A Nose for Absurdity (Selected Tales of Gogol, Part 2)

In part 2 of our discussion on the short fiction of Nikolai Gogol (as selected in the recently published Norton Library edition), translator Michael Katz and introducer Kate Holland tell us their favorite lines from Gogol's work and highlight the qualities of his unique style and voice that have captured readers across the centuries. 

Michael R. Katz is C. V. Starr Professor Emeritus of Russian and East European Studies at Middlebury College. He has published translations of more than fifteen Russian novels, including Crime and Punishment, Notes from Underground, and The Brothers Karamazov.

Kate Holland is Associate Professor of Russian Literature in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Toronto. She is the author of The Novel in the Age of Disintegration: Dostoevsky and the Problem of Genre in the 1870s. She is President of the North American Dostoevsky Society.

To learn more or purchase a copy of the Norton Library edition of Selected Tales, go to https://seagull.wwnorton.com/selectedtales.

Learn more about the Norton Library series at https://wwnorton.com/norton-library.

Listen to our Spotify playlist inspired by Selected Tales: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0yzq1CO0wvOhq70CIk6Xar?si=6a4e9e7f261d470c.

Have questions or suggestions for the podcast? Email us at nortonlibrary@wwnorton.com or find us on Twitter @TNL_WWN.

Episode transcript at: https://seagull.wwnorton.com/selectedtales/part2/transcript.