Dead Souls
by Nikolaĭ Vasilʹevich Gogolʹ · first published 1942
52% recommend48% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Funny, brisk satirical novel of serf-owning Russia, with biting social criticism and a grotesque streak. Suits readers wanting Russian literature that also shows how bureaucracy and social status worked.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
Related books
2019–2023Differently Morphous
Yahtzee Croshaw
Recommended by 3 · mentioned by 33 recommend · 3 mention3 recommend · 33 recommend
2009–2026The Urth of the new sun
Gene Wolfe
Recommended by 6 · mentioned by 126 recommend · 12 mention6 recommend · 126 recommend
The Master and Margarita
Edward Kemp
Recommended by 74 · mentioned by 11174 recommend · 111 mention74 recommend · 11174 recommend
2010–2026Fathers and sons
Carolyn McSparren
Recommended by 7 · mentioned by 127 recommend · 12 mention7 recommend · 127 recommend
2008–2026Anna Karenina
Louise Maude
Recommended by 67 · mentioned by 18667 recommend · 186 mention67 recommend · 18667 recommend
2022–2025Build
Tony Fadell
Recommended by 13 · mentioned by 2113 recommend · 21 mention13 recommend · 2113 recommend
2010–2026Revolutionary road
Richard Yates
Recommended by 7 · mentioned by 107 recommend · 10 mention7 recommend · 107 recommend
2018–2026Artemis
Andy Weir
Recommended by 19 · mentioned by 4819 recommend · 48 mention19 recommend · 4819 recommend
If you want to read Dead Souls, there's a free high quality edition at Standard Ebooks: https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/nikolai-gogol/dead-souls/d... It's a surprisingly funny and brisk read.
on “America’s Dead Souls” ↗I think you would like Dead Souls by Gogol. It has the same kind of biting criticism as the idiot, but it's a bit darker (if I remember right) - not as dark as C&P, but darker than the idiot
on ““The Idiot” Savant: On Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Idiot” ↗…From that list, I would recommend the following to anybody: (Achebe - Things Fall Apart), (Austin - Pride and Prejudice), (Laxness - Independent People), (Marquez - Love in the Time of Cholera), (Gogol - Dead Souls [translation by MacAndrew is the most fun one I've read]), (Twain - Huck Finn). From that list, I would recommend the following only if I knew the person's tastes better: (Cervantes - Don Quixote), (Dostoevsky…
on “Ask HN: classic literature recommendations?” ↗Please also give it a try and read Gogol's "Dead Souls". I don't know how to explain it, but I think is the book that best explains the 20th century (even though it was written in the 1840s). Yes, Gogol was that good.
on “An A from Nabokov” ↗Fiction? I started contributing to https://standardebooks.org/ and discovered Gogol’s Dead Souls and Strindberg’s The Red Room in the process as new favourite classics.
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2017?” ↗Dead Souls, absolutely, but also the stories (The Nose and The Overcoat, at a minimum). Gogol is a one-of-a-kind genius. He is one of the funniest writers who ever lived, poignant, and utterly insane in the purest…
on “An A from Nabokov” ↗…of north american bureaucracy - 'The Utopia of rules’ by David Graber (my summary here http://mosermichael.github.io/cstuff/all/ramblings/2015/03/2... ) for the study of Russian/Soviet bureaucracy - 'Dead Souls' by Nikolai Gogol http://robobees.seas.harvard.edu/files/gov2126/files/gogol_d...
on “China’s plan to organize its society relies on ‘big data’ to rate everyone” ↗Dead souls, by Nikolai Gogol. Wikipedia article [0] and freely licensed ebook [1]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Souls [1] http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1081
on “Ask HN: Recommend one book I need to read this summer?” ↗…Alan Moore - Jerusalem ; Graeme Green - Travel with my Aunt ; Karen Maitland - A Company of Liars ; Louis de Bernieres - Captain Correlli's Mandolin ; Umberto Eco - The Name of the Rose ; Nikolai Gogol - Dead Souls ; Robert Harris - Imperium trilogy ... I'd second for Master & Margarita and almost anything by Dostoyevsky
on “Ask HN: What are some must read books?” ↗* Dead Souls by Gogol I read it to try to understand why Russia sees it self as a super power. It is an amazing book, it does not bring enlightenment but made me see the war propaganda in another light. There was…
on “Ask HN: What are some of the best books you have read in 2022?” ↗…That's why among the authors in the May 4th movement, 钱钟书´s modern Chinese is just so much more pleasant to read than Lu Xun's. If you don't believe me, try reading his translation of Nikolai Gogol's Dead Souls. Oh my... Joan Pinkham wrote a book titled The Translator's Guide to Chinglish[1]. It's a fun book to read and really teaches native Chinese speakers how to write good English. Interestingly, a lot of…
on “If English was written like Chinese (1999)” ↗"Dead souls", by Nikolaj Gogol. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Souls
on “Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?” ↗Not only that but one's net worth was largely a derivative of the number of serfs one owned. I highly recommend reading "Dead Souls" -- it is a fantastic novel about that period.
on “A Virtual Museum of Soviet Everyday Life” ↗> I would blame more the cold messed up soviet-era society for this Please read The Prince, The Karamazov Brothers, Eugene Onegin, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, or Dead Souls before writing this kind of grotesque sweeping statements.
on “A Soviet Prisoner's View on What's Important” ↗…again, short stories are best. Developing the skills to read Russian literature take a little time, and when you pick up Crime and Punishment, Anna Karenina, War and Peace, The Brothers Karamazov, or Dead Souls, it's nice to feel at home in the genre so the glories of the work can shine without caveat.
on “Dostoyevsky Isn't Difficult” ↗