Is Gogol too old to learn from?

[Albysky]

How is Gogol's Russian? How's his in general in comparison with Chechov and Tolstoj?

I am asking that because I found a good series of interlinear books featuring these authors and while I know a bit of Tolstoj and Chechov I know nothing of Gogol.

[Speakeasy]

Albysky, turning the question around a little, is Giacomo Leopardi (a notable Italian philosopher, poet, essayist, and philologist, considered the greatest Italian poet of the nineteenth century and one of the most important figures in the literature of the world, as well as one of the principal of literary romanticism) too old to learn from? Should you, as a native speaker of Italian, reply “no” to this question, then you have your answer to the usefulness of reading Gogol in Russian.

In other words, clearly, while all living languages of the 19th century have evolved, despite the changes in vocabulary and the differences in register, an astute, adult, independent language-learner with a modicum of judgment can use materials from that period to good effect. Consider your Gogol experience as part of your “education” in the classical sense of the word.

By the way, I just checked the Librivox website for Gogol, and there are presently 8 recorded works available:
https://librivox.org/search?q=gogol&search_form=advanced

[reineke]

Too old to learn what exactly? I don't think that Gogol's Russian is "too old to learn from". Of course someone might tell you that a novel from the 1940s is too literary and too old. If one of your aims is being able to read classic Russian literature then Gogol is exactly what you should be reading (among other things). The question is not if but rather when. In terms of general difficulty, some of Gogol's works might be more approachable than some of Tolstoy's etc. but if you're unable to to see the difference you should probably choose something else to read and come back to it later.. If you're blindly in love with a writer read about Mary Hobson and good luck to you. If you're going to dive blindly I think Chekhov is your best bet. LingQ has some nice and easy Chekhov waiting for you. Gogol uses Ukrainian expressions in some of his works. His narrative writing is not easily comparable to Alfieri's poetry and elevated language but his "Revizor" is probably as "easy" as Chekhov and also easier than Alfieri's plays. Because of stylistic choices and literary genres Goldoni's comedies from the 1740s sound more natural, readable and modern than some later plays. Some languages are more conservative than others and this is why the Italian Trecentisti are more readable than, say, Chaucer.

[Speakeasy]

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Welcome back!

[Albysky]

I didn't mean of course to say that there is nothing to learn from Gogol. I was just refering to his writing style. Yes there are languages that have changed more than others. I already read The Kreuzer Sonata by Tolstoj, defintely not easy.
I am more prone to reading "old stuff" simply because It is possibile to find parallel/interlinear texts. Those are the authors (Dostoevskij includere) I was able to find this type of translation.

As for Italian, unless your goal is to read specifically an author, I wouldn't suggest reading 19th literature, the oldest the less recommendable. If you like learning with parallel/interlinear texts thoug and you can find that only for old literature, It could still be a good choice to acquire enough vocab to then be able to read pretty much everything.