Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka

Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka (Russian: Вечера́ на ху́торе близ Дика́ньки) is a collection of short stories by Nikolai Gogol, written from 1831–1832. They appeared in various magazines and were published in book form when Gogol, who had spent his life in today's Ukraine up to the age of nineteen, was twenty-two. He put his early impressions and memories of childhood into these pictures of peasant life. In a series of letters to his mother, he asked her to write down descriptions of village customs, dress, superstitions, and old stories. These were also used as primary sources.

Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka is separated into two volumes of four stories each:

Часть первая [Chast' pervaya], Part One

Часть вторая [Chast' vtoraya], Part Two

This was Gogol's groundbreaking work, though not his first, and formed the core of his style, especially his sense of the macabre. It was this collection that proved he was a new power in Russian literature with unique innovation and a carefully arranged mingling of the horrifying and the humorous. Alexander Pushkin had a heavy influence on the writing of the collection, which features references to Ukraine, at that time referred to as Little Russia, where Gogol spent the early years of his life. The stories are heavily laced with Ukrainian folklore and cultural references, offering a unique perspective into life in the country during Gogol's time period. The structure found in this collection became characteristic of Gogol's writing later on, found in works such as Dead Souls. "Evenings" gained Gogol the fame that would lead him to a prominent placement in the Russian literary circle, as well as opening the doors for future works.

The preface is the opening to the first volume of Evenings on a Farm Near Dykanka by Nikolai Gogol, written in 1831.

Each of the segments were based on Ukrainian folklore and feature comedic elements and a binding narrator, beekeeper Pan'ko-the-Redhaired, who is dictating the stories to the reader. A few other characters are mentioned in terms of the stories they provide, but regardless these segments are still told through the beekeeper Rudy.

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