“It is not inappropriate to observe that the conversation of both ladies was interlarded with a great many foreign words and sometimes entire long sentences in French. But however filled the author is with veneration of the salutary benefits conferred on Russia by the French language, however filled with veneration towards our higher society’s praiseworthyContinue reading “RKS Russian Literature: Russian Upper Class Corrupted by French Language (Nikolay Gogol)”
Tag Archives: RKS Russian Literature
RKS Russian Literature: Lady Pleasant in All Respects (Nikolay Gogol)
“This name she had received in a legitimate manner, for, indeed, she spared nothing to make herself amiable to the nth degree. Although, of course, through the amiability there would dart-oh! a sudden flash of the female character! And although sometimes out of every pleasant word of hers there would stick!-oh! such a pin. AndContinue reading “RKS Russian Literature: Lady Pleasant in All Respects (Nikolay Gogol)”
RKS Russian Literature: Women Showing Their “Possessions” to Lead a Man to Ruin (Nikolay Gogol)
“The waists were pulled tight, with contours that were very firm, and pleasing to the eye (it must be noted that in general, all the ladies that lived in the town that will remain nameless were rather plump, but laced themselves so artfully and had such pleasant manners that their stoutness escaped all notice). EverythingContinue reading “RKS Russian Literature: Women Showing Their “Possessions” to Lead a Man to Ruin (Nikolay Gogol)”
RKS Russian Literature: Dreadful and Fearsome Old Age (Nikolay Gogol)
“The fiery youth of today would recoil in horror if you were to show him a portrait of himself in old age, So take with you on your journey, as you emerge from the tender years of youth into harsh, coarsening manhood, take with you all the human impulses, do not leave them along theContinue reading “RKS Russian Literature: Dreadful and Fearsome Old Age (Nikolay Gogol)”
RKS Russian Literature: Plyuskin the Miserly Estate Owner/Part TWO (Nikolay Gogol)
“Far more noteworthy was his attire. By no means or efforts could one ascertain what his dressing gown had been concocted from: the sleeves and upper parts had become so dirty and shiny that they resembled the black-tarred leather used for boots; dangling from the back were four flaps instead of two, with cotton stuffingContinue reading “RKS Russian Literature: Plyuskin the Miserly Estate Owner/Part TWO (Nikolay Gogol)”
RKS Russian Literature: Plyuskin the Miserly Estate Owner/Part One (Nikolay Gogol)
“At this our hero could not help but step back and stare at him intently. He happened to have seen many people of every kind, even such as the reader and I will perhaps never have occasion to see: but he had never yet set eyes on anyone like this one. The face was nothingContinue reading “RKS Russian Literature: Plyuskin the Miserly Estate Owner/Part One (Nikolay Gogol)”
RKS Russian Literature: The Sticky Nature of a Personal Nickname (Nikolay Gogol)
“Strongly indeed do Russian people express themselves! And if they bestow a particular epithet on someone, it will become part of his lineage and posterity, he will drag it around him into his place of work, and into his retirement, and to Petersburg, and to the ends of the earth. And however cunningly he mayContinue reading “RKS Russian Literature: The Sticky Nature of a Personal Nickname (Nikolay Gogol)”
RKS Russian Literature: Nozdryyov Delivers Ultimate Insult to His Brother-in-Law (Nikolay Gogol)
‘I really can’t stand such namby-pambies!’ and he added, aloud: ‘Well, the devil with you, go play house with your wife, you girlie-man!’ ‘No brother, don’t you go calling me a girlie-man!’ replied the brother-in-law, ‘I owe her my life. She’s really so good, so kind, she’s so nice to me. It brings tears toContinue reading “RKS Russian Literature: Nozdryyov Delivers Ultimate Insult to His Brother-in-Law (Nikolay Gogol)”
RKS Russian Literature: The Cacophony of Hounds in a Russian Village (Nikolay Gogol)
“Meanwhile the hounds were giving vent to voices of every conceivable kind. One, his head tossed back, was, drawling so protractedly and zealously that God knows what fee he was getting for it; another was snapping it out as briskly as a sexton; among them rang a tireless treble, probably a young puppy’s, like theContinue reading “RKS Russian Literature: The Cacophony of Hounds in a Russian Village (Nikolay Gogol)”
RKS Russian Literature: Fat and Thin Officials in Russia/Part Two (Nikolay Gogol)
“In three years’ time the thin man will not have a single serf left to him that has not been mortgaged; the fat man goes on his quiet way, and ,lo and behold, suddenly at the end of town there appears a house that’s been purchased in his wife’s name, then at the other endContinue reading “RKS Russian Literature: Fat and Thin Officials in Russia/Part Two (Nikolay Gogol)”
