The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol by Nikolai Gogol

Using, or rather mimicking, traditional forms of storytelling, Gogol created stories that are complete within themselves and only tangentially connected to a meaning or moral. His work belongs to the school of invention, where each twist and turn of the narrative is a surprise unfettered by obligation to an overarching theme.

Selected from Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka, Mirgorod, and Petersburg Tales and arranged in order of composition, the 13 stories in The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol encompass the breadth of Gogol’s literary achievement. From the demon-haunted “St. John’s Eve” to the heartrending humiliations and trials of a titular councilor in “The Overcoat”, Gogol’s knack for turning literary conventions on their heads, combined with his overt joy in the art of storytelling, shines through in each of the tales.

This translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky is as vigorous and darkly funny as the original Russian. It allows the listener to experience anew the unmistakable genius of a writer who paved the way for Dostoevsky and Kafka. This audio edition is expressively narrated by Peter Batchelor.