Kaggsy's Bookish RamblingsĪn erudite, modern translation of work that shows clearly how this strange writer became a defining influence on Russian literature and beyond. really wonderful collection of Gogol’s writings, and essential for any lover of his work. This volume will prove to be a great read for students and Russian literature enthusiasts alike. The first major English translation of Gogol’s stories in more than twenty years, The Nose and Other Stories captures his humor and complexity brilliantly. David Bellos, author of Is That a Fish in Your Ear?: Translation and the Meaning of Everything Susanne Fusso’s scholarly and stylish new translations bring them alive once again and make this selection a pleasure to read. New York Review of BooksĬrazy, colorful, delightful, and sad, Gogol’s short stories are among the great gems of Russian literature. Fusso’s ear for humor makes all the difference. Since much of Gogol’s humor depends on linguistic play, he has proven resistant to adequate translation. The Nose and Other Stories is filled with ill-fated characters, strange happenings, and satirical commentary. While they deal in subjects including witchcraft, demonic influence, and madness, Gogol’s stories are as humorous as they are bizarre.

Admirers of Gogol and his odd sensibilities will devour this excellent gathering. The Nose and Other Stories reveals why Russian writers from Dostoevsky to Nabokov have returned to Gogol as the cornerstone of their unparalleled literary tradition. Susanne Fusso’s translations pay careful attention to the strangeness and wonder of Gogol's style, preserving the inimitable humor and oddity of his language. Yet they share Gogol’s characteristic obsessions-city crowds, bureaucratic hierarchy and irrationality, the devil in disguise-and a constant undercurrent of the absurd. Petersburg to the ancient labyrinth of Rome.

Written between 18, they span the colorful setting of rural Ukraine to the unforgiving urban landscape of St. These stories showcase Gogol’s vivid, haunting imagination: an encounter with evil in a darkened church, a downtrodden clerk who dreams only of a new overcoat, a nose that falls off a face and reappears around town on its own, outranking its former owner.

By turns-or at once-funny, terrifying, and profound, the tales collected in The Nose and Other Stories are among the greatest achievements of world literature. Yet Gogol’s peculiar genius comes through most powerfully in his short stories. Nikolai Gogol’s novel Dead Souls and play The Government Inspector revolutionized Russian literature and continue to entertain generations of readers around the world.

The nose by nikolai gogol