Gogol painfully wrote his poem. Burdened with the gift of a seer, he did not finish it. Russia was rushing somewhere, as if dumbfounded. Gogol felt this, and the completion of the work was not given to him because the type he had written out had to live and develop for a long time, and Gogol's Russia had to disappear.

The fact that Chichikov is "more alive than many living people" is clear. But where is everything going? All these philosophical digressions about the Russian soul, about fast driving, the questions: "Where are you rushing, give me an answer?"

A Jew inherits intelligence and persistence from birth. If he has faith, he can become the heir of the prophets. If there is no faith, but there is a conscience, then he will become a violinist, or a chess player, or a scientist. If there is no faith or conscience, then he will be an extreme materialist, a cynic and a character in jokes.

It is not appropriate for Russians to scold Jews too much, because they are both similar. If a Russian has faith, then he will strive for holiness. If there is no faith, but there is a conscience, then he will build honestly and fight bravely, and after the bath on Saturday he will drink a little with his friends. And if there is no faith, no conscience, then he will be a lazy and drunkard who is angry with the whole world.

Chichikov is a man without faith and conscience, but with ambition and education. Such a person will not drink. But not out of love for virtue, but out of pride. For such a person, the world is always full of gullible people who take their word for it, who do not read every clause of the purchase and sale agreement. This means that you can live, and not badly. We have survived a whole period of many years of Chichikovism, with various "MMMs", with the deception of depositors, with the rapid impoverishment of hundreds of thousands of people and the enrichment of a few. Pavel Ivanovich is alive, "the smoking room is alive". It has been replicated around the world and surprises overseas people with its resourcefulness and impudence. He no longer sells dead carpenters and blacksmiths, but live girls for other people's brothels. He learned how to dilute gasoline with water and hack bank accounts.

True, nations are slowly being erased, and Chichikov is no longer quite Russian. He mixed in himself the features of a Russian and a Jew, but both in their fallen — faithless and unscrupulous — state.

Dear Nikolay Vasilyevich! It was funny to us when you sang us lamentable songs, and only after a while did we understand the meaning of these songs. And did everyone understand?

You have a kind heart and a sharp look. That is why all your portraits are sad.

One day we will see each other, and God grant that this meeting will be a joy for both you and us.

When the body is dead? "When his soul leaves him."

And when the soul is dead? "When she forgets the Lord."

To die, in the sense of an abyss, the soul cannot die. But, having been separated from God, he no longer lives, but only exists.

It seems that we have finished the conversation, and it begins again.

"Dead Souls". So about whom is this said?