Gogol`s classic, uproarious folktale, presented in a beautiful hardcover edition perfect for giving as a gift. Written in 1831, this dark tale relates the adventures of Vakula, the blacksmith, in his fight against the devil, who has stolen the moon above the village of Dikanka & is wreaking havoc on its inhabitants, all to win the love of the most beautiful girl in town. The basis for many film & opera adaptations, & still a story traditionally read aloud to children on Christmas Eve in Ukraine & Russia, The Night Before Christmas is the best holiday tale by the man whom Vladimir Nabokov called `the greatest writer Russia has yet produced`. Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852) was the son of a Ukrainian gentleman farmer. He attended a variety of boarding schools, where he proved an indifferent student but was admired for his theatrical abilities. In 1828 he moved to St. Petersburg & began to publish stories, & by the mid-1830s he had established himself in the literary world & been warmly praised by Pushkin. In 1836, his play The Inspector-General was attacked as immoral, & he left Russia, remaining abroad for most of the next dozen years. During that time he wrote two of his best-known stories, ` The Nose` & ` The Overcoat, ` & in 1842 he published the first section of his masterpiece Dead Souls. Gogol became increasingly religious as the years passed, & in 1847 he became the disciple of an Orthodox priest who influenced him to burn the second part of Dead Souls & then abandon writing altogether. After undertaking an extreme fast, he died at the age of forty-two.