Gogol's lasting influence on Russian literature cannot be underestimated. According to Richard Peace in The Enigma of Gogol:
Gogol exerted an immense influence on the whole course of Russian literature and continues to do so to the present day. There is scarcely a later Russian writer who did not succumb in some measure to his magic, and in many cases (Dostoyevski, Chekhov, Ilf and Petrov) his influence was crucial. In this sense alone, to call Gogol the 'father of Russian prose fiction' is eminently justifiable.
Critics today almost universally agree on the comic and dramatic genius of The Government Inspector. Calling the play Gogol's "comic masterpiece," Erlich asserts that it is "by far the greatest comedy in the Russian language and one of the finest ever written." Campbell asserts that it is "perhaps the greatest comedy.....
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