Gogol in Rome: On the Scent of Our Times
Sniffing out stupidity and malevolence was the great gift of the famed Ukrainian-born scribe, Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852), a diminutive man with a large, beak-like nose. Gogol was a giant in Russia’s literary tradition, a comic wizard with a penchant for the “little man,” for the bullied and bludgeoned who invariably lose yet occasionally get revenge—though never, in Gogol’s hand, in any typical heroic sense.
Gogol became legendary not only for his writings, but also for his strangeness: with shoulder-length, slicked-down locks and a daintily waxed moustache, he looked like a cross between Charles Baudelaire, the Parisian poet-flâneur, and the mysterious “V” from V for Vendetta, the flamboyant action hero who, donned in Guy Fawkes mask, avenged political wrongdoers.
Gogol once said he could only write about Russia in Rome, that he required warmth to write about cold, sunshine to describe dreariness, vibrant metropolitan bustle to convey dismal provincial quiet. For almost a decade, he lived in and loved the Eternal City, writing some of his best-known tales in the Italian capital, classics such as “The Overcoat” and his unfinished epic, Dead Souls.
Gogol in Rome has Andy Merrifield take us on an intimate trip around Gogol’s adopted hometown, journeying into the writer’s real and imagined city as we delve into Gogol’s great works, propelling us onto the Spanish Steps as we stroll along St. Petersburg’s Nevsky Prospect, into the luscious Villa Borghese as horse-drawn troikas hurtle across frozen Russian steppe.
At the same time, Merrifield brings Gogol back into our world, has him stalk the corridors of political and economic power today, showing us how the notorious author of “The Nose” has it in for malicious fibbers and Pinocchios currently in office. Unique in both its literary and political reach, Gogol in Rome traces out the scent of our times, conjuring up a Gogol that perhaps only Gogol himself could imagine.
Gogol in Rome: On the Scent of Our Times (forthcoming, Monthly Review Press, New York)
andy merrifield 
Hi Andy, welcome to the blog world. Hope to see you soon 🙂 Gülçin
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Just reading your book “The wisdom of donkeys” after looking at your book on Marx. Having travelled a similar route from working class council estate to (inevitably phoney) “academic”; and having also rejected that facile game (after writing several books myself) I would just like to say how much I enjoy your reflections. I feel an empathy for your journey. I am semi-retired now but only became a “scholar” after Thatcher made my job at the shipyards redundant. I rejected the bullshit of academia from day one (1992). Never regretted it, despite the ostracism and condescension. Only the Marxism remains….I was never likely to throw the baby out with the bath water 😊
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Hi Andy!
Loved your “Metromarxism”, “Magical Marxism”, “Wisdom of The Donkeys” and “Politics of Encounter”. I’m must add, your blog is no less enjoyable. But what is the painting on the banner? Just curious.
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Hi Andy!
Loved your “Metromarxism”, “Magical Marxism”, “Wisdom of The Donkeys” and “Politics of Encounter”. I’m must add, your blog is no less enjoyable. But what is the painting on the banner? Just curious.
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Andy! Meeting you was a pleasure today during my sojourn to see Antonio (who may or may not be Jewish). I meant to send you my email and website, Shirley, sending you info below.
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Andy, looking forward to your new book, enjoyed meeting you at Antonio’s final resting place, still think he may or may not be Jewish. That’s my research this week. Hope to run into you again. Shirley from Canada (msgramsci@gmail.com) website: freireproject.org
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