Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka

“Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka” – one of the first books by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol 1809–1852. The book consists of eight narratives. In it, according to the author, are captured “the first sweet moments of youthful inspiration.” “Evenings on... the Farm” are oral tales, legends, anecdotes. The actions of the narratives move from the 19th century “Sorochinskaya Fair” to the 17th century “The Evening Before Ivan Kupala,” then to the 18th “May Night, or The Drowned Woman,” “The Lost Letter,” “The Night Before Christmas,” back to the 17th “Terrible Revenge,” and again to the 19th “Ivan Fyodorovich Shponka and His Aunt.” In this kaleidoscope of epochs, Gogol depicts the little Russian folk-festive and fair life. The holiday with its freedom and joy, the beliefs and events connected with it, draw the heroes out of their usual existence, making the impossible possible. Reality and fantasy intertwine oddly in the people's perceptions of the past and present, of good and evil.