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3.0 out of 5 stars
Six tales don't constitute author's best work, Jul 24 2002
This volume constitutes six stories by Gogol of which two are the most famous; "The Overcoat", a wonderful psychological story which was made into a film in the USSR many years ago, and "The Nose", a satire of Russian middle level officials of the early 19th century. Taken as a book, though, these tales full of dreams, asides, and great prolixity are not a major literary landmark on the world stage. Russian literature, as one of the world's greatest collections of works, offers a lot more in my opinion. Gogol, while perhaps a brilliant star for some national literatures, can only be considered a minor writer in Russia, especially if read in English as translated by David Magarshack, whose style can hardly be called 'contemporary'. While it's true that Gogol had a good sense of humor, if a little bizarre, it comes across in this translation as childish. (I must hasten to add that I don't know Russian.)"The Terrible Vengeance" is a rather tedious fairy tale with an incestuous theme, while "The Portrait" bears some likeness to a certain, later work by Oscar Wilde. Though the idea is interesting, Gogol, as in several other stories, just doesn't know when to let go. The story "Ivan Fyodorovich Shponka and His Aunt" contains lively humor and many colorful characters. I enjoyed it the most of all, but it was only the beginning of a larger work, which unfortunately seems never to have been completed. Some analysts (see the Introduction by the translator)have read into Gogol's work pre-revolutionary predictions of violent change or a rising up of the lower classes. I think such an idea is far-fetched. Similarly, while it is true that Gogol's tales and stories do contain struggles between good and evil, the same can be said of an enormous number of folk tales, religious works, and literary pieces by writers in every language. It is interesting to read Gogol's work to widen your knowledge of Russian and world literature. That is a source of satisfaction, but perhaps not enough. Several of the stories are good, but they don't measure up to his longer works---"Dead Souls" and "The Government Inspector". I would read them first, before this lesser book.
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