Dead Souls Lesson Plan

What are Chichikov's (and thus, presumably, Gogol's) opinions on the art of writing?

The purpose of writing is a major theme in these chapters. Gogol begins the seventh chapter describing an artist who never "lowers" themself by writing about unappealing, everyday subject matter. He says these artists only focus on lofty images that are completely divorced from reality.

He imagines them being very happy and self-satisfied. What he seems to be saying at the moment is that this sort of artist makes work that is so completely divorced from reality that it isn't making anything of consequence. In this way, he justifies the focus of his own novel, as it centers on the...