Nikolay Gogol ??????? ??????

1
Nikolay Gogol??????? ??????

• 1809-1852

2
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

3
The Overcoat??????

• 1842

4
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?

5
Who or what is the hero?

• St Petersburg?
• Akaky Akakievich?
• Petrovich?
• The Important person?
• The Overcoat?

6
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.

7
The Humans

• Vices, pleasures and foibles.
• Vanity.
• Alcohol.
• Gossip.
• Sex.
• Snuff.

8
Akaky Akakievich

• Who is he?
• What are his circumstances?
• What changes does he go through?

9
Petrovich the tailor

• His description.
• His origins
• His vices
• The significant detail

10
The Important Person

• His recent promotion
• His interpretation of his function
• His family circumstances
• His punishment

11
The Important Person

• His recent promotion.
• His interpretation of his function.
• His family circumstances.
• His punishment.

12
The Important Person

• His recent promotion.
• His interpretation of his function.
• His family circumstances.
• His punishment.

13
Another hero

• The Overcoat as hero.
• Pushes out the old overcoat.

14
The Important Person

• His recent promotion.
• His interpretation of his function.
• His family circumstances.
• His punishment.

15
Another hero

• The Overcoat as hero.
• Pushes out the old overcoat.

16
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.

17
The Important Person

• His recent promotion.
• His interpretation of his function.
• His family circumstances.
• His punishment.

18
Another hero

• The Overcoat as hero.
• Pushes out the old overcoat.

19
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.

20
The narrator

• Ironical self-portrait of the author.
• Constant self-references. Authors
• lies (????) his fantasies.

21
Queen of Spades and Overcoat

• What points of resemblance do we see?
• - Plot?
• - Theme?
• Hero?
• Love theme?
• Style realist or fantastic?
• Literature as topic?