Mrtve duše

Immediately after his arrival, the main character Pavla Ivanovich Čičikov sets out to get to know famous residents, the provincial administration and local landowners, and then visit their estates in turn, buying "dead souls". In feudal Russia of the first half of the 19th century, owners paid taxes on all their movable and immovable property, including serfs, i.e. souls. As the inventory of property was done every five years, the lord also paid taxes on those peasants who had died in the meantime. This loophole in the law is used by Chichikov, "buying out" deceased peasants, or rather their names, which he then intends to mortgage as his property and thus withdraw a lot of money from the state coffers.