Nikolai Gógol - Tarass Bulba, o Cossaco

Nikolai Gogol's first major work was this novella, set in a Ukraine divided between Russian and Polish rule.

Returning from Kiev, Taras Bulba and his two sons, Ostap and Andriy, are outraged by the rotten peace regime imposed by an outdated peace treaty that allows the Catholic Polish king, with the help of Jewish merchants, to subject the occupied Orthodox Christian populations to unspeakable exploitation. Ostap, like his father, is an irascible Cossack with warlike appetites and a thirst for adventure, but Andriy has developed a passion for culture and education, not to mention a passion for the young daughter of the Polish governor of Kiev. Taras Bulba and Ostap drag Andriy along and incite the Cossack soldiers' camp to break the peace treaty. In the various adventures that follow, the siege of Dubno Castle is the moment of truth for young Andriy when he discovers that his beloved is in the castle and, like much of the population, dying of hunger and thirst. What follows is a family rupture that mirrors the division of the country and ends in a bloody conflict.

This edition is part of the first version of the work, which was condemned and censored by Russian state entities for being "too Ukrainian," and the later (and more extensive) version in a single European edition.