Instant Access To 100,000+ Essays!

“Gogol’s world is sharply dualistic; there exists two realities-one is the reality of dreams, ideals and the imagination; the other is ‘terrible reality’ or ‘terrible life’, the Kingdom of the Prince of this world” (K Mochulskiy) Discuss this comment in the context of at least two of the stories studied Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol was born at Mirgorod (Ukraine) in 1809. Born in the provinces of Russia, Gogol always considered himself a provincial writer; indeed his early work (Evenings on a farm near Dikanka-published in 1831/1832) is mainly concerned with the rural idyll and superstitions of provincial life. In 1828, Gogol moved to St Petersburg and became acquainted with Alexander Pushkin, who encouraged Gogol’s literary ambitions. At this point in time, Russia was under the rule of Nicholas I- a czar who censored subversive ideas. The years 1831 through to 1836 was Gogol’s most prodigious period and helped him to establish his literary reputation. In 1842, Gogol published his collected works; from this point on Gogol’s health in body and mind deteriorated rapidly until February 1852 when he starved himself to death-his last wish being for all of his work to be destroyed. “The best known clich