**Nikolai Gogol *was one of the leading figures in 19th-century Russian literature and the founder of critical realism. He is best known for his satirical masterpiece Dead Souls * and humorous plays and short stories such as "The Government Inspector" and "The Overcoat."

**Nikolai Gogol *was one of the leading figures in 19th-century Russian literature and the founder of critical realism. He is best known for his satirical masterpiece Dead Souls * and humorous plays and short stories such as "The Government Inspector" and "The Overcoat."