Gogol's Story Research Articles

“Romantic” Poprishchin: History of the Concept of N.V. Gogol Story “Diary of a Madman”. Part 1

The article is devoted to the study of the hardest for interpretation N.V. Gogol’s works the “St. Petersburg” story “Notes of a Madman.” The diary of a hero going crazy presents the combination of the elements of madness, comedy, romantic alogism, authorial irony, satire and high tragic pathos that gives this work the character of an artistic riddle, the solution of which is possible only with the help of a consistent integrated approach. Numerous reminiscences in the work of images from world literature, contemporary journalism and artistic literature are examined in detail. The long-term observations of researchers on the poetics of Gogol’s story are summarized. A connection is established between “Notes of a Madman” and the poem “Dead Souls” and “Reflections on the Divine Liturgy.” Gogol’s polemic with European romanticism developed in this work is explored in detail. Gogol contrasts the playful “spirituality” of the romantics, which leaves a person to the mercy of imagination and subjective opinions, with a truly spiritual understanding of life, based on the Holy Scriptures and church tradition. The article is a continuation, based on new material, of a research work begun in 2022 – “German romantic V.G. Wackenroder and the 20th century: artistic foresight N.V. Gogol” (published in the collection of the IWL RAS “Literary process in Russia in the 18th–19th centuries. Secular and spiritual literature”). An attempt has been made to present a holistic concept of the work and a wide range of fruitful research thoughts in its interpretation. The work consists of fifteen sections: 1. Problems of interpretation of the story; 2. Background and history of the creation of “Notes of a Madman”; 3. “Soulful City” “Notes...”; 4. Idleness, bribery, threat of “scolding”; 5. Diktat of fashion, red tape; 6. Neglect of spiritual growth; 7. Vanity and the possibility of repentance; 8. From “Notes of a Madman” to “Dead Souls” and “Reflections on the Divine Liturgy”; 9. Pseudoculture; 10. “Donquixoticism”; 11. Cervantes and Ariosto; 12. The circle of romanticism: poetry, politics, philosophy, mysticism; 13. “Notes of a Madman” and romantic madness; 14. Poprishchin and music; 15. “Popular theology”. Eleven of the fifteen sections are presented in this publication. The continuation of the article and the list of references will be published in the next issue of the journal.

Visual Perception of Sound Images in Piano and Orchestral Music of "Vii" by Ukrainian Composers

The purpose of the article is to analyse the visual perception of sound images in the piano and orchestral music “Vii” by Ukrainian composers (I. Aleksiychuk, M. Verykovskyi, V. Hubarenko, A. Rodin, S. Yarunskyi). The research methodology is based on the use of the following methods: analytical – to analyse the piano music using logical abstractions in the study of R. Arnheim’s works; historical – to draw parallels with different incarnations of “Vii's” sound images; generalising – to update and specify the basic information about piano and orchestral music “Vii”. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that the analysis of piano and orchestral music “Vii” by Ukrainian composers from the point of view of visual perception of sound images is conducted for the first time. Conclusions. Based on R. Arnheim's definitions of visual perception from the point of view of psychology of creativity, piano suite based on the novel “Viy” by Iryna Aleksiichuk is analysed in comparison with other works of the same name: M. Verykivskyi, V. Hubarenko, O. Rodin, S. Yarunskyi. The use of fragmentary musicological and comparative analysis allowed us to state that composers' decisions in embodying the images of Gogol's novel "Viy" depend on time (M. Verykivskyi, V. Hubarenko) and creative comprehension, previous experience, and means of musical expression. The idea of Gogol's story is embodied in all works under this title in a similar way. Therefore, the visual perception of the audience is guided by the title of the source and the motifs, and the interpretation of the images depends on the experience of the recipients. The plot of the story in the musical and theatrical genres (M. Verykivskyi, V.Hubarenko) fits quite clearly into the libretto. In the ballet by O. Rodin – R. Poklitaru, the events are transferred to a timeless space. S. Yarunskyi's mystery-buff recounts the events of the story and synthesises the music and video sequences of the film of the same name (1967). The means of musical expression used to present images based on Gogol's story in different genres are quite similar. I. Aleksiychuk's suite is dominated by dissonant melodic and harmonic complexes. The titles of the pieces suggest that Gogol's story is reproduced in the sequence of the original source. Musical works by Rodin and S. Yarunskyi show similarity in the use of dissonant means of expression. Since M. Verykivskyi’s work is represented exclusively by the aria of Pannochka, the melodic and harmonic constructions here are classical-romantic. V. Hubarenko's opera-ballet is a unique combination of genres and embodiment of images: realistic ones in the opera numbers, mystical and fantastic ones in the ballet. Key words: piano music, orchestral music, academic musical art, psychology of visual perception in the works of R. Arnheim, programme music, ensemble performance, Vii, sound image, Ukrainian composers.

Mysterious and Mythological Foundations of Ukrainian Musical Theatre of the 19th Century (based on the work of S. Gulak-Artemovsky and M. Lysenko)

The purpose of the study is to reveal the sacred and mysterious genesis and spiritual foundations of the classics of Ukrainian musical theatre, represented by the work of S. Gulak-Artemovskyi and M. Lysenko. Research methodology. Interdisciplinary, historical-cultural, genre-stylistic approaches were essential for this work. The scientific novelty of the work is determined by its analytical perspective, which takes into account not only the originality of the creative contribution of S. Gulak-Artemovskyi and M. Lysenko, but also the spiritual and mysterious genesis of their opera heritage. Conclusions. The poetics of the Ukrainian musical theatre was formed against the background of the traditions of the baroque school theatre, the genre specifics of which went back to the Byzantine ritual and cult practice and liturgical drama in combination with the mythological and archetypal instructions of the Ukrainian national consciousness. The classics of Ukrainian opera of the 19th century, represented in the work of S. Gulak-Artemovskyi and M. Lysenko, inherit this theatrical-mysterial and ethical-didactic basis in the cultural-historical realities of its era. “Zaporozhets by the Danube” within the comic genre highlights the archetypal features of the Zaporozhian Cossack type, as well as the mythologem of the “search for paradise”. Against the background of the poetics of the historical-heroic opera, this problem is presented in “Taras Bulba” by M. Lysenko, which creates an author's version of Gogol's story with obvious parallels with the biblical theme and an appeal to the dominant bass timbre, which genetically descended from the Orthodox cult singing practice. M. Lysenko's children's operas at the level of mini-mysteries symbolise involvement in national mythology and its archetypal instructions, an appeal to the Ukrainian mysterious Universe through the author's “cosmological fairy tale”.
 Key words: Ukrainian musical theatre, school theatre, mystery, interlude, S. Gulak-Artemovsky's “Zaporozhets by the Danube”, musical theatre by M. Lysenko.

«Девтеро-гоголевское»: Н.В. Гоголь, О.М. Сомов и история двух статей в «Северной пчеле»

An unknown fact of “deutero-author's” (“second-author's”) publications of two ethnographic notes by N.V. Gogol from his handwritten “Book of all sorts of things, or the handy Encyclopedia” (1826–1830) is introduced into scientific circulation. The publications appeared in 1832, anonymously, in three issues of F.V. Bulgarin’s newspaper “Northern Bee”. It is proved that the articles were published not by Gogol himself, but by his fellow countryman and friend, the writer O.M. Somov, with whom the writer then not only communicated, but also shared ethnographic materials. It is established that the content of the articles exactly corresponds to Gogol’s notes “On the Little Russian weddings” and “Little Russian legends, customs, rituals” in his “Book of all sorts of things...”. In addition to articles from Gogol's notebook, entitled “Observations in the Fatherland. Little Russians Wedding Ceremonies” and “Popular Beliefs. Mermaids” in the newspaper, several unknown publications by O.M. Somov in “Northern Bee” are revealed. In 1832, the newspaper published two of his stories: “Organist Tomasz”, “Dancers on the Rope”, as well as a translation of a fragment from “Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft” by W. Scott (1830), entitled “The Story of a Free Spirit-Seer”. The possible influence of “Organist Tomash” on the creation of Gogol's story “Taras Bulba” is noted. The study of Somov's journalistic activities as an employee of “Northern Bee” replenishes the history of the lifetime publications of Gogol's texts and opens a new page in the communication of two compatriot writers.

ОСОБЕННОСТИ ИНСЦЕНИРОВОК АСИ ВОЛОШИНОЙ: «ШИНЕЛЬ ГОГОЛЯ»

The paper deals with the problem of translating a classical epic text into the language of drama. Based on the material of the plays of Asya Voloshina, it is proved that the modern playwright enters into a dialogue with his predecessor in order to see the classics in the context of the "big time". In the play "Gogol's Overcoat", the text of the original source is presented as part of the St. Petersburg text. The latter discovers new meanings of Gogol's story.

Interpretation of Gogol’s works on the puppet theater stage (based on the spectacle by Oksana Dmitrieva «May night, or Moonlight Witchcraft»)

Interpretation of Gogol’s works on the puppet theater stage (based on the spectacle by Oksana Dmitrieva «May night, or Moonlight Witchcraft»)

Мотивы древнегреческой мифологии в повести Гоголя Вий

The facts of Gogol's appeal to the models of classical forms of myth and ritual are interesting not only by themselves but also in the aspect of their relationship with the arsenal of Christian mythology. The fundamental point here is that in light of the historical interpretation of the myth and the Revelation by F. W. J. Schelling, the mythology since its initial stage organically developed to Christianity, to the truths of Revelation (as the historical movement “flowed” into them). The symbolic complex of the story Vij, interlacing with Eros and Thanatos, allows parallels to the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice since in the case of the story Vij and in the case of myth, the motive of prohibition on sight also holds. The philosopher (i.e. the poet in the archaic and romantic notion) Homa Brut comes into contact with the world of death not of his own free will, besides, the panicle Eurydice died because of him. Orpheus partakes of the Dionysian sacraments. A visit to Orpheus of hell equated him, in Christian understanding, with Christ. In Gogol's story Vij, Dionysus and Christ have implicitly come together. The motive of the story Vij for blindness is related to Oedipus's self-blindness motive. Mythological Erinnes, persecuted by Oedipus, are old women, which correlates with one of the chthonic incarnations of the plaque, thereby drawing closer to the goddesses of revenge, punishment, and remorse of conscience. The fact of the final recognition of Oedipus as “holy” is reflected in the potential Christian semantics of the image of Homa as a martyr and passion-bearer. As the winner of the witch, the deliverer of people from her misfortunes and the passion bearer Homa is a Christian ascetic. Against the background of Christian parallels, the second stay of Homa on the farm becomes as if his “second coming”, symbolically comparable to the expected second coming of Christ, who is coming all the time. The terrible glance of Vij and pannochka certainly reminds of the slaying glance of Medusa Gorgon, which forced all living things to petrify. There is pathos of fighting tyranny in ridding the farm from the witch by Homa. Although Homa defends himself first of all in the beating scene, the general social meaning of his action is obvious. The power of the pannochka (she is the daughter of a wealthy sotnik), who for some reason considers himself pious, is not only socio-political but, in the main, existential-anthropological, this domination over man as a species, over man as such. The motives of ancient Greek and in general pagan mythology are closely intertwined in Gogol's story with Christian motives, which formed the unique spiritual and aesthetic synthesis of the story Vij.

Gothic tradition in N. V. Gogol's story “Portrait” (on the example of the works by G. Walpole, W. Irving, W. Scott, E. Poe)

The article is devoted to studying of Gothic tradition influence in the N.V. Gogol’s story "Portrait". The use of a typological approach allowed the author to identify some parallels not clearly outlined in scientific literature, between N. Gogol's short story "Portrait" and G. Walpole's novel "The Castle of Otranto", the short stories "The Adventure of the Mysterious Picture" by V. Irving, "The Tapestried Chamber, or The Lady in the Sacque" by V. Scott, and "The Oval Portrait" by E.A. Poe. As a result of a comparative analysis of these texts, the author of the article identifies the narratological techniques for creating an atmosphere of terror and horror, characteristic for Gothic literature, as well as the motifs of mystery, birth curse, retribution and a living portrait. The study also emphasizes the difference in the use of elements of Gothic poetics in terms of the evolution of the genre, from the emergence of the genre canon in G. Walpole's novel "The Castle of Otranto" to travesty in W. Irving's story by W. Irving "Mysterious portrait." Special attention is paid to the analysis of the motif of the living portrait, which is a plot-forming for all the considered works, which allows us to trace its transformation. In all works, the motif of the living portrait performs a story-forming function. In G. Walpole's novel the motif of a living portrait is closely connected with the motif of retribution. In the stories of W. Irving and W. Scott, this motif is a manifestation of the supernatural, Gothic element expressing the escapist nature of such literature. In the story of E.A. Poe the motif of the living portrait becomes ontological, which brings it closer to the story of Gogol. This study concludes that the connection of Gogol's "Portrait" with Gothic tradition was not with any certain representatives of it, but was typological in nature. The author of the article focuses on Gogol's creative reinterpretation of the Gothic tradition, which led the writer to artistic discoveries in the field of poetics.

BAROQUE AND ICONIC ECPHRASIS IN GOGOL'S "TARAS BULBA"

This article discusses the tools verbalization European Baroque painting techniques and Old icons in the Gogol's story "Taras Bulba". Narrative functions of implicit ecphrasis investigated in connection problem relatedness Catholicism and Orthodoxy in the minds of Gogol at the beginning of the 1840s. The purpose of the article analyzes the ways of verbalization and features of non-attributed implicit ecphrasis in the second edition of Gogol's "Taras Bulba" reproducing Caravaggio painting style and Old icons. Method or the methodology of work : Among research material are Gogol's "Taras Bulba" in two editions, the European Baroque paintings and ancient Russian icons. Were applied structural-typological, structural, intertextual, hermeneutical methods. Results: We describe the correlation of ecphrasis in Gogol with referents: the paintings of Caravaggio and Honthorst , and Old Russian iconography . Found that ecphrasis descriptions that appear only in the edition of 1842 are not local segments of the text and form the entire text layers, actively organizing narrative, operating plot and composition. Hidden emplisit ecphrasis is the artistic code, extending the semantic space of the text , the text translation tool of religious and philosophical ideas of the author. Valuable contraposition of baroque and iconic ecphrasis in the story reflects not only the author's reflection on the problem of beauty , inner and outer, but also a reflection of their own style. Application area: The results of our study can be used for lectures on the history of Russian literature of the XIX century, the history of Russian and European culture, cultural studies, specialized courses and electives in the problem of interaction between different kinds of art, as well as material for interdisciplinary humanities research, including in school practice teaching literature and art history.

The Journey to the Underworld in Turgenev's ‘Bežin Lug’

In this much-anthologized story from the Zapiski okhotnika, Turgenev's sympathetic depiction of the peasantry is supported by a subtly-orchestrated symbolic structure. Allusions to the supernatural accentuate and then subvert the hunter-narrator's sense of the Russian people as an exotic other. This reading is supported by an analysis of a hitherto-unexplored link between ‘Bezhin lug’ and one of Gogol's stories from the Vechera na khutore bliz Dikan'ki. There has been much written about the positive influence of Gogol' on the author of the Zapiski okhotnika; but Turgenev's references to ‘Sorochinskaia iarmarka’ make it clear that he is taking his mentor as a negative example. His use of the supernatural to accentuate the peasants' humanity contrasts with its application by Gogol' for precisely the opposite aim.

Coming Home to Homer: Gogol's Odyssey

In V. V. Veresaev's encyclopedic compendium of Gogoliana, Gogol' v iizni, one anecdote stands out in its brilliant encapsulation of Gogol's problematic engagement with all things Classical. It is a story taken from V. N. Repnina's 1890 account of Gogol's life: Foronib paccKa3bIBan', 'TO B HexKHHCKOM rHnee 6buI y HHX npoceccop rpexiecKOrO M3bIKa, rpeK /H. H. Heponec/. OH InHTaI CTyJeHTaM FoMepa, KOToporO HHKTO H3 HHX He HOHHMaRI. UHpOrMTaB HeCKOJIbKO CTpOK, OH HOJHOCHJ ABa naJabla KO pTy, meJIKHeT H, OTBOJR flnaJblbI, rOBOpHT: xIyJecHO!-C CHJIbHbIM rpexIeCKHM BbIrOBpOM. HOTOM, npOIrTaB O KaKOM-TO cpaxeHHH, OH nepeBen rpexecKHi TeKCT CJIOBaMH: OHH OJIO)KHJIH )KHBOTHKH CBOH Ha HOXCHKH, H BeCb Knacc pa3pa3HJICn rpOMKHM CMexOM. TorAa npo eccop cKa3aJi: Ho-pyccKH 3TO CMeIlHO, a no-rpeiecKH OIeHb )KaJIKO.9' This anecdote from Gogol's less than prodigious secondary school career possesses for all its brevity a bit of that sly and sudden pathos which so often surfaces in Gogol's stories. In the end, after all, the joke turns unexpectedly to one of Gogol's lifelong dilemmas: how to translate the epic tradition into Russian without it becoming inadvertently comic-the butt, as it were, of schoolboy snickers. The problem was not translation in the literal sense (for Gogol could hardly claim, with V. K. Kjuxel'beker, that Homer in the original was son pain quotidien2), but rather a matter of finding a way of translating the cultural and spiritual resonance of the epic mode into Gogol's peculiar idiom, a task at which the writer failed repeatedly, but in, of course, the most splendid way.3 The adult Gogol would continually find himself in the awkward position of the teacher who cannot find a way to translate epic glories into a suitably lofty language, i.e., one strong enough to escape the deadly undertow of the comic. Yet it was terribly important to Gogol that Russia be at in the epic tradition, and indeed, he believed that epic models could serve as a beacon to Russia in its search for a way home to the great national destiny of the Orthodox Slavs. He greeted Zukovskij's translation of the Odyssey (1842-1848, published 1849) with great pleasure, although we cannot be certain that he ever actually read it all the way through.4 In an

Correspondence of Literary Text and Musical Phraseology in Shostakovich's Opera the Nose and Gogol's Fantastic Tale

The adaptation of literary texts to music, especially when it takes place between such genres as drama and opera, poem and art song and often prose and opera, offers ample material for comparative studies on literature and music. The present study will examine problems related to the adaptation of the literary text to music in Dmitrii Shostakovich's opera The Nose (Nos). We will attempt to find out what, if any, influences of the literary and other artistic trends of the time had been exerted on the opera's conception and realization. This will involve the comparative analysis of (1) literary-linguistic and musical phraseology; (2) the literary source text as it corresponds to the musical text in terms of its textual implications; and (3) the correlations of aesthetic values in the source text and in its musical adaptation that reflect the artistic historical process. The case selected is the beginning of Act I of Shostakovich's opera Nos and the corresponding section of Nikolai Gogol's story of the same name. Such an analysis requires the examination of the complex circumstances which surround the making of an opera, that is, the literary, musical and aesthetic climate of the times as well as the personality of the composer himself. Shostakovich's opera Nos, written in 1928, was first staged in January 1930 in the Leningrad Maly Opera Theater. The American musical historian Nicholas Slonimsky describes the circumstances accompanying the first performance:

REVIEWS OF BOOKS

Journal Article REVIEWS OF BOOKS Get access Gogolian Interludes: Gogol's Story ‘Christmas Eve’ as the Subject of the Operas by Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov. By Philip Taylor. pp. iv + 264. ( Collets, London & Wellingborough, 1984, £13.50.) JOHN WARRACK JOHN WARRACK Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Music and Letters, Volume 67, Issue 2, April 1986, Pages 199–200, https://doi.org/10.1093/ml/67.2.199 Published: 01 April 1986

Operski opus Stanojla Rajičića

Operski opus Stanojla Rajičića