Of all Gogol's creations, Chichikov stands out as the incarnation of the complacent poshlost. Other characters—the squires Chichikov visits on his shady business—include: Sobakevich, a strong, silent, economical man; Manilov, a sentimentalist with pursed lips; M-me Korobochka, a widow; Nozdryov, a bully. Plyushkin, the miser, appears to transcend the poshlost archetype in that he is not complacent but miserable.Mirskij, Dmitrij Petrovič, A History of Russian Literature from its Beginnings to 1900, ed. by Francis J. Whitfield (Illinois, Northwestern University Press, 1999), pp. 160
