Taras Bulba (1835, revised 1842) is Gogol’s heroic tale of a fierce Zaporozhian Cossack chieftain and his two sons, set against the turbulent wars of 16th-century Ukraine. Epic in scale and lyrical in its evocations of the steppe, it is a work of intense romantic energy — and of tragedy, as Taras’s love for his homeland conflicts with his love for his sons.
The other tales in this collection draw on Ukrainian folk tradition and Gogol’s inimitable gift for the grotesque and the comic. Download the free EPUB to discover this exhilarating side of one of Russian literature’s most original voices.