Showing results by author "Nikólai Gógol" in All Categories

Christmas carols, the devil, fresh-baked bread, unrequited love, a witch's broomstick, Catherine the Great, cossacks, paintings, vodka, stolen moon, an unexpected blizzard, sausage, and one very fancy pair of shoes - all is mayhem and merriment in Nikolai Gogol's delightful Christmas tale.

Hosted by Laurence Olivier, these big-name productions also included the creme de la creme of acting talents from John Gielgud, Ralph Richardson, and Orson Welles to Trevor Howard, Michael Redgrave and Olivier himself. They were based on works by the world's leading authors, among them Charles Dickens, Henry James, Oscar Wilde and Anton Chekhov. These are but a few of whose company we shall be keeping as we raise the curtain on our first instalment of theatrical history.

In this series we explore the many facets of love through literary talents that span both time and country. Love is good. It’s positive, a source of joy, nourishment and all over goodness. But sometimes other more malevolent forces come to play. They infect that love, they see their form as better. Instinctively we would shy away but sometimes its pull is too powerful, almost attractive. We are drawn closer into the shadows.

Chichikov, a mysterious stranger, arrives in a provincial town with a bizarre but seductive proposition for local landowners. He proposes to buy the names of their serfs who have died but who are still registered on the census, saving their owners from paying tax on them. But what collateral will Chichikov receive for these "souls"?

The writer who did most to establish prose as a force in Russian literary culture was Nikolai Gogol. Gogol's example combined with the pronouncements of the literary critics of the period, established prose as the literary medium of the future. Fyodor Dostoevsky is supposed to have said, referring to himself and his fellow Realists, "We have all come out from under Gogol's "Overcoat".

Fully restored and remastered, Heritage Media presents the greatest of vintage artists in classic dramas from the literature of Russia. Here is the legendary Laurence Olivier starring in ‘The Inspector General’, adapted from the original tale by Nikolai Gogol and Trevor Howard starring in 'Judgment' adapted from the original tale by Fyodor Dostoevsky.Theatre Royal is a unique series of classic radio dramas produced in the 1950's by the late Harry Alan Towers.

Im Russland des Zaren heckt Pawel Tschitschikow einen meisterhaften Plan aus. Um zu Reichtum zu gelangen, macht er sich eine Eigenheit des russischen Steuersystems zunutze. Da der Staat seine Register nur periodisch aktualisiert, müssen Großgrundbesitzer auch für ihre verstorbenen Leibeigenen - ihre toten Seelen - Steuern entrichten.

Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol was born on 1st April 1809 to a father, descended from Ukrainian Cossacks and a mother with a military background in the Ukrainian town of Sorochyntsi, then part of the Russian Empire and rich in Cossack traditions and folklore. He wrote in Russian in a whimsical, colloquial style with a smattering of Ukrainian words and phrases that provided an authenticity.

Gogol's great comic masterpiece paints an hilariously satirical picture of provincial life in 19th century Russia. Its publication in 1847 not only provided inspiration for succeeding generations of Russian writers, but fanned the already flickering flames of social discontent which were eventually to flare up and consume Russia in the revolution of 1917.

Another strange and frightening tale by Nikolai Gogol with roots in Ukrainian lore. When a poor peasant falls in love with the daughter of a wealthy farmer, a dark power interferes, promising him the fulfillment of his wishes but neglecting to mention the terrible price.

Nicolai Gogol's classic ghost story set in the streets of St. Petersburg in the 19th century.

Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol was born on 1st April 1809 to a father, descended from Ukrainian Cossacks and a mother with a military background in the Ukrainian town of Sorochyntsi, then part of the Russian Empire and rich in Cossack traditions and folklore. In ‘Old Fashioned Land Owners’ Gogol describes a peaceful setting and a peaceful couple who have grown old together. But foreboding makes an entrance and life is now a series of cruel twists that breaks everything.

Fully restored and remastered, Heritage Media presents the greatest of vintage artists in classic dramas from the literature of Russia. Here is the legendary Orson Welles starring in ‘The Queen of Spades’, adapted from the original tale by Alexander Pushkin and Michael Redgrave starring in 'The Overcoat' adapted from the original tale by Nikolai Gogol.Theatre Royal is a unique series of classic radio dramas produced in the 1950s by the late Harry Alan Towers.

Khoma Brut had no idea the trouble he would be in when he asked for shelter at a lonely hut, belonging to an old woman. Enjoy this quirky and spooky tale by Nikolai Gogol.

This lovely and nevertheless rather spooky tale by Nikolai Gogol is rooted in Ukrainian lore. It starts quite ordinary - a young man is in love with a beautiful young girl, but other people and unforeseen circumstances stand in the way of their happiness. Quite unexpectedly, our young hero receives an offer of help from a very unlikely source.

Gogol's classic tale of mayhem, mischief, and marriage, inspired by Ukrainian lore, everyday life, and traditional comedy.

Taras Bulba is a romanticized historical novella by Nikolai Gogol. It describes the life of an old Zaporozhian Cossack, Taras Bulba, and his two sons, Andriy and Ostap. The sons study at the Kiev Academy and then return home, whereupon the three men set out on a journey to the Zaporizhian Sich (the Zaporizhian Cossack headquarters, located in southern Ukraine), where they join other Cossacks and go to war against Poland

Sadness can be about so many things from places to people, from thoughts to actions. Our classic authors including Arnold Bennett, James Joyce, Willa Cather, Joseph Conrad, Ivan Turgenev and many others use their pens and stories to demonstrate the many ways this feeling can take a hold of lives and its consequences.

Some call him a Russian Mark Twain. And with his special blend of comedy, social commentary, and fantasy, Nikolai Gogol paved the way for his countrymen Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky. This sampling of Gogol's works includes the increasingly fantastic entries of The Diary of a Madman followed by the wonderfully surrealistic The Nose in which the title character embarks on some unlikely activities when separated from its owner's face. Rounding out the collection are the woefully comic tale of a clerk's acquisition of The Overcoat and Ivan Fyodorovich and his Aunt, in which the title character retires to his country estate, managed by a wily Aunt.

Nikolai Gogol was one of the first to use the technique of the grotesque. According to Viktor Shklovsky, Gogol's strange style of writing resembles the "ostranenie" technique of defamiliarization. His early works, such as Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka, were influenced by his Ukrainian upbringing, Ukrainian culture and folklore. His later writing satirised political corruption in the Russian Empire (The Government Inspector, Dead Souls).