Schreckliche Rache

Terror is spreading among the Cossacks of Little Russia: A merry drinking party is disturbed by a mysterious stranger who suddenly transforms into a horribly disfigured old man at the sight of two images of God. It is the legendary sorcerer who has returned to wreak havoc on the banks of the raging Dnieper. He urges his daughter Katerina to commit incest and seeks the life of her husband, the warlike Danilo Burulbasch, while the Poles prepare for battle. The tragedy takes its course as the lovers fight against the dark forces of the sorcerer. An ancient curse seals their fate and unleashes a spiral of desire and jealousy, black magic and brutal violence.

Terrible Revenge, written in 1831 and published as part of the first cycle of stories Evenings in the Hamlet near Dikanka, represents the quintessence of Gogol's early writing. With artful, rhythmic prose, he masterfully unfolds the sounds and colours of Ukrainian folklore, which Walter Koschmal's new translation takes into account. Gogol takes us into the mythical land of the Carpathians, whose ravines are as deep as the abysses of the human soul. A masterpiece of classic fantastic literature.