What if famous protagonists from Russian literature had mobile banking?

The key moments in Russian literary works can easily be reimagined with the addition of the type of text messages that are sent by mobile banking services. The characters are often in debt, running from their creditors and seem like they would have a hard time surviving in the modern world.

Illustration of Gogol's 'Dead Souls,' Chichikov (L) visits Plyushkin / Getty ImagesIllustration of Gogol's 'Dead Souls,' Chichikov (L) visits Plyushkin / Getty Images

Doctors, speculators and the unfortunate victims of lies and dubious commercial propositions — Russia's literary classics are full of protagonists who are burdened by financial obligations.

If these characters were around today, they would easily become the daily target of banks and debt collectors. Looking at the classics, if we remove the profound philosophical undertones, we will find that the plots are just about normal people burdened by debt or living in a rented apartment they can no longer afford.

RBTH imagines the kind of messages that would be filling up these characters phones. It turns out that the text messages from banks can be an ideal way to explore the famous characters' sufferings and triumphs. But be careful! If you have not read these books you should know that this article contains spoilers.

Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol: The story of an annoying unlicensed bank

This is a masterpiece poem, written in prose, about human cunning and mortal sins. Collegiate counselor Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov travels the country, buying up serfs' "dead souls" (they have died but have not yet been removed from the official records) at a low price. During his adventures, he interacts with a few banks.

His transactions for buying the "souls" are blocked and payments are delayed or do not arrive in their entirety. Basically, the whole buying and selling process is tormenting and annoying to everyone involved. The essence of one of the episodes (Chapter IV) is as follows:

 

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky: A tale of late rent payments and microloans

On a hot July day, the impoverished failed student Rodion Raskolnikov decides to commit one of the most famous crimes in the world of literature: he uses an axe to cut off the heads of an old pawnbroker and her sister, Elizaveta, and then robs them.

Before carrying out the murders, Raskolnikov had been wallowing in the depths of financial misery and had reached rock bottom.

 

 

Dubrovsky by Alexander Pushkin: The case of the confiscated property

Vladimir Dubrovsky's father, a poor landowner, falls victim to his vindictive, proud and wealthy neighbor who could not forgive his reluctance to forgive rudeness. The essence of this conflict, which will bring the novel's protagonist into the family fold, is extremely simple. If the plot were to take place in today's reality, the text message story of these fights would look like this:

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