Books with author Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol

Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol was born on 31st March 1809 in present day Ukraine which was then the Russian Cossack village of Sorochyntsi. Nikolai's parents were relatively affluent; his mother's family were Polish landowners and his father, who wrote poetry in Ukrainian and Russian, was a descendant of Ukrainian Cossacks. Nikolai had a good education and started writing as a teenager whilst still at school although did consider becoming an actor due to his formidable talent at mimicry. On leaving school he went to St Petersburg but found it hard getting any work either in the civil service or as an actor. He self published a romantic poem but it was critically savaged to the extent that he swore never to write poetry again and also considered emigrating to the US. Fortunately, he persevered with his writing and produced a series of stories about his home in Ukraine in a colloquial and whimsical style that captured many literary admirers including the esteemed poet Pushkin. Nikolai was eventually able to abandon his work teaching and produced powerful books brilliantly and savagely satirising the inequities of the Russian system and its corrupt bureaucracy. His creative talents declined in later years and he became heavily influenced by a sadistic fanatical priest and died semi insane on 4th March 1852. He remains the father of Russian realism as evidenced here by his classic 'Dead Souls'

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

This story comes from the unnamed story-teller (who was previously responsible for "The Fair at Sorochyntsi").In this tale, a young Cossack named Levko, the son of the mayor, is in love with Hanna. He comes to her house to talk about marriage and mentions that his father is not pleased with the idea, though he doesn't say anything directly and merely ignores him. As they are walking on the outskirts of the village, Hanna asks about an old hut with a moss-covered roof and overgrown apple trees surrounding it. He tells her the story of a beautiful young girl whose father took care of her after her mother died and loved her dearly. Eventually, he married another woman who she discovered was a witch when she cut the paw of a cat that tried to kill her and her stepmother appeared soon after with her hand bandaged. The witch had power over her father, however, and eventually she is thrown out of the house and throws herself into the nearby pond in despair. She reigns over a group of maidens who also drowned in the pond, but once, when she got a hold of the witch as she was near the pond, she turned into a maiden and the ghost of the young girl has been unable to pick her out of the group ever since, asking any young man she comes upon to guess for her.

Since its publication in 1842, Dead Souls has been celebrated as a supremely realistic portrait of provincial Russian life and as a splendidly exaggerated tale; as a paean to the Russian spirit and as a remorseless satire of imperial Russian venality, vulgarity, and pomp. As Gogol's wily antihero, Chichikov, combs the back country wheeling and dealing for "dead souls"--deceased serfs who still represent money to anyone sharp enough to trade in them--we are introduced to a Dickensian cast of peasants, landowners, and conniving petty officials, few of whom can resist the seductive illogic of Chichikov's proposition.

How is this book unique?Font adjustments & biography includedUnabridged (100% Original content)IllustratedAbout Taras Bulba by Nikolai GogolTaras Bulba by Nikolai Gogol is set sometime between the mid-sixteenth and early-seventeenth century, Gogol’s epic tale recounts both a bloody Cossack revolt against the Poles (led by the bold Taras Bulba of Ukrainian folk mythology) and the trials of Taras Bulba’s two sons. As Robert Kaplan writes "Taras Bulba has a Kiplingesque gusto . . . that makes it a pleasure to read, but central to its theme is an unredemptive, darkly evil violence that is far beyond anything that Kipling ever touched on. We need more works like Taras Bulba to better understand the emotional wellsprings of the threat we face today in places like the Middle East and Central Asia.” And the critic John Cournos has noted, “A clue to all Russian realism may be found in a Russian critic’s observation about Gogol: ‘Seldom has nature created a man so romantic in bent, yet so masterly in portraying all that is unromantic in life.’ But this statement does not cover the whole ground, for it is easy to see in almost all of Gogol’s work his ‘free Cossack soul’ trying to break through the shell of sordid today like some ancient demon, essentially Dionysian. So that his works, true though they are to our life, are at once a reproach, a protest, and a challenge, ever calling for joy, ancient joy, that is no more with us. And they have all the joy and sadness of the Ukrainian songs he loved so much.”

The pearl of Gogol’s Little Russian novels, is a historical novel, Taras Bulba, which recalls to life one of the most interesting periods in the history of Little Russia–the fifteen century. Constantinople had fallen into the hands of the Turks; and although a mighty Polish-Lithuanian state had grown in the West, the Turks, nevertheless, menaced both Eastern and Middle Europe. Then it was the Little Russians rose for the defense of Russia and Europe. The hero of the novel is an old Cossack, Taras Bulba, who has himself spent many years in the Secha, but is now peacefully settled inland on his farm. His two sons have been educated in the Academy of Kiev and return home after several years of absence. On the very next day after their arrival, without letting the mother enjoy the sight of her sons, Taras takes them to the Secha, which– as often happened in those times– was going to begin war, in consequence of the exactions which the Polish landlords made upon the Little Russians. Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol (1809-1852) wrote his epic Taras Bulba over a period, broken by intervals, of more than nine years: from 1833 to 1842. The profound ideological message of the tale, its thrilling and truthful characters, Gogol’s colorful portrayal of the people’s life, have immortalized Gogol’s epic.

How is this book unique?Font adjustments & biography includedUnabridged (100% Original content)IllustratedAbout Dead Souls by Nikolai GogolDead Souls is a novel by Nikolai Gogol, first published in 1842, and widely regarded as an exemplar of 19th-century Russian literature. The purpose of the novel was to demonstrate the flaws and faults of the Russian mentality and character. Gogol portrayed those defects through Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov (the main character) and the people whom he encounters in his endeavours. These people are typical of the Russian middle-class of the time. Gogol himself saw it as an "epic poem in prose", and within the book as a "novel in verse". Despite supposedly completing the trilogy's second part, Gogol destroyed it shortly before his death. Although the novel ends in mid-sentence (like Sterne's Sentimental Journey), it is usually regarded as complete in the extant form. The first part of the novel was intended to represent a modern-day Inferno of the Divine Comedy.[citation needed] Gogol reveals to his readers an encompassing picture of the ailing social system in Russia after the war of 1812. As in many of Gogol's short stories, the social criticism of Dead Souls is communicated primarily through absurd and hilarious satire. Unlike the short stories, however, Dead Souls was meant to offer solutions rather than simply point out problems. This grander scheme was largely unrealized at Gogol's death; the work was never completed, and it is primarily the earlier, darker part of the novel that is remembered.

Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol is one of the most prominent works of 19th century Russian literature. Gogol himself saw it as an "epic poem in prose", and within the book as a "novel in verse". Despite supposedly completing the trilogy's second part, Gogol destroyed it shortly before his death. Although the novel ends in mid-sentence (like Sterne's Sentimental Journey), it is usually regarded as complete in the extant form. In Russia before the emancipation of the serfs in 1861, landowners were entitled to own serfs to farm their land. Serfs were for most purposes considered the property of the landowner, and could be bought, sold, or mortgaged against, as any other chattel. To count serfs (and people in general), the measure word "soul" was used: e.g., "six souls of serfs". The plot of the novel relies on "dead souls" (i.e., "dead serfs") which are still accounted for in property registers.

Taras Bulba is a magnificent story portraying the life of the Ukrainian Cossacks who lived by the Dnieper River in the sixteenth century. Taras Bulba is an old and hardened warrior who feels a little rusty from lack of action. When his two sons return from school at Kiev, he eagerly takes them to the "setch," the camping and training island of the Cossacks. There they spend their time drinking and remembering old glories. It happens, however, that the Cossacks are going through an uneasy truce with their Turkish hegemones and the Tartar horsemen. Taras Bulba, always the warmonger, harangues the Cossacks, engineers a change in leadership, and leads them to attack the Catholic Poles. The Cossacks ride West, destroying everything they meet with extraordinary brutality. Finally, they lay siege to a walled city, but Andrew, Taras's younger son, discovers that the woman he loves is inside. A masterful and brutal story of the horrors of war. Newly designed and typeset in a modern 6-by-9-inch format by Waking Lion Press.