After a stay abroad, chiefly in Italy, lasting with some interruptions for seven years (1836-1841), he returned to his native country, bringing with him the first part of his greatest work, Dead Souls. The novel, published the following year, produced a profound impression and made Gogol's literary reputation supreme. Pushkin, who did not live to see its publication, on hearing the first chapters read, exclaimed, "God, how sad our Russia is!" And Alexander Hertzen characterized it as "a wonderful book, a bitter, but not hopeless rebuke of contemporary Russia." Aksakov went so far as to call it the Russian national epic, and Gogol the Russian Homer. Unfortunately the novel remained incomplete. Gogol began to suffer from a nervous illness which induced extreme hypochondria. He became excessively religious, fell under the influence of pietists and a fanatical priest, sank more and more into mysticism, and went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to worship at the Holy Sepulchre. In this state of mind he came to consider all literature, including his own, as pernicious and sinful. After burning the manuscript of the second part of Dead Souls, he began to rewrite it, had it completed and ready for the press by 1851, but kept the copy and burned it again a few days before his death (1852), so that it is extant only in parts. THOMAS SELTZER. CHARACTERS OF THE PLAY ANTON ANTONOVICH SKVOZNIK-DMUKHANOVSKY, the Governor. ANNA ANDREYEVNA, his wife. MARYA ANTONOVNA, his daughter. LUKA LUKICH KHLOPOV, the Inspector of Schools. His Wife. AMMOS FIODOROVICH LIAPKIN-TIAPKIN, the Judge. ARTEMY FILIPPOVICH ZEMLIANIKA, the Superintendent of Charities. IVAN KUZMICH SHPEKIN, the Postmaster. PIOTR IVANOVICH DOBCHINSKY. } PIOTR IVANOVICH BOBCHINSKY. } Country Squires. IVAN ALEKSANDROVICH KHLESTAKOV, an official from St. Petersburg. OSIP, his servant. CHRISTIAN IVANOVICH HUeBNER, the district Doctor. FIODR ANDREYEVICH LULIUKOV. } ex-officials, }esteemed IVAN LAZAREVICH RASTAKOVSKY. }personages STEPAN IVANOVICH KOROBKIN. }of the town. STEPAN ILYICH UKHOVERTOV, the Police Captain. SVISTUNOV. } PUGOVITZYN. }Police Sergeants. DERZHIMORDA. } ABDULIN, a Merchant. FEVRONYA PETROVA POSHLIOPKINA, the Locksmith's wife. The Widow of a non-commissioned Officer. MISHKA, the Governor's Servant. Servant at the Inn. Guests, Merchants, Citizens, and Petitioners. CHARACTERS AND COSTUMES DIRECTIONS FOR ACTORS