Gogol, Nikolay Vasilyevich (1809-52), Russian writer, whose plays, short stories, and novels rank among the great masterpieces of 19th-century Russian realist literature. Ronald Wilks has translated many Russian works of literature including, for Penguin, those of Gorky, Sologub, Tolstoy, and Pushkin, and most recently, three volumes of Chekhov's stories and his short novel, The Shooting Party. Robert A Maguire is Professor and Head of Department at Columbia University. He is the author of several books about Russian literature and the prize-winning translator of Petersburg by Andrei Bely (Indiana UP, 1979) and most recently, for Penguin, of Gogol's Dead Souls.