Fyodor Sologub

The Little Demon Fyodor Sologub

"The Little Demon" is a successful and almost imperceptible merging of comedy with tragedy. It is in fact a tragedy in which the comic forms an integral part and is not sandwiched in superficially merely to please the reader. The method resembles in a measure that of Gogol's "Dead Souls," with which "The Little Demon" was compared upon its first appearance in 1907.

It is a work of art-and it is a challenge; and this challenge is addressed not to Russia alone, but to the whole world.

- Taken from "The Little Demon" written by Fyodor Sologub