Nikolai Wassiljewitsch Gogol Books

The Overcoat which is generally acknowledged as the finest of Gogol's memorable Saint Petersburg stories, is a tale of the absurd and misplaced obsessions.

Featuring a collection of short stories, this work showcases Gogol's mastery of comic fiction and his profound influence on literature. Notable tales include "The Viy," "The Nose," and "The Mantle," each reflecting his unique storytelling style. Gogol, a pivotal figure in Russian literature, is celebrated for his ability to blend humor with deeper social commentary. His works, particularly "The Overcoat," have left a lasting impact on literary history, earning him recognition as a foundational figure in the Golden Age of Realism.

The Government Inspector, also known as The Inspector General, is a satirical play by the Ukrainian-born Russian dramatist and novelist Nikolai Gogol. The play is a comedy of errors, satirizing human greed, stupidity, and the extensive political corruption of Imperial Russia.

This volume brings together Gogol's Petersburg Tales - stories in which the city's inhabitants are confounded with false dreams and absurd visions - with his two most famous plays, Marriage, and The Government Inspector. Detailed notes, maps, and a scholarly introduction supplement these sparkling new translations, which bring out the vitality and humour of Russia's finest comic writer. Includes: Nevsky Prospect; The Nose; The Portrait; The Overcoat; The Carriage: Diary of a Madman; Marriage; The Government Inspector

Written in the 1830s and early 1840s, these comic stories tackle life behind the cold and elegant façade of the Imperial capital from the viewpoints of various characters, such as a collegiate assessor who one day finds that his nose has detached itself from his face and risen the ranks to become a state councillor (‘The Nose’), a painter and a lieutenant whose romantic pursuits meet with contrasting degrees of success (‘Nevsky Prospect’) and a lowly civil servant whose existence desperately unravels when he loses his prized new coat (‘The Overcoat’). Also including the ‘Diary of Madman’, these Petersburg Tales paint a critical yet hilarious portrait of a city riddled with pomposity and self-importance, masterfully juxtaposing nineteenth-century realism with madcap surrealism, and combining absurdist farce with biting satire.

Using a special blend of comedy, social commentary, and fantasy, Nikolai Gogol helped to introduce a realistic literary movement that led to the writings of Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky. The works included in this volume were written during Gogol's most productive period - a relatively short time of vigorous and brilliant creativity. As Leon Stilman states in his Afterword, "The reason for reading Gogol is that he is a great writer, in fact on of the most original, most delightfully and brilliantly inventive writers of the nineteenth century; one also whose perception of the world and whose art are often amazingly modern."

The tales collected in The Nose and Other Stories are among the greatest achievements of world literature. They showcase Nikolai Gogol's vivid, haunting imagination: an encounter with evil in a darkened church, a downtrodden clerk who dreams only of a new overcoat, a nose that falls off a face and reappears around town on its own.

Iconic short stories from the Russian master of satire, in a strikingly modern translation "The most morally complete writer: baffled, outraged, reverent, mock-didactic, mocking, all at once. He honours life by feeling no one way about it." — George Saunders No writer has captured the absurdity of the human condition as acutely as Nikolai Gogol. In a lively new translation by Oliver Ready, this collection contains his great classic stories - "The Overcoat", "The Nose" and "Diary of a Madman" — alongside lesser known gems depicting life in the Russian and Ukrainian countryside. Together, they reveal Gogol's marvelously skewed perspective, moving between the urban and the rural with painfully sharp humour and scorching satire. Strikingly modern in his depictions of society's shambolic structures, Gogol plunders the depths of bureaucratic and domestic banalities to unearth moments of dark comedy and outrageous corruption. Defying categorisation, the stories in this collection range from the surreal to the satirical to the grotesque, united in their exquisite psychological acuteness and tender insights into the bizarre irrationalities of the human soul.

Set against a backdrop of supernatural horror, a philosophy student faces terror from a witch while keeping vigil over a deceased beauty. This short story, originally published in 1835, showcases Gogol's unique blend of folklore and existential dread. Renowned for his contributions to literature, Gogol is celebrated as a pivotal figure in the development of Russian realism, influencing future generations of writers. The republished edition includes a new introductory biography, enhancing the reader's understanding of his literary significance.