Evenings near the village of Dikanka

This book is perfect for everyone who wants to get to know the Slavic culture better and to look into the past of it. Village Evenings Near Dikanka takes place during the winter celebrations. The blacksmith, a simple boy, falls in love with the most beautiful girl of the village. At the same time the devil visits this village and offers several people his services if they are willing to give him their souls and the Oksana, the beautiful girl gives the poor blacksmith a hard challenge. He is determined to succeed, but therefore the blacksmith need the help of the devil. Slavic celebrations, the nature of this people, everything is shown very realistically in this book. The dialogues are quick-witted, especially the devil and the book is full of humor. The plot is exciting, although this book is not an easy read. This book is one that can widen horizons and show an old life-stlye; it belongs to the Russian classics. The characters are all round and funny; while reading I always feel like I am inside a fairy tale. - Liz on goodreads.com

This book is a collection of short stories by Nikolai Gogol, written from 1831--1832. They appeared in various magazines and were published in book form when Gogol, who had spent his life in today's Ukraine up to the age of nineteen, was twenty-two. He put his early impressions and memories of childhood into these pictures of peasant life. In a series of letters to his mother, he asked her to write down descriptions of village customs, dress, superstitions, and old stories. These were also used as primary sources. This was Gogol's groundbreaking work, though not his first, and formed the core of his style, especially his sense of the macabre. It was this collection that proved he was a new power in Russian literature with unique innovation and a carefully arranged mingling of the horrifying and the humorous. Alexander Pushkin had a heavy influence on the writing of the collection, which features references to Ukraine, at that time referred to as Little Russia, where Gogol spent the early years of his life. The stories are heavily laced with Ukrainian folklore and cultural references, offering a unique perspective into life in the country during Gogol's time period. The structure found in this collection became characteristic of Gogol's writing later on, found in works such as Dead Souls. "Evenings" gained Gogol the fame that would lead him to a prominent placement in the Russian literary circle, as well as opening the doors for future works. - Wikipedia.