Christopher English writes that "Susanne Fusso compellingly argues in her book Designing Dead Souls that Dead Souls is complete in Part One, that there was never meant to be a Part Two or Part Three, and that it is entirely consistent with Gogol's method to create the expectation of sequels, and even to break off his narrative in mid-story, or mid-sentence, and that he was only persuaded to embark on composition of the second part by the expectation of the Russian reading public". - Gogolʹ, Nikolaĭ Vasilʹevich (1998). English, Christopher (ed.). Dead Souls: A Poem. Oxford world's classics. Translated by English, Christopher. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 435. ISBN9780192818379. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
