Nabokov defined poshlost as “not only the obviously trashy but mainly the falsely important, the falsely beautiful, the falsely clever, the falsely attractive.” He also added “vulgar clichés, Philistinism in all its phases, imitations of imitations, bogus profundities, crude, moronic and dishonest pseudo-literature”* to the list of things that are encompassed by poshlost. It’s one of those words that hide a mass of concepts behind its two syllables such as self-satisfied vulgarity, pettiness, aggressive self-importance and depressing banality. What Gogol exposed in his writing was poshlost. The things these scribblers write!” What would be Gogol’s take on our world of “post truth,” “alternative facts,” and “fake news”? Or, “You can’t imagine how stupid the whole world has grown nowadays. Sometimes there is no plausibility at all.” Yes, a similar thought in different formulations has been coursing through my head a lot lately. Let’s start with one of my favorite quotes in the book. Today everyone is re-reading Orwell’s 1984, Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 and Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, and I’d like to make a case for adding Dead Souls to the list. Gogol, the Ukrainian and Russian dramatist, playwright and novelist, is unrivaled for his sharp satire and colorful language, but what struck me this time is how relevant his observations were to our present day affairs. The last time I read it in its entirety was during my school days, and many scenes were so vivid in my memory that picking up the novel again felt less like re-discovering than wandering through a familiar landscape. I celebrated Nikolai Gogol’s birthday on March 31st by picking up a volume of Dead Souls.
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