I mentioned in my review of the Russian Library edition of Gogol, “The Nose and Other Stories”, that I would be posting on the subject of Gogol collections generally – and it’s certainly a fairly complex topic! Now, I own a reasonably substantial collection of Gogol editions, and here it is:
The Gogol tower…
That’s quite a pile of fiction from a man who didn’t produce *that* many works.. Breaking down the heap a little, some of the items are quite straightforward…
This is “The Government Inspector”, Gogol’s most famous play. Two versions of it – my original in the blue cover which I would have picked up in the 1980s, and the recent lovely Alma Classics version which I reviewed here. Nothing complex about that!
Next up, “Taras Bulba”. A Cossack epic, apparently… I haven’t actually read it and possibly won’t (but you never know). However, the completist in me picked up this lurid covered edition, again most likely back in the ’80s, because I wanted to have everything Gogol I could get!
“Dead Souls” should really need no introduction. It’s Gogol’s work of genius, and again I first read it back in the 1980s, in the David Magarshack-translated edition on the top of the pile. I re-read it in 2015 in the Robert Maguire translation and loved it all over again. The bottom version is translated by Bernard Guilbert Guerney for when I want to revisit it…. ;D
OK. This is where it gets more complicated… Gogol wrote a *lot* of short stories and the books above are the collections or individual stories I own. Though I’m sure there are a lot more out there. But here’s the thing – not one of these collections is *complete* and that’s what I actually would like! According to Wikipedia, these are the short stories/collections Gogol published:
Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka, volume I of short story collection (1831):
The Fair at Sorochintsï
St John’s Eve
May Night, or the Drowned Maiden
The Lost Letter: A Tale Told by the Sexton of the N…Church
Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka, volume II of short story collection (1832):
Christmas Eve
A Terrible Vengeance
Ivan Fyodorovich Shponka and His Aunt
A Bewitched Place
Arabesques, short story collection (1835):
The Portrait
A Chapter from an Historical Novel (fragment)
Nevsky Prospect
The Prisoner (fragment)
Diary of a Madman
Mirgorod, short story collection in two volumes (1835):
The Old World Landowners
Taras Bulba
Viy
The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich
The Nose, short story (1835-1836)
The Carriage, short story (1836)
Rome, fragment (1842)
The Overcoat, short story (1842)
But the thing is, there appears to be no English complete collection of all of these stories which I think is actually a bit shocking. All the anthologies select, and they select differently. Fair enough, but if you’re going to mix and match from Ukrainian tales and Petersburg tales, why not just do a complete collection with *all* of his stories for those of us who love his work?
As you will have seen, I have a battered old ex-library book containing the collected Pevear/Volokhonsky translations, which again is not complete but has stories I don’t have in other volumes. I want to offload it, frankly, which sent me searching online and I came up with this Wordsworth edition:
It was £2.50 and it has a really wide range of the stories, including the ones I was missing that were in the P/V edition… So of course I sent off for it and it now sits happily on my shelf and the unwanted one is in the donation box. The translations are mostly by Constance Garnett and I’m happy with that. It has a version of “The Portrait”, too and I’m going to be interested to see which one…
BUT! I am still missing things, although I’m happy to have near complete Gogol now. The two fragments listed above as being in “Arabesques”, “A Chapter from an Historical Novel” and “The Prisoner” don’t seem to be anywhere in any of the collections I have, and I’ve failed so far to track them down anywhere else. If anyone know if they’re out there anywhere in English, I’d be very happy to hear about it. In the meantime, I am going to have to hang onto all the varying collections I own to make sure I have as many of the short works as possible. Really – unless I’m missing something obvious, isn’t it about time we had a complete Gogol edition for us Anglophone readers???? ;D
Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings 
Sep 30, 2020 @ 07:10:39
If you wish hard enough and create the conversation as you’re going here , some publisher is likely to hear.
An impressive collection of can author I haven’t read, but appreciate reading about.
Sep 30, 2020 @ 08:50:19
I hope so! It would be rather wonderful to see the complete Gogol in English – I would love to be able to read all the missing bits!
Sep 30, 2020 @ 08:42:26
What a wonderful collection you have there, loving assembled over so many years. Is there an appropriate collective noun for this author’s books? A gaggle of Gogols, perhaps!
Sep 30, 2020 @ 08:48:44
Lol! What a wonderful idea – and very appropriate! It does scare me sometimes when I realise how long I’ve owned certain books – they’re definitely the ones I would find it hardest to part with!
Sep 30, 2020 @ 11:37:56
That’s a lot of Gogol! I have a couple of Oxford World’s Classics editions, one with ‘Dead Souls’, the other containing two plays (‘Marriage’ and ‘The Government Inspector’) and several stories (‘Nevsky Prospect’, ‘The Nose’, ‘The Portrait’, ‘The Overcoat’, ‘The Carriage’ and ‘Diary of a Madman’), all translated by Christopher English 🙂
Sep 30, 2020 @ 14:35:34
It is, really. And thank you – I was tempted by the OWC edition, but was curious about the Wordsworth so plumped for that in the end. So many interesting editions!
Sep 30, 2020 @ 11:55:10
That’s a nice pile of Gogols!
‘A Chapter from an Historical Novel’ and ‘The Prisoner’ are not included in the Dutch complete Gogol either;-) But I agree, it’s nice to have a set (or single volume) with all the works of one author.
Sep 30, 2020 @ 14:36:10
Agreed! If it’s an author I love I want to have everything, however fragmentary! 😀
Sep 30, 2020 @ 13:12:24
OK, I’m seriously impressed! I agree that someone should do a complete translation (hopefully not P&V…), and also that it’s odd that nobody ever does “Arabesques” as a separate book (not even in Russian), considering it’s short and contains a couple of his most famous stories.
As for “Taras Bulba” — I know it’s very famous, but… well, read my review and decide for yourself (pull quote: “The glorifying of violence for its own sake, the contempt for women, the anti-Semitism, and the bloody nationalism make for about as repellent a stew as I can imagine”).
Sep 30, 2020 @ 14:48:55
Thank you! Likewise I hope it isn’t P/V… Bearing in mind Gogol’s stature, I do wonder why there’s no complete works – maybe in my lifetime somebody will! And I *would* like to read the fragments!
And I think I *have* read your post on Taras Bulba which probably helped me decide I didn’t need to read it…. 😀
Dec 12, 2022 @ 12:36:18
It seems that a lot of 19th-century Russians were anti-semitic. Dostoevsky and Gogol couldn’t stand them. I’m not sure what Tolstoy’s position was on Jews?
Dec 12, 2022 @ 15:35:37
Probably much the same I suspect, which is a shame…
Sep 30, 2020 @ 14:28:17
A wonderful post on an impressive stack, Kaggsy! There is a two-volume “Complete Tales,” edited by Leonard J. Kent, currently available — at least Stateside:
Sep 30, 2020 @ 14:51:26
Thank you Boris! It’s fairly obvious I love Gogol. And thank you for the links! Those volumes look good and seem to be available over here if I search a bit, though alas not cheap. But the book obsessive in me longs for the fragments mentioned in the Wikipedia entry, especially as “Rome” was so good! I shall keep hunting!
Sep 30, 2020 @ 14:35:57
The Complete Tales of Nikolai Gogol, 1985, University of Chicago Press, tr. Leonard Kent, in 2 volumes.
languagehat is right about Taras Bulba. It is good to know the story exists – that even Gogol, like everyone at the time, tried historical fiction – but not a pleasure to read.
Sep 30, 2020 @ 14:52:24
Indeed – I may have to track down the U of C volumes, though I may never get the fragments. But I suspect Taras Bulba will stay unread on the shelves… ;D
Sep 30, 2020 @ 15:17:08
I thought I had seen a complete set of stories so the previous comments are re-assuring—I think the only reason I don’t own a copy is that they are probably expensive. I finally got round to reading Dead Souls a couple of years ago and want to read it again—always a sign that I enjoyed a book.
Sep 30, 2020 @ 15:24:48
Short stories by past writers seem to get mixed up in different collections, especially when they’re translated, but recently it’s seemed more attractive to me to actually read them as they were in the original collection.
Sep 30, 2020 @ 15:42:58
Same here – it would be quite easy to collect them as they were originally collected, especially as Gogol’s oeuvre is relatively small and also consistently good in my experience!
Sep 30, 2020 @ 15:41:54
Always nice to know your memory isn’t cheating you! 😀 And ditto about Dead Souls – I have a translation of it I haven’t read yet! 😀
Sep 30, 2020 @ 15:23:20
That’s an impressive collection! Love seeing all the different editions and publishers. I only have two: Dead Souls and a collection of stories. It was a long time ago I read Gogol and would like to reread Dead Soul. When the right time comes. 😛
Sep 30, 2020 @ 15:43:45
Thank you! I *am* fond of my Gogols! I want to revisit Dead Souls, even though I did read it relatively recently – such a wonderful book!
Sep 30, 2020 @ 16:12:09
Wow, quite a tower of Gogol. A fantastic collection. I think I have that little Night Before Christmas hardback somewhere. Well buried in the tbr. I should try to remember to dig it out at Christmas.
Sep 30, 2020 @ 16:13:15
Oh do! It’s a delight and such a pretty book – it won’t take you long to read!
Sep 30, 2020 @ 17:07:45
Taras Bulba doesn’t sound like something I want to read, but I do like your kitschy edition!
Sep 30, 2020 @ 18:18:57
No, me neither if I’m honest. But the completist in me had to have it, and the tacky cover is rather wonderful! 😀
Sep 30, 2020 @ 17:32:10
Well, Chicago seems the best choice for now, but a really complete edition sounds like a project that would be perfect for Columbia University to take on now.
Sep 30, 2020 @ 18:18:31
Now that’s a good idea! I’m sure CUP would be a great place for a complete Gogol, given their love of the Russians! 😀
Sep 30, 2020 @ 21:39:29
What a lovely post and pile! Not someone I will ever read but I loved reading your passionate plea!
Oct 01, 2020 @ 09:02:47
No, probably not for you – but I’m glad you can appreciate my bookish needs!!
Sep 30, 2020 @ 22:26:45
I’ve never read anything by Gogol ( a terrible admission I know). Dead Souls would seem to be the one to choose as a starting point – any recommendations for the best translated edition?
Oct 01, 2020 @ 09:00:09
I read the David Magarshack translation back in the 1980s so my impression of that would be fuzzy… But I my recent read of the book was the Robert Maguire version and I loved it, so would recommend that.
Oct 01, 2020 @ 22:09:18
Noted for future reference, thanks Karen
Oct 02, 2020 @ 06:41:06
😁
Oct 01, 2020 @ 09:29:46
No, not read Gogol — yet — but the main thing that leapt out from your otherwise really helpful overview was Tara’s Bulba, because there was a curious film of that starring Yul Brynner I remember seeing as a kid: the only two impressions I retained was that Yul had a pigtail on an otherwise bald head (eeuw) and a sequence where Yul and his chums on horseback are filmed from the back of a truck had me un-suspending disbelief when I could see them galloping in the wake of the truck’s tyre tracks (snigger).
So, Gogol. Mustn’t be put off by a Hollywood turkey… 😁
Oct 01, 2020 @ 11:25:09
Yes, I remember the film and a load of old tripe indeed. Though I wouldn’t recommend starting Gogol with this – either Dead Souls or the short works or indeed The Government Inspector if you like plays would be better places!
Oct 01, 2020 @ 15:50:17
That’s quite the tower. But, of course, that’s not enough for a greedy little reader like yourself. 🙂
I guess you will have to learn Russian and read it in the original.
Oct 01, 2020 @ 16:19:37
It’s a nice little pile, isn’t it! 😀 I’d love to learn Russian, but I just don’t have the mental dexterity for it alas….
Oct 01, 2020 @ 16:46:18
It is. 😁Maybe you have to give it another go. I’m tempted too. Imagine – reading them in the original.
Oct 01, 2020 @ 17:15:48
That’s a very tempting thought…. ;D
Oct 01, 2020 @ 17:58:35
Do it! Dooo itttt!! Really, it’s not that difficult a language, and the rewards are spectacular — especially with Gogol.
Oct 01, 2020 @ 19:01:09
It’s bloody difficult! I tried with Duolingo for a while and I couldn’t retain a thing!!!
Oct 01, 2020 @ 18:32:05
The completist mentality does get us in trouble! I haven’t read any Gogol yet but it looks like Dead Souls is the place to begin?
Oct 01, 2020 @ 19:00:47
It’s certainly a great start, though the short stories are equally marvellous!
Oct 02, 2020 @ 18:58:42
Wow, that is a good amount of Gogol, even if it’s still technically incomplete. Your exercise in short story enumeration reminds me of my struggle to understand how Mavis Gallant’s stories were and were not published; she’s not even removed from our current day by that many years and, even so, the question of anthologizing has made things convoluted, so I sympathize with your efforts to fully explore this classic writer’s short works. I’ve only read Dead Souls. With my love of short stories, I should really make more time for Russian writers, but I have only dabbled so far.
Oct 02, 2020 @ 21:37:34
Definitely do read more Russians! I mean Chekhov!!! But it can be hard with short stories particularly when the author is prolific and widely published. However Gogol didn’t write *that* much, which makes it doubly annoying!
Oct 02, 2020 @ 19:08:09
By all means read at least “The Nose” and “The Overcoat”; it’s been said that all of Russian literature came out from under Gogol’s “Overcoat,” and Nabokov called it the greatest Russian short story ever written.
Oct 02, 2020 @ 21:32:49
I’m not going to disagree with Nabokov… 🤣🤣🤣
Oct 10, 2020 @ 22:16:05
OOH! What a wondrous collection of Gogol goodies you have there. Thank you for this (and the last post) – I read and loved And the Earth Will Sit On The Moon and meant to hunt for more of his work, then we went into lockdown, and everything got put on hold, so your posts will be enormously helpful.
Oct 11, 2020 @ 10:17:17
Most welcome! I love Gogol, and I’d definitely recommend searching out Dead Souls and more of his shorter works – such treats!
Dec 19, 2022 @ 22:12:01
Hi, Thanks for this interesting and informative post. Curiously, have you read both versions of The Portrait? I understand that the second version of 1842 is longer. Does it actually add anything to the plot? I’ve only read the free Constance Garnett translation, but it doesn’t state in the PDF whether it’s the 1835 or the 1842 version?
Dec 20, 2022 @ 08:56:28
To be truly honest, I don’t know. It certainly didn’t seem familiar to me, but it may be that I read it back in my 20s when I read a *lot* of Russians, and so I just can’t remember. If I find out anything about the various versions/translations, I’ll let you know!
Dec 20, 2022 @ 09:33:54
Thanks for replying! The only thing I’m aware of is the 1845 version is longer and apparently less spooky, but I don’t know if it adds anything to the plot. It would have been nice if Constance Garnett had actually stated which version she had translated.
Dec 20, 2022 @ 10:13:21
It would have helped, but I guess they didn’t always bother about such things in the early days of translation!
Dec 26, 2022 @ 23:00:16
Greetings from America. I’m sorry if I’m telling you something you already know, but I didn’t notice anyone mentioning anywhere that a separate translation of Arabesques does exist. It was published by Ardis in 1982, and translated by Alexander Tulloch. It contains the original version of The Portrait and several essays from Gogol’s teaching days. As for the fragment and The Prisoner, they are contained in a multi-volume set of “Complete” works by Constance Garnett from back in the 1920s or 30s. I know they exist because I have seen them. Unfortunately, I had to borrow them from a library, so I can’t recall which volume(s) contained those works. The same collection contains fragments of a play that Gogol either never finished or destroyed after publishing a few scenes. You might also be interested to know that a translation Rome was published about a year ago in “The Nose & Other Stories” by Suzanne Fusso. I hope this is news that helps.
Dec 27, 2022 @ 12:05:40
Hello, and thank you so much for the information which is most helpful! It’s easy to get bogged down when looking into translations and so I appreciate this very much. I’m afraid I may have to search out both of those versions – particularly interested in the Constance Garnett Complete set – sounds most intriguing. Thank you! 😊😊📚