What makes the P&V translation stand out are the numerous reference notes, so that one can understand the many allusions that Gogol makes. P&V have masterfully rendered Gogol's protean metaphors and delightful similes, so that one can sense the poetic nature in which this novel has been written.
The "demonic" plot is most intriguing but what really carries this story are the many wonderful characters that Gogol has artfully rendered, each trying to figure out why Chichikov is so interested in buying their "dead souls," deceased serfs that are still on the census and therefore subject to taxes.
Dead Souls is the Inferno, where we are plunged into a world of hypocrites, liars, flatterers and cheats that Dante could never imagine. Russian ladies titter and mumble french platitudes, immoral slave owners haggle over the prices of their (dead) slaves, and the corpulent hero at the center of it all hops from estate to estate, dinner to dinner, until his scheme is found out and his erstwhile admirers run him out of town.
Gogol has a gift for physical description, and he will never throw away a phrase unless it is to launch into a particularly delicious narrative diatribe. He elevates the ugliness of his characters.
Moreover, if this were not enough, to keep the reader (and himself, perhaps) truly engaged, Gogol offers authorly asides about Russian cuisine, the motivation of his characters, and the flaws of his novel...No, this is not done in an annoying, self-indulgent manner that devotees of Seinfeld and David Eggers find so damn amusing.
Dead Souls is satire at its best: Intelligent, fun, and relevant. Reading this novel will put a nasty smirk on your face and make you wish that Gogol had indeed finished his Comedy. Then again, I dont know if the world could handle Gogols take on heaven.
