The Government Inspector: Full Text and Introduction (NHB Drama Classics) E-Book

Nikolái Gógol

• Herausgeber: Nick Hern Books
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

Drama Classics series The world's great plays at a great little price. Each pocket-sized volume contains: a full introduction an author biography notes on historical and theatrical context a plot synopsis key dates a further reading list a glossary of unusual words and phrases (English-language texts) The Government Inspector is a classic satire of provincial bureaucracy, which only saw the stage after the personal intervention of Tsar Nicholas I. A small, corrupt Russian town receives a letter informing them of the imminent visit of a government inspector travelling incognito. When a passing civil servant is mistaken for the inspector, panic soon sets in. Translated and introduced by Stephen Mulrine.

Leseprobe

DRAMA CLASSICS

THEGOVERNMENTINSPECTOR

byNikolai Gogol

edited and with an introduction byStephen Mulrine

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Contents

Title Page

Introduction

For Further Reading

Gogol: Key Dates

Dramatis Personae

Act One

Act Two

Act Three

Act Four

Act Five

Appendix: Pronounciation

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

Introduction

Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol (1809 – 1852)

Gogol was born on March 20th, 1809, at Sorochintsy in the Ukraine. Gogol’s family belonged to the minor Russian-speaking nobility, and his father had some literary pretensions, writing plays based on Ukrainian folk-tales. The young Gogol is said to have shown considerable acting talent at the local high school, from which he graduated in 1828, at the age of nineteen. Intent on a career in the government service, Gogol moved to St. Petersburg, but failed to find employment, either as a civil servant or as an actor.

In July 1829, he attempted to launch a literary career with a sentimental idyll, Hans Küchelgarten, published under a pseudonym, but the work attracted such unfavourable reviews that Gogol bought up all the unsold copies and made a bonfire of them, before leaving for Germany, where he remained until September. On his return to Russia, Gogol’s fortunes took a turn for the better, and in 1831 he succeeded in obtaining a post as a teacher of history in a young women’s college.

In September of that year, Gogol published a collection of tales of Ukrainian village life, Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka, which met with immediate critical acclaim, including that of the great Pushkin himself, and with the appearance of a second volume, in March 1832, Gogol was established as an important new voice.

A career in education still beckoned, however, and although he began work on a comedy, Vladimir Third Class, his pedagogic ambitions were perhaps over-fulfilled with his appointment as assistant professor of history at the University of St Petersburg in July 1834. At any rate, Gogol continued to write, and the following year saw the publication of , essays and stories of life in the capital, including , , and the extraordinary , in addition to another collection centred on his native Ukraine, .