The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol (Vintage Classics)

I was referred to Gogol by a friend in Ukraina. I am so thankful for that.I began downloading free short stories, but really wanted to feel the book in my hands. It actually made a difference for me. Reading the .pdf versions gave me a detached feeling. Holding the book made me feel a part of the narrative.Gogol has a distinct way of drawing you into his words. I am still unable to choose a favorite. Much like asking my favorite Poe story or poem, I am equally unable to choose a Gogol favorite. I truly loved every story in the volume.It is a shame Gogol is not required reading in high school; he is easily on par with any other early Victorian writer.He is so good that even his included unfinished story completely entwines the reader.A literary gem - truly.

I've only read most of the Ukraine tales so far but I love these stories and Gogol's wit, wild imagination and his beautiful descriptions of nature seemed to be overlooked in the praise of his work. Whilst I studied world literature for several years I don't understand Russian and honestly don't feel I need to. If a translator can bring a writer's voice to your ear as though you are hearing it for the first time but feel like you've known it for a long time, that's all I need. Having said that, I love Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky and are eternally thankful to them for bringing the Russian classics into my reading world.

My favorite author. The font is very small, so prepare reading glasses.

If you enjoy reading Kafka, Vonnegut, and Swift, then add Gogol to your reading list. He is a master of satire. He presents such extraordinary circumstances in such an ordinary manner that one is led into the most preposterous situations almost without realizing it. I would go so far as to call this book a must read for anyone interested in writing.

Read it before. Got it for my home.

my first foray into Russian lit that doesn't have a dreadful and predictable death at the end of every story.

A very good selection of Gogol's tales, some inspired by Ukrainian village life and folk traditions and others by Gogol's own experience in thecapital city dealing with bureaucratic hierarchies and the absurdity of life as it existed there. Gogol's black humour always shines throughbut so does his humanity and compassion for the misery of his fellow countrymen.

Great book

A slightly variable output in quality of the tales published here especially as some of them are very early Gogol, but they are always good and sometimes great stories. An original voice and in some ways a precursor I feel, to Andre' Kurkov ( also Ukrainian) in his originality of thought and quirkiness of expression. One feels it is a privilege to enter, through his eyes and writings, into a long vanished world (early 19th Century Ukraine and Russia) inhabited by a large cast of eccentric but somehow very 'real' and believable characters. Highly recommended in, as far as I can tell, a very good translation too. If you like this volume, don't miss out on his classic novel 'Dead Souls'.

Split into two sets of stories - those that take place in Ukraine and those in Russia, this is a collection that takes pride of place on my bookshelf. The theme of each story tends to deal with the darker aspects of human nature – depravity, poverty, the squandering of talent and opportunity, groupthink and malice. However, the narrative never dips into over-sincerity or narcissistic exposition. There is a sharp, honest, knowing quality to the writing that is evident from the surface level aesthetics down to the very core of each story. There are some writers who are good storytellers and some who are known because of their penmanship skills. Even translated, Gogol is clearly both. The 13 stories in this collection, while undeniably Gogol’s, play with a range of styles and rhythms. He describes states of being and situations from the disintegration of one’s mind to the excitement a young girl can feel for her booties; From the combat of a warrior to a human nose on legs with prose that is completely fitting to each situation. He is not scared of playing with a reader’s expectations in this arena. Yet somehow the writing is never inconsistent, either. Pathos and menace are nearly always present, but somehow you feel comfortable in his hands. He plays and teases with you, drawing you in one direction before shoving you into another. Gogol paints his pictures with deep colours and complex textures, yet communicates all of this with a simple stroke, a glance in one direction that is fleeting but piercing, unapologetic, maybe dangerous in its unwavering loyalty to honesty. One scene (this does not spoil any of the stories), briefly shows a wizard flying past the moon in a magic saucepan. Written here this is sugar and twee. From the pen of Gogol it is delightful and energetic, entirely suited to the scene and, rather than squeezed in like a square peg into a pre-thought squarish hole, is in fact inevitable. It was reading this moment for the first time that I felt that rising excitement in my chest that tells me I’m reading genius. For me it’s a standout moment and one I return to again and again. But as I said, it’s not just the writing (and of course this is translated! Gogol is famous for the sophistication of his literary techniques but I shall never read his poetry as he intended me to) but the content of the stories, too. In the grand Russian tradition they tackle the very worst of humanity in a way that is rescued from cynicism with a tinge of optimism for the future, but Gogol’s inimitable - slightly mad, and obviously completely at odds with the world around him - mind doesn’t just twist some old formulas around but instead smashes them into each other and creates something brand new and rude in their originality. In each story you can see the germination of ideas explored by Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Kafka… and these ideas are spat out and dispensed with almost immediately. Most writers could spend a career delving into each one. The rate at which Gogol sprays them across the page is staggering and beautiful. It’s ‘The Mysterious Portrait’, however, that stands out as the true achievement. Anybody - anybody - who has ever had even an inclination towards art in the smallest bone in their body (in the ear, right?) needs to read it. Gogol lacerates through every affectation and whimsy in order to get to the truth in brutal fashion, executed with such style, with such sureness and swiftness and with such power that I find it difficult to type about right now without running downstairs to reread it. While dealing with lofty ideas and rich characters, the stories are also compelling and - importantly - fun. You want to see what happens. Not with dread or fear for the worst, but with excitement. It helps that even at his most morose, Gogol is funny. As with his writing style, he has it all - wit, sarcasm, slapstick and punch lines. He has his heroes and his villains, self-discovery, transcendence of thought and all-out action, the scenes of which put the imagination of Hollywood’s directors to shame. There is more packed into these 13 short stories than the entire careers of many giants of literature. If you read the stories in one sitting you’re left reeling, dizzy with ideas, unsure of which one to contemplate first. And the best thing about this collection is that this isn’t even Gogol’s best stuff: That would be Dead Souls Part I and II.

An excellent well written collection of tales that would serve as a good introduction to Russian literature ,or even early European existentialism.The book is in two halves the first consisting of folk based tales and the second made up of urban stories with at times a dark surreal edge to them.I'm not in a position to comment on the efficacy of the translation but it read well for a piece of literature from 150 years ago.In my opinion these stories are of a much better quality both in structure and prose than the unfinished Dead Souls or the overly romantic heroism of Taras Bulba.

This book contains seven of Nikolai Gogol's "Ukrainian Tales" and six of his "Petersburg Tales". There is a very good preface by Richard Pevear in which he points out that Gogol wrote his "Ukrainian Tales" with the literary audience of St. Petersburg in mind. As such they shouldn't be taken as literal accounts of folk tales, they're more Gogol's creations than they are traditional stories even though he based them on Ukrainian traditions and folklore.Gogol has been called the first Russian realist author - that's debatable. He seems to have spent more time abroad than he did in either Ukraine or Russia and had a wild imagination; the result was a world all his own. Gogol's heroes/victims are office clerks, struggling artists and the characters with which he populates his stage version of Ukraine. He might be a realist to some, but the way he shows us the lives of these struggling clerks in St. Petersburg and the bucolic existence of the Little Russian peasants is anything but "realism". Gogol's ability to blend the everyday world with the surreal and phantasmagoric was truly something new and not just for Russian literature. Gogol set the table for authors such as Kafka, Bulgakov, Nabokov and others.Finally, translation is an art, not a science, and the husband and wife team of Pevear and Volokhonsky have produced an outstanding volume. The Ukrainian stories flow like the Dnieper, beautiful and timeless; the Petersburg stories echo with the insanity and absurdity of Tsarist bureaucracy. Read these stories, some will make you laugh, some will give you a shiver up your spine, all will give you pause to think about human nature, at any rate you're guaranteed to be entertained!

The book is a fine example of paper put together in a uniform stack. The content is even better.