Le regard de Gogol : du thème au concept

Abstract

Vision in Gogol's works :from theme to concept. The purpose of the present paper is to demonstrate that the complete writings of Gogol are closely related to the theme of vision and glance : not merely his literary fiction, as has been noted by literary critics (distant vision vs. close vision, which focuses on details, a lack in depth perception, the myth of all-seeing eyes, changing points-of-view in order to approach reality, etc., but equally all other forms of writing (letters, historical and philosophical essays and so on). In the latter writings this theme uses exactly the same words, just slightly metaphorized, serving as a heuristic function of concepts and as tools of knowledge. The theme of vision and the glance is likely the « etymon » (Leo Spitzer) of Gogol's complete works.