Epic and the Russian Novel from Gogol to Pasternak

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Epic and the Russian Novel from Gogol to Pasternak Epic and the Russian Novel from Gogol to Pasternak Studies in Russian and Slavic Literatures, Cultures and History Series Editor – Lazar FLeishman (Stanford University) EPic and the RussiaN NovEl from GoGol to Pasternak Frederick T. GriffiThs and stanley J. rabinowiTz Boston 2011 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Griffiths, Frederick T. Epic and the Russian novel : from Gogol to Pasternak / Frederick T. Griffiths and Stanley J. Rabinowitz. p. cm. — (Studies in Russian and Slavic literatures, cultures and history) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-936235-53-7 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Russian fiction— 19 th century—History and criticism. 2. Russian fiction—20 th century— History and criticism. 3. Epic literature, Russian—History and criticism. I. Rabinowitz, Stanley J. II. Title. PG3098.E65G75 2011 891.73’309—dc22 2011006283 Copyright © 2011 Academic Studies Press All rights reserved ISBN 978-1-936235-53-7 Book design by Ivan Grave Published by Academic Studies Press in 2011 28 Montfern Avenue Brighton, MA 02135, USA [email protected] www.academicstudiespress.com Effective December 12th, 2017, this book will be subject to a CC-BY-NC license. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. Other than as provided by these licenses, no part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, or displayed by any electronic or mechanical means without permission from the publisher or as permitted by law. The open access publication of this volume is made possible by: This open access publication is part of a project supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Humanities Open Book initiative, which includes the open access release of several Academic Studies Press volumes. To view more titles available as free ebooks and to learn more about this project, please visit borderlinesfoundation.org/open. Published by Academic Studies Press 28 Montfern Avenue Brighton, MA 02135, USA [email protected] www.academicstudiespress.com CONTENTS Acknowledgments 6 Preface 9 1. Epic and Novel 11 The Double Plot of Epic 15 The Death of Epic 25 Polyphony and Pentecost 32 Temporal Closure 44 2. Gogol in Rome 50 “Taras Bulba” 54 “Rome” 62 Dead Souls, Part One 68 Dead Souls, Part Two 97 Selected Passages from Correspondence with Friends 105 3. Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov 117 4. Tolstoy and Homer 144 5. Doctor Zhivago and the Tradition of National Epic 176 6. Stalin and the Death of Epic: Mikhail Bakhtin, Nadezhda Mandelstam, Boris Pasternak 195 Works Cited 218 Index 231 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We gratefully acknowledge Ian David for his unstinting efforts in preparing the manuscript in its final version. Our deepest thanks go to Amherst College Dean of the Faculty Gregory Call for providing funds to see this project through to publication. The following publishers have generously given permission to use extended quotations from copyrighted works: Chichikov’s Journeys: or, Home Life in Old Russia, by Nikolai Gogol, translated by Bernard Guilbert Guerney. Copyright © 1942 by The Readers Club and renewed 1965 by Random House, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Random House, Inc. Selected Passages from Correspondence with Friends, by Nikolai Gogol, translated by Jesse Zeldin. Copyright © 1969 by Vanderbilt University Press. Reprinted by permission of the publisher. The Iliad, by Homer, translated by Richmond Lattimore. Copyright © 1951 by the University of Chicago. Reprinted by permission of the publisher. Remembrance of Things Past. vol. 3, The Captive, by Marcel Proust. translated by C. K. Scott Moncrieff and Terence Kilmartin. and by Andreas Mayor. Copyright 1981 by Random House, Inc., and Chatto & Windus. Reprinted by permission of Random House, Inc. The materials in this book have been previous published as: Novel Epics: Gogol, Dostoevsky and National Narrative. Copyright 1990 by Northwestern University Press. Reprinted by permission of the publisher. “Doctor Zhivago and the Tradition of National Epic,” copyright Comparative Literature, Vol. 32, No. 1 (Winter 1990). Reprinted by permission of the publisher, the University of Oregon. “Tolstoy and Homer,” copyright Comparative Literature, Vol. 35, No. 2 (Spring 1983). Reprinted by permission of the publisher, the University of Oregon. “Stalin and the Death of Epic: Mikhail Bakhtin, Nadezhda Mandelstam, Boris Pasternak,” in Epic and Epoch: Essays on the Interpretation and History of a Genre, edited by Steven M. Oberhelman, Van Kelly, and Richard J. Goslan, 1994, Texas Tech University Press. PREFACE These essays address four Russian novels as they adapt a monumental tradition from outside of Russia. The readings focus not on the history of the Russian novel itself but on how these four works allusively incorporate a history of European letters so as to locate themselves within it, that is, how they trace their descent ultimately from Homer as well as from scripture. We are not concerned with the native forms of epic nor with the other writers, notably Pushkin, who framed a Russian identity within European letters, but only with what we consider the clearest cases of transforming the novel as a form by assimilating it to the epic tradition. In invoking that tradition, these novels claim position within world literature, and it is from that vantage point that we consider them: Were these writers finally within their rights in asking to be read beside Homer, Virgil, and Dante? For the burden of joining that company is not simply to be as critically esteemed as these poets or as widely read, but to continue the narrative cycle that they began. The first chapter defines terms and explains what we take the epic tradition to be. The following chapters vary widely in format to accommodate the various novels. Dead Souls is considered in the context of the other works that Gogol published or burned with and after it. We include The Brothers Karamazov as a limiting case: Directly because Dostoevsky so notably lacks the allusive technique through which the other three invoke their predecessors, the gestures that he makes to epic conventions at the end of the novel make all the clearer indication of the pressures that he felt from that tradition. We take War and Peace and Doctor Zhivago as unities unto themselves, though unities each with a triple conclusion. A final chapter considers further permutations of the epic tradition during the Stalinist period of Russian culture in literary criticism (Bakhtin), memoir (Nadezhda Mandelstam), and narrative poetry (Anna Akhmatova). 9 ...чаще поэты, разделенные временем и пространством, отвечают друг другу, как отголоски между утесами: развязка “Илиады” хранится в “Комедии” Данте. — В. Ф. Одоевский, “Русские ночи” (1835) … separated by time and space, poets quite often answer each other like echoes among cliffs; the denouement of the Iliad is given in Dante’s Comedy. — V. F. Odoevsky, Russian Nights (1835) 1. epic and noveL Two Romes have fallen, but a third stands fast; a fourth there cannot be. Rome, Byzantium, Moscow: through this prophecy the sixteenth- century monk Philotheus evades an old and still unanswered question — does Russia belong in Europe? — by proclaiming a Europe that spiritually belongs to Russia and should look to Moscow as the true and final capital of a renascent Christendom. For the Slavs to westernize has always seemed a compromise of the otherness and unworldliness that set them apart and above. By the logic of Christianity, their very innocence as outsiders can also signify spiritual election. The conversion of Christendom’s northern periphery to its center and capital recalls the miracles of the rejected rock as capstone, the carpenter’s son as Messiah, the meek inheriting. Something good can come from Nazareth. Indeed, it is to the Nazareths that one must look to find the future, for the old capitals, Rome as well as Jerusalem, fall prey to worldly success. Philotheus suggests how Slavophiles might welcome the prospect of leading Europe rather than joining it. Yet danger lurks in this proud calling, for the process of redeeming publicans and sinners entails large risks of joining their number. Already by Philotheus’s day the West had seen millennia of conquerors, among them the Romans themselves, battling their way to cultural enslavement. Though politically subjected, the Greeks may have prevailed culturally, as Horace already suspected: “Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit et artes / intulit agresti Latio” (“Conquered Greece conquered her fierce victor and brought the arts into rustic Latium,” Epistles 2.1.156-57). The statuesque marble Romanness of Rome was framed by sophisticates who spoke Greek among themselves; in the best circles, Russians after 1812 both celebrated and compromised their expulsion of foreign masters by still speaking French as 11 12 1. Epic and Novel they pursued their own increasingly Napoleonic ambitions. The inheriting meek lose their meekness. Basic to the project of constructing the third and final Rome, in Europe but not of it, was the paradox that the wall erected against European influence would have to be built with European bricks. Perhaps the bulwark could become Russian by being grander than any wall yet built. In the fabrication of this national identity, novelists enjoyed influence rarely seen in Western letters since antiquity, the influence of prophets. Once Napoleon was beaten, writers in Russia sought to forge an independent literature that would not only celebrate the country’s new status as a world power but
Recommended publications
  • Boris Pasternak - Poems
    Classic Poetry Series Boris Pasternak - poems - Publication Date: 2012 Publisher: Poemhunter.com - The World's Poetry Archive Boris Pasternak(10 February 1890 - 30 May 1960) Boris Leonidovich Pasternak was a Russian language poet, novelist, and literary translator. In his native Russia, Pasternak's anthology My Sister Life, is one of the most influential collections ever published in the Russian language. Furthermore, Pasternak's theatrical translations of Goethe, Schiller, Pedro Calderón de la Barca, and William Shakespeare remain deeply popular with Russian audiences. Outside Russia, Pasternak is best known for authoring Doctor Zhivago, a novel which spans the last years of Czarist Russia and the earliest days of the Soviet Union. Banned in the USSR, Doctor Zhivago was smuggled to Milan and published in 1957. Pasternak was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature the following year, an event which both humiliated and enraged the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. In the midst of a massive campaign against him by both the KGB and the Union of Soviet Writers, Pasternak reluctantly agreed to decline the Prize. In his resignation letter to the Nobel Committee, Pasternak stated the reaction of the Soviet State was the only reason for his decision. By the time of his death from lung cancer in 1960, the campaign against Pasternak had severely damaged the international credibility of the U.S.S.R. He remains a major figure in Russian literature to this day. Furthermore, tactics pioneered by Pasternak were later continued, expanded, and refined by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and other Soviet dissidents. <b>Early Life</b> Pasternak was born in Moscow on 10 February, (Gregorian), 1890 (Julian 29 January) into a wealthy Russian Jewish family which had been received into the Russian Orthodox Church.
    [Show full text]
  • The Children of Molemo: an Analysis of Johnny Simons' Performance Genealogy and Iconography at the Hip Pocket Theatre
    Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 2000 The hiC ldren of Molemo: an Analysis of Johnny Simons' Performance Genealogy and Iconography at the Hip Pocket Theatre. Tony Earnest Medlin Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Medlin, Tony Earnest, "The hiC ldren of Molemo: an Analysis of Johnny Simons' Performance Genealogy and Iconography at the Hip Pocket Theatre." (2000). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 7281. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/7281 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps.
    [Show full text]
  • Irwin T. and Shirley Holtzman Collection
    http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt5x0nd340 No online items Register of the Irwin T. and Shirley Holtzman collection Finding aid prepared by Olga Verhovskoy Dunlop and David Jacobs Hoover Institution Archives 434 Galvez Mall Stanford University Stanford, CA, 94305-6003 (650) 723-3563 [email protected] © 2007 Register of the Irwin T. and 98074 1 Shirley Holtzman collection Title: Irwin T. and Shirley Holtzman collection Date (inclusive): 1899-2010 Collection Number: 98074 Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Archives Language of Material: English Physical Description: 157 manuscript boxes, 9 oversize boxes, 1 card file box, 32 cubic foot boxes(111.4 linear feet) Abstract: Printed matter, writings, letters, photographs, and miscellany, relating to the Russian writers Isaak Babel', Boris Pasternak and Joseph Brodsky. Consists primarily of printed matter by and about Pasternak, Brodsky and Babel'. Physical location: Hoover Institution Archives Creator: Holtzman, Irwin T creator: Holtzman, Shirley. Access Box 8 restricted; use copies available in Box 4. Box/Folder 22 : 8-15 closed; use copies available in Box/Folder 20 : 1-7. The remainder of the collection is open for research; materials must be requested at least two business days in advance of intended use. Publication Rights For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Archives Preferred Citation [Identification of item], Irwin T. and Shirley Holtzman collection, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Archives Acquisition Information Acquired by the Hoover Institution Archives in 1998, with subsequent increments received through 2004. Additional increments are expected. An increment was added in 2011. Accruals Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared.
    [Show full text]
  • Post-Soviet Political Party Development in Russia: Obstacles to Democratic Consolidation
    POST-SOVIET POLITICAL PARTY DEVELOPMENT IN RUSSIA: OBSTACLES TO DEMOCRATIC CONSOLIDATION Evguenia Lenkevitch Bachelor of Arts (Honours), SFU 2005 THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS In the Department of Political Science O Evguenia Lenkevitch 2007 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY 2007 All rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author. APPROVAL Name: Evguenia Lenkevitch Degree: Master of Arts, Department of Political Science Title of Thesis: Post-Soviet Political Party Development in Russia: Obstacles to Democratic Consolidation Examining Committee: Chair: Dr. Lynda Erickson, Professor Department of Political Science Dr. Lenard Cohen, Professor Senior Supervisor Department of Political Science Dr. Alexander Moens, Professor Supervisor Department of Political Science Dr. llya Vinkovetsky, Assistant Professor External Examiner Department of History Date DefendedlApproved: August loth,2007 The author, whose copyright is declared on the title page of this work, has granted to Simon Fraser University the right to lend this thesis, project or extended essay to users of the Simon Fraser University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the library of any other university, or other educational institution, on its own behalf or for one of its users. The author has further granted permission to Simon Fraser University to keep or make a digital copy for use in its circulating collection (currently available to the public at the 'Institutional Repository" link of the SFU Library website <www.lib.sfu.ca> at: <http://ir.lib.sfu.ca/handle/1892/112>) and, without changing the content, to translate the thesis/project or extended essays, if technically possible, to any medium or format for the purpose of preservation of the digital work.
    [Show full text]
  • EPIC and ROMANCE in the LORD of the RINGS Épica Y Romance En El Señor De Los Anillos
    ISSN: 1989-9289 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14516/fdp.2016.007.001.002 EPIC AND ROMANCE IN THE LORD OF THE RINGS Épica y romance en El señor de los anillos Martin Simonson [email protected] Universidad del País Vasco, Vitoria-Gasteiz. España Fecha de receepción: 4-IV-2016 Fecha de aceptación: 5-V-2016 ABSTRACT: In the field of comparative literatureThe Lord of the Rings has been most frequently studied within the contexts of romance and epic. This approach, however, leaves out important generic aspects of the global picture, such as the narrative’s strong adherence to the novel genre and to mythic traditions beyond romance and epic narratives. If we choose one particular genre as the yardstick against which to measure the work’s success in narrative terms, we tend to end up with the conclusion that The Lord of the Rings does not quite make sense within the given limits of the genre in question. In Tolkien’s work there is a narrative and stylistic exploration of the different genres’ constraints in which the Western narrative traditions – myth, epic, romance, the novel, and their respective subgenres – interact in a pre- viously unknown but still very much coherent world that, because of the particular cohesion required by such a chronotope, exhibits a clear contextualization of references to the previous traditions. As opposed to many contemporary literary expressions, the ensuing absence of irony and parody creates a generic dialogue, in which the various narrative traditions explore and interrogate each other’s limits without rendering the others absurdly incompatible, ridic- ulous or superfluous.
    [Show full text]
  • The Government Inspector Adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher from the Original by Nikolai Gogol Directed by Allison Narver
    The Government Inspector Adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher from the original by Nikolai Gogol Directed by Allison Narver All original material copyright © Seattle Shakespeare Company 2017 WELCOME Dear Educators, Welcome to our production of The Government Inspector! When I first read this script, I found myself laughing out loud every couple of pages. It’s a hilarious read of a farcical play, and I was really excited to watch it. Director Allison Narver mentioned that all of the characters are horrible people, and the protagonist of this show is comedy. Normally, I don’t love watching shows full of horrible people, but this one is so darn funny that I can spend the whole show rooting for the main character — comedy! After thinking about the play for a few weeks, and keeping up with the news cycle, I’ve been thinking more about themes in The Government Inspector. This production will simultaneously be quite relevant to our contemporary era of government corruption, and will be an escape to a world where that corruption is lampooned and all the officials get taken advantage of. This play can spark political discussions, but it can also just leave you laughing at the absurdity of it. It’s all in there. We hope you enjoy the show! Best, Michelle Burce Education Director seattleshakespeare.org/education 206-733-8228 ext. 251 or [email protected] PRODUCTION SPONSORS CONTENTS Plot Synopsis . 1 Character List . 1 Nikolai Gogol . 2 A brief look at the life of Russia’s celebrated playwright and novelist. Placing the Production . 3–4 Take a look inside the director’s inspiration and thoughts for the production Tidbits and Trivia .
    [Show full text]
  • Myth Y La Magia: Magical Realism and the Modernism of Latin America
    University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Masters Theses Graduate School 5-2015 Myth y la magia: Magical Realism and the Modernism of Latin America Hannah R. Widdifield University of Tennessee - Knoxville, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes Part of the Latin American Languages and Societies Commons, and the Literature in English, North America, Ethnic and Cultural Minority Commons Recommended Citation Widdifield, Hannah R., "Myth y la magia: Magical Realism and the Modernism of Latin America. " Master's Thesis, University of Tennessee, 2015. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/3421 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by Hannah R. Widdifield entitled "Myth y la magia: Magical Realism and the Modernism of Latin America." I have examined the final electronic copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, with a major in English. Lisi M. Schoenbach, Major Professor We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance: Allen R. Dunn, Urmila S. Seshagiri Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) Myth y la magia: Magical Realism and the Modernism of Latin America A Thesis Presented for the Master of Arts Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Hannah R.
    [Show full text]
  • Reorienting the Female Gothic: Curiosity and the Pursuit of Knowledge
    University of Rhode Island DigitalCommons@URI Open Access Dissertations 2020 REORIENTING THE FEMALE GOTHIC: CURIOSITY AND THE PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE Jenna Guitar University of Rhode Island, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/oa_diss Recommended Citation Guitar, Jenna, "REORIENTING THE FEMALE GOTHIC: CURIOSITY AND THE PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE" (2020). Open Access Dissertations. Paper 1145. https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/oa_diss/1145 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@URI. It has been accepted for inclusion in Open Access Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@URI. For more information, please contact [email protected]. REORIENTING THE FEMALE GOTHIC: CURIOSITY AND THE PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE BY JENNA GUITAR A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN ENGLISH UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND 2020 DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DISSERTATION OF JENNA GUITAR APPROVED: Dissertation Committee: Major Professor Jean Walton Christine Mok Justin Wyatt Nasser H. Zawia DEAN OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND 2020 ABSTRACT This dissertation investigates the mode of the Female Gothic primarily by examining how texts utilize the role of curiosity and the pursuit of knowledge, paying close attention to how female characters employ these attributes. Existing criticism is vital to understanding the Female Gothic and in presenting the genealogy of feminist literary criticism, and yet I argue, this body of criticism often produces elements of essentialism. In an attempt to avoid and expose the biases that essentialism produces, I draw from Sara Ahmed’s theory of queer phenomenology to investigate the connections between the way that women pursue and circulate knowledge through education and reading and writing practices in the Female Gothic.
    [Show full text]
  • (Penguin Classics) by Clarence Brown
    Read Online and Download Ebook THE PORTABLE TWENTIETH-CENTURY RUSSIAN READER (PENGUIN CLASSICS) BY CLARENCE BROWN DOWNLOAD EBOOK : THE PORTABLE TWENTIETH-CENTURY RUSSIAN READER (PENGUIN CLASSICS) BY CLARENCE BROWN PDF Click link bellow and free register to download ebook: THE PORTABLE TWENTIETH-CENTURY RUSSIAN READER (PENGUIN CLASSICS) BY CLARENCE BROWN DOWNLOAD FROM OUR ONLINE LIBRARY THE PORTABLE TWENTIETH-CENTURY RUSSIAN READER (PENGUIN CLASSICS) BY CLARENCE BROWN PDF Reserve The Portable Twentieth-Century Russian Reader (Penguin Classics) By Clarence Brown is one of the priceless worth that will make you always abundant. It will certainly not suggest as abundant as the cash give you. When some people have lack to deal with the life, individuals with lots of e-books sometimes will certainly be better in doing the life. Why must be book The Portable Twentieth-Century Russian Reader (Penguin Classics) By Clarence Brown It is in fact not suggested that publication The Portable Twentieth-Century Russian Reader (Penguin Classics) By Clarence Brown will certainly give you power to get to everything. The book is to review and what we suggested is guide that is reviewed. You can likewise see exactly how the book qualifies The Portable Twentieth-Century Russian Reader (Penguin Classics) By Clarence Brown and also numbers of e-book collections are offering here. Language Notes Text: English, Russian (translation) About the Author Clarence Brown is an acclaimed translator and professor of comparative literature at Princeton University. He is
    [Show full text]
  • Dead Souls Gogol, Nikolai (Translator: D
    Dead Souls Gogol, Nikolai (Translator: D. J. Hogarth) Published: 1842 Categorie(s): Fiction, Literary Source: Project Gutenberg 1 About Gogol: Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol (April 1, 1809 — March 4, 1852) was a Russian-language writer of Ukrainian origin. Although his early works were heavily influenced by his Ukrainian herit- age and upbringing, he wrote in Russian and his works belong to the tradition of Russian literature. The novel Dead Souls (1842), the play Revizor (1836, 1842), and the short story The Overcoat (1842) count among his masterpieces. Source: Wikipedia Also available on Feedbooks for Gogol: • Diary Of A Madman (1835) • The Nose (1836) • A May Evening (1887) • The Cloak (1835) • Taras Bulba (1835) • The Mysterious Portrait (1842) • How the two Ivans quarrelled (1835) • The Calash (1836) • St. John's Eve (1831) Note: This book is brought to you by Feedbooks http://www.feedbooks.com Strictly for personal use, do not use this file for commercial purposes. 2 Part 1 3 Chapter 1 To the door of an inn in the provincial town of N. there drew up a smart britchka—a light spring-carriage of the sort affected by bachelors, retired lieutenant-colonels, staff-captains, land-own- ers possessed of about a hundred souls, and, in short, all per- sons who rank as gentlemen of the intermediate category. In the britchka was seated such a gentleman—a man who, though not handsome, was not ill-favoured, not over-fat, and not over- thin. Also, though not over-elderly, he was not over-young. His arrival produced no stir in the town, and was accompanied by no particular incident, beyond that a couple of peasants who happened to be standing at the door of a dramshop exchanged a few comments with reference to the equipage rather than to the individual who was seated in it.
    [Show full text]
  • The Eiron and the Alazon in Edward Albee's the Zoo Story (1958), Le Roi Jones's Dutchman (1964) and Adrienne Kennedy's
    Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research Mouloud Mammeri University of Tizi-Ouzou Faculty of Arts and Languages Department of English A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for a Master’s Degree in English Option: Drama Arts Subject: The Eiron and the Alazon in Edward Albee’s the Zoo Story (1958), Le Roi Jones’s Dutchman (1964) and Adrienne Kennedy’s Funnyhouse of a Negro (1969) Presented by: - OULAGHA Zakia - TOUIL Elyes Panel of Examiners: -Dr.Siber Mouloud ,M.C.A., UMMTO, Chairman. -Dr. Gariti Mohamed, M.C.A., UMMTO, Supervisor. -Abdeli Fatima,M.A.A., UMMTO, Examiner. Academic Year: 2016-2017 Abstract This research paper has studied the elements underlying the absurdity of communication between the characters in Edward Albee’s The Zoo Story, Le Roi Jones’s Dutchman and Adrienne Kennedy’s Funnyhouse of a Negro. This issue has been addressed through three major phases. First, the focus has been placed upon the socio-economic and racial injustices in the American society during the 1950s and 1960s. Second, as a direct consequence of the socio-economic disparity, the alienation experienced by the plays’ central characters has been analyzed in the light existentialism. Third, the very absurdity of the characters’ interaction has been interpreted in terms of the characters’ ironic pursuit for communication. Such ironic interaction has therefore been tackled from a mythical perspective calling forth Northrop Frye’s theory of archetypes, particularly the mythos of satire and irony. Hence, it has been concluded that the characters’ failed communication is brought about by their ironic attack of their interlocutors’ fake personas.
    [Show full text]
  • The Slavic Vampire Myth in Russian Literature
    From Upyr’ to Vampir: The Slavic Vampire Myth in Russian Literature Dorian Townsend Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Languages and Linguistics Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences The University of New South Wales May 2011 PLEASE TYPE THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES Thesis/Dissertation Sheet Surname or Family name: Townsend First name: Dorian Other name/s: Aleksandra PhD, Russian Studies Abbreviation for degree as given in the University calendar: School: Languages and Linguistics Faculty: Arts and Social Sciences Title: From Upyr’ to Vampir: The Slavic Vampire Myth in Russian Literature Abstract 350 words maximum: (PLEASE TYPE) The Slavic vampire myth traces back to pre-Orthodox folk belief, serving both as an explanation of death and as the physical embodiment of the tragedies exacted on the community. The symbol’s broad ability to personify tragic events created a versatile system of imagery that transcended its folkloric derivations into the realm of Russian literature, becoming a constant literary device from eighteenth century to post-Soviet fiction. The vampire’s literary usage arose during and after the reign of Catherine the Great and continued into each politically turbulent time that followed. The authors examined in this thesis, Afanasiev, Gogol, Bulgakov, and Lukyanenko, each depicted the issues and internal turmoil experienced in Russia during their respective times. By employing the common mythos of the vampire, the issues suggested within the literature are presented indirectly to the readers giving literary life to pressing societal dilemmas. The purpose of this thesis is to ascertain the vampire’s function within Russian literary societal criticism by first identifying the shifts in imagery in the selected Russian vampiric works, then examining how the shifts relate to the societal changes of the different time periods.
    [Show full text]