Gogol, Nikolai Vasilevich 1809-52
Russian novelist and dramatist

Born in Sorochinstsi, Poltava, he settled in St Petersburg in 1829, and in 1831-32 published his first major work, Vechera na khutore bliz Dikanki ('Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka'). This was followed by two short-story collections, Mirgorod (1835, Eng trans 1928) and Arabesques (1835, Eng trans 1982) which contained some of his finest stories, like 'Shinel' ('The Overcoat'), 'Nevsky Prospect', and 'Zapiski symashedshevo' ('The Diary of a Madman'), introducing a nightmarish world of his fantastic imagination, detailing his fears, frustrations and obsessions. In 1836 he brought out his play, Revizor (Eng trans The Inspector-General, 1892), the best of Russian comedies, a wild and boisterous satire exposing the corruption, ignorance and vanity of provincial officials. He left Russia for Italy in 1836, and in Rome wrote the first part of Myortvye dushi (1842, Eng trans Dead Souls, 1854), one of the great novels in world literature. It deals with an attempt by small landowners to swindle the government by the purchase of dead serfs whose names should have been struck off the register. His later work shows increasing obsession with his own 'sinfulness' and he burnt many of his remaining manuscripts, including the second part of Myortvye dushi. He returned to Russia in 1846.

Bibliography: H Troyat, Nikolai Gogol (1971)