"Go on, Gogol," he says, patting him on the head.
Norstein is the legendary Russian animator best known for the wonderful Tale of Tales; he's been working on his Nikolai Gogol adaptation since 1981.
When Nabokov was working on a study of Gogol, he complained, "I have lost a week already translating passages I need in 'The Inspector General' as I can do nothing with Constance Garnett's dry shit".
Emerging with a first and no plans beyond pissing around onstage at a higher level, he found himself working days at the call centre, and nights at Sidney Sussex College at Cambridge working on a PhD on the short stories of Gogol, so that he could attend the legendary Footlights drama society.
Inspired by the works of Gogol, Pushkin, and Karamzin, as well as English and French authors, Poor Folk is written in the form of letters between the two main characters, Makar Devushkin and Varvara Dobroselova, who are poor second cousins.
"A part of the political elite in Kiev wants to claim Gogol as their own so they can enter civilised Europe with at least one great Ukrainian writer," said Igor Zolotussky, a Russian authority on Gogol.
Do go look up the word "poshlost" in Nabokov's book on Gogol.
I never had a crush on Gogol, Tolstoy, or Dostoyevsky.
On their first visit, the writer and a friend laid flowers on Gogol's tomb.
Navketan's first film, "Afsar," starring Mr. Anand, was based on Gogol's "Inspector General".
