La brouille des deux Ivan

Nikolai Gogol’s short story is a sublime work of tragi–comedy. In it, he brilliantly ridicules the Ukrainian passion for litigation and reveals life as something really rather absurd.

Ivan Ivanovich and Ivan Nikiforovich are the greatest of friends—until the day they begin a foolish quarrel that culminates in that very worst of insults: “And you, Ivan Ivanovich, are a goose.” From that moment on, not another word is spoken between them as they choose instead to fight out their differences in the courts. But it seems theirs is a lawsuit that is set to run for years and years… With a Foreword by Patrick McCabe.