Taras Bulba

by Nikolai Gogol

Originally published as «Taras Bulba Eine Erzahlung Aus der Ukraine des 17. Jahrhunderts» (German)

Gogol’s revised 1842 novella, rooted in the Cossack era, interrogates the violent allure of national identity through the fanaticism of Taras, a Cossack chieftain who sacrifices his son Andriy for betraying Ukrainian solidarity during the Polish-Lithuanian siege. Blending mythic grandeur with grotesque brutality, the narrative oscillates between battlefield heroism and intimate tragedy, framing patriotism as both unifying creed and destructive force. Gogol’s ambivalence toward romanticized histo...