Böcker av Nikolai Gogol

Gogol's 1842 novel Dead Souls, a comic masterpiece about a mysterious con man and his grotesque victims, is one of the major works of Russian literature. It was translated into English in 1942 by Bernard Guilbert Guerney; the translation was hailed by Vladimir Nabokov as "e;an extraordinarily fine piece of work"e; and is still considered the best translation of Dead Souls ever published. Long out of print, the Guerney translation of Dead Souls is now reissued. The text has been made more faithful to Gogol's original by removing passages that Guerney inserted from earlier drafts of Dead Souls. The text is accompanied by Susanne Fusso's introduction and by appendices that present excerpts from Guerney's translations of other drafts of Gogol's work and letters Gogol wrote around the time of the writing and publication of Deal Souls. "e;I am delighted that Guerney's translation of Dead Souls [is] available again. It is head and shoulders above all the others, for Guerney understands that to 'translate' Gogol is necessarily to undertake a poetic recreation, and he does so brilliantly."e;—Robert A. Maguire, Columbia University "e;The Guerney translation of Dead Souls is the only translation I know of that makes any serious attempt to approximate the qualities of  Gogol's style—exuberant, erratic, 'Baroque,' bizarre."e;—Hugh McLean, University of California, Berkeley "e;A splendidly revised and edited edition of Bernard Guerney's classic English translation of Gogol's Dead Souls. The distinguished Gogol scholar Susanne Fusso may have brought us as close as the English reader may ever expect to come to Gogol's masterpiece. No student, scholar, or general reader will want to miss this updated, refined version of one of the most delightful and sublime works of Russian literature."e;—Robert Jackson, Yale University

It is the night before Christmas and devilry is afoot. The devil steals the moon and hides it in his pocket. He is thus free to run amok and inflicts all sorts of wicked mischief upon the village of Dikanka by unleashing a snowstorm. But the one he'd really like to torment is the town blacksmith, Vakula, who creates paintings of the devil being vanquished. Vakula is in love with Oksana, but she will have nothing to do with him. Vakula, however, is determined to win her over, even if it means battling the devil.Taken from Nikolai Gogol's first successful work, the story collection Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka, The Night Before Christmas is available here for the first time as a stand-alone novella and is a perfect introduction to the great Russian satirist.

Chichikov is willing to relieve their owners of the tax burden by buying the titles for a song. What he does not say is that he then proposes to take out a huge mortgage against these fictitious citizens and buy himself a nice estate in Eastern Russia. Will he get away with it? Who will rumble him?

Also including the 'Diary of Madman', this new translation of Petersburg Tales paint a critical yet hilarious portrait of a city riddled with pomposity and self-importance, masterfully juxtaposing nineteenth-century realism with madcap surrealism, and combining absurdist farce with biting satire.

Since its publication in 1842, Dead Souls has been celebrated as a supremely realistic portrait of provincial Russian life and as a splendidly exaggerated tale;

Chichikov, a middle-aged gentleman of middling social class and means arrives in a small town and turns on the charm to woo key local officials and landowners. He reveals little about his past, or his purpose, as he sets about carrying out his bizarre and mysterious plan to acquire "dead souls." When rumors flare up about his ideas, Chichikov flees to another part of Russia and attempts to continue his venture. Again he goes from estate to estate, encountering eccentric and absurd characters all along the way. In the Russian Empire, before 1861, landowners had the right to own serfs to farm their land. Landowners could buy, sell or mortgage them, as any other chattel. To count serfs (and people in general), the classifier "soul" was used: e.g., "six souls of serfs." The plot of the novel relies on "dead souls" (i.e., "dead serfs") which are still accounted for in property registers. On another level, the title refers to the "dead souls" of Gogol's characters, all of which represent different aspects of poshlost, a Russian word that means petty evil, vulgarity, or obscenity and bad taste.This case laminate collector's edition includes a Victorian inspired dust-jacket.

Dead Souls (Russian: ¿¿¿¿¿¿¿ ¿¿¿¿, Mjórtvyje dúshi) is a novel by Nikolai Gogol, first published in 1842, and widely regarded as an exemplar of 19th-century Russian literature. The novel chronicles the travels and adventures of Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov (Russian: ¿¿¿¿¿ ¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿ ¿¿¿¿¿¿¿) and the people whom he encounters. These people typify the Russian middle-class of the time. Gogol himself saw his work as an "epic poem in prose", and within the book characterised it as a "novel in verse". Despite supposedly completing the trilogy's second part, Gogol destroyed it shortly before his death. Although the novel ends in mid-sentence (like Sterne's Sentimental Journey), it is regarded by some as complete in the extant form.

In einer Ministerialabteilung also diente ein Beamter, irgendeiner. Man kann nicht gut sagen, er hätte herausgeragt aus der Schar der anderen, denn er war klein, pockennarbig, rothaarig, kurzsichtig, hatte eine Glatze und kleine verrunzelte Bäckchen, und aus seiner Gesichtsfarbe konnte man auf Hämorrhoiden schließen. Doch dagegen ist nichts zu machen. Schuld trägt das Petersburger Klima. Um seinen Rang nicht zu vergessen, da man bei uns vor allem den Rang angeben muß er war das, was man einen ewigen Titularrat nennt, über welchen sich bekanntlich hier schon verschiedene Schriftsteller lustig gemacht haben; diese können nun einmal nicht von der Gewohnheit lassen, gerade auf solche Leute loszugehen, die sich nicht wehren können. Er hieß Baschmatschkin, und sein Vorname lautete Akaki Akakiewitsch. Es ist wohl möglich, daß letzterer dem Leser merkwürdig und ein wenig gesucht erscheine, doch ich kann ihm versichern, daß nach diesem Namen in Wirklichkeit nicht gesucht worden war, daß vielmehr Umstände eingetreten waren, die jeden anderen ausschlossen, und das hatte sich so zugetragen. Akaki Akakiewitsch wurde, wenn ich mich recht erinnere, in der Nacht des 23. März geboren. Seine selige Mutter, eine Beamtenfrau und ein überaus braves Weib, machte, wie sich das gehört, sofort Anstalten, daß das Kind getauft werde. Sie lag noch im Bett, und rechts von ihr stand der Pate Iwan Iwanowitsch Jeroschkin, Abteilungschef im Senat und ein ganz ausgezeichneter Mann, und die Patin Arina Semenowa Bjelobruschowa, die Gattin eines Polizeileutnants und zudem mit seltenen Tugenden begabt. Pate und Patin ließen der Wöchnerin die Wahl zuerst unter folgenden drei Namen: Mokia, Sossia und Chosdadat, der Märtyrer, doch sie wollte nicht: »Nein, das sind alles so Namen.« Um sie zufriedenzustellen, wurde der Kalender an einer anderen Stelle aufgeschlagen, und da kamen die Namen: Trefilius, Dula und Barachassius heraus. »Das ist ja wie eine Strafe Gottes!« rief jetzt die Mutter. »Was für schreckliche Namen! Nie noch habe ich diese Namen gehört! Wenn wenigstens Barabas oder Baruch dastünde aber Trefilius und Barachassius! Ach! Ach!« Noch einmal drehten der Pate und die Patin die Seite um: da standen aber Pafsikachius und Bachtissius. »Ich sehe schon,« schrie jetzt die Alte, »das ist sein Los. Und weil es nicht anders sein kann, so soll er wie sein Vater heißen. Dieser hieß Akaki und darum soll auch sein Sohn so heißen!« So kam es also zu Akaki Akakiewitsch. Die Taufe wurde nun vollzogen, und dabei weinte das Knäblein und verzog das Gesicht so, als hätte es vorausgefühlt, daß es einmal Titularrat sein würde. Ich habe das alles ausgeführt, damit der Leser selber sehe, daß es gar nicht anders sein konnte und ein anderer Name unter diesen Umständen rein unmöglich und gänzlich ausgeschlossen gewesen wäre.

Ce livre est d'abord un passionnant documentaire sur la capitale impériale au début du XIXe siècle, les variations de sa physionomie sociale au cours de la journée, les comédies et les drames qui s'y jouent à ciel ouvert. Mais, sous son pittoresque, la ville est trompeuse, maléfique même et les deux jeunes hommes qui, séduits chacun par une belle passante, leur emboîteront le pas, s'en mordront les doigts... Ici, le rire, souvent naturel chez Gogol, devient jaune et on se met à rêver des fantômes vivants que sont les passants de la perspective Nevski.

Gogol, qui sombrera lui-même dans la démence, s'attache ici, une fois de plus, à la description du divorce entre une réalité quotidienne et le rêve ou la folie qui s'en nourrissent: derrière le fonctionnaire de Saint-Pétersbourg sommeille le roi d'Espagne...

Texte intégral. Cet ouvrage s¿inscrit dans un projet de sauvegarde et de valorisation de bibliothèques et de fonds patrimoniaux anciens, rares ou oubliés, appartenant à la littérature des 19e et 20e siècles. Une collection de grands classiques, d¿écrits pour le théâtre, de poésie, mais aussi des livres d¿histoire, de philosophie ou d¿économie, de récits de voyage ou de livres pour la jeunesse à re-découvrir via les librairies en ligne ou à lire sur papier avec une mise en page étudiée pour favoriser le confort de lecture.

Un étudiant endetté voit les notables d'une petite ville l'accueillir avec tous les honneurs: il est pris pour un révizor, un haut fonctionnaire de l'État chargé d'une inspection. Le jeune homme profite de la méprise pour duper tout le monde. Sous le comique jubilatoire, perce un humour grinçant qui invite à une réflexion pas forcément drôle...

Texte intégral. Cet ouvrage s¿inscrit dans un projet de sauvegarde et de valorisation de bibliothèques et de fonds patrimoniaux anciens, rares ou oubliés, appartenant à la littérature des 19e et 20e siècles. Une collection de grands classiques, d¿écrits pour le théâtre, de poésie, mais aussi des livres d¿histoire, de philosophie ou d¿économie, de récits de voyage ou de livres pour la jeunesse à re-découvrir via les librairies en ligne ou à lire sur papier avec une mise en page étudiée pour favoriser le confort de lecture.

Part of the Norton Library series"As Kate Holland notes in her fine introduction to these new translations, Nikolai Gogol is a hybrid: Ukrainian-Russian, Romantic-Realist, equal parts nightmare and satire. Michael Katz hears this hybrid tension. We sense the terror and fantasy of Ukrainian folklore flooding Petersburg space, revealing a Gogol for our haunted times."-Caryl Emerson (Princeton University)The Norton Library edition of Selected Tales features a collection of Nikolai Gogol's most regarded short fiction: "Ivan Fyodorovich Shponka and His Auntie," "Nevsky Prospect," "Notes of a Madman," "The Nose," "The Carriage," "The Portrait," and "The Overcoat" newly translated by Michael R. Katz. An introduction by Kate Holland situates the stories in the historical context of imperial St. Petersburg, inviting readers to appreciate Gogol's incisive social critique and the transformative vision of his writing.The Norton Library is a growing collection of high-quality texts and translations-influential works of literature and philosophy-introduced and edited by leading scholars. Norton Library editions prepare readers for their first encounter with the works that they'll re-read over a lifetime.Inviting introductions highlight the work's significance and influence, providing the historical and literary context students need to dive in with confidence.Endnotes and an easy-to-read design deliver an uninterrupted reading experience, encouraging students to read the text first and refer to endnotes for more information as needed.An affordable price (most $10 or less) encourages students to buy the book and to come to class with the assigned edition.About the Authors:Michael R. Katz is C. V. Starr Professor Emeritus of Russian and East European Studies at Middlebury College. He has published translations of more than fifteen Russian novels, including Crime and Punishment, Notes from Underground, and The Brothers Karamazov.Kate Holland is Associate Professor of Russian Literature in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Toronto. She is the author of The Novel in the Age of Disintegration: Dostoevsky and the Problem of Genre in the 1870s. She is President of the North American Dostoevsky Society.