果戈里(1809～1852年)

Gogol, Nikolay (Vasilyevich)

俄国作家。长於描写俄国生活的短篇小说、戏剧和长篇小说，以讽刺性的幽默、写实主义与幻想的结合着称。在圣彼得堡期间曾尝试表演工作，也曾在政府单位任职。以《狄康卡近乡夜话》（1831～1832）取得成功。他的悲观想法表现在《塔拉斯.巴布尔》（1835）《狂人日记》（1835）等故事里。喜剧《钦差大臣》（1836）无情地抨击了政府腐败的官僚主义。1836～1846年间他在义大利居住。他的杰作《死魂灵》（1842年）是以19世纪俄罗斯的写实主义为基础，反映了封建时代俄国保存的农奴制和种种官场丑行；他希望在在笑声中针砭时弊，而且还要向俄国指明在一个罪恶的世界中应该如何正确地生活。果戈里的文集（1842）广受好评，其中收录了喜剧《婚事》和短篇小说《外套》等。後来他的创作能力逐渐衰退，他受一个狂热神父的蛊惑，将大约已经完稿的《死魂灵》第二卷付之一炬。数天後去世，可能是濒临疯狂边缘而故意饿死的。

English version：

1809～1852年

Gogol, Nikolay (Vasilyevich)

Russian writer. Born in Ukraine, he tried acting and worked at minor government jobs in St. Petersburg before achieving literary success with Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka (1831-32). His pessimism emerged in such stories as “Taras Bulba” (1835) and “Diary of a Madman” (1835). His farcical drama The Government Inspector (1836) lampooned a corrupt government bureaucracy. From 1836 to 1846 he lived in Italy. He laid the foundations of 19th-century Russian realism with his masterpiece, the novel Dead Souls (1842), a satire about serfdom and bureaucratic inequities in which he hoped to castigate abuses and guide his countrymen through laughter, and his story “The Overcoat” (1842). His collected stories (1842) received great acclaim. He soon lost his creative abilities and came under the influence of a fanatical priest who prompted him to burn the manuscript of the second volume of Dead Souls. He died a few days later at 42, perhaps of intentional starvation, on the verge of madness.