The Diary of a Madman and Other Stories

by Nikolai Gogol

Overview

Nikolai Gogol, an early 19th century Ukrainian-born Russian novelist, humorist, and dramatist, created some of the most important works of world literature and is considered the father of modern Russian realism. Gogol satirized the corrupt bureaucracy of the Russian Empire through the scrupulous and scathing realism of his writing, which would ultimately lead to his exile. Among some of his finest works are his short stories. Together in this collection are collected some of the best of these stories, they include the following: The Diary of a Madman, The Viy, The Mysterious Portrait, The Fair of Sorotchinetz, An Evening in May, Mid-Summer Evening, and The Carriage (The Calash).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781420937282
Publisher:	Digireads.com Publishing
Publication date:	01/01/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Lexile:	1060L (what's this?)
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

The son of a small landowner, Nikolai Gogol (1809–52) was educated at the Niezhin gymnasium, where he started a magazine and acted in student theatricals. In 1828, he went to St. Petersburg, obtained a government clerkship, and devoted himself to writing. In 1831–32, he published two volumes of Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka, a collection of stories based on Ukrainian folklore that was enthusiastically received. He next planned to write a history of Russia in the Middle Ages. The work never materialized, but the planning of it served to win him a chair of history at the University of St. Petersburg. Meanwhile, he published “Taras Bulba” and a number of short stories, including “The Overcoat.” On April 19, 1836, his famous comedy The Inspector General was produced. The play stirred up controversy and critics hailed its author as the head of the Naturalist school. Gogol spent the next twelve years abroad, living mainly in Rome. During his voluntary exile, he completed Dead Souls, a panorama of Russian life. Published in 1842, the book was an immediate success. The next ten years Gogol spent writing and rewriting a sequel that was never to see publication.

Andrew R. MacAndrew is the translator of numerous books, including Notes from Underground and The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Gogol’s The Inspector General, and Selected Letters of Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Priscilla Meyer is Professor of Russian Language and Literature at Wesleyan University, She published the first monograph on Vladimir Nabokov’s Pale Fire, Find What the Sailor Has Hidden, and edited Andrei Bitov’s collected stories, Life in Windy Weather. She is coeditor of collections on Gogol, Dostoevsky, and Nabokov. Her most recent book is How the Russians Read the French: Lermontov, Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy.

Table of Contents

Diary of a Madman
Nevski Prospect
The Portrait

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“The greatest artist that Russia has yet produced.”—Vladimir Nabokov
“Behind his laughter you feel the unseen tears.” —Alexander Pushkin

Editorial Reviews

The greatest artist that Russia has yet produced.”—Vladimir Nabokov

“Behind his laughter you feel the unseen tears.” —Alexander Pushkin

From the Publisher

Nicholas Boulton can narrate an extended dialogue and make it seem indisputably between two people. He does so in this collection of Gogol stories, for which he produces a wide array of voices and characters. He takes full advantage of opportunities to inhabit the characters. In typical British fashion, he uses a skillful range of accents to indicate class differences. In many of the stories, whether realistic, absurdist, or fantastic, Gogol maintains a wry, winking tone (no matter the events of the story) that Boulton conveys by imbuing the reading with a sense of amusement or good cheer. His performance enlivens these stories, familiar (“The Overcoat”) or obscure, and keeps them entertaining. W.M. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

JANUARY 2019 - AudioFile

Nicholas Boulton can narrate an extended dialogue and make it seem indisputably between two people. He does so in this collection of Gogol stories, for which he produces a wide array of voices and characters. He takes full advantage of opportunities to inhabit the characters. In typical British fashion, he uses a skillful range of accents to indicate class differences. In many of the stories, whether realistic, absurdist, or fantastic, Gogol maintains a wry, winking tone (no matter the events of the story) that Boulton conveys by imbuing the reading with a sense of amusement or good cheer. His performance enlivens these stories, familiar (“The Overcoat”) or obscure, and keeps them entertaining. W.M. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

JANUARY 2019 - AudioFile