Dead Souls

“In the book that lies before you—one you’ve likely already read in its first edition—there is a man taken from our own country. He travels across our Russian land, meets people of all ranks, from noble to ordinary. He was chosen not to show the virtues and good qualities of the Russian person, but rather their shortcomings and vices—and all the people surrounding him were chosen for the same reason: to show our weaknesses and failings. The best people and characters will be found in other parts. Much in this book is described incorrectly—not as it is and not as it really happens in Russian land—because I could not know everything: there is too little life of a person to learn even one hundredth of what is done in our land. Moreover, through my own oversight, immaturity, and haste, many errors and mistakes occurred, so on every page there is something to correct: I ask you, reader, to correct me. Don’t neglect such a task.”