Gogol`s stories are admired for their skillful mingling of fantasy and reality, quiet good humor and use of mundane details - as Gogol put it - `to extract the extraordinary from the ordinary.` Imaginative and timeless, they remain as fresh and significant today as they were to readers generations ago. This rich selection of four short stories by the great 19th-century Russian author of Dead Souls includes `The Nose,` a savage satire of incompetent bureaucrats and the snobbery and complacency of the Russian upper classes; `Old-Fashioned Farmers,` a sketch depicting an elderly couple who live a happy but simple life in rustic seclusion; `The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarrelled with Ivan Nikiforovich,` one of Gogol`s most famous comic stories; and `The Overcoat,` an exceptionally moving tale - considered a masterpiece of the form - about a poor and much-ridiculed St. Petersburg official.