Nikolaĭ Vasilʹevich Gogolʹ

"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...

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.

Some call him a Russian Mark Twain. And with his special blend of comedy, social commentary, and fantasy, Nikolai Gogol paved the way for his countrymen Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky. This sampling of Gogol's works includes the increasingly fantastic entries of 'The Diary of a Madman,' followed by the wonderfully surrealistic 'The Nose,' in which the title character embarks on some unlikely activities when separated from its owner's face. In 'The Carriage,'...

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.

This volume brings together Gogol's Petersburg Tales, with his two most famous plays, Marriage, and The Government Inspector. Notes and a scholarly introduction supplement these new translations, which bring out the vitality of Russia's finest comic writer.

Collegiate Assessor Kovalyov awakens to discover that his nose is missing, leaving a smooth, flat patch of skin in its place. He finds and confronts his nose in the Kazan Cathedral, but from its clothing it is apparent that the nose has acquired a higher rank in the civil service than he and refuses to return to his face.

In a small town corruption is rife, and the Mayor and his cronies have got it made. So when they learn they are going to be subject to an undercover government inspection they panic. Mistaking a penniless nobody for the inspector they swiftly fall victims to their own stupidity and greed.

Gogol's epic tale, in the first new English translation in 40 years, recounts a bloody Cossack revolt against the Poles, led by the bold Taras Bulba of Ukrainian folk mythology, and the trials of his two sons, one of whom falls in love with a Polish girl and eventually is killed by his father in battle, the second of whom is executed before his father's anguished eyes.