Goodreads: Dead Souls

I loved Diary of a Madman, The Nose and The Overcoat. I did not love Dead Souls. The writing in the book is excellent. The story was less so. I believe Gogol might have been on to something when he set out to destroy the manuscript. The book reminds me of listening to an artist tell you how he came up with the song. A couple of great lines were written and then some filler was added. Slowly the filler was replaced and finally totally removed so that the final product can be presented. Dead Souls, which finishes mid sentence, is somehow considered a complete work. I don’t think Gogol would have considered it finished. It being unfinished reminds me of Kafka’s The Castle. His use of a narrator’s voice in providing author’s notes and context to the plot remind me of Vonnegut’s Timequake. Overall, I preferred both Kafka and Vonnegut to Gogol. Both Kafka and Gogol tackle the absurdity of the bureaucracy of their world in their works. What I found in Kafka was a resignation to the situation and a resolve to carry on a duty in the face of its futility. What I saw in Gogol’s approach was a stretch to create a moral imperative out of doing one’s duty. In that way I found Kafka’s book much more true to life. In Timequake I thought Vonnegut’s use of his narrator breaking the fourth wall was more effective because it fit in better with the overall feel to the book. Gogol’s use of it makes it feel as if the device has been superimposed on the story. While it informs the plot and deepens the story it feels like reading the book and a commentary on the book simultaneously. It loses something of its magic in the execution. What also made Gogol less entertaining to read compared to the other two was his lack of biting humor. He has it. He seems to have left it out to be more gentle to the subject he loves, Russia. Kafka and Vonnegut are much more ruthless in their satire of their respective worlds. Gogol’s lack of a cutting edge in the book makes it feel like a limp-wristed hand shake. But in shaking hands with this novel one can’t help but be impressed by the softness of its touch or the beauty of its form. That’s why it gets three stars instead of two for me. Plus, Chichikov is way less likable than K. or Kilgore Trout.