Dead Souls is a book by Nikolai Gogol, chronicling the travels and adventures of Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov and the people whom he encounters. Chichikov combs the back country, looking for 'dead souls'- deceased serfs who still represent money to anyone sharp enough to trade in them.
Dead Souls
The reader is introduced to a Dickensian cast of peasants, landowners, and conniving petty officials, few of whom can resist the seductive illogic of Chichikov's proposition. Note: Although the novel ends in mid-sentence, it is usually regarded as complete in the extant form.