Nikolay GogolНиколай Гоголь

1809-1852

The Grotesque

• Hyperbole

• non sequiturs

• illogical, non-linear progression of narrative.

• absurdities

• random switching from one image or event to another without apparent motivation

• characters’ conversations are at cross purposes, full of misunderstandings

“The Overcoat”Шинель

1842

A Denunciation

• Vissarion Belinsky, socialist critic, saw in the tale the denunciation of the tsarist system.

• Plight of the “little man” crushed by the system

• Interpretation becomes the standard one in Soviet interpretations: beginning of “critical realism” – the forerunner of Socialist Realism

• Is it realistic?

Who or what is the “hero”?

• St Petersburg?

• Akaky Akakievich?

• Petrovich?

• The Important person?

• The Overcoat?

St Petersburg

• Its weather, its lack of comfort.

• It symbolic role as the bureaucratic machine.

• The ranking of individuals according to their position in society.

• The topography of the city: bridges and squares.

• The gap between the pretensions and the squalid reality.

The “Humans”

• Vices, pleasures and foibles.

• Vanity.

• Alcohol.

• Gossip.

• Sex.

• Snuff.

Akaky Akakievich

• Who is he?

• What are his circumstances?

• What changes does he go through?

Petrovich the tailor

• His description.

• His origins

• His vices

• The significant detail

The Important Person

• His recent promotion

• His interpretation of his function

• His family circumstances

• His “punishment”

The Important Person

• His recent promotion.

• His interpretation of his function.

• His family circumstances.

• His “punishment.”

The Important Person

• His recent promotion.

• His interpretation of his function.

• His family circumstances.

• His “punishment.”

Another hero…

• The Overcoat as hero.

• Pushes out the old overcoat.

The Important Person

• His recent promotion.

• His interpretation of his function.

• His family circumstances.

• His “punishment.”

Another hero…

• The Overcoat as hero.

• Pushes out the old overcoat.

“How the Overcoat is made”

• The overcoat as a metaphor for the work itself.

• “metapoetic.” – describes itself.

• cf Nos / Son (Dream).

• The details of the making of the overcoat reflect the details of the making of the story: lovingly sown together out of bits and pieces.

• The old overcoat and the new as metaphors or masks.

The Important Person

• His recent promotion.

• His interpretation of his function.

• His family circumstances.

• His “punishment.”

Another hero…

• The Overcoat as hero.

• Pushes out the old overcoat.

“How the Overcoat is made”

• The overcoat as a metaphor for the work itself.

• “metapoetic.” – describes itself.

• cf Nos / Son (Dream).

• The details of the making of the overcoat reflect the details of the making of the story: lovingly sown together out of bits and pieces.

• The old overcoat and the new as metaphors or masks.

The narrator

• Ironical self-portrait of the author.

• Constant self-references. Authors

• “lies” (врёт): his fantasies.

Queen of Spades and Overcoat

• What points of resemblance do we see?

- Plot?

- Theme?

- Hero?

- Love theme?

- Style: realist or fantastic?

- Literature as topic?