From Gogols Letters

Do me a favor and give me some plot whether it s amusing or not amusing doesn t matter as long as it s a purely Russian anecdote.  

Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837), generally considered Russia s greatest poet [Editor]. 

According to Gogol, Pushkin did suggest a plot, and the result was The Inspector General. 

Another circumstance which can give hope for my return is my work. I am now preparing the first volume of Dead Souls for the final revision. I am changing, polishing, and completely reworking many things, and I see that its publication cannot get by without my presence. Meanwhile, its further continuation is being elucidated more 

Peter Alexandrovich Pletnev (1792-1865), dose friend and literary agent of Pushkin, editor of The Contemporary after Pushkin s death. Critic, poet of small talent, professor of Russian literature, member of the Russian Academy. 

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Also Gogol on the purpose of comedy Comedy demonstrates the deviation of the whole society from the straight path (road)." Or from a letter to P. Annenkov ".. . We are all... 

The present edition reprints George Reavey s translation of Dead Souls, with a few emendations and changes and with additional footnotes. The background materials include extracts from Gogol s letters and from his Selected Passages from Correspondence with Friends. The anthology... 

From Carl R. Proffer, ed.. Letters of Nikolai Gogol, trans. Carl R. Proffer in collaboration with Vera Krivo-shein (Ann Arbor, Mich. The University of Michigan Press, 1967), 52, 62-64, 99-100, 105-7, 2, 113, 115-18, 159-60, 161-62. Except where indicated differently, notes are by Carl R. Proffer. 

Alexander Vasilevich Nikitenko, a censor. In a letter to Pletnev (February 17, 1842) Gogol says Besides his views on the censor s duty, he understands the calling of the censor in the sense of the andent Roman censors, i.e., watdiers after purity of morals and therefore many of my expressions will suffer greatly from him. ... 

Gogol s Four Letters From Jesse Zeldin, ed. and trans.. Selected Passages from Correspondence with Friends, by N. Gogol (1969) Pages 96-iio- Reprinted by permission of Vanderbilt University Press. 

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