If you're so good at translate & search, you should have found out that "dead souls" are something completely different in this context.

Btw, I highly recommend Nabokov's book on Gogol: it's still the best (and most fun) introduction to his work & life for the common reader who doesn't know Russian (or any student not yet in thrall to postmodern jargon, for that matter). Although I think VN underestimated Gogol's early stories set in the Ukraine.

Andrey Bely's Masterstvo Gogolya is the best book for advanced students :)