N.V. Gogol in the Artistic Consciousness of M.M. Zoshchenko

Abstract

The article studies literary reflection of N.V. Gogol’s creative activity, his biography and his personality in M.M. Zoshchenko’s works. Creating texts in the genre of a skaz novella, Zoshchenko appeals to his great predecessor, who became the founder of the Russian skaz tradition. The classical writer of the 20th century has «a dialogue» with some Gogol works, and their influence can be seen in Zoshchenko’s storylines and images throughout his texts. At the same time, in Zoshchenko’s early prose, textual coincidences with Gogol can have a parody and playful effect. Zoshchenko views Gogol’s personality both as an object of controversy and as a model for unconscious imitation. Zoshchenko’s controversial attitude towards Gogol is manifested in demythologizing the classical writer who is transformed from a creator of artistic reality into its part - a literary character. In his late works, Zoshchenko creates his own, in many ways autopsychological myth about Gogol which is associated with a feeling of tragic discord in his own person.