The Works of Nikolai Gogol

by Nikolai Gogol

The works of Gogol are compiled here with a biography about his life and times.

Works include:

The Calash
The Cloak
Dead Souls
The Inspector-General
The Mantle
A May Night
Memoirs of a Madman
The Mysterious Portrait
The Nose
St. John’s Eve
The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich
Taras Bulba
The Viy

Genres: Classics, Russian Literature, Literature, Short Stories, Russia

1062 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1966

About the author

People consider that Russian writer Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol (Николай Васильевич Гоголь) founded realism in Russian literature. His works include The Overcoat (1842) and Dead 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 masters Leo Tolstoy, Ivan Turgenev, and especially Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Gogol wittily said many later Russian maxims.

Gogol first used the techniques of surrealism and the grotesque in his works The Nose , Viy , The Overcoat , and Nevsky Prospekt . Ukrainian upbringing, culture, and folklore influenced his early works, such as Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka .
His later writing satirized political corruption in the Russian empire in Dead Souls .

Reviews

[Arni Snaevarr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gógol er sannkallaður meistari smásögunnar. Af einhverjum ástæðum las ég fyrstu sögurnar eftir Gogol fyrir örfáum árum, sem er undarlegt miðað við aðdáun mína á rússneskum 19.aldar bókmenntum. Dauðar sálir hrifu mig ekki, og því varð ekki framhald á lestri fyrr en ég fór að lesa sögur á borð við Dagbók brjálæðings, Frakkann og ekki síst Nefið. Þvílíkur snillingur!

[Anya · Rating 4 out of 5]

On Middle Ages
On architecture
Arabesques

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Dead Souls, although unfinished, is a classic.

[Andrew J Olson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sure the writing is great. Gogol is very anti semitic however and it makes it really difficult to continue at times. Does no one else notice this?

[Jim Hardison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good. Weird. Interesting.

[David Meditationseed · Rating 4 out of 5]

With humor and social criticism Gogol strolls through the prose of fantastic realism as poets would do in a romantic poetry.

The Nose is one of the texts present here and this tale is one of the beautiful literary examples of how subjects we sometimes take so seriously, or the simplicities that become epic in our imagination can be seen with humor, in a relaxed way despite the regrets.

The story published in 1835 is part of a side of fantastic realism that not only entertains us and amuses but makes us laugh.

Authors such as Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett are two of the great modern writers who have succeeded in developing this kind of narrative. Others like Douglas Adams, imbued in science fiction a very similar way of telling the story. Somehow they all seem to have some influence from Gogol.

Despite the opinions that this tale would be a criticism of the Russian bureaucracy of Gogol's time, I feel something else: the plot would be a metaphor for life. The life that is absurd and inexplicable in itself.

Perhaps life is there only to be lived, in all its incongruities and manifestations

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved this book -- the three stars are for the edition, which is a poorly conceived compilation of public domain scans (with lots of remaining misreads) with no real organization or atribution of the translators and editors. It's never clear when the individual pieces were written, and using footnotes in a medium like Kindle makes no sense at all.
The stories themselves were spellbinding for me. I had expected to enjoy his satire, but camer away even more moved by Taras Bulba and the Cossack and ghost stories.