Written in the 1830s and early 1840s, these comic stories tackle life behind the cold and elegant facade of the Imperial capital from the viewpoints of various characters, such as a collegiate assessor who one day finds that his nose has detached itself from his face and risen the ranks to become a state councillor ('The Nose'), a painter and a lieutenant whose romantic pursuits meet with contrasting degrees of success ('Nevsky Prospect') and a lowly civil servant whose existence desperately unravels when he loses his prized new coat ('The Overcoat'). 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.

Gogol's works constitute one of Russian literature's supreme achievements, yet the nature of their brilliant originality, comic genius, and complex workings is difficult to summarize precisely. The Government Inspector, a perennial favourite on stage and screen, is considered a national institution in Russia, and Gogol's stories present us with one of the most marvellous worlds a writer has ever created. His quirky characters — the lowly official who imagines himself to be the King of Spain, the man committed to chase his nose around St. Petersburg, a whole village paralyzed at the prospect of being visited by an authority from the capital — are immortal. Although Gogol's fiction was commandeered by Russia's progressive critics as the work of an important social commentator, he was in many ways an arch-conservative, and there is a madcap strain in it that makes him a precursor of Kafka and absurdist drama.

A delightful new holiday series featuring five classic Christmas tales in luxurious hardcover editions Truly stunning book design has become a Penguin Classics tradition. We now introduce a new must-have, collectible series featuring beautiful hardcover editions of some of the best-loved and bestselling Christmas titles of all time. Available in lovely holiday-themed packages, the series includes A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, A Merry Christmas by Louisa May Alcott, Christmas at Thompson Hall by Anthony Trollope, The Night Before Christmas by Nikolai Gogol, and The Nutcracker by E. T. A. Hoffman — treasured Christmas tales that make perfect stocking stuffers for readers of all ages.

A masterpiece of satire and a key work of the Russian fantastic movement. One of the most celebrated tales in Russian literature. Collegiate Assessor Kovalyov awakens to discover that his nose is missing, leaving a smooth, flat patch of skin in its place. He finds and confronts his nose in the Kazan Cathedral, but from its clothing it is apparent that the nose has acquired a higher rank in the civil service than he and refuses to return to his face. THE ART OF THE NOVELLAToo short to be a novel, too long to be a short story, the novella is generally unrecognized by academics and publishers but beloved and practiced by literature's greatest writers. The Art of the Novella Series celebrates this renegade art form and its practitioners. The series has been recognized for its excellence in design by AIGA.

Nikolai Gogol, an early 19th century Ukrainian-born Russian novelist, humorist, and dramatist, created some of the most important works of world literature and is considered the father of modern Russian realism. Gogol satirized the corrupt bureaucracy of the Russian Empire through the scrupulous and scathing realism of his writing, which would ultimately lead to his exile. Among some of his finest works are his short stories. Together in this collection are collected some of the best of these stories, they include the following: The Diary of a Madman, The Viy, The Mysterious Portrait, The Fair of Sorotchinetz, An Evening in May, Mid-Summer Evening, and The Carriage (The Calash).

«Ein wegen Korruption entlassener Zolleinnehmer reist durch die russische Provinz. Geschickt f?hrt er sich in die gehobene Gesellschaft ein und macht einigen Gutsbesitzern ein unkonventionelles Angebot: Er kauft ihnen verstorbene Leibeigene tote Seelen ab, die in der Steuerb?rokratie noch als Lebende gelten und «zu Geld gemacht» werden k?nnen. Nikolai Gogols Roman ist von erstaunlicher Aktualit?t es geht um Gesch?ftemacherei, Willk?r, Betrug und die Bestechlichkeit des Menschen. Ge?ndert haben sich nur die Methoden.»

Collected here are Gogol's finest tales — from the demon-haunted St John's Eve to the strange surrealism of The Nose, from the heart-rending trials of the copyist in The Overcoat to those of the delusional clerk in The Diary of a Madman — allowing readers to experience anew the unmistakable genius of a writer who paved the way for Dostoevsky and Kafka. To this superb new translation — the first in twenty-five years and destined to become the definitive edition of Gogol's short fiction — Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky bring the same clarity and fidelity to the original that they brought to their brilliant translation of Dostoevsky's works and to War and Peace.

Satiric masterpiece skewers Russian provincial officials, offering a highly entertaining glimpse of human foibles and failings.

We all came out from under Gogol's Overcoat.' Fyodor Dostoevsky From the father of modern Russian fiction comes a hilarious look at holding a grudge. Gogol's classic story about friendship gone bad highlights the fierce wit and sharp sarcasm of the Russian master. This novella has never before been published as a stand-alone edition.