Diary of a Madman and Other Stories

by Nikolai Gogol

Other authorsRonald Wilks (Translator), Ronald Wilks (Introduction)
Paperback, 1973

Status

Available

Call number

891.733

Collection

Publication

Penguin Classics (1973), Edition: reprint, Paperback, 192 pages

Description

Illuminates the Russian writer's thoughts on madness, bureaucracy, and illusion in these five tales.

User reviews

LibraryThing member john257hopper
A generally good collection of short stories:

Diary of a Madman - hilariously funny at first, but more tragic at the end as the narrator's insanity comes into full force.

The Nose - ridiculous, yet somehow charmingly funny. This is usually reckoned to be his short story masterpiece, but I prefer
Show More
Diary and Overcoat.

The Overcoat - another funny story, but with a sad and pathetic end

How Ivan Ivanovich quarelled with Ivan Nikiforovich - some amusing dialogue between two friends who fall out, but otherwise rather tiresome and overlong.

Ivan Fyodorovich Shponka and his Aunt - mildly amusing but inconsequential
Show Less
LibraryThing member Big_Bang_Gorilla
The eponymous story in this collection, justly celebrated and turned into a successful stage piece, acts as a wonderful anchor to the book, with its intriguing description of the gradations between normality and lunacy . It is followed by "The nose", also frequently anthologized, which centers
Show More
around the proto-Kafkaesque premise of a man's search for his runaway nose. After that the stories become pretty average; they concentrate on trenchant criticism of Russian society and bureaucracy of the day, and as such are reminiscent of the stories his contemporaries in France were producing at this time. They are mildly interesting, but rather academic two centuries later, and perhaps rather more to be appreciated than enjoyed.
Show Less

Language

Original language

Russian

Physical description

192 p.; 7 inches

ISBN

0140442731 / 9780140442731

Local notes

Nose. Carriage. Overcoat. How Ivan Ivanovich Quarrelled with Ivan Nikiforovich. Ivan Fyodorovich and His Aunt

Similar in this library

Page: 0.5743 seconds