The Inspector-General - Softcover

Nikolai Gogol was a Russian novelist and playwright born in what is now considered part of the modern Ukraine. By the time he was 15, Gogol worked as an amateur writer for both Russian and Ukrainian scripts, and then turned his attention and talent to prose. His short-story collections were immediately successful and his first novel, The Government Inspector, was well-received. Gogol went on to publish numerous acclaimed works, including Dead Souls, The Portrait, Marriage, and a revision of Taras Bulba. He died in 1852 while working on the second part of Dead Souls.

The emperor daigned to attend the premiere with the heir apparent: he was extremely pleased, and laughed heartily. The play is very entertaining, but an intolerable insult to the nobility, the civil service and the merchantry. --Khrapovitsky's diary, 1836

Everybody got his and me first of all! --Tsar Nicholas I (allegedly), 1836

The audience, struck by the novelty, laughed enormously, but I expected a better reception.... One of my friends explained the reason jokingly. Says he, `How can you expect them to give a better reception to this play, since half the audience is made up of those who are `getting it', and the other half those who are `giving it'. --Mikhail Shchepkin, 1838

Everybody got his and me first of all! --Tsar Nicholas I (allegedly), 1836

The audience, struck by the novelty, laughed enormously, but I expected a better reception.... One of my friends explained the reason jokingly. Says he, `How can you expect them to give a better reception to this play, since half the audience is made up of those who are `getting it', and the other half those who are `giving it'. --Mikhail Shchepkin, 1838