What an odd collection of stories: A officer who overwhelming concern for a new cloak captures his complete attention and serves as his ruin spins off into the supernatural; a man's nose turns up in a pastry then completes a trek as an officer whom he chases all the while worrying over his appearance; another "official" slowly disappears down the halls of insanity, talking to dogs, obsessing over a beauty and finally discovering he is the king of Spain; and two fairy tales which on one hand seem a bit out of place but on the other, seem to fit perfectly. A Cossack who strives to win the heart and had of the village beauty but is thwarted by his father the headman who excessively touts his one time life changing event of assisting the Czar. His mechanitions to despoil his father's reputation collide head long with an old ghost story. Finally, a haunting tale of Gnomes and wandering scholars, a witch and the rising of the dead.

The first three stories often bordered on the absurd and at times winded down avenues of interest only to meet and abrupt end and take up on another street. Gogol infatuation with Russian bureaucracy is astutely flushed out and quite jarring. My interest is piqued in this period of government and it's minutia in daily life.

What seems to be the main recommendation in this collection is the Nose. While this story is great, I was left wondering if there was some satire I had not understood. The Mantle and Memoirs of a Madman hit home the effects the Russian life of a middling bureaucrat could result in. The single quest of the Mantle's protagonist to purchase a replacement cloak at first seemed quite obsessive yet eye opening. Life in today's United States where simple goods are purchased without a second thought is a drastic cry from the strife this poor man had to go through just to replace his word mantle. Very eye opening it was.

The last two Ukranian fairy tales could easy be said to be the jems of this collection, but I have a hard time selling the remaining three stories short, they are treasures in themselves for different reasons. There is some of Gogol's depictions of bureaucracy but these are rooted more in the traditional fairy tale settings. For that alone this collection is highly recommended.