{"product_id":"9781848706101","title":"The Government Inspector and Other Works","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTranslated by Constance Garnett\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNotes and Introductions by David Rampton, Department of English, University of Ottawa\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGogol’s works constitute one of Russian literature’s supreme achievements, yet the nature of their brilliant originality, comic genius, and complex workings is difficult to summarize precisely. The Government Inspector, a perennial favourite on stage and screen, is considered a national institution in Russia, and Gogol’s stories present us with one of the most marvellous worlds a writer has ever created. His quirky characters - the lowly official who imagines himself to be the King of Spain, the man committed to chase his nose around St. Petersburg, a whole village paralyzed at the prospect of being visited by an authority from the capital - are immortal. Although Gogol’s fiction was commandeered by Russia’s progressive critics as the work of an important social commentator, he was in many ways an arch-conservative, and there is a madcap strain in it that makes him a precursor of Kafka and absurdist drama.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Wordsworth Editions, Limited","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47182936408304,"sku":"9781848706101","price":2.49,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781848706101_p0.jpg?v=1763750222","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781848706101","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}