village and the love of his life. It is a nail biting piece interjected with bouts of satire and humour creating a story perfect for anyone who loves dark adventures or Johnny Depp’s ‘The Ninth Gate’. Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol was one of the first writers to adopt surrealism and the grotesque in his work as well as being one of Russia’s most acclaimed authors. He is acknowledged as one of the founders of the short story genre alongside Nathaniel Hawthorne and E.T.A Hoffman. His early writing was largely inspired by his time spent growing up in Ukraine, it’s culture and it’s folklore, while his later writing targeted and satirised the political corruption of the Russian Empire. His unique and strange form of writing similar to the ‘ostranenie’ technique, allowed his audience to see familiar topics and stories from a completely new perspective. Acknowledged for his brilliance by many acclaimed authors such as Fedor Dostoevsky his best works include ‘Dead Souls’, ‘Taras Bulba’ and ‘Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka’.