The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol (Vintage Classics)

(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed) From the acclaimed translators of War and Peace , Crime and Punishment , and The Brothers Karamazov, a brilliant translation of Nikolai Gogol's short fiction. Collected here are Gogol's finest talesstories that combine the wide-eyed, credulous imagination of the peasant with the sardonic social criticism of the city dwellerallowing readers to experience anew the unmistakable genius of a writer who paved the way for Dostoevsky and Kafka. All of Gogol's most memorable creations are here: the minor official who misplaces his nose, the downtrodden clerk whose life is changed by the acquisition of a splendid new overcoat, the wily madman who becomes convinced that a dog can tell him everything he needs to know. The wholly unique blend of the mundane and the supernatural that Gogol crafted established his reputation as one of the most daring and inventive writers of his time. From The New Yorker ...a superb ... translation... From Kirkus Reviews Pevear and Volokhonsky continue their remarkable conquest of 19th-century Russian fiction with this lively new translation of 13 of the Russian Dickens's'' wildest and finest stories. Excluding only lesser pieces from Gogol's earliest volumes (though one misses the madly romantic novella Taras Bulba''), this selection offers richly colloquial versions (which sound like spoken narrative) of such classic Ukrainian Tales'' as the imperturbably melodramatic The Terrible Vengeance'' and the memorably lurid vampire tale Viy,'' and also Petersburg Tales'' like the deliriously surrealistic The Nose'' and that uniquely dreamlike, and seminal, portrayal of a timid clerk's acquisition and loss of his only meaningful possession: The Overcoat.'' Pevear's informative Preface persuasively emphasizes the personal, nonpolitical, and, to some degree, haphazard nature of the distinctive alchemy by which a deeply flawed and troubled soul managed to create some of the most colorful and haunting fiction of his century. -- Copyright 1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. Using, or rather mimicking, traditional forms of storytelling Gogol created stories that are complete within themselves and only tangentially connected to a meaning or moral. His work belongs to the school of invention, where each twist and turn of the narrative is a surprise unfettered by obligation to an overarching theme. Selected from Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka , Mirgorod , and the Petersburg tales and arranged in order of composition, the thirteen stories in The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol encompass the breadth of Gogol's literary achievement. From the demon-haunted “St. John's Eve ” to the heartrending humiliations and trials of a titular councilor in “The Overcoat,” Gogol's knack for turning literary conventions on their heads combined with his overt joy in the art of story telling shine through in each of the tales. This translation, by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, is as vigorous and darkly funny as the original Russian. It allows readers to experience anew the unmistakable genius of a writer who paved the way for Dostevsky and Kafka. This acclaimed new English version does justice to all the works' levels of artistry and intention. Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky have also provided a biography of Gogol and thorough annotations, taking extra care to bring out Gogol's unusual turns of phrase. St. John’s Eve; The Night before Christmas; The Terrible Vengeance; Ivan Fyodorovich Shponka and his Aunt; Old World Landowners; Viy; The Story of how Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich; Nevsky Prospect; The Diary of a Madman; The Nose; The Carriage; The Portrait; The Overcoat.*** The layout and pagination are far superior to the version with the turquoise background on the cover. A new translation offers thirteen satirical and fantastic stories of downtrodden characters who are set upon by the powers that be