Nikolai Gogol 
Memoirs of a Madman 

‘Memoirs of a Madman’ is a fascinating short following Poprishchin, a minor civil servant, as he descends into insanity. Unique in Golgol’s collection, it is the only story he wrote completely from the first person in the form of a number of diary entries. Constantly ridiculed by friends and repressed by the government of Tsarist Russia, he confides all in his journal documenting his slow decline in to insanity. As the only account we have is Poprishchin’s, we have no idea if the continually fantastical events happening before us are real or simply figments of his imagination. It is a fascinating novel, equally humourous as it is farcical, from talking dogs to tea-thirsty cows if you liked Leonardo Dicaprio’s ‘Shutter island’ you’ll love this short.-