The Diary of a Madman, The Government Inspector, & Selected Stories

By Nikolay Gogol, Ronald Wilks (translator),

Book cover of The Diary of a Madman, The Government Inspector, & Selected Stories

Book description

Nikolai Gogol's short fiction, collected here as The Diary of a Madman, The Government Inspector and Selected Stories, deeply influenced later Russian literature with powerful depictions of a society dominated by petty bureaucracy and base corruption. This Penguin Classics edition is translated with notes by Ronald Wilks, and an introduction…

Shepherd is reader supported. When you buy books, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Why read it?

1 author picked The Diary of a Madman, The Government Inspector, & Selected Stories as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Like Kafka, Nikolai Gogol explores the human condition in new ways, new for his time period, that is. He speaks of social inequality and the desire and often inability of late 19th-century Russians to climb the social ladder. He dazzles with his approach to literature and, again, makes you think. He is another one of my influences.

From Mike's list on speculative fiction.

Want books like The Diary of a Madman, The Government Inspector, & Selected Stories?

Our community of 11,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like The Diary of a Madman, The Government Inspector, & Selected Stories.

Browse books like The Diary of a Madman, The Government Inspector, & Selected Stories

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in Ukraine, St. Petersburg, and presidential biography?

Ukraine 93 books
St. Petersburg 31 books