fitted tightly and properly. ... In a word, everything ... was stubborn, without shaking, in some kind of strong and clumsy order. “When Chichikov glanced askance at Sobakevich, he seemed to him very much like a medium-sized bear.” “The tail coat on him was completely bear-colored ... He stepped with his feet at random and at random and stepped incessantly on other people's feet. The complexion was red-hot, hot, which happens on a copper penny. "Bear! The perfect bear! They even called him Mikhail Semyonovich, thought Chichikov.

Entering the drawing room, Chichikov noticed that everything in it was solid, clumsy, and had some strange resemblance to the owner himself. Every object, every chair seemed to say: “And I, too, Sobakevich!” The guest tried to start a pleasant conversation, but it turned out that Sobakevich considered all mutual acquaintances - the governor, the postmaster, the chairman of the chamber - to be swindlers and fools. "Chichikov remembered that Sobakevich did not like to speak well of anyone."

Over a plentiful dinner, Sobakevich “tipped half a lamb side onto his plate, ate it all, gnawed it, sucked it to the last bone ... Cheesecakes followed the lamb side, each of which was much larger than a plate, then a turkey as tall as a calf ...” Sobakevich started talking about his neighbor Plyushkin, an extremely stingy man who owns eight hundred peasants, who "starved all the people to death." Chichikov became interested. After dinner, when he heard that Chichikov wanted to buy dead souls, Sobakevich was not at all surprised: "It seemed that there was no soul in this body at all." He started haggling and broke the exorbitant price. He spoke of dead souls as if they were alive: “I have everything for selection: not an artisan, but some other healthy peasant”: Mikheev, a carriage worker, Stepan Cork, a carpenter, Milushkin, a bricklayer ... “After all, what a people!” Chichikov finally interrupted him: “But excuse me, why are you counting all their qualities? After all, these are all dead people. In the end, they agreed on three rubles a head and decided to be in the city the next day and deal with the bill of sale. Sobakevich demanded a deposit, Chichikov, in turn, insisted that Sobakevich give him a receipt and asked him not to tell anyone about the deal. "Fist, fist! thought Chichikov, "and a beast to boot!"

In order not to see Sobakevich, Chichikov went by a detour to Plyushkin. The peasant, whom Chichikov asks for directions to the estate, calls Plyushkin "patched". The chapter ends with a lyrical digression about the Russian language. “The Russian people express themselves strongly!.. Pronounced aptly, it’s like writing, it is not cut down with an ax ... the lively and lively Russian mind ... does not go into your pocket for a word, but slaps it right away, like a passport on an eternal sock ... no a word that would be so bold, brisk, so burst out from under the very heart, so seething and vibrant, like a well-spoken Russian word.

Chapter 6

The chapter opens with a lyrical digression about travel: “Long ago, in the summer of my youth, it was fun for me to drive up to an unfamiliar place for the first time, a childish curious look revealed a lot of curiosity in it ... Now I indifferently drive up to any unfamiliar village and indifferently look at its vulgar appearance, ... and indifferent silence keep my motionless lips. O my youth! O my freshness!

Laughing at Plyushkin's nickname, Chichikov imperceptibly found himself in the middle of a vast village. “He noticed some special dilapidation on all the village buildings: many roofs pierced through like a sieve ... The windows in the huts were without glass ...” Then the manor’s house appeared: “This strange castle looked like some kind of decrepit invalid ... In some places it was one story, in some places two... The walls of the house slitted bare stucco bars in places and, apparently, suffered a lot from all kinds of bad weather... The garden overlooking the village... it seemed that alone refreshed this vast village, and alone was quite picturesque...”

“Everything said that farming here once flowed on a vast scale, and everything looked cloudy now ... At one of the buildings, Chichikov noticed some kind of figure ... For a long time he could not recognize what gender the figure was: a woman or a peasant ... the dress is indefinite, there is a cap on the head, the dressing gown is sewn from no one knows what. Chichikov concluded that it must be the housekeeper. Entering the house, he “was struck by the disorder that appeared”: cobwebs all around, broken furniture, a pile of papers, “a glass with some kind of liquid and three flies ... a piece of rag”, dust, a pile of garbage in the middle of the room. The same housekeeper came in. Looking closer, Chichikov realized that it was more like a key keeper. Chichikov asked where the gentleman was. “What, father, are they blind, or what? - said the key. - And I'm the owner!

The author describes Plushkin's appearance and his history. “The chin protruded far forward, the small eyes had not yet gone out and were running from under high-growing eyebrows like mice”; the sleeves and upper skirts of the dressing gown were so “greasy and shiny that they looked like yuft, which goes on boots”, around the neck is not a stocking, not a garter, just not a tie. “But in front of him was not a beggar, in front of him was a landowner. This landowner had more than a thousand souls,” the pantries were full of grain, lots of linen, sheepskins, vegetables, crockery, and so on. But it seemed to Plyushkin that this was not enough. “Everything that came across to him: an old sole, a woman’s rag, an iron nail, a clay shard, he dragged everything to himself and put it in a pile.” “But there was a time when he was only a thrifty owner! He was married and a family man; mills were moving, cloth factories, carpentry machines, spinning mills were working ... Intelligence was visible in the eyes ... But the good housewife died, Plyushkin became more restless, more suspicious and meaner. He cursed his eldest daughter, who ran away and married an officer of the cavalry regiment. The youngest daughter died, and the son, sent to the city to be determined for the service, went to the military - and the house was completely empty.

His “savings” reached the point of absurdity (for several months he keeps a cracker from an Easter cake that his daughter brought him as a gift, he always knows how much liquor is left in the decanter, he writes neatly on paper, so that the lines run into each other). At first Chichikov did not know how to explain to him the reason for his visit. But, starting a conversation about Plyushkin's household, Chichikov found out that about one hundred and twenty serfs had died. Chichikov showed “a readiness to take upon himself the obligation to pay taxes for all the dead peasants. The proposal seemed to completely astonish Plyushkin. He couldn't speak for joy. Chichikov invited him to make a bill of sale and even undertook to bear all the costs. Plyushkin, out of an excess of feelings, does not know how to treat his dear guest: he orders to put on a samovar, get spoiled crackers from the Easter cake, wants to treat him with a liquor, from which he pulled out "a goat and all sorts of rubbish." Chichikov refused such a treat in disgust.

“And a person could descend to such insignificance, pettiness, disgust! Could change like that!” - exclaims the author.

It turned out that Plyushkin had a lot of fugitive peasants. And Chichikov also acquired them, while Plyushkin bargained for every penny. To the great joy of the owner, Chichikov soon left "in the most cheerful mood": he acquired "more than two hundred people" from Plyushkin.

Chapter 7

The chapter opens with a sad lyrical discussion of two types of writers.

In the morning Chichikov thought about who the peasants were during his lifetime, whom he now owns (now he has four hundred dead souls). In order not to pay clerks, he himself began to build fortresses. At two o'clock everything was ready, and he went to the civil chamber. On the street, he ran into Manilov, who began to kiss and hug him. Together they went to the ward, where they turned to the official Ivan Antonovich with a person “called a jug snout”, to whom, in order to speed up the case, Chichikov gave a bribe. Sobakevich also sat here. Chichikov agreed to complete the deal during the day. The documents have been completed. After such a successful completion of affairs, the chairman suggested that we go to dinner with the chief of police. During dinner, tipsy and cheered up, the guests persuaded Chichikov not to leave and, in general, to marry here. Zakhmelev, Chichikov chatted about his "Kherson estate" and already believed everything he said.

Chapter 8

The whole city was discussing Chichikov's purchases. Some even offered their help in resettling the peasants, some even began to think that Chichikov was a millionaire, so they "fell in love with him even more sincerely." The inhabitants of the city lived in harmony with each other, many were not without education: "some read Karamzin, some" Moskovskie Vedomosti", some even did not read anything at all."

Chichikov made a special impression on the ladies. "The ladies of the city of N were what is called presentable." How to behave, keep the tone, maintain etiquette, and especially keep fashion in the very last detail - in this they were ahead of the ladies of St. Petersburg and even Moscow. The ladies of the city of N were distinguished by “extraordinary caution and decency in words and expressions. They never said: “I blew my nose”, “I sweated”, “I spat”, but they said: “I relieved my nose”, “I managed with a handkerchief”. The word "millionaire" had a magical effect on the ladies, one of them even sent a sugary love letter to Chichikov.

Chichikov was invited to the governor's ball. Before the ball, Chichikov looked at himself in the mirror for an hour, assuming significant poses. At the ball, being in the spotlight, he tried to guess the author of the letter. The governor introduced Chichikov to her daughter, and he recognized the girl whom he once met on the road: “she was the only one who turned white and came out transparent and bright from a muddy and opaque crowd.” The charming young girl made such an impression on Chichikov that he "felt like a completely something like a young man, almost a hussar." The rest of the ladies felt offended by his impoliteness and inattention to them and began to "talk about him in different corners in the most unfavorable way."

Nozdryov appeared and ingenuously told everyone that Chichikov had tried to buy dead souls from him. The ladies, as if not believing in the news, picked it up. Chichikov "began to feel uncomfortable, not all right" and, without waiting for the end of dinner, left. In the meantime, Korobochka arrived in the city at night and began to find out the prices for dead souls, fearing that she had sold too cheap.

Chapter 9

Early in the morning, before the scheduled time for visits, "a lady pleasant in every way" went to visit the "simply pleasant lady." The guest told the news: at night, Chichikov, disguised as a robber, came to Korobochka with a demand to sell him dead souls. The hostess remembered that she had heard something from Nozdryov, but the guest had her own thoughts: dead souls are just a cover, in fact Chichikov wants to kidnap the governor's daughter, and Nozdryov is his accomplice. Then they discussed the appearance of the governor's daughter and did not find anything attractive in her.

Then the prosecutor appeared, they told him about their findings, which completely confused him. The ladies parted in different directions, and now the news went around the city. Men turned their attention to the purchase of dead souls, while women began to discuss the "abduction" of the governor's daughter. Rumors were retold in houses where Chichikov had never even been. He was suspected of a rebellion by the peasants of the village of Borovka and that he had been sent for some kind of check. To top it off, the governor received two notices about a counterfeiter and an escaped robber with an order to detain both ... They began to suspect that one of them was Chichikov. Then they remembered that they knew almost nothing about him ... They tried to find out, but they did not achieve clarity. We decided to meet with the chief of police.

Chapter 10

All officials were concerned about the situation with Chichikov. Gathered at the police chief, many noticed that they were emaciated from the latest news.

The author makes a lyrical digression about “the peculiarities of holding meetings or charity meetings”: “... In all our meetings ... there is a great deal of confusion ... Only those meetings that are made up in order to have a snack or dine succeed.” But here it turned out quite differently. Some were inclined to believe that Chichikov was a doer of banknotes, and then they themselves added: "Or maybe not a doer." Others believed that he was an official of the Governor-General's Office and immediately: "But, by the way, the devil knows." And the postmaster said that Chichikov was Captain Kopeikin, and told the following story.

THE STORY ABOUT CAPTAIN KOPEIKIN

During the war of 1812, the captain's arm and leg were torn off. There were no orders for the wounded then, and he went home to his father. He refused him the house, saying that there was nothing to feed him, and Kopeikin went to seek the truth to the sovereign in St. Petersburg. Asked where to go. The sovereign was not in the capital, and Kopeikin went to the "high commission, to the general-in-chief." He waited for a long time in the waiting room, then they announced to him that he would come in three or four days. The next time the nobleman said that we had to wait for the king, without his special permission, he could not do anything.

Kopeikin was running out of money, he decided to go and explain that he could not wait any longer, he simply had nothing to eat. He was not allowed to see the nobleman, but he managed to slip with some visitor into the reception room. He explained that he was dying of hunger, but could not earn. The general rudely escorted him out and sent him at public expense to his place of residence. “Where Kopeikin went is unknown; but not even two months had passed when a gang of robbers appeared in the Ryazan forests, and the ataman of this gang was none other ... "

It occurred to the chief of police that Kopeikin had no arms and legs, while Chichikov had everything in place. They began to make other assumptions, even this one: “Isn’t Chichikov Napoleon in disguise?” We decided to ask Nozdryov again, although he is a well-known liar. He was just engaged in the manufacture of fake cards, but he came. He said that he had sold dead souls to Chichikov for several thousand, that he knew him from the school where they studied together, and Chichikov had been a spy and a counterfeiter since the time that Chichikov really was going to take away the governor's daughter and Nozdryov helped him. As a result, officials never found out who Chichikov was. Frightened by insoluble problems, the prosecutor died, he had a stroke.

“Chichikov knew absolutely nothing about all this, he caught a cold and decided to stay at home.” He couldn't understand why no one was visiting him. Three days later, he went out into the street and first of all went to the governor, but he was not received there, just like in many other houses. Nozdryov came and incidentally told Chichikov: “...everyone in the city is against you; they think that you are making fake papers... they have dressed you up as robbers and spies.” Chichikov did not believe his ears: "... there is nothing more to delay, you need to get out of here as soon as possible."
He sent Nozdryov out and ordered Selifan to prepare for his departure.

Chapter 11

The next morning everything went upside down. At first Chichikov overslept, then it turned out that the chaise was out of order and the horses needed to be shod. But now everything was settled, and Chichikov, with a sigh of relief, sat down in the britzka. On the way, he met a funeral procession (the prosecutor was buried). Chichikov hid behind a curtain, afraid that he would be recognized. Finally Chichikov left the city.

The author tells the story of Chichikov: “The origin of our hero is dark and modest ... At the beginning, life looked at him somehow sourly and uncomfortably: no friend, no comrade in childhood!” His father, a poor nobleman, was constantly ill. One day, his father took Pavlusha to the city, to determine the city school: “The city streets flashed in front of the boy with unexpected splendor.” When parting, the father “was given a clever instruction: “Learn, do not be a fool and do not hang out, but most of all please teachers and bosses. Don’t hang out with your comrades, or hang out with the rich, so that they can be useful to you on occasion ... most of all, take care and save a penny: this thing is more reliable than anything in the world ... You will do everything and break everything in the world with a penny.

“He didn’t have any special abilities for any science,” but he turned out to have a practical mind. He did so that his comrades treated him, and he not only never treated them. And sometimes even, having hidden treats, then he sold them to them. “From the fifty dollars given by my father, I didn’t spend a penny, on the contrary, I made increments to it: I made a bullfinch out of wax and sold it very profitably”; accidentally teased hungry comrades with gingerbread and rolls, and then sold them to them, trained a mouse for two months and then sold it very profitably. “In relation to the authorities, he behaved even smarter”: he fawned over the teachers, catered to them, therefore he was in excellent standing and as a result “received a certificate and a book with golden letters for exemplary diligence and trustworthy behavior.”

His father left him a small inheritance. “At the same time, the poor teacher was expelled from the school,” out of grief, he began to drink, drank everything and disappeared sick in some closet. All his former students collected money for him, but Chichikov dissuaded himself by lack of money and gave him some nickel of silver. “Everything that did not respond with wealth and contentment made an impression on him, incomprehensible to himself. He decided to take up the service hotly, to conquer and overcome everything ... From early morning until late evening he wrote, mired in stationery, did not go home, slept in the office rooms on tables ... He fell under the command of an elderly assistant, who was an image of what something of stone insensitivity and unshakability. Chichikov began to please him in everything, “sniffed out his home life”, found out that he had an ugly daughter, began to come to church and stand in front of this girl. “And the case was a success: the stern clerk staggered and called him for tea!” He behaved like a fiancé, he called the intern “daddy” already, and through his future father-in-law he won the position of innkeeper. After that, "about the wedding, the matter was hushed up."

“Since then, everything has gone easier and more successfully. He became a conspicuous person ... in a short time he got a bread place ”and learned to deftly take bribes. Then he joined some kind of construction commission, but construction is not going “above the foundation”, but Chichikov managed to steal, like other members of the commission, significant funds. But suddenly a new boss was sent, an enemy of bribe-takers, and the officials of the commission were removed from their posts. Chichikov moved to another city and started from scratch. “He decided to get to the customs at all costs, and got there. He took up the service with unusual zeal. He became famous for his incorruptibility and honesty (“his honesty and incorruptibility were irresistible, almost unnatural”), he achieved a promotion. Having waited for the right moment, Chichikov received funds to carry out his project to catch all the smugglers. "Here in one year he could get what he would not have won in twenty years of the most zealous service." Having agreed with one official, he took up smuggling. Everything went smoothly, the accomplices grew rich, but suddenly they quarreled and both were put on trial. The property was confiscated, but Chichikov managed to save ten thousand, a cart and two serfs. And so he started again. As an attorney, he had to mortgage one estate, and then it dawned on him that you can put dead souls in a bank, take a loan against them and hide. And he went to buy them in the city of N.

“So, our hero is all there ... Who is he in relation to moral qualities? Scoundrel? Why a scoundrel? Now we don’t have scoundrels, there are well-intentioned, pleasant people ... It’s most fair to call him: the owner, the acquirer ... And which of you is not publicly, but in silence, alone, deepens this heavy request into his own soul: “But no Is there some part of Chichikov in me too?” Yes, no matter how!”

Meanwhile, Chichikov woke up, and the britzka rushed faster, “And what kind of Russian person does not like to drive fast? .. Isn’t it true that you, Rus, are rushing about in a brisk, unbeaten troika? Russia, where are you going? Give an answer. Doesn't give an answer. A bell is filled with a wonderful ringing; the air torn to pieces rumbles and becomes the wind; everything that is on earth flies past, and, looking sideways, step aside and give it way to other peoples and states.

Summary

VOLUME 1 Chapter 1

At the gates of the hotel in the provincial city of NN, a britzka enters, in which Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov is located. He is “not handsome, but not bad-looking, neither too fat nor too thin; one cannot say that he is old, but it is not so that he is too young. Two peasants are standing at the door of the tavern and, looking at the wheel of the carriage, they argue: “Will that wheel reach Moscow, if it happens, or will it not?” The tavern servant meets Chichikov. The guest looks around his room, where the coachman Selifan and the footman Petrushka are bringing in "his belongings." While the servants were busy, “the master went to the common room”, where he ordered lunch, during which he asked the servant about the city and its order, “did not miss a single significant official”, “asked about all the significant landowners”, “asked carefully about the state of the region ". After dinner, Chichikov rested in his room, and then "he wrote on a piece of paper, at the request of the tavern servant, the rank, first name and surname to report where he should go, to the police," the following: "Collegiate adviser Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, landowner, in his own needs."

Chichikov went to inspect the city and "found that the city was in no way inferior to other provincial cities." In the text, the author gives a description of a provincial town. During a walk, Chichikov tears off a poster from a post and, returning to the hotel, reads it, "squinting his right eye a little."

The next day, Chichikov pays visits to all city dignitaries: he visits the governor, then the vice-governor, the prosecutor, the chairman of the chamber, the police chief, the farmer, the head of state-owned factories, the inspector of the medical board and the city architect. In conversations with officials, Chichikov "skillfully knew how to flatter everyone," for which the officials invited him "some for lunch, some for a Boston party, some for a cup of tea." Very little is known about the traveler, since he spoke about himself "in some general places, with noticeable modesty", referring to the fact that "he is an insignificant worm of this world and is unworthy of being taken care of a lot."

At the governor's party, where "everything was flooded with light" and the guests resembled flies that flew into the room, "just to show themselves, to walk up and down the sugar heap," the governor introduces Chichikov to the governor. At the ball, the passer-by is busy thinking about men who, as elsewhere, "were of two kinds," thin and fat, "or the same as Chichikov." Chichikov gets acquainted with the "very courteous and courteous landowner Manilov and the somewhat clumsy-looking Sobakevich", from whom he learns the state of their estates and how many peasants they have. Manilov, "who had eyes as sweet as sugar, and squinted them every time he laughed," invites Chichikov to his estate, as he is "without memory" from the guest. Pavel Ivanovich receives the same invitation from Sobakevich.

On the next day, visiting the police chief, Chichikov met the landowner Nozdrev, a “broken fellow,” who, after three or four words, began to say “you” to him. The next day Chichikov spent the evening with the chairman of the chamber, who received his guests in a dressing gown. After that, he was at the vice-governor's, at a dinner with a farmer, at the prosecutor's. He returned to the hotel only to “sleep”. He is ready to support a conversation on any topic. City officials were pleased that such a "decent person" visited them. “The governor said about him that he was a well-intentioned person; the prosecutor - that he is an efficient person; the gendarmerie colonel said that he was a learned man; the chairman of the chamber - that he is a knowledgeable and respectable person; police chief - that he is a respectable and amiable person, ”and in the opinion of Sobakevich, Chichikov was an “unpleasant person” at all.

Chichikov has been in the city for more than a week. He decides to visit Manilov and Sobakevich and therefore gives orders to his servants, the coachman Selifan and the footman Petrushka. The latter should stay at the inn and look after things. Petrushka “read everything with equal attention”, as he preferred “the process of reading itself, that “some word always comes out of letters”, slept without undressing and “always carried with him some special air of his own” As for the coachman, he "was a completely different person."

Chichikov goes to Manilov. Long search for the estate of the landowner. Description of the estate. The guest is joyfully greeted by Manilov. “In his eyes, he was a prominent person; his features were not devoid of pleasantness, but this pleasantness seemed to have been conveyed too much sugar; in his manners and turns there was something ingratiating himself with favors and acquaintances. He smiled enticingly, was blond, with blue eyes. In the first minute of a conversation with him, you can’t help but say: “What a pleasant and kind person!” The next minute you will say nothing, and the third you will say: “The devil knows what it is!” - and move away if you don’t move away, you will feel mortal boredom. You will not expect any lively or even arrogant word from him, which you can hear from almost anyone if you touch the subject that torments him. Manilov cannot be called a master, since his "household somehow went on by itself." He had a lot of ideas in his head, but "all these projects ended in only one word." For two years he has been reading a book, bookmarked on the fourteenth page. In the living room there is beautiful furniture upholstered in expensive silk fabric, but two armchairs, on which there was not enough fabric, are upholstered in matting. In some rooms there was no furniture at all. “In the evening, a very smart candlestick made of dark bronze with three antique graces, with a mother-of-pearl smart shield, was served on the table, and next to it was placed some kind of simply copper invalid, lame, curled up on the side and covered in fat, although neither the owner noticed this, neither mistress nor servant.

Manilov's wife corresponds to her husband. There is no order in the house. "Manilova was brought up well." She received her upbringing in a boarding school, where “three main subjects form the basis of human virtues: the French language, which is necessary for the happiness of family life, the piano, for delivering pleasant moments to her husband, and, finally, the economic part itself: knitting purses and other surprises.”

At dinner, the sons of the Manilovs are present: Thepistoclus and Alkid, who are at that age “when they are already putting children at the table, but not yet. high chairs." Next to the children was their teacher, who followed the conversation and tried to show the same emotions as they, because "he wanted to pay this owner for good treatment." His face took on a serious look when one of Manilov's sons bit his brother on the ear, and the second was ready to burst into tears, but restrained himself and, through tears, smeared with fat, began to gnaw a mutton bone. At dinner there is a conversation "about the pleasure of a quiet life."

After dinner, Chichikov and Manilov are having a business conversation in the owner's office. “The room was, of course, not without pleasantness: the walls were painted with some kind of blue paint, like gray, four chairs, one armchair, a table on which lay a book with a bookmark ... a few scribbled papers, but most of all there was tobacco. It was in different forms: in caps and in a tobacco box, and, finally, it was simply poured in a heap on the table. On both windows there were also mounds of ash knocked out of a pipe, arranged, not without diligence, in very beautiful rows. It was noticeable that this sometimes gave the owner a pastime. The guest is interested: “How long ago did you deign to submit a revision tale?” The clerk appears, who reports that the peasants were dying, but they were not counted. Chichikov asks him to make a "detailed register of everyone by name." Manilov wonders why Chichikov is doing this, and in response he hears "such strange and unusual things that human ears have never heard before." Chichikov offers to buy dead souls, which "would be listed as alive according to the revision." After that, both sat, "gazing into each other's eyes, like those portraits that were hung in the old days one against the other on both sides of the mirror." Chichikov promises that the law will be observed, as he "goes dumb before the law." According to Chichikov, "such an enterprise, or bargaining, will in no way be inconsistent with civil decrees and further types of Russia," and "the treasury will even receive benefits, because it will receive legal duties." Manilov gives the dead souls to Chichikov "without interest." The guest thanks the host and hurries to. road. He says goodbye to the Manilov family and, having asked how to get to Sobakevich, leaves. Manilov indulges in daydreams, imagining how he lives with a friend in the neighborhood, how they are engaged in landscaping together, spend evenings over tea, in pleasant conversations, and comes to the conclusion that the sovereign, for strong friendship, favors him and Chichikov as a general rank.

Chichikov goes to Sobakevich and gets caught in the rain, his coachman goes astray. "The darkness was so, even gouge out the eye." Hearing the barking of dogs, Chichikov orders the coachman to speed up the horses. The cart hits the fence with shafts, Selifan goes to look for the gate. A hoarse woman's voice reports that they ended up at the estate of Nastasya Petrovna Korobochka. Chichikov stops at the landowner's house for the night. He is led into a room that “was hung with old striped wallpaper; pictures with some birds; between the windows there are small antique mirrors with dark frames in the form of curled leaves; behind every mirror there was either a letter, or an old pack of cards, or a stocking; wall clock with painted flowers on the dial ... it was impossible to notice anything. The owner of the estate, “an elderly woman, in some kind of sleeping cap, put on hastily, with a flannel around her neck, one of those mothers, small landowners who cry for crop failures, losses and hold their heads somewhat to one side, and meanwhile they are gaining a little money in variegated bags placed in the drawers of chests of drawers. All the banknotes are taken into one bag, fifty dollars into another, quarters into the third, although it seems as if there is nothing in the chest of drawers except linen, and night blouses, and thread hanks, and a torn coat. The hostess says that it is already late and nothing can be cooked. When asked how far it is from her estate to the estate of Sobakevich, she replies that she had not heard of such a landowner.

In the morning, over tea, Chichikov asks Korobochka about the dead souls he wants to buy from her. Afraid to sell cheap and not understanding why the guest "is such a strange product", she offers him to buy honey or hemp from her. Chichikov continues to insist on buying dead souls. Mentally, he calls the old woman "clubhead", because he can not convince her that this is a profitable enterprise for her. Only after he reports that he is conducting government contracts (which is not true), the hostess agrees to make a bill of sale. Chichikov asks if she has anyone she knows in the city so that she can authorize him to "make a fortress and everything that follows." He composes a trusted letter to himself. The hostess wants to appease an important official. In the box where Chichikov keeps his papers, there are many compartments and a secret drawer for money. The box admires his casket. The guest asks the hostess of the house to prepare a "little list of men." She informs him that she does not keep any records and knows almost everyone by heart. Korobochka's men have strange surnames. “He was especially struck by some Pyotr Savelyev Disrespect-Trough, so that he could not help but say: “What a long one!” Another had "Cow Brick" attached to the name, the other turned out to be simply: Wheel Ivan. After that, the hostess treats the guest with an unleavened egg pie and pancakes. Chichikov leaves. The box sends a girl of about eleven years old with a chaise, who “does not know where the right is, where the left is,” to see off the guests. When the tavern became visible, the girl was released home, giving her a copper penny for the service.

Hungry, Chichikov stops at a tavern, which "was something like a Russian hut, somewhat larger." He is invited to enter by an old woman, at whom, at a meal, Chichikov asks if she herself runs a tavern. In a conversation, he tries to find out what kind of landowners live nearby. Nozdryov's chaise drives up, and then the landowner himself appears, who arrived with his son-in-law Mizhuev. “He was of medium height, a very well-built fellow with full ruddy cheeks, snow-white teeth and jet-black sideburns. He was fresh as blood and milk; health seemed to spurt from his face. Chichikov learns that Nozdryov lost his money and the money of his son-in-law Mizhuev, who is right there, at the fair, and also "thumped four trotters - he lost everything." He had no chain or watch. It seemed to Chichikov that "one of his sideburns was smaller and not as thick as the other." Nozdryov assures that “the fair was excellent”, that he drank seventeen bottles of champagne, to which his fellow traveler objected that he could not even drink ten bottles. Hearing that Chichikov was heading to Sobakevich, Nozdryov laughs and calls this landowner a "Jewish man." He persistently invites Chichikov to his place, promising a tasty treat, and then asks Porfiry to bring a puppy from the britzka to show it to Chichikov. Nozdryov offers Chichikov to visit him first, and then to Sobakevich. He, thinking, agrees. In a tavern, Nozdryov's son-in-law pays for the vodka that Nozdryov drank. There are many people like Nozdrev. “They are called broken fellows, they are known even in childhood and at school for good comrades, and for all that they are very painfully beaten. Something open, direct, daring is always visible in their faces. They soon get to know each other, and “you don’t have time to look back, as they already say“ you ”to you. Friendship will seem to be established forever; but it almost always happens that the one who makes friends fights with them on the same evening at a friendly feast. They are always talkers, revelers, reckless people, prominent people. Nozdryov at thirty-five years old was the same perfect as he was at eighteen and twenty: a hunter for a walk. Marriage did not change him in the least, especially since his wife soon went to the other world, leaving two children who were decidedly not to him needed ... Nozdryov was in some respects a historical person. Not a single meeting where he was could do without history ... The closer someone got along with him, he was more likely to piss everyone off: spread a fable, more stupid than which it is difficult to invent, upset a wedding, a trade deal and did not consider himself your enemy at all ... Nozdryov was in many respects a versatile person, that is, a man of all trades. He liked to "change everything for whatever you want." Such Nozdryovs are “everywhere between us.”

In his estate, Nozdryov shows Chichikov "absolutely everything." First they went to the stable, where Chichikov saw two mares, one dappled gray, the other brown, and also an unsightly bay stallion, which, according to the owner, cost him ten thousand, which his relative immediately doubted. Nozdryov showed his guest a wolf cub on a leash, fed raw meat. Showing the pond, Nozdryov boasted that the fish in it were of incredible size. In the yard, Chichinov saw "all sorts of dogs, both thick-dogs and pure-dogs, of all possible colors and stripes." Then they examined the blind Crimean female. We went to inspect the water mill, the smithy, having reached the borders of the estate through the field, and then returned to the house. Only sabers and two guns hung in the office. The guest was shown Turkish daggers, one of which bore the mark of master Saveliy Sibiryakov, and then a hurdy-gurdy and pipes. Chichikov was dissatisfied with dinner, which was not given much attention in this house, since "some things were burnt, some were not cooked at all." Various wines were served, which Chichikov was afraid to drink.

After Mizhuev leaves home, Chichikov asks Nozdryov to transfer the dead souls that have not yet been deleted from the revision to his name, and explains that he needs them for a successful marriage, since it is extremely important for the bride's parents how many peasants he has . Nozdryov does not believe Chichikov. He is ready to give him dead souls, but Chichikov must buy from him a stallion, a mare, a dog, a hurdy-gurdy, etc. Chichikov refuses this. Nozdryov offers to play cards with him. Chichikov himself is not happy that he contacted Nozdrev, who began to insult him. Holding a grudge against Chichikov, Nozdryov orders the coachman not to give his horses oats, but only to feed him hay. After supper, Nozdryov leads Chichikov to a side room without saying good night. The night was unpleasant for the visitor, as "small naughty insects" bit him. The next morning, Chichikov hurries to leave. Nozdryov invites Chichikov to play checkers with him, promising that if he wins, he will give him dead souls. During the game, Nozdrev is clearly cheating. Suspecting this, Chichikov stops the game, accusing Nozdryov of cheating. He is ready to hit the guest in the face, but does not do this, but calls the servants and orders to beat the offender. The police captain appears, who "on the occasion of inflicting personal insult on the landowner Maximov with rods in a drunken state" arrests Nozdryov. Taking advantage of these circumstances, Chichikov hurries to leave and orders his coachman to "drive the horses at full speed."

Chichikov thought with horror about Nozdryov. His coachman was also dissatisfied, calling the landowner a "bad master." It seemed that even the horses were thinking “unfavorably” about Nozdryov. Soon, through the fault of the coachman, Chichikov's chaise collides with another chaise, in which there is an elderly lady and a sixteen-year-old beauty. Village peasants separate the horses, and then pick up the carts. After the collision, Chichikov thinks about the young stranger, calling her "glorious grandmother" to himself. “Everything can be done from it, it can be a miracle, or it can turn out to be rubbish, and rubbish will come out! Now let only mothers and aunts take care of it now. He wonders who the parents of this girl are and whether they are wealthy. “After all, if, let’s say, this girl is given two hundred thousand dowry, a very, very tasty morsel could come out of her. This could be, so to speak, the happiness of a decent person.

Description of the estate of Sobakevich. The landowner’s house was “like those we build for military settlements and German colonists. It was noticeable that during the construction of its architect, he constantly fought with the taste of the owner. The architect was a pedant and wanted symmetry, the owner - convenience ... The landowner seemed to be fussing a lot about strength. Everything is done thoroughly, "without faltering, in some kind of strong and clumsy order." Chichikov's owner resembles a "medium-sized bear." “To complete the resemblance, the tailcoat on him was completely bearish in color, the sleeves were long, the pantaloons were long, he stepped with his feet and at random and stepped incessantly on other people's legs. The complexion was red-hot, hot, which happens on a copper penny. It is known that there are many such persons in the world, over the finishing of which nature did not think long, did not use any small tools, such as files, gimlets and other things, but simply chopped from her shoulder: she grabbed with an ax once - her nose came out, she had enough in another - her lips came out, she poked her eyes out with a large drill and, without scraping, let them into the light, saying: “lives!”. The owner's name is Mikhail Semenovich. In the living room on the walls there are paintings depicting Greek generals, by the window there is a cage with a thrush. Sobakevich introduces the guest to his wife, Feodulia Ivanovna. In the room where the owner brings the guest, “everything was solid, clumsy to the highest degree and had some strange resemblance to the owner of the house himself; in the corner of the living room stood a pot-bellied walnut office on absurd four legs, a perfect bear. The table, the armchairs, the chairs—everything was of the most heaviest and restless quality—in a word, every object, every chair, seemed to say: “I, too, am Sobakevich!” or: “and I, too, am very similar to Sobakevich!”” Sobakevich speaks straightforwardly about officials: the chairman of the chamber - “he is just a freemason, but such a fool as the world has not produced”, the governor - “the first robber in the world, give him only a knife Yes, let him out on the main road - he will kill him, he will kill him for a penny! He and even the vice-governor are Goga and Magog!”, the police chief is a “swindler”, the prosecutor is a “decent person”, but at the same time, “to tell the truth, a pig”.

Over a plentiful dinner, Sobakevich talks about Plyushkin as an extremely stingy man who lives next door to him and owns eight hundred peasants.

After a hearty dinner, Chichikov decides to talk with the owner about his business. Sobakevich listens to him for a long time. “It seemed that this body did not have a soul at all, or it did have one, but not at all where it should, but, like an immortal koshchey, somewhere behind the mountains and covered with such a thick shell that everything that did not toss and turn on bottom of it, did not produce any shocks on the surface. Sobakevich is not surprised that Chichikov is buying up dead souls. He is ready to sell them "for a hundred rubles apiece", characterizing each peasant as a master of his craft: the coachman Mikheev, the carpenter Stepan Cork, the brickmaker Milushkin, the shoemaker Maxim Telyatnikov. Chichikov notes that the qualities of the peasants are not so important, since the souls are dead. Sobakevich hints "that such purchases... are not always permissible...". After a long auction for a dead soul, the price is three rubles. Sobakevich writes a list of peasants and asks for a deposit. In response to this, Chichikov wants him to give him a receipt for receiving money. Everyone is afraid of being deceived. Sobakevich offers to buy "female" cheap, but Chichikov refuses. Chichikov goes to Plyushkin, whom the peasants call "patched", adding to this word the noun "very successful, but uncommon in secular conversation." “The Russian people are expressing themselves strongly! And if he rewards someone with a word, then it will go to his family and offspring, he will drag him with him to the service, and to retirement, and to St. Petersburg, and to the ends of the world. And no matter how cunning you later ennoble your nickname, even if you force writing people to derive it for hire from an ancient princely family, nothing will help: the nickname will croak for itself at the top of its crow’s throat and clearly say where the bird flew from.

Lyrical digression about travel. The author notes that at the time of his youth, “it was fun for him to drive up to an unfamiliar place for the first time,” since “a childish curious look revealed a lot of curiosity in him.” “Now I indifferently drive up to any unfamiliar village and indifferently look at its vulgar appearance; my chilled gaze is uncomfortable, it’s not funny to me, and what in previous years would have awakened a lively movement in the face, laughter and incessant speeches, now slips by, and my motionless lips keep an indifferent silence. O my youth!

Once in the estate of Plyushkin, "he noticed a special dilapidation on all the village buildings." The master's house appeared before Chichikov's gaze. “This strange castle looked like some kind of decrepit invalid, long, unreasonably long. In some places it was one story, in other places it was two; on the dark roof, which did not reliably protect his old age everywhere, two belvederes stuck out, one opposite the other, both already tottering, deprived of the paint that once covered them. The walls of the house slitted bare stucco lattice in places and, apparently, suffered a lot from all sorts of bad weather, rains, whirlwinds and autumn changes. Of the windows, only two were open; the rest were shuttered or even boarded up. These two windows, for their part, were also half-sighted; one of them had a dark pasted triangle of blue sugar paper. Chichikov sees some figure and for a long time cannot recognize what gender she is: "is it a man or a woman." “The dress on her was completely indefinite, very similar to a woman’s hood, on her head was a cap, which village yard women wear, only one voice seemed to him somewhat hoarse for a woman.” Chichikov decided that the housekeeper was in front of him, then, looking closer, "he saw that it was rather a housekeeper ...".

The key keeper leads Chichikov into the house, which amazes him with the "disarray that has appeared." “It seemed as if the floors were being washed in the house and all the furniture had been piled up here for a while. On one table there was even a broken chair, and next to it was a clock with a stopped pendulum, to which a spider had already attached a web. Right there, leaning sideways against the wall, was a cupboard filled with antique silver, decanters, and Chinese china. On the bureau, lined with mother-of-pearl mosaics, which had already fallen out in places and left behind only yellowish grooves filled with glue, lay a lot of all sorts of things ... "

Chichikov asked where the owner was, and was surprised when the key keeper said that it was he. Chichikov saw all sorts of people, but this was the first time he saw such a person in his life. “His face was nothing special; it was almost the same as that of many thin old men, only one chin protruded very far forward, so that he had to cover it with a handkerchief every time so as not to spit; little eyes had not yet gone out and were running from under high-growing eyebrows like mice when, sticking out their pointed snouts from dark holes, pricking up their ears and blinking their mustaches, they look out for a cat or a naughty boy hiding somewhere, and suspiciously smell the very air. Much more remarkable was his attire: no means and efforts could have got to the bottom of what his dressing gown was concocted from: the sleeves and upper floors were so greasy and glossy that they looked like yuft, which is used for boots; behind, instead of two, four floors dangled, from which cotton paper climbed in flakes. Plyushkin had "more than a thousand souls." Despite the fact that in his working yard there is a “death” of all kinds of supplies that cannot be used in a lifetime, it seems to Plyushkin that this is not enough, and therefore he goes around the village and picks up what he finds, putting everything in a heap in the corner of the room.

The once rich landowner Stepan Plyushkin lived differently. He was a thrifty owner, to whom a neighbor stopped by to "learn from him housekeeping and wise stinginess." Plyushkin had a wife, two daughters and a son; in addition, a French teacher and mentor of two girls lived in the house. He was widowed early and therefore "became more restless and, like all widowers, more suspicious and stingy." He cursed his eldest daughter after she, having escaped with an officer of the cavalry regiment, married him. The son decided to join the military, and the youngest daughter died. “Lonely life has given nourishing food to avarice, which, as you know, has a wolfish hunger and the more it devours, the more insatiable it becomes; human feelings, which were already not deep in him, grew shallow every minute, and every day something was lost in this worn-out ruin. Due to stinginess, he could not bargain with anyone. “Hay and bread rotted, stacks and haystacks turned into clean manure, flour in the cellars turned into stone, it was terrible to touch cloth, canvas and household materials: they turned into dust.” Plyushkin accumulated his fortune on trifles, picking up other people's things, forgotten by someone by accident. He does not use a large quitrent from serfs. For the entire household, he has only a pair of boots, the peasants go barefoot. Plyushkin, with his economy, "finally turned into some kind of hole in humanity." Twice his daughter came to Plyushkin, hoping to get something from her father, but both times she left with nothing.

Chichikov tells Plyushkin what the purpose of his visit is. Plyushkin agrees to sell him the dead peasants, and also offers to buy the fugitives as well. Traded for every penny. Plyushkin hides the banknotes received from Chichikov in a box in which they lie until the death of the owner. Refusing tea and treats, Chichikov, to Plyushkin's delight, returns to the hotel. Plyushkin sees to it that the breadcrumbs from the Easter cake are put away in the pantry. All the way Chichikov was in a good mood. Petrushka meets him at the hotel.

A lyrical digression in which Gogol reflects on two types of writers, one of whom "... from the great pool of daily revolving images chose only a few exceptions ...", and the other exposes "... all the terrible, amazing mire of trifles that have entangled our lives, all the depths of the cold, fragmented, everyday characters ... ".

Chichikov woke up and felt that he had slept well. After registration of merchant's fortresses, he became the owner of four hundred dead souls. Looking at himself in the mirror, Chichikov “made two jumps around the room, slapping himself very deftly with the heel of his foot”, “rubbed his hands in front of the box with the same pleasure as the incorruptible zemstvo court rubs them”, and began to compose, write and rewrite fortresses, "so as not to pay anything to clerks." He reflects on who the peasants he bought were during his lifetime. He finds out that Sobakevich deceived him by adding Elizaveta Sparrow to the list, and crosses her out.

On the street, Chichikov meets Manilov, with whom they go to make a bill of sale. In order to speed things up, in the office, Chichikov quietly gives a bribe to an official, whose name is Ivan Antonovich Kuvshinnoye Rylo, who covers the banknote with a book. The chief is Sobakevich. Chichikov, referring to the fact that he urgently needs to leave, asks to make a bill of sale within one day. Gives the chairman a letter from Plyushkin with a request that he be a chargé d'affaires in his case. The chairman agrees to be an attorney. Witnesses appear, the necessary documents are drawn up. Chichikov pays half the fee to the treasury, since "the other half was attributed in some incomprehensible way to the account of another petitioner."

Everyone goes to dinner at the police chief, who was "in his place and comprehended his position to perfection." The merchants said about him that "Alexei Ivanovich," although he will take it, it will certainly not give you away ". During dinner, Sobakevich eats a large sturgeon, with which the police chief wanted to surprise those present, but did not have time. There were many toasts at the table. Those gathered decide to marry Chichikov, to which he remarks that "there would be a bride." In a good position, on the prosecutor's droshky, Chichikov goes to the hotel, where he gives Selifan "household orders." Petrushka takes off his master's boots and puts him to bed.

Petrushka and Selifan head "to the house that was opposite the hotel", from which they leave an hour later, "holding hands, maintaining perfect silence, showing each other great attention and warning each other against all corners." In the hotel, everyone soon falls asleep, only a light is on in the window of the lieutenant who has arrived from Ryazan.

Chichikov's purchases do not leave the inhabitants of the city alone. There are various conversations about what kind of peasants Chichikov bought and what it will be like in a new place, what kind of manager is needed on the farm, and it is also suggested that during the resettlement a rebellion may arise among the peasants, and advice is given to Chichikov to treat the peasants with "military cruelty ” or engage in “beneficent education”. For the safe delivery of the peasants to the place, Chichikov is offered an escort, which Chichikov flatly refuses, since, according to him, the purchased peasants have an "excellently meek character." Residents of the city of Chichikov "fell in love even more sincerely", calling him a "millionaire". The text follows a description of the inhabitants of the city N.

Ladies are delighted with Chichikov. One day, returning home, he found a letter on the table that began with the words: “No, I must write to you!” Then there was a confession of sincere feelings and it was said that at the ball, which would take place the next day, Chichikov would have to recognize the one that had opened up to him. Chichikov is invited to the governor's ball. For an hour he sits in front of the mirror, taking significant postures and facial expressions. While at the ball, he tries to find out who sent him a love letter. Chichikov meets the governor's daughter. She turns out to be that sixteen-year-old beauty that he saw when two chaises collided. “It is impossible to say for sure whether the feeling of love has definitely awakened in our hero - it is even doubtful that gentlemen of this kind, that is, not so thick, but not exactly thin, were capable of love; but with all that, there was something so strange here, something of a kind that he himself could not explain to himself: it seemed to him, as he later confessed, that the whole ball, with all its talk and noise, became a few minutes as if somewhere far away. The ladies present at the ball were offended by Chichikov because he did not pay any attention to them. “In some dry and ordinary words he casually uttered, they found sharp hints.” The ladies began to whisper about him "in the most unfavorable way." He cannot captivate the girl with secular conversation, as the military knows how to do, and therefore causes boredom in her. Nozdryov, who appeared at the governor's ball, tells how Chichikov tried to buy dead souls from him. Heard hard to believe, but the ladies pick up the news. Chichikov tries to distract himself, sat down to play whist, but the game did not go. Even at the table, despite the fact that Nozdryov was dismissed for scandalous behavior, he feels uncomfortable, talking to himself about balls. “But the man is strange: he was greatly upset by the dislike of the very ones whom he did not respect and about whom he spoke sharply, vilifying their vanity and outfits.”

Korobochka comes to the city to find out if she has sold her dead souls to Chichikov.

Gossip is spreading throughout the city. The men of the city are interested in buying dead souls, and the ladies are discussing how Chichikov is going to kidnap the governor's daughter. New gossip is added to the existing gossip. Two incidents are associated with the "dead souls": the first happened with "some Solvychegodsk merchants who came to the city for a fair and after the auction gave their friends Ustsysolsky merchants a feast", which ended in a fight, as a result of which "Solvychegodsk merchants left Ustsysolsky to death" and their " buried like the dead"; another event was as follows: “the state-owned peasants of the village of Vshivaya-arrogance, having united with the same peasants of the village of Borovka, Zadirailovo, too, wiped off the face of the earth, as it were, the zemstvo police in the person of an assessor, some kind of Drobyazhkin,” who “looked at the women and the village girls." The governor received two papers, one of which contained information about "a fake banknote maker hiding under different names," and the other reported about a "robber who had fled from legal persecution" and should be detained. This circumstance completely confused the inhabitants of the city. The officials decide to question the landlords from whom Chichikov bought dead souls. Chichikov's servants are subjected to the same questions. There comes a moment when you need to figure everything out: “Is this a person who needs to be detained and seized as unintentional, or is he such a person who himself can seize and detain them all as unintentional.” The officials decide to meet with the police chief.

City officials gather at the police chief for advice, in which "there was a noticeable absence of that necessary thing that the common people call plainly." The author discusses the peculiarities of holding meetings or charitable meetings.

According to the postmaster, Chichikov is none other than Captain Kopeikin, and the postmaster tells his story.

THE STORY ABOUT CAPTAIN KOPEIKIN

Captain Kopeikin was sent along with the wounded after the campaign of 1812, and his arm and leg were torn off. He returned home, but his father told him that he had nothing to feed him, and therefore Kopeikin was forced to go to St. Petersburg to the sovereign to find out "whether there would be any royal mercy." Somehow he got to the capital, where he "sheltered in a Revel tavern for a ruble a day." He was advised to apply to the higher commission. Since the sovereign "at that time was not yet in the capital," he goes to the head of the commission, whom he has been waiting for four hours in the waiting room. When the nobleman came out, those gathered in the waiting room fell silent. He asks everyone with what business he came to him. After listening to Kopeikin, he promised to do his best and offered to come in one of these days. The captain went to a tavern, where he drank vodka, dined at the London, went to the theater - "drank". Looking at the Englishwoman, he decided to follow her, but put it off until he received his “pension”. After the next visit to the nobleman, it turns out that he will not be able to help without the special permission of the king. Kopeikin's money is running out, but the nobleman does not want to accept him anymore. Having broken through to the general, the invalid tries to achieve a solution to his fate, but in vain. The general sends Kopeikin out of the capital at public expense. Since the captain did not get a solution to his problem, he decided that he would take care of himself. Where Kopeikin went is unknown, but a gang of robbers appeared in the Ryazan forests.

The police chief interrupted the story in bewilderment, since Chichikov's arm and leg were intact. After that, the postmaster, slapping his forehead, calls himself "veal" in front of everyone. According to the new version, Chichikov is Napoleon in disguise. After long conversations and thoughts, Nozdryov is again asked about Chichikov, and he lies that he sold dead souls to Chichikov for several thousand rubles, that they studied together at a school where Chichikov was called a “fiscal”, that Chichikov prints fake banknotes, which is actually Chichikov wanted to take the governor's daughter away and that he, Nozdryov, helped him in this, and the village where the young people were to get married, "exactly the village of Trukhmachevka", what kind of wedding - "seventy-five rubles." After listening to Nozdryov's tales, "the officials were left in an even worse position than they were before."

The prosecutor dies of fear. Chichikov got a slight cold - "a flux and a slight inflammation in the throat", and therefore does not leave the house. He cannot understand why no one visited him during his illness, did not inquire about his health. Three days later, he goes "out into the fresh air." Finding himself in front of the governor's entrance, he hears from the porter that "it is not ordered to receive." The chairman of the chamber told him such "rubbish" that they both felt ashamed. Chichikov notices that he is not accepted anywhere, and if they are accepted, then in a rather strange way. When he returns to his hotel in the evening, Nozdryov appears and tells Chichikov about who the townspeople consider him to be, adding to everything that the prosecutor died through Chichikov's fault. Hearing that he is suspected of intending to take away the governor's daughter, Chichikov is perplexed. Fearing that he will not be able to get out of this story in a healthy way, Chichikov orders to get ready for the road: Selifan must prepare everything by six, and Petrushka is told to pull the suitcase out from under the bed.

The next morning, for a number of reasons, Chichikov was unable to leave the city: he overslept, the chaise was not laid, the horses were not shod, the wheel would not pass even two stations. He scolds Selifan, who did not inform him earlier about all the shortcomings. I had to take a long time with the blacksmiths. Only in the evening he manages to set off. Because of the funeral procession, they were forced to stop. When Chichikov found out who was being buried, "he immediately hid in a corner, covered himself with skin and drew the curtains." He did not want anyone to recognize his crew, but he "began to look timidly through the glass, which were in leather curtains," for the mourners of the deceased. City officials follow the coffin, talking about the new governor-general. Chichikov thinks that, "they say it means happiness if you meet a dead person." Finally he leaves the city. Lyrical digression about Russia. "Rus! Russia! I see you, from my wonderful, beautiful far away I see you: poor, scattered and uncomfortable in you ... Russia! what do you want from me? what incomprehensible bond lurks between us?

The author exclaims: “What a strange, and enticing, and carrying, and wonderful in the word: road! And how wonderful she herself is, this road ... ”Then there are arguments about the hero of a literary work and about the origin of Chichikov. The author says that the reader did not like him, since "a virtuous person is still not taken as a hero." The author's goal was "finally to hide the scoundrel."

Chichikov was born into a noble family and outwardly does not look like his parents. “Life at the beginning looked at him somehow sourly and uncomfortably, through some kind of muddy, snow-covered window: no friend, no comrade in childhood!” His father took him to the city to a relative, a “flabby old woman,” who “patted the boy on the cheek and admired his fullness.” Here he had to go to the classes of the city school. When parting, the parent advised his son to please his teachers and superiors, communicate only with rich comrades, do not share with anyone, behave in such a way that he is treated, save a penny, which in life can do everything. The words of his father "buried deep into his soul." The boy was not distinguished by his abilities, but "more diligence and neatness." His comrades treated him, and he hid treats, and then sold them to those who treated him. To the fifty received from his father, he made "increments, showing almost extraordinary resourcefulness: he molded a bullfinch from wax, painted it and sold it very profitably." He sold "edibles" to rich comrades during classes, showed a trained mouse for money, which "stands on its hind legs, lay down and got up on orders." Having saved five rubles, "he sewed up the bag and began to save in another." “Chichikov suddenly comprehended the spirit of the boss and what behavior should consist of,” and therefore “he was in excellent standing and upon graduation he received a full certificate in all sciences, a certificate and a book with golden letters for exemplary diligence and trustworthy behavior.” When his father dies, Chichikov sells "a dilapidated courtyard with an insignificant piece of land for a thousand rubles." A teacher is expelled from the school, who considered Pavlusha the best student. Former students collect money for him, but only Chichikov refused to help him, to which the teacher remarks with tears: “Oh, Pavlusha! that's how a person changes! after all, what a well-behaved, nothing violent, silk! Puffed up, puffed up a lot ... "

Chichikov lived with thoughts about "life in all contentment, with all sorts of prosperity," and therefore saved a penny. He is determined to serve in the state chamber, where he turns out to be the complete opposite of officials. Chichikov pleases the boss, takes care of his ugly daughter, soon moves into his house, becomes a fiancé, seeks promotion: instead of the old assistant, “he himself sat down as an assistant to one vacant position that had opened up.” After that, he moves to a new apartment, and "the matter was hushed up" about the wedding. Chichikov becomes a "notable person". In the service he takes bribes, is included in the commission for the construction of a state building, but "the state building did not go above the foundation." With the arrival of a new boss, Chichikov is forced to start his career anew. Enters the customs service, "this service has long been a secret subject of his thoughts." He has a talent for searches and searches. For his selfless service, he was noticed by his superiors, received a rank and a promotion. Presenting a project to catch smugglers, he receives a lot of money from them. Chichikov quarrels with the official, calling him a priest, and he, offended, sends a secret denunciation to him, and therefore "secret relations with smugglers have become obvious." Chichikov and the comrade with whom he shared are put on trial, their property is confiscated. Chichikov is all in thought about why it was he who "fell in trouble."

Taking care of "his descendants", Chichikov begins to work as an attorney. The task that he was entrusted with was as follows: "to petition for the placement of several hundred peasants in the board of trustees." And here Chichikov “was struck by the most inspired thought”: “Yes, buy all these who have died out, have not yet filed new revision tales, get them, let’s say, a thousand, yes, let’s say, the board of trustees will give two hundred rubles per capita: that’s really two hundred thousand capital!

The author, reflecting on the attitude of readers to the hero, says that it is not known how the further fate of Chichikov will turn out, where his britzka will call. “It is most fair to call him: the owner, the acquirer. The acquisition is his fault; because of him things have been done that the light will give the name of not very clean. The author talks about human passions. Fearing that accusations from the patriots might fall on him, he talks about Kif Mokievich and Mokii Kifovich, father and son, who “lived in one distant place.” The father did not deal with the family, but rather turned "in a speculative way", for example, to the question of the birth of animals. “At the time when the father was engaged in the birth of the beast, the twenty-year-old broad-shouldered nature” of his son “was trying to turn around.” Everyone in the neighborhood is afraid of the son, since he destroys everything that comes into his hands, and the father does not want to interfere in anything: “If he remains a dog, then let them not know about it from me, let it not be me who gave him away ".

The author reproaches readers: "You are afraid of a deeply aspiring gaze, you are afraid to direct your own gaze at something, you love to glimpse everything with unthinking eyes." It is possible that everyone can find in themselves "some part of Chichikov."

Chichikov woke up and shouted at Selifan. "The horses stirred and carried, like fluff, a light britzka." Chichikov smiled, because he liked fast driving. “And what Russian does not like to drive fast?” A lyrical digression about a trio bird. “Isn’t it true that you too, Rus, are rushing about with a brisk, unbeaten troika? .. Russ, where are you rushing to?”

We give a summary of the famous work of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol - Dead Souls. This book is required in the school curriculum, so it is important to familiarize yourself with its content, or, if you forgot some points, remember the main plot points.

Volume One

The story took place immediately after the famous expulsion of the French. Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, a collegiate adviser, (not very young and not old, pleasant and slightly round in appearance, neither thin nor fat) finds himself in a provincial town of NN and stays at a hotel. He asks the tavern servants about the owners and income of the institution, significant landowners, officials, is interested in the state of the region and about rampant diseases, epidemic fevers and other misfortunes.

The guest of the city visits all the inhabitants and notices the courtesy of the people and vigorous activity. He almost does not talk about himself, brushing aside, saying that he had seen a lot in his life, that he had many enemies who wanted to kill him. He is currently looking for a place to live. At the governor's party, he achieves universal favor and meets the landowners Manilov and Sobakevich. Then he dines with the chief of police (where he meets the landowner Nozdryov), visits the vice-governor and the chairman, the prosecutor and the farmer - and goes to the Manilov estate.

Having overcome 30 miles, Chichikov arrived in Manilovka to the kindest host. Don of the landowner, who was located in the Jura surrounded by flower beds and gazebos, characterized the owner, not weighed down by passions. After dinner with the landlady and the two sons of the landowner, Alkid and Themistoclus, Chichikov talks about the purpose of his visit: he wants to buy dead peasants who are not declared in the audit certificate, but to register them as living. The kind owner was initially frightened and perplexed, but then he was delighted and made a deal. Then Chichikov goes to Sobakevich, and Manilov dreams of living next door to Chichikov across the river, building a bridge, a house with a gazebo that allows him to see Moscow, and making friends with him, for which the sovereign would make them generals. Chichikov's coachman Selifan, who was treated kindly by Manilov's yard people, while talking to the horses, misses the necessary turn and, during a downpour, drops the master into the slush. In the darkness, they manage to find lodging for the night at Nastasya Petrovna Korobochka, a somewhat timid landowner, from whom Chichikov buys dead souls in the morning. He said that he himself would pay taxes for them. He buys souls from her for 15 rubles, takes the list and, after tasting pancakes, pie and pies, leaves, leaving the hostess worried about whether she sold too cheap.

On the high road, Chichikov heads to the tavern for a meal. He meets with Nozdrev, who is riding in Mizhuev's britzka, because he lost everything he had. Talking about the fair he visited, he praises the drinking qualities of the officers and, demonstrating the puppy, Nozdrev takes Chichikov with him, taking also the stubborn son-in-law Mizhuev. After describing Nozdryov, his house, dinner, the author switches to his son-in-law's wife, and Chichikov starts a conversation about his interest, but the landowner does not agree. Nozdryov suggested an exchange, take it to a stallion or put it in cards, as a result they swear and say goodbye for the night. Persuasion continues in the morning again, and Chichikov agrees to play checkers, but sees Nozdryov's cheating during the game. Chichikov, whom the owner and servants are about to beat, runs away during the visit of the police captain, who announced that Nozdryov had been taken to court. On the way, Chichikov's cart collides with an unknown crew, and while the confused horses are being bred, Chichikov sees a 16-year-old young lady, talking about her and dreaming of a family. A visit to Sobakevich is followed by a lunch during which they discuss city officials, who, according to the owner, are all swindlers, the conversation ends with a proposal for a deal. Sobakevich begins to bargain, characterizing the good qualities of the serfs, gives Chichikov the list and forces him to make a deposit.

Chichikov's path to Plyushkin is interrupted by a conversation with a peasant who gave Plyushkin a petty nickname and the author's reflection on love and indifference. Seeing the landowner, Chichikov thought that he was a housekeeper or a wandering beggar. His most important feature lies in his amazing tinkering, he dragged all unnecessary things into his chambers. Having demonstrated the advantage of the offer, Chichikov refuses tea with crackers and leaves in a good mood, taking with him a letter to the chairman of the chamber.

During Chichikov's sleep, the author sadly talks about the meanness of objects. After a dream, Chichikov begins to study the lists of the purchased peasants, thinking about their fate, and goes to the ward to conclude the case. Manilov meets him near the hotel and goes with him. Then the official place is described, Chichikov's troubles and giving a bribe. The chairman becomes Plushkin's attorney, speeding up other deals. The people begin to discuss Chichikov's purchases, what he intends to do: in what places, with land or for withdrawal, did he acquire peasants. Having learned that the peasants will be sent to the Kherson province, after discussing the qualities of the sold peasants, the deals are completed with champagne, then they go to the police chief to drink for the new landowner. Excited after strong drinks, they began to force Chichikov to stay and start a family.

Chichikov's acquisitions lead to a stir in the city, everyone says that he is a millionaire. Ladies line up. Trying to describe women, the author becomes shy and falls silent. Before the governor's ball, Chichikov receives a love note. Having spent a lot of time on the toilet and being satisfied, Chichikov goes to the ball, where he can hardly escape from the embrace. The girls, among whom he is looking for the author of the letter, begin to quarrel. But when the governor's wife approaches him, his behavior changes dramatically, because she is accompanied by her daughter, a 16-year-old blonde, whose carriage he encountered on the road. He begins to lose the favor of women, because he begins to talk with an interesting blonde, defiantly ignoring the rest. In addition, Nozdryov comes to the ball and loudly asks if Chichikov bought up a lot of dead people. Despite Nozdryov's drunken state, society is embarrassed, Chichikov is not given either dinner or whist, and he leaves the ball in upset feelings.

At this time, a tarantass arrives in the town with the landowner Korobochka, who has arrived in order to find out about the price of dead souls. In the morning, some pleasant house finds out the news, which is in a hurry to notify others, as a result, interesting details appear in the story (an armed Chichikov burst into Korobochka at night, demanding dead souls - everyone came running, screaming, crying children). Her friend says that the dead souls are just a cover for Chichikov's cunning intent to steal the governor's daughter. After discussing the details of the enterprise, Nozdrev's accomplice, the women tell everything to the prosecutor and go to rebel in the city.

The town quickly begins to seethe, to this is added the news that a new governor-general has been appointed, and there is information about papers: about the appearance of fake banknotes in the province, about a robber who fled from legal persecution. Trying to find out who Chichikov is, they begin to recall his vague certification and the conversation about the attempt on his life. The postmaster suggested that Chichikov is the captain of Kopeika, who took up arms against an unjust world and became a robber, but this is rejected because the captain has no limbs, and Chichikov is whole. There is an assumption that this is Napoleon in disguise, with whom he has many similarities. Conversations with Sobakevich, Manilov and Korobochka yielded no results. And Nozdryov only intensifies the confusion, saying that Chichikov is a spy who makes fake banknotes and wants to steal the governor's daughter, in which he should help him. All the conversations had a strong effect on the prosecutor, he has a stroke, from which he dies.

Chichikov, with a slight cold, stays at the hotel and is surprised that not a single official comes to him. However, when he decided to pay everyone visits, he learns that the governor does not want to see him, and the rest step aside in fear. Nozdryov, having come to his hotel, tells him everything, declaring that he is ready to help in the kidnapping of the governor's daughter. In the morning, Chichikov quickly leaves, but he is stopped by a funeral procession, he has to look at the officials who are following the prosecutor's coffin. The brichka leaves the city, and the open spaces make the author think about sad and gratifying things, about Russia, and then grieve about the hero.

Having concluded that the hero needs to rest, the author tells the story of Pavel Ivanovich, reveals his childhood, studies, where he showed a practical mind, what kind of relationship he had with teachers and peers, how he served in the Treasury, the commission for the construction of a government building , where for the first time he showed his weaknesses, how later he went to other not so profitable places, as he served at customs, where it is almost impossible to work honestly and incorruptibly, he received a lot of money by conspiring with smugglers, went bankrupt, but was able to avoid a criminal court, although forced to retire. Becoming an attorney and bustling about the pledge of the peasants, he came up with a plan: he began to travel around Russia, buying dead souls and pledging them to the treasury to receive money that would be used to purchase the village and provide for offspring.

Having again murmured at the nature of the hero and justified him a little, calling him "the acquirer, the owner", the author compared the flying troika with Russia, ending the story with the ringing of a bell.

Volume two

The estate of Andrey Ivanovich Tentetnikov is described, whom the author calls "the smoker of the sky". The author tells about his empty pastime, tells the story of his life, which was inspired by hopes and overshadowed by official troubles and trifles. He retires, wanting to renovate the estate, take care of the peasant, read books, but without any experience this does not provide the desired results, the peasant begins to mess around, and Tentetnikov simply gives up. He avoids neighbors, offended by the attitude of General Betrishchev, does not visit him, although he often thinks about his daughter Ulinka. In general, he begins to turn sour.

Pavel Ivanovich goes to him, complaining about the breakdown in the carriage, trying to pay respect. Having arranged the owner to himself, Chichikov goes to the general, telling him about the grumpy uncle and asking about the dead souls. The narrative is interrupted by a laughing general, then we find Chichikov walking towards Colonel Koshkarev. He turns to the Rooster, who appears before him naked, he is interested in catching sturgeon. Petukh has almost nothing, except for the mortgaged estate, so he simply overeats, meets with the landowner Platonov and persuades him to drive around Russia. After that, he goes to Konstantin Kostanzhoglo, the wife of Platonov's sister. From him, he learns about management methods that significantly increase the profit from the estate, Chichikov is greatly inspired by this.

He quickly comes to Koshkarev, who divided his village into expeditions, departments, committees, organizing an ideal paper production on the estate. After returning, Costanjoglo curses manufactories and factories that have a bad effect on the peasant, the absurd desires of the peasant and the neighbor Khlobuev, who abandoned his estate and gives for a penny. Chichikov is touched and even drawn to honest work, listening to the story of the farmer Murazov, who earned 40 million flawlessly, the next day, together with Platonov and Kostanzhoglo, he goes to Khlobuev, sees his obscene and careless household, along with a governess for children, a fashionable wife and other luxury . Having borrowed money from Kostanzhoglo and Platonov, he pays for the estate, wanting to acquire it, and goes to the Platonov estate, where he meets his brother Vasily, who is skillfully engaged in farming. Then he ends up with his neighbor Lenitsyn, winning his sympathy with the ability to tickle a child, thanks to which he receives dead souls.

After many omissions in the manuscript, Chichikov finds himself at a city fair, where he acquires lingonberry fabric with a spark. He meets Khlobuev, whom he ruined his life. Khlobuev was taken away by Murazov, who convinced him that he needed to work and raise funds for the church. Meanwhile, slanders against Chichikov are recognized by dead souls and forgery. The tailor delivers the tailcoat. Suddenly, a gendarme arrives and drags Chichikov to the governor-general. Here all his atrocities become known, and he finds himself in prison. Chichikov finds himself in a closet, where Murazov finds him. He tears his hair and clothes, mourning the loss of the box of papers. Murazov, with kind words, tries to awaken in him a desire for an honest life and goes to soften the governor general. At the same moment, officials who want to annoy the authorities and take a bribe from Chichikov bring him a box, send denunciations to confuse the case and steal the witness. Riots are unfolding in the province, which are of great concern to the Governor General. But Murazov is able to grope for the sensitive sides of his soul and provide the right advice that the Governor-General wants to use when releasing Chichikov. After that, the manuscript ends...

Here is a summary of the 1st chapter of the work "Dead Souls" by N.V. Gogol.

A very brief summary of "Dead Souls" can be found, and the one below is quite detailed.

Chapter 1 - summary.

A small chaise with a middle-aged gentleman of good appearance, not fat, but not thin, drove into the provincial town of NN. The arrival made no impression on the inhabitants of the city. The visitor stopped at a local tavern. During dinner, a new visitor asked the servant in the most detailed way, who used to run this institution, and who now, how much income and what kind of owner. Then the visitor found out who is the governor in the city, who is the chairman of the chamber, who is the prosecutor, that is: “ did not miss a single significant official ».

Portrait of Chichikov

In addition to the city authorities, the visitor was interested in all the large landowners, as well as the general state of the region: whether there were any epidemics in the province or general famine. After dinner and a long rest, the gentleman wrote down his rank, first and last name on a piece of paper to report to the police. Going down the stairs, the sexton read: Collegiate adviser Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, landowner, according to his needs ».

The next day Chichikov devoted visits to all city officials. He testified his respect even to the inspector of the medical board and the city architect.

Pavel Ivanovich showed himself to be a good psychologist, since in almost every house he left the most favorable impressions about himself - “ very skillfully knew how to flatter everyone ". At the same time, Chichikov avoided talking about himself, but if the conversation turned to his person, he got off with general phrases and somewhat bookish turns. The visitor began to receive invitations to the houses of officials. The first was an invitation to the governor. Getting ready, Chichikov very carefully put himself in order.

During the reception, the guest of the city managed to show himself to be a skillful interlocutor, he successfully made a compliment to the governor's wife.

The male society was divided into two parts. The thin men followed the ladies and danced, while the thick men mostly concentrated at the gaming tables. Chichikov joined the latter. Here he met most of his old acquaintances. Pavel Ivanovich also met the wealthy landowners Manilov and Sobakevich, about whom he immediately made inquiries from the chairman and postmaster. Chichikov quickly charmed both and received two invitations to visit.

The next day the newcomer went to the chief of police, where from three o'clock in the afternoon they played whist until two in the morning. There Chichikov met Nozdrev, " a broken fellow, who, after three or four words, you began to say to him ". In turn, Chichikov visited all the officials, and a good opinion developed about him in the city. He could show a secular person in any situation. Whatever the conversation turned to, Chichikov was able to support it. Moreover, " he knew how to clothe all this with some kind of gravity, knew how to behave well ».

Everyone was pleased with the arrival of a decent person. Even Sobakevich, who in general was rarely satisfied with his surroundings, recognized Pavel Ivanovich " the nicest person ". This opinion in the city persisted until one strange circumstance led the inhabitants of the city of NN into bewilderment.