Gogol
The Inner Life
Oliver ReadyA revealing portrait of Gogol beyond myth, nationalism and caricature
Nikolai Gogol (1809–1852) was one of the most original and elusive writers of the nineteenth century: a comic genius, a master of the grotesque and a restless traveller whose life crossed the cultural worlds of Ukraine, Russia and Europe. In this first comprehensive account of Gogol’s life and work in a generation, Oliver Ready draws on the latest scholarship, as well as his own translations of Gogol’s fiction, to present a concise yet richly nuanced portrait. Moving beyond familiar myths and stereotypes, he portrays a figure shaped by competing loyalties, spiritual longings, creative ambition and periods of profound inner struggle. Attentive to Gogol’s enduring connections with Ukraine as well as his wider European horizons, Ready illuminates the sources of an extraordinary imagination and the complexities of identity, belonging and artistic creation.
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This sparkling new biography of Nikolai Gogol is a gift to devoted readers and scholars of Gogol as well as to readers who are newly discovering his hilarious and tragic art. Oliver Ready combines a masterly command of the available sources with penetrating insight into the multifarious meanings of Gogol’s artistic works. Ready’s witty, engaging style and the carefully chosen illustrations make his biography a delight to read. The original approach to topics such as Gogol’s sexuality and his engagement with Italian literature, among many others, make this biography a must-read for anyone interested in one of the most fascinating writers who ever lived.
'Susanne Fusso, Marcus L. Taft Professor of Modern Languages and Professor of Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies, Wesleyan University
Introduction
1. A Sequestered Sphere
2. Alone Among Pigs
3. To St Petersburg – in Search of Ukraine
4. In the Margins of History and Art
5. Gogol’s Double Acts (Two Stories, Two Plays)
6. A Roman roman
7. Putting on Christ
8. Preparing for Home
Select Bibliography
Acknowledgements
Photo Acknowledgements
Index
Oliver Ready is Lecturer in Russian at St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford. He is a prize-winning translator and the author of Persisting in Folly: Russian Writers in Search of Wisdom, 1963–2013 (2017).