Vanessa's review
The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol
by Nikolai V. Gogol
You should read T.C. Boyle's updated version of The Overcoat -- The Overcoat II -- from the collection Greasy Lake. It's a worthy homage.
Thanks for the recommendation - you've piqued my interest! Do you have a favorite short by Gogol?
"The Overcoat" was always my favorite, but since I hadn't read it in quite a while, your question sent me back to it last night. I'm happy to report that it still reigns as King of Gogol's stories. It moves me even more now than before. I'd rank it with Melville's "Bartleby the Scrivener" and Singer's "Gimpel the Fool," other stories about the plight of the "common man/woman" as reflection of the human condition.
(In fact, I'd heartily recommend those 3 stories together as a mini-reading project. Bartleby and Gimpel are readily available in Melville and Singer collections and in many anthologies.)
As Honorable Mention, I remember being greatly intrigued by "The Portrait." I'll get back to you on that one when I get a chance to reread it.
And yourself? Which is your favorite Gogol short?
Well, as I mentioned in my review, I would say that "The Overcoat" is his finest, but I personally I have a soft spot for "Diary of a Madman". I intend to read Chekov's short stories at some point in the near future and see how they compare - have you read them?
Oops, so you did. Sloppy reading on my part (or sloppy memory -- can't tell the difference anymore).
A telling sidenote: Dostoevsky, he of the massive, all-encompassing novels, once said of this story, "We all came out from underneath Gogol's "overcoat."
If Gogol is brilliant, Chekhov is sublime. Despite the appalling overuse of appellation "Chekhovian" to describe every hot short story writer on the scene these days(Alice Munro comes closest to deserving such Olympian praise), the original is sui generis. Collections abound. I'd recommend one by husband-wife team of Pevear and Volokhonsky (readily available from Bantam, but if you're not obsessive about such things, any one of numerous translations will do.) Regardless, my favorites are Gooseberries, Lady with the Little Dog (basis of Fellini movie "Dark Eyes"), In the Ravine, The Bishop, and Gusev (about which the great Southern short story writer Peter Taylor allegedly sighed and commented after putting it down, "Why do I even bother?").
Though they don't get as much attention, I'd also recommend separate collections of the longer stories / short novels (again, V/P have a recent translation in pb). The Duel, My Life and An Anonymous Story (title varies according to translation) are must-reads. But start with the shorter stories; they're his most famous works.
Lucky you, have fun!
Vanessa's review
The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol by Nikolai V. Gogol
Vanessa's review
rating:
recommended for: People with an interest in short fiction
I was spurred to read this book because I had heard so much about how Gogol was a master of the short story. The book is in chronological order and is divided into two sections - Ukrainian Tales (his earlier works) and Petersberg Tales ( later works). I read the book in chronological order and almost abandoned it because I was having such a hard time choking down the Ukrainian stories, finding them rough, superstitous and tedious. But I'm glad that I soldiered on, because my persistence was richly rewarded by the Petersberg Tales. They were so different - it was almost like going to the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam and walking past countless muddy portraits of potato eaters and other such fare, then suddenly stumbling onto his wonderful, technicolor, post-breadown stuff. I loved "Diary of a Madman", which is both hilarious and terrible, but would have to concede that the pick of the collection is his crowning glory, "The Overcoat." The way in which he captures ...more
You should read T.C. Boyle's updated version of The Overcoat -- The Overcoat II -- from the collection Greasy Lake. It's a worthy homage.
Thanks for the recommendation - you've piqued my interest! Do you have a favorite short by Gogol?
"The Overcoat" was always my favorite, but since I hadn't read it in quite a while, your question sent me back to it last night. I'm happy to report that it still reigns as King of Gogol's stories. It moves me even more now than before. I'd rank it with Melville's "Bartleby the Scrivener" and Singer's "Gimpel the Fool," other stories about the plight of the "common man/woman" as reflection of the human condition.
(In fact, I'd heartily recommend those 3 stories together as a mini-reading project. Bartleby and Gimpel are readily available in Melville and Singer collections and in many anthologies.)
As Honorable Mention, I remember being greatly intrigued by "The Portrait." I'll get back to you on that one when I get a chance to reread it.
And yourself? Which is your favorite Gogol short?
Well, as I mentioned in my review, I would say that "The Overcoat" is his finest, but I personally I have a soft spot for "Diary of a Madman". I intend to read Chekov's short stories at some point in the near future and see how they compare - have you read them?
Oops, so you did. Sloppy reading on my part (or sloppy memory -- can't tell the difference anymore).
A telling sidenote: Dostoevsky, he of the massive, all-encompassing novels, once said of this story, "We all came out from underneath Gogol's "overcoat."
If Gogol is brilliant, Chekhov is sublime. Despite the appalling overuse of appellation "Chekhovian" to describe every hot short story writer on the scene these days(Alice Munro comes closest to deserving such Olympian praise), the original is sui generis. Collections abound. I'd recommend one by husband-wife team of Pevear and Volokhonsky (readily available from Bantam, but if you're not obsessive about such things, any one of numerous translations will do.) Regardless, my favorites are Gooseberries, Lady with the Little Dog (basis of Fellini movie "Dark Eyes"), In the Ravine, The Bishop, and Gusev (about which the great Southern short story writer Peter Taylor allegedly sighed and commented after putting it down, "Why do I even bother?").
Though they don't get as much attention, I'd also recommend separate collections of the longer stories / short novels (again, V/P have a recent translation in pb). The Duel, My Life and An Anonymous Story (title varies according to translation) are must-reads. But start with the shorter stories; they're his most famous works.
Lucky you, have fun!