first indubitable proof of its author's genius, and to-day in the
world's fiction it holds an unassailable place in the front rank. The
book is so short that it can be read through in less than two hours;
but it gives the same impression of vastness and immensity as the huge
volumes of Sienkiewicz.

Gogol followed this amazingly powerful romance by two other works,
which seem to have all the marks of immortality--the comedy "Revizor,"
and a long, unfinished novel, "Dead Souls." This latter book is the
first of the great realistic novels of Russia, of which "Fathers and
Children, "Crime and Punishment," and "Anna Karenina" are such
splendid examples.

From 1836 until his death in 1852, Gogol lived mainly abroad, and
spent much time in travel. His favourite place of residence was Rome,
to which city he repeatedly returned with increasing affection. In
1848 he made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, for Gogol never departed
from the pious Christian faith taught him by his mother; in fact,
toward the end of his life, he became an ascetic and a mystic. The
last years were shadowed by illness and--a common thing among Russian
writers--by intense nervous depression. He died at Moscow, 21 February
1852. His last words were the old saying, "And I shall laugh with a
bitter laugh." These words were placed on his tomb.

Most Russian novels are steeped in pessimism, and their authors were
men of sorrows. Gogol, however, has the double distinction of being
the only great comic writer in the language, and in particular of
being the author of the only Russian drama known all over the world,
and still acted everywhere on the Continent. Although plays do not
come within the scope of this book, a word or two should be said about