Book: Paperback | 129 x 198mm | 368 pages | ISBN 9780140449075 | 01 Dec 2005 | Penguin Classic
Author, dramatist and satirist, Nikolay Gogol (1809-1852) deeply influenced later Russian literature with his powerful depictions of a society dominated by petty beaurocracy and base corruption. This volume includes both his most admired short fiction and his most famous drama. A biting and frequently hilarious political satire, The Government Inspector has been popular since its first performance and was regarded by Nabokov as the greatest Russian play every written. The stories gathered here, meanwhile, range from comic to tragic and describe the isolated lives of low-ranking clerks, lunatics and swindlers. They include Diary of a Madman, an amusing but disturbing exploration of insanity; Nevsky Prospect, a depiction of an artist besotted with a prostitute; and The Overcoat, a moving consideration of poverty that powerfully influenced Dostoevsky and later Russian literature.
The Diary of a Madman, The Government Inspector, and Selected Stories
Chronology
Introduction
Further Reading
Table of Ranks Ivan Fyodorovich Shponka and His Aunt
How Ivan Ivanovich Quarrelled with Ivan Nikiforovich
Nevsky Prospekt
The Nose
The Overcoat
Diary of a Madman
The Carriage
The Government Inspector
Publishing History and Notes
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