Books in the BCP Critical Studies in Russian Literature series

Gogol's "The Government Inspector" must be one of the most misunderstood and misinterpreted plays in the history of drama. This work shows the wisdom, humour and subtlety that is missing in many English translations. The work is part of a series aimed at school and university students.

This indispensible text can justly be regarded as the forerunner to the great flowering of Dostoevsky's novels which was to follow. The first part of this unusual work is often treated as a philosophical text in its own right; the second part illustrates the theory of the first by means of its own fictional practice. At the same time, the reader is introduced to the phenomenon of the 'Underground Man', one of the first genuine anti-heroes in European literature.