 "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.