Description

Some call him a Russian Mark Twain. And with his special blend of comedy, social commentary, and fantasy, Nikolai Gogol paved the way for his countrymen Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky. This sampling of Gogol’s works includes the increasingly fantastic entries of “The Diary of a Madman,” followed by the wonderfully surrealistic “The Nose,” in which the title character embarks on some unlikely activities when separated from its owner’s face. In “The Carriage,” a pompous landowner gets his comeuppance when he attempts to impress a general. Rounding out the collection are the woefully comic tale of a clerk’s acquisition of “The Overcoat” and the celebrated novella “Taras Bulba” about the Ukrainian mythic hero said to have led a bloody Cossack revolt against the Poles.

Translated by Priscilla Meyer and Andrew R. McAndrew

With a New Introduction

and an Afterword by Priscilla Meyer

About the Author

People consider that Russian writerNikolai Vasilievich Gogol(Николай Васильевич Гоголь) founded realism in Russian literature. His works includeThe Overcoat(1842) andDead Souls(1842).Ukrainian birth, heritage, and upbringing of Gogol influenced many of his written works among the most beloved in the tradition of Russian-language literature. Most critics see Gogol as the first Russian realist. His biting satire, comic realism, and descriptions of Russian provincials and petty bureaucrats influenced later Russian mastersLeo Tolstoy,Ivan Turgenev, and especiallyFyodor Dostoyevsky. Gogol wittily said many later Russian maxims.Gogol first used the techniques of surrealism and the grotesque in his worksThe Nose,Viy,The Overcoat, andNevsky Prospekt. Ukrainian upbringing, culture, and folklore influenced his early works, such asEvenings on a Farm near Dikanka.His later writing satirized political corruption in the Russian empire inDead Souls.