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The Complete Tales of Nikolai Gogol
Volume 2 of The Complete Tales includes Gogol's Mirgorod stories—among them that masterpiece of grotesque comedy, "The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich," the wonderfully satiric "Old World Landowners," and the Cossak epic "Taras Bulba." Here also is "The Nose," Gogol's final effort in the realm of the fantastic, as well as "The Coach," "The Portrait" (in its final version), and the most influential of his Petersburg stories, "The Overcoat."
364 pages, Paperback
Published April 15, 1985
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About the author
Nikolai Gogol
2,138 books5,742 followersPeople consider that Russian writer Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol (Николай Васильевич Гоголь) founded realism in Russian literature. His works include
The Overcoat
(1842) and
Dead Souls
(1842).
Ukrainian birth, heritage, and upbringing of Gogol influenced many of his written works among the most beloved in the tradition of Russian-language literature. Most critics see Gogol as the first Russian realist. His biting satire, comic realism, and descriptions of Russian provincials and petty bureaucrats influenced later Russian masters Leo Tolstoy, Ivan Turgenev, and especially Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Gogol wittily said many later Russian maxims.
Gogol first used the techniques of surrealism and the grotesque in his works The Nose , Viy , The Overcoat , and Nevsky Prospekt . Ukrainian upbringing, culture, and folklore influenced his early works, such as Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka .
His later writing satirized political corruption in the Russian empire in Dead Souls .
Ukrainian birth, heritage, and upbringing of Gogol influenced many of his written works among the most beloved in the tradition of Russian-language literature. Most critics see Gogol as the first Russian realist. His biting satire, comic realism, and descriptions of Russian provincials and petty bureaucrats influenced later Russian masters Leo Tolstoy, Ivan Turgenev, and especially Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Gogol wittily said many later Russian maxims.
Gogol first used the techniques of surrealism and the grotesque in his works The Nose , Viy , The Overcoat , and Nevsky Prospekt . Ukrainian upbringing, culture, and folklore influenced his early works, such as Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka .
His later writing satirized political corruption in the Russian empire in Dead Souls .
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December 11, 2018The early nineteenth-century, Russo-Ukrainian writer Nikolai Gogol is a delight for all of a Freudian disposition. Here released his complete short stories as translated by Constance Garnett, on the whole I'd recommended a shorter one volume selection rather than a complete collection like these two volumes simply because for those of a non-Freudian disposition the interest and quality of the stories is variable. Like many of his contemporaries he lived at a moderate pace and died young and had a huge impact on the next generation of writers for his interest in grotesque, bizarre and insane situations and characters, a certain robust humour and tendency to write about lower social orders (though not necessarily the lowest or most typical).
Anyhow this volume contains the following.
Old World Landowners - remarkable for the substitution of food for sex in the relationship between husband and wife, food is consumed to the point of sickness and then some. Unsurprisingly both die .
Taras Bulba - there's a film version of this with Yul Brynner, which if anything is less exuberant than the original, if you were Sigmund Freud , the ending would have you sitting up in delight and starting a new cigar or two.
Viy - dubious semi-sexual encounter between seminarian on his way home with an old woman who is actually a disguised young woman who is actually a witch in league with the devil, the appropriate response of seminarian is the vigorous application of violence.
The tale of how Ivan Ivanovich quarrelled with Ivan Nikiforovich this a relatively normal story about two friends who due to remarkable stubbornness, can never be reconciled once they begin to quarrel.
The Nose there is plainly nothing Freudian at all in this story of male appendage separating itself from the rest of the body and going on to have more successful career and life than the rump person.
The Coach don't remember anything of this
The Portrait nor this, some of Gogol's stories are striking and so odd in their expression of the author's anxieties that they are hard to forget, others aren't.
The Overcoat - hmm the Overcoat is a feminine object that surrounds completely a masculine object which happens to be longer than it is broad. The feminine object of desire is warm, comfortable and makes life suddenly worth while for the hero. Even before Marx had a chance to get going, Gogol has not simply transformed a woman into a sex object, but has gone further in replacing the figurative object with an actual one. The cat fur collar is a lucky association in English - ie the hero's head emerges from the pussy. Indeed the relationship with a coat is a substitute for marriage which naturally can't survive to the end of the storywhich becomes a crude sexualised joke on Pushkin's Bronze Horseman, the actual romantic interest replaced by a literal sex object, Pushkin's political criticism replaced by Gogol's leer.
These volumes chop up and intermix Gogol's Ukrainian and Petersburg stories which maybe isn't the best approach as it isn't true to the chronology of his development and self conception as a writer which was strongly from regional to Capital then back to the regions with Dead Souls, in which his religious drive comes more to the fore .
Anyhow this volume contains the following.
Old World Landowners - remarkable for the substitution of food for sex in the relationship between husband and wife, food is consumed to the point of sickness and then some. Unsurprisingly both die .
Taras Bulba - there's a film version of this with Yul Brynner, which if anything is less exuberant than the original, if you were Sigmund Freud , the ending would have you sitting up in delight and starting a new cigar or two.
Viy - dubious semi-sexual encounter between seminarian on his way home with an old woman who is actually a disguised young woman who is actually a witch in league with the devil, the appropriate response of seminarian is the vigorous application of violence.
The tale of how Ivan Ivanovich quarrelled with Ivan Nikiforovich this a relatively normal story about two friends who due to remarkable stubbornness, can never be reconciled once they begin to quarrel.
The Nose there is plainly nothing Freudian at all in this story of male appendage separating itself from the rest of the body and going on to have more successful career and life than the rump person.
The Coach don't remember anything of this
The Portrait nor this, some of Gogol's stories are striking and so odd in their expression of the author's anxieties that they are hard to forget, others aren't.
The Overcoat - hmm the Overcoat is a feminine object that surrounds completely a masculine object which happens to be longer than it is broad. The feminine object of desire is warm, comfortable and makes life suddenly worth while for the hero. Even before Marx had a chance to get going, Gogol has not simply transformed a woman into a sex object, but has gone further in replacing the figurative object with an actual one. The cat fur collar is a lucky association in English - ie the hero's head emerges from the pussy. Indeed the relationship with a coat is a substitute for marriage which naturally can't survive to the end of the storywhich becomes a crude sexualised joke on Pushkin's Bronze Horseman, the actual romantic interest replaced by a literal sex object, Pushkin's political criticism replaced by Gogol's leer.
These volumes chop up and intermix Gogol's Ukrainian and Petersburg stories which maybe isn't the best approach as it isn't true to the chronology of his development and self conception as a writer which was strongly from regional to Capital then back to the regions with Dead Souls, in which his religious drive comes more to the fore .
June 26, 2019
Every time I read Gogol, I love him more.
January 25, 2010
This collection of charming and sometimes gory stories was enjoyable. Though reading it leaves me with questions regarding Russian culture, it was easy enough to assimilate advances in plots and comprehend character evolution.
Reading Jhumpa Lahiri's "The Namesake" made me curious about reading Gogol. Several times Lahiri mentioned "The Overcoat" and "The Nose." Since "The Overcoat" was the last story in the book, I read the other stories first to get a better feel for Gogol's work. "The Portrait" was my favorite story because it illustrated how Western art had affected Russia, or at the very least Gogol, at the time. Gogol's penchant for the supernatural (mainly that of the devil or the undead) reminded me much of "The Master and Margarita," and "The Overcoat" was the perfect culmination for this collection of his stories.
Reading Jhumpa Lahiri's "The Namesake" made me curious about reading Gogol. Several times Lahiri mentioned "The Overcoat" and "The Nose." Since "The Overcoat" was the last story in the book, I read the other stories first to get a better feel for Gogol's work. "The Portrait" was my favorite story because it illustrated how Western art had affected Russia, or at the very least Gogol, at the time. Gogol's penchant for the supernatural (mainly that of the devil or the undead) reminded me much of "The Master and Margarita," and "The Overcoat" was the perfect culmination for this collection of his stories.
February 10, 2010
I take The Overcoat over Bartleby, the Scrivener.
I take Viy over Frankenstein.
I take The Portrait over your favorite Cortazar.
I take The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich
over The Real Housewives of Orange County.
I even like Taras Bulba.
Then there is The Nose.
And I take Old World Landowners over them all, in joy and tears.
I take Viy over Frankenstein.
I take The Portrait over your favorite Cortazar.
I take The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich
over The Real Housewives of Orange County.
I even like Taras Bulba.
Then there is The Nose.
And I take Old World Landowners over them all, in joy and tears.
September 23, 2010
Deceptive. The book, a collection of "tales," started in an overly descriptive, flowery style, but as I got into it, it felt beautifully written. Poetic. I thought I may have to read a War & Peace-like tome, but really enjoyed the first 2 stories. And then I realized that the tales were all interconnected. It was like reading a novel and each "tale" was really a chapter of the same story. The characters gave me a glimpse of the kerchief-wearing blond Ukrainian girl and the dark cossack in their moment of wooing in the countryside. I can't really promote it, but I'm glad I've now experienced Gogol.
May 10, 2013
For some reason the boring "Dead Souls" gets all the press, but I far prefer Gogol's tales of the countryside, the peasants and the Cossacks. "Old World Landowners" "Taras Bulba" "Viy" and many more in this book are the absolute best of Gogol, if extremely politically incorrect for our time (which is why I like it). An artist who documented his time and expanded his nation's literary horizons.
July 6, 2025
One of the best short story collections of any time period, this book contains stories in a range of styles that display all of Gogol's talents.
'Taras Bulba' and 'Viy' show several continuities with Gogol's early works, in that they are highly romantic folk tales with a Russian nationalist tone. Taras Bulba is a remarkable story, describing the Cossacks in mythical terms as carousing, hard drinking warriors always ready to fight to the death to protect Russian orthodoxy. The tone is mystical and full of adventure, but contains curiously tender moments, such as when it briefly describes the grief of Taras Bulba's wife when she realises that she cannot do anything to prevent her husband and sons going to war.
These stories contain several crudely antisemitic scenes (which are common across Gogol's works). Such sequences are very naive and often child-like in their depiction of Jewish characters, giving them a startling rather than grotesque tone.
The other stories in this collection are written in Gogol's mature style, which often involves a character experiencing a surreal or supernatural event which is seemingly accepted by everyone he meets, leading to events that are first comic then tragic. Strong tonal shifts heighten the mood, often generating a strong sense of irony. Furthermore, Gogol's characters are often described as grossly mediocre before they display a startling sense of suffering that serves to partially redeem them.
Perhaps the best example of this is 'The overcoat', which tells the story of Akaky Akakievich, who is so simple minded that he thinks of little else other than copying official documents. At first a pathetic caricature, the reader is suddenly encouraged to sympathize with him when he cries out piteously against the bullying of his colleagues. Akaky engages with the world more fully when saving to buy a new overcoat, but his focus also leads to his undoing.
Gogol is a very witty author at times, and several of the comedic scenes are very memorable. One instance I always remember is in 'The nose', in which the protagonist's nose falls off their face and parades around by itself. The protagonist goes to a local newspaper to place an advertisement asking for the return of his nose, only to engage with an obstructive clerk, who tells the character that the newspaper cannot take such advertisements because of the damage to its reputation.
Many of the stories have a striking conservative tone, with the stories warning against obtaining material possessions, and satirizing character who try to change their social rank. However, these themes are inconsistent, with several points where the author portrays sympathy with the difficulties the (typically impoverished) characters find themselves in. It is this dramatic and stylistic tension that make the stories outstanding works of art.
'Taras Bulba' and 'Viy' show several continuities with Gogol's early works, in that they are highly romantic folk tales with a Russian nationalist tone. Taras Bulba is a remarkable story, describing the Cossacks in mythical terms as carousing, hard drinking warriors always ready to fight to the death to protect Russian orthodoxy. The tone is mystical and full of adventure, but contains curiously tender moments, such as when it briefly describes the grief of Taras Bulba's wife when she realises that she cannot do anything to prevent her husband and sons going to war.
These stories contain several crudely antisemitic scenes (which are common across Gogol's works). Such sequences are very naive and often child-like in their depiction of Jewish characters, giving them a startling rather than grotesque tone.
The other stories in this collection are written in Gogol's mature style, which often involves a character experiencing a surreal or supernatural event which is seemingly accepted by everyone he meets, leading to events that are first comic then tragic. Strong tonal shifts heighten the mood, often generating a strong sense of irony. Furthermore, Gogol's characters are often described as grossly mediocre before they display a startling sense of suffering that serves to partially redeem them.
Perhaps the best example of this is 'The overcoat', which tells the story of Akaky Akakievich, who is so simple minded that he thinks of little else other than copying official documents. At first a pathetic caricature, the reader is suddenly encouraged to sympathize with him when he cries out piteously against the bullying of his colleagues. Akaky engages with the world more fully when saving to buy a new overcoat, but his focus also leads to his undoing.
Gogol is a very witty author at times, and several of the comedic scenes are very memorable. One instance I always remember is in 'The nose', in which the protagonist's nose falls off their face and parades around by itself. The protagonist goes to a local newspaper to place an advertisement asking for the return of his nose, only to engage with an obstructive clerk, who tells the character that the newspaper cannot take such advertisements because of the damage to its reputation.
Many of the stories have a striking conservative tone, with the stories warning against obtaining material possessions, and satirizing character who try to change their social rank. However, these themes are inconsistent, with several points where the author portrays sympathy with the difficulties the (typically impoverished) characters find themselves in. It is this dramatic and stylistic tension that make the stories outstanding works of art.
May 22, 2024
My review is of “Taras Bulba” only — the Cossacks in the story are brutal religious fanatics , martial with no feeling for the divine, and I think Gogol is making this point very deliberately.
The characterization of the Jewish people goes from incredibly offensive to surprisingly (if momentarily) sympathetic . . . The author is officially writing for an Orthodox readership, so one expects bias and some common bigotry, but the crude aspersions against “the Jews” bring some discredit upon the finished work nonetheless.
With a slight shift in emphasis the main character of the story could be Frankel — how he kept his head among a people who would not recognize his value as a person, but rather only as a source of gold, while projecting their own venality onto him as a scapegoat.
The characterization of the Jewish people goes from incredibly offensive to surprisingly (if momentarily) sympathetic . . . The author is officially writing for an Orthodox readership, so one expects bias and some common bigotry, but the crude aspersions against “the Jews” bring some discredit upon the finished work nonetheless.
With a slight shift in emphasis the main character of the story could be Frankel — how he kept his head among a people who would not recognize his value as a person, but rather only as a source of gold, while projecting their own venality onto him as a scapegoat.
October 28, 2025
This is a book of short stories written in the first half of the 19th century about the common people of Ukrainian villages.
May 26, 2015
Those who know me well enough know that I greatly enjoy my share of Russian literature with a few exceptions- e.g. Anna Karenina and The Idiot. Gogol occupies a space for me somewhere in between. When he dabbles within magical realism, I am sucked in, and I can't stop reading, but when the magical element is missing, even though the writing is good, I find myself able to set down and the book and have little desire to return. Sometimes it is because the ending ultimately makes the story, such as "Old World Land Owners," and for these types of stories, I find that a second read would add much more richness to the narrative. Then there are ones like "Taras Balba," which in the first couple pages, I am greatly intrigued and my curiosity is piqued, but the narrative ends up being too streamlined and monocultural that some of the richness Gogol could unpack and put on display ends up being regulated to create a clear binary that doesn't challenge the reader to interpret the text as in depth as other works of literature. Thankfully, the presence of stories like "The Nose," "The Portrait," and "The Overcoat" succeed where some of these other tales are lackluster in my eyes. These stories that each would earn a 5 star rating from me and find a way to leave a fingerprint upon your mind's eye.
June 18, 2014
What fun to read the inventive stories of Gogol. His humor is sly and sometimes outrageous, but always intelligent. Some of these short stories remind me of the beautiful folk tales that I read as a child where a magical other world intrudes into the lives of the characters. In some cases there are sinister forces at work and at others more benevolent, including at one point the devil who helps a poor man woo the young woman of his dreams. Things don't always work out the way characters wish. Some stories wander but not in a way that loses the reader or is a negative. Other stories have are two stories in one - but related.
February 12, 2016
Truly fantastical. I started with The Overcoat. Only in Russian literature can a story a man's death after his favorite coat is stolen be labeled as a "comedy." I personally preferred The Portrait, which was beautifully written, but still contains a touch of the absurd for which Gogol is famous. This contrasts starkly with the historical Taras Bulba, which I found difficult to enjoy due to its fairly overt anti-Semetism and anti-Polish sentiment (though parts were unquestionably beautiful and compelling).
January 6, 2015
1 1/4/15 This isn't the edition I read, but it's not on GR so this is close enough. His descriptions and his characters are great. He's very self-aware in his writing and I like that he's experimental but still interesting.
I find short story collections hard to read though, because as soon as I start to get interested in a character the story ends, but it was a nice little book.
I really enjoyed "The Nevsky Prospect", the way the two men chose two paths and how different they turned out.
I find short story collections hard to read though, because as soon as I start to get interested in a character the story ends, but it was a nice little book.
I really enjoyed "The Nevsky Prospect", the way the two men chose two paths and how different they turned out.
October 4, 2015
This is the second volume in the "Complete tales" of Gogol. The complete tails do not include Souls of the Dead. I found "Taras Bulba," "The Portrait" and "The Tale How of Ivan Ivanovich Quarrled with Ivan Nikiforovich" as particularly interesting, instructive (Taras Bulba finally gave me an idea about the Cossacks) or hilarious. Some all at the same time.
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January 27, 2019Old World Landowners
Taras Bulba
Viy
The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich***
The Nose
The Coach
The Portrait
The Overcat
*** lesser known story, imho, one of the funniest
Taras Bulba
Viy
The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich***
The Nose
The Coach
The Portrait
The Overcat
*** lesser known story, imho, one of the funniest
December 13, 2010
Two volumes complete short stories of Gogol for all those who enjoy Gogol
April 11, 2016
Loved it, especially the Overcoat. Not quite Dostoevsky, but Gogol's tales are great.
September 11, 2025
Loved it, especially the Overcoat. Not quite Dostoevsky, but Gogol's tales are great.
March 25, 2020
A fine translation of these masterworks. I hope to reread again in the near future.
August 13, 2020
These stories were all well written but I think The Portrait, The Nose and The Overcoat displayed Gogol's unique talents most effectively.
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January 19, 2022The Overcoat, The Nose, Viy
March 29, 2023
Excellent translation by Constance Garnett with helpful notes by Leonard Kent.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews