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Basically, I grew up reading Gogol. I agree that he wrote on various topics and in different genres. In elementary school, I read "Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka," and then "Taras Bulba." And "The Inspector General" and "Dead Souls" are still relevant today, which is widely acknowledged. In general, when I read his more serious books, I was surprised that it was the same Gogol, the author of those not-so-serious folklore "horror stories" like "Viy" and "Ivan Kupala's Day," etc.