Customer Reviews

The Collected Tales (Everyman's Library)

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The reborn Everyman's Library is so uniquely head and shoulders above every other publishing venture available today that it seems ungrateful to append even a small caution about this newest title in the series. Especially so as the fresh translation really is a miraculous breakthrough--a huge improvement over previous efforts. What then is the problem? Simply that this is NOT a "collected" tales in the common understanding of that term, but a "selected" one. Not a great problem unless one is seeking a particular omitted piece, but it does raise some question about at least one link in the editorial chain--a failure of oversight that has marred certain series titles irretrievably and that is uncomfortably disrespectful to the quality of the project overall.

Nikolai Gogol wrote the stories included in this volume between 1831 and 1842, yet many of them are so modern that one could readily believe that they had been written between 1931 and 1942. Given their 19th-Century vintage, some of these tales are indeed classics of literature.

It might be useful to specify which tales are included in this volume and who the translators are. Despite the "collected" of the title, this volume does not gather together ALL of Gogol's tales. Instead, it offers seven "Ukrainian Tales" and six "Petersburg Tales", presented in the order of their composition.

The seven Ukrainian Tales are:
St. John's Eve
The Night Before Christmas *
The Terrible Vengeance
Ivan Fyodorovich Shponka and His Aunt *
Old World Landowners
Viy
The Story of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich *

The six Petersburg Tales are:
Nevsky Prospect *
The Diary of a Madman *
The Nose
The Carriage
The Portrait
The Overcoat *

(The asterisks denote the stories that are classics in my personal pantheon.) The most conspicuous omission from this volume is "Taras Bulba".

The translators are Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, who seem to have made it their mission to translate into English all of the major works of 19th-Century Russian Literature. Their "style" has been criticized by some, but I (though not at all literate in Russian) suspect it well-suited to the informal, irreverent, even madcap prose of Nikolai Gogol. Over the years I ended up with three other collections of Gogol's tales and I sense that the P&V translations are more appropriate for Gogol than those by Constance Garnett and pretty much on a par with those by David Magarshack.

Gogol was born and raised in the Ukraine, the son of an undistinguished country squire. Although Russian was not his native language, at the age of 19 he went to St. Petersburg to make his fortune as a writer. But he never became a fully assimilated Russian; he forever was, like many of his characters, an outsider.

One of the reasons Gogol strikes me as a modern writer is that the vast majority of his characters are drawn from the common folks - the Ukrainian peasant, the village blacksmith, the retired sub-lieutenant, the earnest but impoverished artist, and the clerk at the very bottom of the government bureaucracy. Gogol's protagonists are not dandified aristocrats like Pushkin's Eugene Onegin or dashing warriors like Lermontov's Pechorin. They are the hoi polloi of Russia and Little Russia.

The supernatural in the form of magic, witches, and devils permeates these tales. There is much that is grotesque or gothic, harking back to E.T.A. Hoffmann, and much that is surreal, pointing ahead to, among others, Bruno Schulz. (I would bet a modest sum that Schulz was well-acquainted with the tales of Gogol.) One theme that is repeatedly played out in different variations is the contest between Good and Evil. Another is the contrast of dreams and reality and the sad gulf for most people that exists between their hopes and desires and their actual lots in life. If asked to choose an epigraph for this volume of Gogol's tales I would be very tempted to go with the lines from T.S. Eliot's "The Hollow Men": "Between the idea / And the reality / * * * Falls the Shadow."

Gogol was a great writer - but he also was human, and I must add that for me it was impossible to overlook in his tales the repeated deprecation of Jews. This anti-Semitism is more prevalent in the "Ukrainian Tales" and some might argue in defense of Gogol that he was simply reflecting, realistically, the prejudices that Ukrainians of that time had against not only Jews but also Muscovites, Poles, and Roman Catholics. Still, when a Jew is impliedly equated with the antichrist and is depicted engaging in cabalistic sorcery, a post-WWII reader gets a very queasy feeling.

After seeing "The Namesake" [...]
I was intrigued with references made to both "The Overcoat" and its author Nikolai Gogol and chose this "Everyman's Library" edition "The Collected Tales" which includes this short story. Published in 1842, the story and its author have had great influence on Russian literature, thus spawning Fyodor Dostoevsky's famous quote: "We all come out from Gogol's 'Overcoat'."

The stories are marvelous and the writing is good and this particular translation must be good, as I can't wait to read it each day. Highly recommended!

He emerges out of the chill, fog covered streets of old St. Petersburg. Perhaps he is wearing a coat frayed at the collar or flying through the streets in a troika or swirling through the air with ghosts, goblins and even the Devil! His name is
Nikolai Gogol (1809-52) one of the greatest of Russian authors. Everyman has included several of his tales in a handsome volume. The book is divided into two sections of seven and six tales labelled Ukrainian Tales and Petersburg Tales.

Ukranian Tales
St. John's Eve-This story is set in a Little Russian (Ukranian) village. The story is related by the beadle of the local Orthodox Church-A humble blacksmith seeks to obtain Czarina's Catherine II's booties for his love. Magic, Mystery and Marvelous prose! Catherine II and her Potemkin her lover appear in the story.

The Night Before Christmas-Wild supernatural happenings occur in a village tale of romance, withcraft and spookiness. Vakula takes a wild flight over the rooftops along with the Devil. Gogol is adept at explaining supernatural happenings in a vivid sense.

The Terrible Vengeance-A story of siblling rivalry and hatred between Petro and Ivan. God judges the quarrelsome brothers after their deaths and a terrible vengeance is exacted.

Ivan Fyodorovich and His Aunt-A delightfully realistic tale of a longtime soldier who retires to live with his mannish aunt on her estate. His resourceful aunt proves an avid matchmaker for the benefit of the dreamy Ivan. I will never forget the scene when Ivan and a young lass talk about flies during hot weather1 Hilarious!

Old World Landowners-A charming story of an old couple who loved one another throughout a long and happy marriage.

The Story of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich-A comic story of two old friends who quarrel over one of them being called a "goose." A brown sow is also memorable for disturbing the courthouse where rural justice is meted out in humorous measure!

Viy-A fantastical tale of a philosophy student who is destroyed by Viy. Viy is a colossal creation of Ukranian folklore. He is the chief of the gnomes whose eyelids reach to the ground. The tale is a popular legend.

Petersburg Tales

Nevsky Prospect- A wonderful story of all the activity that occurs during a single day on Nevsky Prospect in St. Petersburg . The tale focuses on the desires of two young men to find true love with a charming Russian girl.

The Diary of a Madman-This guy is truly mad as we read entries from his diaries!

The Nose-A classic absurdist tale of a man who wakes up to discover he is missing his nose! He later sees the Nose walking through the streets of St. Petersburg! A satiric look at Russian czarist bureaucracy and hypocrisy.

The Carriage-A slight but funny story about a rich landowner who brags about his carriage to military friends.

The Portrait-The portrait of the Devil in the form of a moneylender whill chill your bones! Every person who owns the portrait has bad things happen to them!

The Overcoat-Possibly the best story ever written by Gogol and one of the greatest written in world literature. The tale deals with a poor clerk who is robbed of his coat. The man returns as a ghost!

Gogol is a delight to read! His tales are filled with ghosts, demons, young lovers, crusty aristocratic landowners, peasants and clerks. All of Russian may be found in his marvelous pages1 Enjoy and become enchanted!

The book arrived in great shape and in a very timely way. The writing itself, being Gogol, is pretty hard to take, although I expected that. It may be a classic, but humor is incredibly culture-bound and time-bound, and what was funny in Russia 150 years ago doesn't translate so well to the present. Not the fault of the seller, by any means.