Proquest Dissertations
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Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6” x 9” black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMl directly to order. Bell & Howell Information and Leaming 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 800-521-0600 UMl' THE STRANGER IN THE CITY: GENRE AND PLACE IN THE WORKS OF NIKOLAI GOGOL AND LIUDMILA PETRUSHEVSKAIA DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University B y Kristin Anne Peterson, M.A. * * * * The Ohio State University 2000 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Professor Angela Brintlinger, Adviser Adviser, Department of Slavic and East European Languages^d Literatures, Graduate Program Professor Sabra Webber. Adviser Adviser, Division o ï Comparative Studies' in the Humanities, Graduate Program Professor George Kalbouss UMl Number: 9994923 Copyright 2000 by P eterso n , Kristin Anne All rights reserved. UMl UMl Microform 9994923 Copyright 2001 by Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Bell & Howell Information and Leaming Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Copyright by Kristin Anne Peterson 2000 ABSTRACT Despite the many decades that divide Nikolai Gogol's and Liudmila Petrushevskaia's writings, a number of their works are related by striking stylistic and thematic resemblance and a similarity of generic configuration. Working back and forth between these two writers, my dissertation seeks to unpack and shed light on issues that both authors grapple with. Their narratives are characterized by a common preoccupation with plots in which the main theme is the protagonist's search for identity. This dissertation considers the image of the stranger in Gogol's and Petrushevskaia's fiction in order to confront each author's unresolved feeling about him(her)self and the estrangement inherent in family origins, gender and literary acceptance. Both authors are writers on and of the margins, attempting to explain their position as outsiders, through the literary device of the stranger. The tensions in their works of fiction, a reflection of their own marginal positions, is expressed even in the generic forms they employ. Through a close reading of six stories by these two writers (Gogol's "Nevsky Prospect," "Diary of a Madman" and "Portrait," and Petrushevskaia's "Our Crowd." "Medea" and The Time: Night.) my dissertation provides a new imderstanding of both authors' constructions and manipulations of a sense of place. II Like Gogol's Petersburg stories, the works of Petrushevskaia I have selected are centered on the theme of alienation, and in each of the stories alienation from society is expressed through the eyes of the stranger, the outsider. Similar to Gogol's strangers, Petrushevskaia's strangers are liminal characters, figures that stand in the space between the known world and the unknown "outside" as reproduced in the text. While the trope of the stranger functions in Petrushevskaia's works on the same three levels as Gogol's, the spatial, temporal and psychological, her strangers are very different entities. Petrushevskaia's strangers all belonged at one time or another to a group. Her writings document that disturbing 'falling away' from the family or group, the movement from unity and acceptance to individuality and denial. The first chapter of this dissertation focuses on Gogol's appreciation of the arabesque, in his working out the problems of genre and place by drawing upon an exotic art form. Chapter two addresses Gogol's lifelong struggle as an "easterner" himself for legitimacy in the Russian literary canon, a struggle between his Ukrainian and Russian identities. Chapter three analyzes Gogol's struggle as figured through his portrayal of strangers in his fictional works. Chapter four discusses Petrushevskaia's postmodern strategies of writing women, a movement that celebrates the outsider, the de-centered, and simulating realities, with the aim of situating her prose within the contemporary Russian literary canon. The final chapter of this dissertation examines the way in which Petrushevskaia appropriates and revises mythologies of the feminine again focusing on the strangers, the outsiders from across time and space in order to establish her literary legitimacy in a canon centered on male authorship. HI Dedicated to my family IV ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to express sincere appreciation to my co-advisers. Professors .\ngela K. Brintlinger and Sabra J. Webber for their guidance, insights, and support. I am fortunate to have been able to work with these professors from two different Departments at Ohio State, both of whom have seen this project through from beginning to end. Specifically, I thank Professor Brintlinger for supervising and advising me, discussing ideas with me, offering valuable suggestions and insights and reading countless drafts of this dissertation. My Gogol chapters owe much to Professor Brintlinger; thanks to her suggestions 1 discovered things that I might otherwise have overlooked. I am also greatly indebted to Professor Webber who always listened to my ideas and offered me support and guidance, asking just the right questions to challenge me to think across disciplines. The interdisciplinary nature of this dissertation, specifically my first chapter on Gogol and arabesques, as well as the final chapters on Petrushevskaia, are the end products of innumerable conversations with Professor Webber. Professors Helena Goscilo and Margaret Lynd have offered me wonderful support in discussing ideas, offering suggestions and encouraging me to "just finish." I also want to thank Professor Margarita Odesskaia who has encouraged me to believe in my topic and myself. Finally, 1 am also very grateful for the unconditional love and unwavering moral support of my friends, parents, siblings and grandmother. This dissertation is dedicated to my most precious source of support, my family. VI VITA September 26, 19 6 9..................................... Bom - Freetown, Sierra Leone 1993 .................................................................. M.A. Slavic and East European Languages and Literatures, The Ohio State University. 1999.................................................................. Russian Language Instructor, Department of Modem Foreign Languages Ohio Wesleyan University 1993- present ...................................................Graduate Teaching and Research Associate, The Ohio State University 1993 .................................................................. Assistant to Policy Analyst, Michigan Department of Education 1991-1993 ....................................................... English Teacher, Latvian Ministry of Education 1991.................................................................. Desktop Publisher, Eppendorf Inc. Madison, Wisconsin 1987-1991 ....................................................... Computer Soft/Hardware Specialist, Beloit College Computer Center PUBLICATIONS 1. K.A. Peterson, "Circles and Crowds: ‘Svoi krug’ Liudmily Petrushevskoi v angliiskikh perevodakh." Eds, M. Odesskaia and I. Masing-Delic, Rossiia i SSkA.:formy literatiimogo dialoga. Moscow. Rossiiskii gosudarstvennyi gumanitamyi universitet (2000): 164-171. 2. K.A. Peterson, Sabra J. Webber and Melinda McClimans, The Middle East and South Asia Folklore Bulletin. The Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, Vol. 16, No. 3, Spring 2000. Vll 3. FLA.. Peterson, "Tochki zreniia". Ohio 5 Viewpoints Series, Russian Video CD-Rom Project "Crossing Cultures and Platforms", August 1999. 4. K.A. Peterson, "U nego bylo takoe zhe angel'skoe litso, iasnoe i dobroe" (Simvolika podteksta rasskaza 'Chemyi monakh')." Molodye issledovateli Chekhova. Moscow, Russia III (1998): 74-77. 5. K.A. Peterson, Sabra J. Webber and Margaret R. Lynd, Fantasy or Ethnography? Irony and Collusion in Subaltern Representation. Papers in Comparative Studies. Vol. 8 (1996). FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Slavic and East European Languages and Literatures Vlll TABLE OF CONTENTS A bstract.................................................................................................................................... ii D edication ..............................................................................................................................