Russia - Max Card Gogol

Thanks to Irina:
Maximum postcard from Russia commemorative of 200th Gogol birth day.
A Ukrainian-born writer and thinker (Velyki Sorochintsy, Poltava region), N.V.Gogol is one of the brightest personalities and recognized masters of Russian and world literature. His literary works, aimed at achieving social harmony, have received highest appraisals of his contemporaries and are appreciated by present generations. Being a brilliant folklorist, he also vividly depicted Ukrainian folk customs and traditions of the 19th century.
Gogol's short stories, novels and plays have become for the world literature an impulse to a truthful depiction of reality. The novel "Dead Souls" and the short story "The Overcoat" are considered the foundations of the great 19th-century tradition of realism. His legacy was adopted by such masters of literature as Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoyevsky. The writer's style is recognized by a great ability for accurate and sympathetic character portrayal as well as rollicking satire and extraordinary humour. Many of Gogol's witty sayings have become maxims in the Ukrainian and Russian languages.