II. 1831 A Terrible Revenge

A new 2023 translation from the original Russian manuscript of Gogol's classic "A Terrible Revenge". This edition contains an Afterword by the Translator, a timeline of Gogol's life and works and an Index of Gogol's individual works. "A Terrible Revenge" is a story by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol, part of the collection "Evenings on a farm near Dikanka". Approximately dates between the summer and early autumn of 1831. In the first edition of "Evenings", "The Terrible Revenge" has a subtitle, which was removed in later reprints: "An Old True Story". This narrative is laden with dark supernatural elements, telling the story of a man seeking revenge after the murder of his family. The stylistic features of "Terrible Revenge" show the influence of folklore, especially East Slavic. In addition to Gogol's ideas about lamentations and songs written in imitation of Ukrainian folk songs, the story contains many folklore images, comparisons, epithets, including the famous description of the Dnieper: "Wonderful is the Dnieper in calm weather, when it flows freely and smoothly through the forests and the mountains are full of its waters... A rare bird flies to the middle of the Dnieper. Lush!"