(1809-1852) Ukrainian-born Russian author and dramatist is deemed by many as the Father of Russia's Golden Age of Realism. Gogol turned to writing fulltime when his position as assistant lecturer in World History at the University of St. Petersburg (1834-1835) failed. It was at this time that he published his collection of short stories Mirgorod (1835), containing the Sir Walter Scott influenced Taras Bulba, Old World Landowners, the comical satire The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovic Quarrelled with Ivan Nikiforo

The Mysterious Portrait is a book by famous author Gogol which represents the strange story of a mysterious portrait. The young artist Tchartkoff buys an old, dusty painting from a little picture-shop without knowing what evilness and troubles it will bring to his modest life. Afterwards the reader witnesses the very birth of the evil spirit in the portrait and its dark past. Sis Readers (Stage 3) Sis Readers is a series of retold and simplified stories which are classifed into 5 stages, each stage cons