Status
Available
Call number
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Publication
Everyman's Library (2008), 472 pages
Description
Classic Literature. Fiction. Literature. Short Stories. HTML: 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 Gogolencompass 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..… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member AlCracka
My first reaction to Gogol was bewilderment. It's funny, and engaging to read, but...what the hell is it about? I'm not sure what the point of "Diary of a Madman" is, although I know I enjoyed it.
Pevear and Volokhonsky's intro is helpful, although it contains a number of minor spoilers. Their point
Pushkin, an early and ardent supporter, wrote, "Here is real gaiety - honest, unconstrained, without mincing, without primness. And in places, what poetry! What sensitivity! All this is so unusual in our present-day literature that I still haven't recovered." And that seems fair to me. It's still unusual now (although at least we have Borges); maybe we should shut up about what it means and just have a good time with it.
Pevear and Volokhonsky's intro is helpful, although it contains a number of minor spoilers. Their point
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is that if you try to understand Gogol, you are failing: Gogol himself didn't understand Gogol. "We still do not know what Gogol is," says some guy they quoted. P&V write that Gogol, as compared to traditional storytellers, "has nothing in mind. Memory plays no part in his work. He does not know where the act of writing will lead him."Pushkin, an early and ardent supporter, wrote, "Here is real gaiety - honest, unconstrained, without mincing, without primness. And in places, what poetry! What sensitivity! All this is so unusual in our present-day literature that I still haven't recovered." And that seems fair to me. It's still unusual now (although at least we have Borges); maybe we should shut up about what it means and just have a good time with it.
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LibraryThing member SaraPrindiville
The first two stories were very folktale-ish. Fantastic, loved the devil and sorcerers. The next ones were very Russian in style, reminiscent of Tolstoy in writing style. Whimsical flavor also, especially "The Nose". I think I remember that Kafka was influenced by him. I can see the influence in
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that hint of the ridiculous such as in "The Overcoat". A man died and came back a s a ghost to take vengeance- whereas in a serious story he would have just died. Show Less
LibraryThing member JimmyChanga
There's not a bad story in this batch! But I especially loved "Nevsky Prospect" and "The Story of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich". These are long stories, but they are cozy and full-of-life stories that I want to read out loud by a campfire. Nobody alternates between the
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absurdly comical and the frightfully chilling like Gogol. The first half (Ukrainian Tales) tells more stories that are mystical in nature, sounding sometimes like folktales, dealing with witches and devils. The second half (Petersburg Tales) have some of that as well, but more surreal unexplained occurrences (like "The Nose") and other oddities. Gogol makes hilarious observations about his characters and their hypocrisies. He also inserts his own (or his persona's) storyteller voice in almost every story, wedging himself inside of them (sometimes the narrator's voice adds a whole new dimension to the basic story) would hardly work for any other writer but Gogol is not just any other writer. Ah, but before we go on, we should first acquaint the reader somewhat with this remarkable character, Nikolai Gogol... Show Less
LibraryThing member shadowofthewind
This version of Gogol's Collected Tales includes his Ukranian and Petersburg Tales of which, now Tales can be complete without The Nose and The Overcoat (the story that Dostoyevsky's credits as the beginning of modern Russian Literature, "we all came from Gogol's Cloak"). If you have never read any
I first became fascinated with Gogol in College. He wasn't assigned reading for a literature class, but brought up during a 19th Century European History Class. The one thing I loved about that class was the literature references and how they defined and impacted the time. He focused on Gogol's Dead Souls which is a wonderful book that details the Russian character as Huckleberry Finn defines the American character. However, Dead Souls doesn't even touch his short stories. They are simply amazing and I read them, incredulous that someone could have that vivid of an imagination. I loved all these stories!
Gogol has the Devil pluck the moon from the sky, wrestle with his characters, and is tricked himself in one story. In others, fantastic images and hilarious incidents punctuate Russian life and exposes our own human nature. Our need to be recognized, to be important, to pull ourselves up by pushing others down, all combined in these wonderful and imaginative tales. I've always been a fan of Nathaniel Hawthorne, but Gogol's stories certain surpass him. What Hawthorne implies, Gogol implements, these are simply amazing stories.
Some Passges:
"My God! My God! Why this misfortune? If I lacked an arm or a leg, it would still be better; if I lacked ears, it would be bad, but still more bearable; but lacking a nose, a man is devil knows what: not a bird, not a citizen--just take him and chuck him out the window!" p. 308 of the story The Nose
"But nothing in this world lasts long, and therefore joy, in the minute that follows the first, is less lively; in the third minute it becomes still weaker, and finally, it merges imperceptibly with one's usual state of mind, as a ring i the water, born of a stone's fall, finally merges with the smooth surface." p. 311 of The Nose
I imagined the story The Overcoat was part lesson, part ghost story that reminded me of the La Llorona. It's a class Russian tale that exposes how we treat our fellow man, corrupt and insensitive bureaucracy, and revenge.
"Let me be. Why do you offend me?" -- and in these penetrating words rang other words: "I am your brother." and the poor young man would bury his face in his hands, and many a time in his life he shuddered to see how much inhumanity there is in man, how much savage coarseness is concealed in refined, cultivated manners, and God! even in man the world regards as noble and honorable..." p. 386 from story The Overcoat
"Thus everything in holy Russia is infected with imitation, and each one mimics and apes his superior...His usual conversation with subordinates rang with strictness and consisted almost entirely of three phrases: "How dare you? Do you know with whom you are speaking? Do you realize who is standing before you?" p. 405 from story The Overcoat.
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Gogol, you need to read those two stories, it explains all his other stories. There is something about them a mystical quality along with folktales that all dovetails into criticism of human nature and politics. There are morality tales that damn Russian Beauracracy. I first became fascinated with Gogol in College. He wasn't assigned reading for a literature class, but brought up during a 19th Century European History Class. The one thing I loved about that class was the literature references and how they defined and impacted the time. He focused on Gogol's Dead Souls which is a wonderful book that details the Russian character as Huckleberry Finn defines the American character. However, Dead Souls doesn't even touch his short stories. They are simply amazing and I read them, incredulous that someone could have that vivid of an imagination. I loved all these stories!
Gogol has the Devil pluck the moon from the sky, wrestle with his characters, and is tricked himself in one story. In others, fantastic images and hilarious incidents punctuate Russian life and exposes our own human nature. Our need to be recognized, to be important, to pull ourselves up by pushing others down, all combined in these wonderful and imaginative tales. I've always been a fan of Nathaniel Hawthorne, but Gogol's stories certain surpass him. What Hawthorne implies, Gogol implements, these are simply amazing stories.
Some Passges:
"My God! My God! Why this misfortune? If I lacked an arm or a leg, it would still be better; if I lacked ears, it would be bad, but still more bearable; but lacking a nose, a man is devil knows what: not a bird, not a citizen--just take him and chuck him out the window!" p. 308 of the story The Nose
"But nothing in this world lasts long, and therefore joy, in the minute that follows the first, is less lively; in the third minute it becomes still weaker, and finally, it merges imperceptibly with one's usual state of mind, as a ring i the water, born of a stone's fall, finally merges with the smooth surface." p. 311 of The Nose
I imagined the story The Overcoat was part lesson, part ghost story that reminded me of the La Llorona. It's a class Russian tale that exposes how we treat our fellow man, corrupt and insensitive bureaucracy, and revenge.
"Let me be. Why do you offend me?" -- and in these penetrating words rang other words: "I am your brother." and the poor young man would bury his face in his hands, and many a time in his life he shuddered to see how much inhumanity there is in man, how much savage coarseness is concealed in refined, cultivated manners, and God! even in man the world regards as noble and honorable..." p. 386 from story The Overcoat
"Thus everything in holy Russia is infected with imitation, and each one mimics and apes his superior...His usual conversation with subordinates rang with strictness and consisted almost entirely of three phrases: "How dare you? Do you know with whom you are speaking? Do you realize who is standing before you?" p. 405 from story The Overcoat.
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LibraryThing member Carl_Hayes
I prefer the more cynical, satirical urban tales to the provincial supernatural tales. After all, who can resist a haughty nose that thinks it's too good for you?
LibraryThing member JVioland
Good collection of short stories by a Russian master writer. Too bad Gogol seems to have been forgotten. America could benefit by embracing him.
LibraryThing member BayardUS
I was pleasantly surprised by Gogol's short stories, as they were much more fun to read than I was expecting. Especially when it comes to short stories (not usually my favorite medium) and the great writers of western canon, I expect the pieces to be well-crafted, but also tending toward the more
Gogol's Dead Souls didn't work for me. It was excellently written, and funny in parts, but the structure was repetitive, and the joke was subject to diminishing returns. These short stories emphasize what is best in Gogol's writing, and avoids many aspects I found irritating in his longer work. For one, they are not at all repetitive- on the contrary, they feature impressive variety. The first few stories in this collection focus on folklore, other stories paint a portrait of country life, other stories look at the bustle of cities. Some stories are funny, others creepy (Viy, The Portrait), still others bizarre (The Nose, The Diary of a Madman), and even a couple sad tales are thrown into the mix (Old World Landowners, The Overcoat). Gogol furthermore explores different formats with his stories, as some have a frame narrative (St. John's Eve), others have a chatty narrator (Nevsky Prospect), another is epistolary (Diary, obviously). Every story in this collection is different, and not just on the surface, as the stories have different tones and moods as well. I didn't think there was a dud in the bunch (well, The Carriage was essentially a dozen page long joke, and not a laugh-out-loud funny one at that, but even it managed to be amusing). By the time I finished this collection Gogol's writing had inspired a range of emotions in me, as well as given me a full image of Ukrainian and Russian life in the 1800s, from the corrupting cities to the witch-haunted countryside.
The collection is also great fun to read in that Gogol's stories are a clear inspiration to many of the authors that came after him. Reading The Night Before Christmas can't help but remind you of Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita. The Nose is a less unnerving but still surreal precursor to the works of Kafka. It's easy to imagine that Oscar Wilde read The Portrait sometime prior to writing his own story on the subject. It's equally easy to imagine that Lovecraft read The Portrait, and probably The Terrible Vengeance too given its depiction of man as insignificant pawns toyed with by greater powers that are indifferent to our fate. Gogol is one of the big names in Russian literature, not just for the quality of his writing, but for blazing a trail that many later authors followed, and noticing these influences gave me another layer of enjoyment in his writing.
That isn't to say that his works are flawless, however. A few stories, namely Nevsky Prospect and The Portrait, felt like two tales shoved together despite differences in tone that didn't mesh well together. A few of the stories felt unfinished, like both of the Ivan stories (though one was explicitly left unfinished, and to be honest, what annoyed me the most about that story was that I wanted to know the ending, which is pretty much the weakest criticism there is). As already mentioned, The Carriage wasn't quite up to snuff with the other works in this collection. All that being said, however, the collection was still excellent overall. I haven't read enough Chekhov yet to say for sure, but as of right now I'm putting Gogol above both Tolstoy and Dostoevsky as the finest writer of Russian short stories I've yet come across. Definitely give this collection a read.
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formal, and not necessarily entertaining. Gogol's short stories are not just well-written, but varied in subject matter, creative in execution, and are very entertaining to boot.Gogol's Dead Souls didn't work for me. It was excellently written, and funny in parts, but the structure was repetitive, and the joke was subject to diminishing returns. These short stories emphasize what is best in Gogol's writing, and avoids many aspects I found irritating in his longer work. For one, they are not at all repetitive- on the contrary, they feature impressive variety. The first few stories in this collection focus on folklore, other stories paint a portrait of country life, other stories look at the bustle of cities. Some stories are funny, others creepy (Viy, The Portrait), still others bizarre (The Nose, The Diary of a Madman), and even a couple sad tales are thrown into the mix (Old World Landowners, The Overcoat). Gogol furthermore explores different formats with his stories, as some have a frame narrative (St. John's Eve), others have a chatty narrator (Nevsky Prospect), another is epistolary (Diary, obviously). Every story in this collection is different, and not just on the surface, as the stories have different tones and moods as well. I didn't think there was a dud in the bunch (well, The Carriage was essentially a dozen page long joke, and not a laugh-out-loud funny one at that, but even it managed to be amusing). By the time I finished this collection Gogol's writing had inspired a range of emotions in me, as well as given me a full image of Ukrainian and Russian life in the 1800s, from the corrupting cities to the witch-haunted countryside.
The collection is also great fun to read in that Gogol's stories are a clear inspiration to many of the authors that came after him. Reading The Night Before Christmas can't help but remind you of Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita. The Nose is a less unnerving but still surreal precursor to the works of Kafka. It's easy to imagine that Oscar Wilde read The Portrait sometime prior to writing his own story on the subject. It's equally easy to imagine that Lovecraft read The Portrait, and probably The Terrible Vengeance too given its depiction of man as insignificant pawns toyed with by greater powers that are indifferent to our fate. Gogol is one of the big names in Russian literature, not just for the quality of his writing, but for blazing a trail that many later authors followed, and noticing these influences gave me another layer of enjoyment in his writing.
That isn't to say that his works are flawless, however. A few stories, namely Nevsky Prospect and The Portrait, felt like two tales shoved together despite differences in tone that didn't mesh well together. A few of the stories felt unfinished, like both of the Ivan stories (though one was explicitly left unfinished, and to be honest, what annoyed me the most about that story was that I wanted to know the ending, which is pretty much the weakest criticism there is). As already mentioned, The Carriage wasn't quite up to snuff with the other works in this collection. All that being said, however, the collection was still excellent overall. I haven't read enough Chekhov yet to say for sure, but as of right now I'm putting Gogol above both Tolstoy and Dostoevsky as the finest writer of Russian short stories I've yet come across. Definitely give this collection a read.
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LibraryThing member Acia
Brillant collection of short stories from the supernatural and the devil themes of the rural Ukrainian tales to the more cynical, government officials centered tales based in Petersburg. Though I had to keep reminding myself of the time it was written the way he referred to women throughout mostly
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as silly little things. My favourites were: Old World Landowners, Viy, The Story of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich, The Diary of a Madman, The Nose and the Overcoat. Show Less
Subjects
Language
Original language
Russian
Physical description
472 p.; 8.27 inches
ISBN
0307269698 / 9780307269690