Nicolas Gogol

People consider that Russian writer Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol (Николай Васильевич Гоголь) founded realism in Russian literature. His works include

The Overcoat

(1842) and

Dead Souls

(1842).

Ukrainian birth, heritage, and upbringing of Gogol influenced many of his written works among the most beloved in the tradition of Russian-language literature. Most critics see Gogol as the first Russian realist. His biting satire, comic realism, and descriptions of Russian provincials and petty bureaucrats influenced later Russian masters Leo Tolstoy, Ivan Turgenev, and especially Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Gogol wittily said many later Russian maxims.

Gogol first used the techniques of surrealism and the grotesque in his works

The Nose

,

Viy

,

The Overcoat

, and

Nevsky Prospekt

. Ukrainian upbringing, culture, and folklore influenced his early works, such as

Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka

.

His later writing satirized political corruption in the Russian empire in

Dead Souls

.