Nikolaĭ Vasilʹevich Gogolʹ

Russia's first major novel, and still one of the most popular works of Russian fiction, Nikolai Gogol's Dead Souls is a comic epic of greed and gluttony that is admired not only for its colorful cast of characters and devastating satire, but also for its moral fervor.

A new translation of stories by a 19th century Russian master. One story is on a madman convinced that a dog can tell him everything he needs to know, another is on a downtrodden clerk whose life is changed by a new overcoat.

"In A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, George Saunders guides the reader through seven classic Russian short stories he's been teaching for twenty years as a professor in the prestigious Syracuse University graduate MFA creative writing program. Paired with stories by Chekhov, Turgenev, Tolstoy, and Gogol, these essays are intended for anyone interested in how fiction works and why it's more relevant than ever in these turbulent times. Saunders approaches...

"The Russian satirist's tale of a Christmas Eve in the village of Dikanka features wicked mischief by the devil as he runs amok in the town and torments the town blacksmith, Vakula, as Vakula tries to win the love of Oksana." --

"In this classic satire on human vanity, the corrupt, self-seeking officials of a small town in Tsarist Russia mistake a penniless clerk from Moscow for a government inspector. Through the wild inventiveness of Gogol's comic fantasy the play becomes a celebration of the grotesque and absurd elements in human nature and remains one of the great comedies of all time." "As well as the complete text of the play itself, the volume contains a chronology...

Satiric masterpiece skewers Russian provincial officials, offering a highly entertaining glimpse of human foibles and failings.

"In the autumn of 1831, some easter from the Poltava province issued a book under the tantalizing title "Evenings on a farm near Dikanka". The simple-hearted villager, as if in a frightened way, recommended to the enlightened public four fantastic stories allegedly told at gatherings in his modest hut. "This is real gaiety, sincere, unconstrained, without cheating, without being stiff. In some places, what poetry! What sensitivity!"--So welcomed the...