SEELANGS: Gogol as Realist

Wed Jan 21 21:06:10 UTC 2009

My guess (and I am not a Gogol' specialist) that the vision of 
Gogol'-the-realist in 1902 should have been rather disconcerting. 
At least in the eyes of some other specialists in Russian 
literature.  In his "Istoriia noveishei literatury" (1903), 
Skabichevskii, for example, makes the following statement: "Gogol' 
iavliaetsia vovse ne odnim iz tekh novatorov, kotorye vvodiat 
nechto sovershenno do nikh nebyvaloe. On povinovalsia lish' 
obshchemu techeniiu razvitiia sovremennoi emu literatury i 
predstavliaet odnu iz stupenei ee spuska iz zaoblachnykh vysot na 
pochvu deistvitel'nosti. [...] Gogol' nachal dobivat'sia 
osmysleniia svoego tvorchestva ne putem usvoeniia peredovykh 
evropeiiskikh idei svoego veka, a nravstvennym samouglubleniem, i 
zaputalsia v labirintakh mistiko-asketicheskikh umstvovanii."

On Wed Jan 21 15:46:41 EST 2009, Kirsty McCluskey 
<kirsty.mccluskey at GMAIL.COM> wrote:

> Thanks to both of you.  That does make a great deal of sense in 
> the context
> of the time and place and of Trotsky's self-identification at 
> that time.
> 
> My query arises because I was well aware of earlier critics' 
> attitude to
> Gogol, but the Realist label seemed a little disconcerting still 
> given both
> Gogol's talent for absurdity and the young Trotsky's predilection 
> - in that
> same article - for accusing Gogol of being out of touch with 
> reality!  But
> the contradiction there is entirely Trotsky's.  He seems to be 
> clinging to
> Belinskii and Herzen while evolving towards a socialist 
> standpoint on
> "bourgeois" literature something akin to that of Literature and 
> Revolution.
> 
> Before I ramble on further about Trotsky, thanks again for your 
> kind answers
> to my rather obvious question.
> 
> Best wishes, Kirsty
> 
> On Wed, Jan 21, 2009 at 5:35 PM, Valentino, Russell <
> russell-valentino at uiowa.edu> wrote:
> 
>> The best treatment of the dueling visions of Gogol (humanist, 
>> realist,
>> enlightener vs. explorer of the dark recesses of the human 
>> psyche, etc.) is
>> in Fanger's Creation of Nikolai Gogol. The Soviet (1950s) statue 
>> of the
>> upright, book in hand figure proclaiming the truth of Tsarist 
>> oppression is
>> in keeping with the realist line, so Trotsky's version of it 
>> from 1902 is
>> not suprising.
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures 
>> list
>> [mailto:SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of Kirsty McCluskey
>> Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2009 2:04 PM
>> To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
>> Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] SEELANGS: Gogol as Realist
>> 
>> Many thanks - I certainly did not expect Trotsky to be original 
>> (at least
>> at
>> that stage in his career).  So it makes sense that he must have 
>> got it from
>> somewhere!  He references Belinskii extensively, of course.
>> 
>> Kirsty
>> 
>> On Wed, Jan 21, 2009 at 4:59 PM, Andrey Shcherbenok 
>> <avs2120 at columbia.edu
>> >wrote:
>> 
>> > If I am not mistaken, Gogol was proclaimed the father of the 
>> so-called
>> > "Natural School" by Belinsky; "Natural School", in its turn, 
>> was often
>> > understood as realism par excellence (their manifest was 
>> "Fisiologia
>> > Peterbugra", a collection of ethnographic essays of the city). 
>> Thus,
>> > Trotsky
>> > is not very original here. Later on, the main Soviet work of 
>> Gogol's
>> > realism
>> > is Gukovsky's "Realism Gogolia", written in the 1940s, if I am 
>> not
>> > mistaken.
>> >
>> > Best,
>> > Andrey
>> >
>> >
>> > -----Original Message-----
>> > From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and 
>> Literatures list
>> > [mailto:SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of Kirsty McCluskey
>> > Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2009 2:53 PM
>> > To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
>> > Subject: [SEELANGS] SEELANGS: Gogol as Realist
>> >
>> > Hello all
>> >
>> > I am currently polishing up a commented translation of a very 
>> early
>> article
>> > by Trotsky, published in 1902 to commemorate the 50th 
>> anniversary of
>> > Gogol's
>> > death.  Throughout the piece, Trotsky consistently refers to 
>> Gogol as a
>> > Realist; indeed, as the Father of the Realist School.  As one 
>> who knows
>> > Trotsky somewhat better than I know Gogol studies (although I 
>> know
>> Gogol's
>> > output well), this strikes me as an odd descriptor.
>> >
>> > I wonder, can anyone tell me whether this is consistent with 
>> contemporary
>> > views on Gogol?  Did the great minds of 1902 indeed see Gogol 
>> not only as
>> a
>> > Realist, but as *the* Realist?
>> >
>> > Best wishes
>> > Kirsty McCluskey
>> >
>> > --
>> > http://kirstyjane.wordpress.com
>> >
>> > Vulpes Libris
>> > A collective of bibliophiles writing about books
>> > http://vulpeslibris.wordpress.com
>> >
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>> 
>> 
>> --
>> http://kirstyjane.wordpress.com
>> 
>> Vulpes Libris
>> A collective of bibliophiles writing about books
>> http://vulpeslibris.wordpress.com
>> 
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> 
> 
> 
> -- http://kirstyjane.wordpress.com
> 
> Vulpes Libris
> A collective of bibliophiles writing about books
> http://vulpeslibris.wordpress.com
> 
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--
RYLKOVA,GALINA S

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