num_pages: 83
description: "How dared you, in disregard of all decency, call me a goose?"This lesser-known work is perhaps the perfect distillation of Nikolai Gogol’s genius: a tale simultaneously animated by a joyful, nearly slapstick sense of humor alongside a resigned cynicism about the human condition.In a sharp-edged translation from John Cournos, an under-appreciated early translator of Russian literature into English, How the Two Ivans Quarreled is the story of two long-time friends who have a falling out when one of them calls the other a “goose.” From there, the argument intensifies and the escalation becomes more and more ludicrous. Never losing its generous antic spirit, the story nonetheless transitions from whither a friendship, to whither humanity, as it progresses relentlessly to its moving conclusion.
language: English
title: How the Two Ivans Quarrelled
titlecomplete: How the Two Ivans Quarrelled (The Art of the Novella)
genres: Literature, Classics, Russian Literature, 19th Century, Russia, Ukraine, Fiction, Short Stories, Humor, Novella
ratings_count: 1739
publisher: Melville House