Dead Souls Read online

  AUTHOR'S PREFACE TO THE FIRST PORTION OF THIS WORK

  Second Edition published in 1846

  From the Author to the Reader

  Reader, whosoever or wheresoever you be, and whatsoever be yourstation--whether that of a member of the higher ranks of society or thatof a member of the plainer walks of life--I beg of you, if God shallhave given you any skill in letters, and my book shall fall into yourhands, to extend to me your assistance.

  For in the book which lies before you, and which, probably, you haveread in its first edition, there is portrayed a man who is a type takenfrom our Russian Empire. This man travels about the Russian land andmeets with folk of every condition--from the nobly-born to the humbletoiler. Him I have taken as a type to show forth the vices and thefailings, rather than the merits and the virtues, of the commonplaceRussian individual; and the characters which revolve around him havealso been selected for the purpose of demonstrating our nationalweaknesses and shortcomings. As for men and women of the better sort, Ipropose to portray them in subsequent volumes. Probably much of what Ihave described is improbable and does not happen as things customarilyhappen in Russia; and the reason for that is that for me to learn allthat I have wished to do has been impossible, in that human life is notsufficiently long to become acquainted with even a hundredth partof what takes place within the borders of the Russian Empire. Also,carelessness, inexperience, and lack of time have led to my perpetratingnumerous errors and inaccuracies of detail; with the result that inevery line of the book there is something which calls for correction.For these reasons I beg of you, my reader, to act also as my corrector.Do not despise the task, for, however superior be your education, andhowever lofty your station, and however insignificant, in your eyes,my book, and however trifling the apparent labour of correcting andcommenting upon that book, I implore you to do as I have said. And youtoo, O reader of lowly education and simple status, I beseech you not tolook upon yourself as too ignorant to be able in some fashion, howeversmall, to help me. Every man who has lived in the world and mixed withhis fellow men will have remarked something which has remained hiddenfrom the eyes of others; and therefore I beg of you not to deprive meof your comments, seeing that it cannot be that, should you read my bookwith attention, you will have NOTHING to say at some point therein.

  For example, how excellent it would be if some reader who issufficiently rich in experience and the knowledge of life to beacquainted with the sort of characters which I have described hereinwould annotate in detail the book, without missing a single page, andundertake to read it precisely as though, laying pen and paper beforehim, he were first to peruse a few pages of the work, and then to recallhis own life, and the lives of folk with whom he has come in contact,and everything which he has seen with his own eyes or has heard of fromothers, and to proceed to annotate, in so far as may tally with his ownexperience or otherwise, what is set forth in the book, and to jot downthe whole exactly as it stands pictured to his memory, and, lastly, tosend me the jottings as they may issue from his pen, and to continuedoing so until he has covered the entire work! Yes, he would indeed dome a vital service! Of style or beauty of expression he would needto take no account, for the value of a book lies in its truth and itsactuality rather than in its wording. Nor would he need to consider myfeelings if at any point he should feel minded to blame or to upbraidme, or to demonstrate the harm rather than the good which has beendone through any lack of thought or verisimilitude of which I havebeen guilty. In short, for anything and for everything in the way ofcriticism I should be thankful.

  Also, it would be an excellent thing if some reader in the higher walksof life, some person who stands remote, both by life and by education,from the circle of folk which I have pictured in my book, but who knowsthe life of the circle in which he himself revolves, would undertake toread my work in similar fashion, and methodically to recall to his mindany members of superior social classes whom he has met, and carefully toobserve whether there exists any resemblance between one such class andanother, and whether, at times, there may not be repeated in a highersphere what is done in a lower, and likewise to note any additional factin the same connection which may occur to him (that is to say, any factpertaining to the higher ranks of society which would seem to confirm orto disprove his conclusions), and, lastly, to record that fact as it mayhave occurred within his own experience, while giving full details ofpersons (of individual manners, tendencies, and customs) and also ofinanimate surroundings (of dress, furniture, fittings of houses, and soforth). For I need knowledge of the classes in question, which are theflower of our people. In fact, this very reason--the reason that I donot yet know Russian life in all its aspects, and in the degree towhich it is necessary for me to know it in order to become a successfulauthor--is what has, until now, prevented me from publishing anysubsequent volumes of this story.

  Again, it would be an excellent thing if some one who is endowed withthe faculty of imagining and vividly picturing to himself the varioussituations wherein a character may be placed, and of mentally followingup a character's career in one field and another--by this I mean someone who possesses the power of entering into and developing the ideasof the author whose work he may be reading--would scan each characterherein portrayed, and tell me how each character ought to have actedat a given juncture, and what, to judge from the beginnings of eachcharacter, ought to have become of that character later, and what newcircumstances might be devised in connection therewith, and what newdetails might advantageously be added to those already described.Honestly can I say that to consider these points against the time when anew edition of my book may be published in a different and a better formwould give me the greatest possible pleasure.

  One thing in particular would I ask of any reader who may be willing togive me the benefit of his advice. That is to say, I would beg of himto suppose, while recording his remarks, that it is for the benefit ofa man in no way his equal in education, or similar to him in tastes andideas, or capable of apprehending criticisms without full explanationappended, that he is doing so. Rather would I ask such a reader tosuppose that before him there stands a man of incomparably inferiorenlightenment and schooling--a rude country bumpkin whose life,throughout, has been passed in retirement--a bumpkin to whom it isnecessary to explain each circumstance in detail, while never forgettingto be as simple of speech as though he were a child, and at every stepthere were a danger of employing terms beyond his understanding. Shouldthese precautions be kept constantly in view by any reader undertakingto annotate my book, that reader's remarks will exceed in weightand interest even his own expectations, and will bring me very realadvantage.

  Thus, provided that my earnest request be heeded by my readers, andthat among them there be found a few kind spirits to do as I desire, thefollowing is the manner in which I would request them to transmit theirnotes for my consideration. Inscribing the package with my name, letthem then enclose that package in a second one addressed either to theRector of the University of St. Petersburg or to Professor Shevirev ofthe University of Moscow, according as the one or the other of those twocities may be the nearer to the sender.

  Lastly, while thanking all journalists and litterateurs for theirpreviously published criticisms of my book--criticisms which, in spiteof a spice of that intemperance and prejudice which is common to allhumanity, have proved of the greatest use both to my head and to myheart--I beg of such writers again to favour me with their reviews. Forin all sincerity I can assure them that whatsoever they may be pleasedto say for my improvement and my instruction will be received by me withnaught but gratitude.

  DEAD SOULS

  PART I