Nikolai V. Gogol (1809–1852) was an Ukrainian and Russian novelist. Although Gogol was considered by his contemporaries one of the preeminent figures of the natural school of Russian literary realism, later critics have found in his work a fundamentally romantic sensibility, with strains of surrealism and the grotesque ("The Nose", "Viy", "The Overcoat," "Nevsky Prospekt").

His early works, such as Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka, were influenced by his Ukrainian upbringing, Ukrainian culture and folklore. His later writing satirised political corruption in the Russian Empire (The Government Inspector, Dead Souls). The novel Taras Bulba (1835) and the play Marriage (1842), along with the short stories "Diary of a Madman", "The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich", "The Portrait" and "The Carriage", round out the tally of his best-known works.

Русский прозаик, драматург, поэт, критик, публицист, признанный одним из классиков русской литературы. Происходил из старинного дворянского рода Гоголей-Яновских. По мнению В. Белинского и Н. Чернышевского Гоголь стал основателем литературного направления - основного этапа «Натуральной школы» 1940-х годов и оказал огромное влияние на русскую и мировую литературу. Влияние Гоголя на своё творчество признавали Михаил Булгаков, Фёдор Достоевский, Рюноскэ Акутогава, Фланнери О’Коннор, Франц Кафка и многие другие.