New Criterion, November 1st, 1998
Absolute nonsense" -- Gogol's tales
The word "weird" could have been invented for Russia's greatest comic writer, Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852, though one almost wants to write 1852-1809), who actually managed to be born on April 1 (March 20 by the Russian calendar). No one understood him, least of all himself. "What an intelligent, queer, and sick creature!" exclaimed Ivan Turgenev. When he died, one of his best friends, the writer Sergei Aksakov, wrote to his son Ivan: "I don't know whether anyone liked Gogol exclusively as a human being. I don't think so; it was, in fact, impossible. How can...
HighBeam Research, Free Preview: 'The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol.(Review)'... Full Membership required for unlimited access. Free 7-day trial.
Subscribers: HighBeam content is only available to HighBeam subscribers. Click the link above for more information.
