For the third event in Mayflower Bookshop’s series Great Books, people flocked to hear Louis Smit’s fascinating lecture on the Russian author Nicolai Gogol and on his play The Government Inspector. Smit, who studied Slavic languages and literature in both Leiden and Prague, sketched the tradition of Russian literature and the context in which Gogol wrote, before taking us on a journey through Gogol’s work, showing us the humour and absurdity marking the work of this Russian writer of Ukrainian origin. Gogol’s masterpiece, the Government Inspector formed the centre of Smit’s talk and was illustrated by the performance of the first scene by the Mayflower Theatre Company. The mesmerized audience discussed this wonderful play enthusiastically after the talk, convinced that The Government Inspector is, even after almost 200 years, a play worth reading and watching!