Synopses & Reviews
One of five beloved Christmas classics in collectible hardcover editions
Written in 1831 by the father of Russian literature, this uproarious tale tells of the blacksmith Vakulas battle with the devil, who has stolen the moon and hidden it in his pocket, allowing him to wreak havoc on the village of Dikanka. Both the devil and Vakula are in love with Oksana, the most beautiful girl in Dikanka. Vakula is determined to win her over; the devil, equally determined, unleashes a snowstorm to thwart Vakulas efforts. Zany and mischievous, and drawing inspiration from the folk tales of Gogols far-flung village in Ukraine, The Night Before Christmas is the basis for many movie and opera adaptations, and is still read aloud to children on Christmas Eve in Ukraine and Russia.
Penguin Christmas Classics
Give the gift of literature this Christmas.
Penguin Christmas Classics honor the power of literature to keep on giving through the ages. The five volumes in the series are not only our most beloved Christmas tales, they also have given us much of what we love about the holiday itself. A Christmas Carol revived in Victorian England such Christmas hallmarks as the Christmas tree, holiday cards, and caroling. The Yuletide yarns of Anthony Trollope popularized throughout the British Empire and around the world the trappings of Christmas in London. The holiday tales of Louisa May Alcott shaped the ideal of an American Christmas. The Night Before Christmas brought forth some of our earliest Christmas traditions as passed down through folk tales. And The Nutcracker inspired the most famous ballet in history, one seen by millions in the twilight of every year.
Beautifully designedwith foil-stamped jackets, decorative endpapers, and nameplates for personalizationand printed in a small trim size that makes them perfect stocking stuffers, Penguin Christmas Classics embody the spirit of giving that is at the heart of our most time-honored stories about the holiday.
Collect all five Penguin Christmas Classics:
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Christmas at Thompson Hall: And Other Christmas Stories by Anthony Trollope
A Merry Christmas: And Other Christmas Stories by Louisa May Alcott
The Night Before Christmas by Nikolai Gogol
The Nutcracker by E. T. A. Hoffmann
Review
“For lit nerds and loved ones who are notoriously hard to shop for, you cant go wrong with these festively bound classics. . . . Their size makes them perfectly stocking-stuffable.” —
Entertainment Weekly, “The Must List”
“Leave it to the folks at Penguin—who gave us Gothed-out editions of horror classics for Halloween—to package these . . . slim Yuletide-themed volumes.” —Newsday, “Best Books to Give as Holiday Gifts”
“Remember how Christmas was celebrated before Black Friday with these 19th-century authors, in small uniform volumes wrapped in pretty jackets.” —USA Today, “Holiday Gift Books So Pretty, No Need to Wrap”
“Beautifully designed.” —The Washington Post
Synopsis
Includes both Nikolay Gogol's short fiction and famous drama. The stories gathered here range from comic to tragic and describe the isolated lives of low-ranking clerks, lunatics and swindlers. They include "Diary of a Madman", "Nevsky Prospect", and "The Overcoat".
Synopsis
Author, dramatist and satirist, Nikolay Gogol deeply influenced later Russian literature with his powerful depictions of a society dominated by petty beaurocracy and base corruption. This volume includes both his most admired short fiction and his most famous drama. A biting and frequently hilarious political satire, "The Government Inspector" has been popular since its first performance and was regarded by Nabokov as the greatest Russian play every written. The stories gathered here, meanwhile, range from comic to tragic and describe the isolated lives of low-ranking clerks, lunatics and swindlers. They include "Diary of a Madman," an amusing but disturbing exploration of insanity; Nevsky Prospect, a depiction of an artist besotted with a prostitute; and "The Overcoat," a moving consideration of poverty that powerfully influenced Dostoevsky and later Russian literature.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Synopsis
Nikolai Gogol's short fiction, collected here as The Diary of a Madman, The Government Inspector and Selected Stories, deeply influenced later Russian literature with powerful depictions of a society dominated by petty bureaucracy and base corruption. This Penguin Classics edition is translated with notes by Ronald Wilks, and an introduction by Robert A. Maguire.
This volume includes a selection of Gogol's most admired short fiction and his most famous drama. A hilarious and biting political satire, 'The Government Inspector' has been popular since its first performance and was regarded by Nabokov as the greatest Russian play ever written. The stories gathered here, meanwhile, range from comic to tragic and describe the isolated lives of low-ranking clerks, lunatics and swindlers. They include 'Diary of a Madman', an amusing but disturbing exploration of insanity; 'Nevsky Prospect', a depiction of an artist infatuated with a prostitute; and 'The Overcoat', a moving consideration of poverty.
Edited and translated by Ronald Wilks, this new collection of Gogol's shorter writings skilfully captures the savage wit of the original works. Robert Maguire's introduction considers recurrent themes and explores Gogol's influence on realism. This edition also includes detailed notes, a publishing history for each story and a chronology.
Nikolai Gogol (1809-52) was born in the Ukraine. His experience of St Petersburg life informed a savagely satirical play, The Government Inspector, and a series of brilliant short stories including Nevsky Prospekt and Diary of a Madman. For over a decade, Gogol laboured on his comic epic Dead Souls - before renouncing literature and burning parts of the manuscript shortly before he died.
If you enjoyed The Diary of a Madman, you might like Anton Chekhov's The Steppe and Other Stories, also available in Penguin Classics.
'Everything he started to imagine transformed itself and began to wriggle with life'
A.S. Byatt, author of Possession
Synopsis
This expanded collection of influential Russian satirist Nikolay Gogol's ingenious pieces now includes his most famous play.
- Includes a chronology, explanatory notes, and publishing history for each work
Synopsis
This expanded collection of influential Russian satirist Nikolay Gogol's ingenious pieces now includes his most famous play.
- Includes a chronology, explanatory notes, and publishing history for each work
@StaticBureaucracy Finally got my new threads today. Took it to work, I look Superfly. I’m not a gnat on a wall any more, I’m Akaky ‘Big Pimpin’’ Akakyevitch.
Seriously, check out pics on my Flickr. This coat is so money, it doesn’t even know how money it is.
From Twitterature: The World's Greatest Books in Twenty Tweets or Less
About the Author
Nikolai Gogol (18091852) was the son of a Ukrainian gentleman farmer who was the author of several folk comedies. He attended a variety of boarding schools, where he proved an indifferent student but was admired for his theatrical abilities. In 1828 he moved to St. Petersburg and began to publish stories, and by the mid-1830s he had established himself in the literary world and been warmly praised by Pushkin. In 1836, his play
The Inspector-General was attacked as immoral, and he left Russia, remaining abroad for most of the next dozen years. During that time he wrote two of his best-known stories, The Nose” and The Overcoat,” and in 1842 he published the first section of his masterpiece
Dead Souls. Gogol became increasingly religious as the years passed, and in 1847 he became the disciple of an Orthodox priest who influenced him to burn the second part of
Dead Souls and then abandon writing altogether. After undertaking an extreme fast, he died at the age of forty-two.
Konstantin Makovsky (1839-1915) was one of the most celebrated artists in the Russian Empire in the nineteenth century.
Igor Grabar (1871-1960) was a student of Konstantin Makovskys, and a celebrated painter in his own right. He later became one of the premier art administrators in the Soviet Union, personally advising Joseph Stalin.
Aleksei Kivshenko (1851-1895) was a Russian painter acclaimed for his depictions of historical subjects, especially battles.
Table of Contents
The Diary of a Madman, The Government Inspector, and Selected Stories Chronology
Introduction
Further Reading
Table of Ranks
Ivan Fyodorovich Shponka and His Aunt
How Ivan Ivanovich Quarrelled with Ivan Nikiforovich
Nevsky Prospekt
The Nose
The Overcoat
Diary of a Madman
The Carriage
The Government Inspector
Publishing History and Notes