SECRET YEARNING: THE DOLL'S SECRET

The antique porcelain doll sat on the shelf, her painted gaze fixed on an unseen point. For years, she had been a unmoving observer, witnessing the comings and departures of the household. But something within the doll stirred, a dormant desire that pulsed with an unknown energy. She yearned to shatter her inert existence and feel the world beyond

The fictional narrator during the Italian author Tommaso Landolfi's comedian quick story "Gogol's Wife" describes a number of visits to the topic of his biography, Nikolai Gogol. At that renowned nineteenth century Russian writer's residence, the future biographer finds Gogol, referred to throughout as Nikolai Vassilevitch (his particular title and