Short stories
Diary of a Madman
Записки сумасшедшего
Nikolai Gogol · 1835
Synopsis
In Saint Petersburg, Aksenty Ivanovich Poprishchin, a modest clerk whose job is to sharpen his director's quills, keeps a diary starting on 3 October. He is secretly in love with Sophie, the director's daughter, whom he cannot hope to approach. One day, in the street, he overhears a conversation between two dogs, Madgie, who belongs to Sophie, and Fidèle; he soon gets hold of the letters they exchange, to read in them what the young woman thinks of him.
Context
The story appeared in 1835 in the collection “Arabesques”, in which Gogol brought together essays and tales. It takes the form of a dated diary, kept by the hero himself, whose first entry is dated 3 October. The Larousse sees in it the expression of the divorce between everyday reality and dream or madness. The hero belongs to the world of the petty civil servants of Saint Petersburg, under the reign of Nicholas I.
Who it is for
A brief short story, at once funny and unsettling, which can be read in one sitting and suits readers curious about the fantastic.
Prizes and reception
The whole narrative is told by a narrator whose thoughts and aberrations we follow, day after day.