In a posthumously published essay which has come to be known as ‘The Author's Confession’ (Avtorskaia ispoved), Nikolai Gogol writes of his quest to discover Russia as he was working on his novel Dead Souls. It was a quest conducted mainly while he was living abroad. Gogol explains the problem, brought into focus by his two trips back to Russia in 1839 and 1841:

Gogol was relieved when Russia ‘put itself back together again’ in his thoughts. He needed an integral vision of Russia, one that made sense, one that was … one. He needed a unitary vision of Russia to suit his purposes. Unitary Russias do tend to be projected for a purpose. They come with political or social or moral agendas. Unitary visions of Russia imply prescription rather than description, what people should think rather than what they do think, what people should become rather than what they feel or believe themselves to be.