Gogol, Nikolai: - NIKOLAI Vasilyevich GOGOL (1809-1852) was a Ukrainian-born humorist, dramatist, and novelist whose works, written in Russian, significantly influenced the direction of Russian literature. As enigmatic as he was influential, Gogol's novel Dead Souls and his short story "The Overcoat" provided the literary foundations of nineteenth-century Russian realism. His shorter works are gathered in Selected Stories of Nikolai Gogol: Ukrainian and St. Petersburg Tales, available from Warbler Press.