Nikolai Gogol (1809–1852)
Author of The dead souls
About the Author
Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol was born in 1809 in the Ukraine. His father was an amateur playwright who had a small estate with a number of serfs. From the ages of 12 to 19, young Gogol attended a boarding school where he became known for his sharp wit and ability to amuse his classmates. After school show more he worked as a government clerk. He soon began writing memories of his childhood. His quaint depictions of the Ukrainian countryside marked his style and helped to make him famous. Gogol quickly gained fame and formed a friendship with the influential poet, Aleksandr Pushkin. Gogol is largely remembered for his realistic characterizations, his rich imagination, and his humorous style. His works include Mirgorod, a collection of short stories including Taras Bulba. Gogol's wit is evident in his short story, The Nose, where a man's nose wanders off around town in a carriage. Gogol's masterpiece is the novel Dead Souls. In this work, a swindler plots to buy from landowners their dead serfs. Towards the end of Gogol's life, his creative powers faded and he fled to Moscow. Here, he came under the power of a fanatical priest. Ten days before his death he burned some manuscripts of the second part of Dead Souls. He died of starvation in 1852, on the cusp of madness. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Photo by Vezenberg & Co., St. Petersburg, circa 1880-1886
(George Kennan Papers,
LoC Prints and Photographs Division,
LC-USZ62-128270)
(George Kennan Papers,
LoC Prints and Photographs Division,
LC-USZ62-128270)
Series
Works by Nikolai Gogol
The Diary of a Madman, The Government Inspector, and Selected Stories (Penguin Classics) (2005) 567 copies
The Overcoat and Other Stories 22 copies
The Overcoat, the Nose Nevsky Prospect, Carriage, the Portrait, Diary of a Madman, Rome (Russian language) (1994) 17 copies
Christmas Eve: Stories from Village evenings near Dikanka and Mirgorod (Russian classics) (1991) 12 copies
A Cidade do Sossego e o Capote 8 copies
The Carriage 7 copies
Повести; Ревизор 7 copies
Contos góticos russos 5 copies
Gogol művei 5 copies
Verzamelde werken 5 copies
Jutustused 4 copies
Cuentos completos 4 copies
Works of Nikolai Gogol. Dead Souls, Taras Bulba, The Inspector General, The Nose, Viy & more (mobi) (2009) 4 copies
Kappen : noveller 4 copies
Сочинения 4 copies
De revisor en ander proza 4 copies
De revisor en novellen 3 copies
Les nouvelles Ukrainiennes 3 copies
Der Mantel. Erzählungen 3 copies
Kappan och andra berättelser 3 copies
Complete Works of Nikolai Gogol 3 copies
Werke 3 copies
Phantastische Geschichten 3 copies
St. John's Eve and Other Stories 3 copies
Dead Souls and Other Works by Nicolai Gogol (Unexpurgated Edition) (Halcyon Classics) (2009) 2 copies
Théâtre complet : Le Mariage ; Les Joueurs ; Le Révizor ; La Matinée d'un haut fonctionnaire ; Le Procès ; Les… (2006) 2 copies
________: __________ 2 copies
Üç Öykü 2 copies
Collected tales and plays 2 copies
El capote y otros cuentos 2 copies
האדרת : וסיפורים אחרים 2 copies
Wybór utworów 2 copies
Peterburgskie povesti: Nevskij prospekt / Nos / Portret / Sinel / Zapiski sumassedsego (2013) 2 copies
Akşam Toplantıları 2 copies
Izbrannye proizvedeniia 2 copies
Novelle ukraine 2 copies
Valitud jutustusi 2 copies
El Capote y otros relatos 2 copies
Phantasien und Geschichten 2 copies
El Vií y otros relatos 2 copies
Russische Novellen 2 copies
Ànimes mortes 2 copies
Sobranie sochinenij. V 5 knigakh i 7 tomakh. Kniga 4. Tom6. Dukhovnaya proza. Kritika. Publits Н. В. Гоголь.… (2006) 2 copies
Petersburg Tales 2 copies
Short Fiction 2 copies
Избранные сочинения. том второй 2 copies
Lelena, a Sábia dos Sortilégios 2 copies
Works of Nikolai Gogol 1 copy
Taras Bulba an Tales 1 copy
Burun 1 copy
Драматиче?кие произведени? 1 copy
Taras Bulba I (Cumhuriyet) 1 copy
Taras Bulba II (Cumhuriyet) 1 copy
Arabeskler 1 copy
Komedii 1 copy
Racconti 1 copy
Novelle 1 copy
Taras Bulba [ 1 copy
Podobizna ; Něvský prospekt 1 copy
Phantastische Erzählungen I 1 copy
Phantastische Erzählungen II 1 copy
The Complete Tales 1 copy
Tales ... from ... Gogol 1 copy
Povesti 1 copy
Gogol Short Stories 1 copy
EL RETRATO Y OTROS CUENTOS 1 copy
Plašč in druge povesti 1 copy
Cuadros maestros 1 copy
Gogols Werke 1 copy
ההאדרת וסיפורים אחרים 1 copy
Malířské povídky 1 copy
ペテルブルグ物語―ネフスキイ大通り・鼻・外套 1 copy
Contos Universais 1 copy
Valitut teokset I-II 1 copy
Zes Russische Klassieken 1 copy
Izbrannoe 1 copy
Spillere Frieriet 1 copy
Opere vol. IV 1 copy
Mrtve duše i odabrane priče 1 copy
Verzamelde werken - 3 1 copy
OBRA COMPLETA 1 copy
Revizor ; Ženidba 1 copy
[Rasskazy] 1 copy
Мертвые души. Ревизор 1 copy
проза - статьи 1 copy
A Selection II 1 copy
Russian Classics in Russian and English: Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol (Dual-Language Book) (Russian Edition) (2011) 1 copy
Le journal d'un fou 1 copy
Tvory 1 copy
Cuentos ucranianos 1 copy
The gamblers : and, Marriage 1 copy
Комедии и арабески 1 copy
Teatro completo 1 copy
Ревизор: комедия в 5-ти д 1 copy
Brenin yr ellyllon 1 copy
Ispovest 1 copy
Novele 1 copy
O Casamento e Outras Peças 1 copy
Short stories 1 copy
Récits de Pétersbourg : Le Manteau / Le journal d'un fou / Le Nez / La Perspective Nevsky / Le… 1 copy
Избранное 1 copy
Избранные сочинения. Тom 1 1 copy
Contes & nouvelles 1 copy
Der Mantel: Und andere Erzählungen (insel taschenbuch) von Nikolai Gogol (4. April 1977) Taschenbuch 1 copy
Ivan Ivanovitsj 1 copy
GOGOL 1 copy
Racconti di Pietroburgo ( Il cappotto - Il naso - Il ritratto - La prospettiva - Diario di un pazzo 1 copy
Ukrainische Geschichten 1 copy
Book 9788845938573 1 copy
Sochinenija. Tom II 1 copy
Tutti i racconti di Gogol 1 copy
Šinjel i druge pripovetke 1 copy
Ночи на вилле 1 copy
Maksymy i inwokacje 1 copy
Taràs Bùlba e altri racconti 1 copy
Авторская исповедь 1 copy
LibriVox Short Ghost and Horror Collection 040 — Author — 1 copy
Nikolai Gogol: The Diary of a Madman and Other Stories [Nicholas Boulton] [Naxos Audiobooks: NA0318] (2018) 1 copy
“St John’s Eve” 1 copy
“A Bewitched Place” 1 copy
Reverent komöödia 1 copy
Associated Works
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life (2021) — Contributor — 1,219 copies
Lapham's Quarterly - Lines of Work: Volume IV, Number 2, Spring 2011 (2011) — Contributor — 29 copies
Oogst der tijden : keur uit de werken van schrijvers en dichters aller volken en eeuwen (1940) — Contributor — 10 copies
Opowieści niesamowite : groza i niesamowitość w prozie rosyjskiej XIX i początku XX w. (1990) — Contributor — 5 copies
The humour of Russia — Contributor — 4 copies
Tyve mesterfortællinger — Contributor, some editions — 4 copies
Piirakkasota : Valikoima huumoria — Contributor — 3 copies
Ode to Boy: Vol. 2: An Anthology of Same-Sex Attraction in Literature from the 19th Century Through the First World War (2014) — Contributor — 2 copies
Duchy Nocy Świętojańskiej — Contributor — 1 copy
Vampire und Untote. Eine Anthologie von Vampir-Geschichten — Contributor — 1 copy
90 Masterpieces You Must Read (Vol.1): Novels, Poetry, Plays, Short Stories, Essays, Psychology & Philosophy (2020) — Contributor — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Gogol, Nikolai Vassilievitx
- Legal name
- Gogol, Nikolai Vasilyevich
Гоголь, Николай Васильевич - Other names
- Гоголь, Микола Васильович (Українська)
Hohol, Mykola (Ukrainian) - Birthdate
- 1809-04-01
- Date of death
- 1852-03-04
- Burial location
- Novodevichy Convent, Moscow, Russia
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- Russian Empire
- Country (for map)
- Ukraine
- Birthplace
- Sorochinsk, Ukrainian gubernorate, Russian Empire
- Place of death
- Moscow, Russian Empire
- Places of residence
- Sorochyntsi, Ukraine (birth)
Nezhin
St. Petersburg, Russia
Germany
Switzerland
Paris, France (show all 8)
Rome, Italy
Moscow, Russia (death) - Education
- University of St. Petersburg
- Occupations
- humorist
playwright
novelist
teacher - Organizations
- University of St. Petersburg
Members
Discussions
Dead Souls in Fans of Russian authors (March 2019)
Reviews
Lists
Five star books (1)
Bureaucracies (1)
Magic Realism (1)
Favourite Books (4)
19th Century (2)
My TBR (2)
A Reading List (2)
Unread books (1)
Folio Society (1)
Read These Too (1)
Plays I Like (1)
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 519
- Also by
- 58
- Members
- 24,575
- Popularity
- #854
- Rating
- 4.0
- Reviews
- 335
- ISBNs
- 1,636
- Languages
- 37
- Favorited
- 144
Here you have village witches, magical flying dumplings, and the devil up in the sky sticking the moon in his pocket before coming back down to the village and creating a blizzard, all to foil the plans of a villager he dislikes for painting disparaging scenes about him for the local church. Pretty sure that never happened in industrial England.
Interestingly Gogol has in fact portrayed the devil (not the usual star of Christmas stories in my experience) as rather pathetic, a figure of mockery rather than fear despite his seemingly fairly impressive powers. At one point it seems he’s convinced his village antagonist to sell his soul for what he most desires. Just as soon as that’s set up however the tables are fully turned. The villager grabs the devil by the tail, subdues him by making the sign of the cross, and literally rides him all the way to St. Petersburg to get what he’s after. Upon their return he casually slaps the devil three times and sends him on his way. I’ll be.
With the story being set on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, this showing of the devil to be powerless in comparison to a faithful Christian is what I’d say most makes it a Christmas story, as other than mentioning of carolers there aren’t many typical Christmas trappings to the story.… (more)