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N. Gogol’s story “The Overcoat” in the receptive consciousness of the turn of the XX–XXI centuries. Article 1 // Tomsk State Pedagogical University Bulletin. 2024. Issue 4 (234). P. 136-145

The interest to Gogol’s literature heritage in the literature era of the XX–XXI centuries has been noted by many researchers. Literature scholars are actively introducing into scientific circulation the works of modern authors. They allow to raise the question of the place and role of Gogol’s heritage in the aesthetic search of the literature process of the turn of the XX–XXI centuries. The aim of the study is to analyze the functioning principles of the novel “The overcoat” and its system-forming image of a small man in the works of writers of the turn of the XX–XXI centuries. The novelty of the study lies, firstly, in the comprehension of the material that has not been previously analyzed, and secondly, in the reconstruction of the types, methods and function of the reception of the “overcoat text” in the literary era of the XX–XXI centuries. The works of modern authors were used as material: the chapter “Little Man Tetelin” from V. Makanin’s novel “The Underground or the Hero of Our Time” (1998). Makanin’s novel “The Underground, or the Hero of Our Time” (1998), stories by V. Petsukh “To Nikolai Vasilievich. Demonstration of Possibilities” from the collection “Plagiarism” (2001) and O. Slavnikova’s “CHANEL No. 5” (2009). The selected works belong to different aesthetic and genre forms and the point of convergence between them is their dialogical reinterpretation of the stylistic system of the novel “The Overcoat”, built on the combination of two modes of narration – “mimicry of grief” and “mimicry of laughter” (B. Eichenbaum). It is proved that the stylistic organization of the narrative principles of the novel “The overcoat” has a modeling effect on the works. All three selected authors use direct quotation allusion to the text of Gogol’s novel. The “overcoat plot” is projected by V. Makanin and V. Petsukh to comprehend the fate of the Soviet intelligentsia in the post-soviet realities. The writers record and comprehend the spiritual degradation aand grinding f the Soviet intellectual as a social and anthropological type. O. Slavnikova’s principles of transformation of the “overcoat plot” are connected with the reflection on the ontological value and self-sufficiency of the individual, which are lost in the situation of blurring the boundaries between the material and the ideal, man and thing. The human deformation discovered and explored by Slavnikova is thought of as an unmotivated fundamental property of the world. All three authors are characterized by the actualization of Gogol’s laughter, where the comic and the tragic coexist.

Keywords: N. V. Gogol, “Overcoat”, little man, V. Makanin, V. Pietsukh, O. Slavnikov

N. Gogol’s story “The Overcoat” in the receptive consciousness of the turn of the XX–XXI centuries. Article 2 // Tomsk State Pedagogical University Bulletin. 2024. Issue 6 (236). P. 123-132

The role and place of Gogol’s heritage in the literary process at the turn of the 20th–21st centuries are one of the pressing issues in modern Gogol studies. The works of modern authors are introduced into the scientific field, which make it possible to identify the mechanisms of dialogue, appropriation and development of the Gogol tradition. And this determines the research interest in this issue. The purpose of the study is to identify and consider the semantics and function of the image of a little man, genetically dating back to the image of Gogol’s Bashmachkin, and the accompanying plot elements in the works of writers at the turn of the 20th–21st centuries. The novelty of the research is ensured, firstly, by the analysis of artistic material that has not previously been introduced into scientific circulation, and secondly, the semantics and function of the “overcoat text” in the artistic structure of specific works of the literary era of the 20th–21st centuries are revealed. The works of modern authors were used as material: the stories by E. Chizhova “Nyutochkin’s House” (2008) and E. Dolgopiat “The Victim” (2015), M. Bogayev’s play “Bashmachkin” (2003). The selected works belong to different aesthetic and genre forms and the point of convergence between them is their dialogical reinterpretation of the narrative elements of the story’s artistic system based on mystical and religious traditions. The works actualize interest in Gogol’s narrative principles of the novel, built on the harmonious “translation” of the ethical (the value system of religious-teacher culture) into the aesthetic. In E. Chizhova’s story “Nyutochkin’s House” the novella “The overcoat” is understood as a metaphor for the St. Petersburg text. The plot of the protagonist in its semantic two-layeredness, socio-historical and biblical-mythological, appears as an eternal St. Petersburg plot, which is a part of the general mythological semiosphere of the St. Petersburg text. In O. Bogayev’s play, the reception of the fantastic finale of the novel “The overcoat” is rewritten using elements of the poetics of the theater of the absurd and it is focused on the problem of the moral choice of the hero, who assumes the role of the initiator of the Last Judgment. In the story by E. Dolgopyat, the reception of the plot episodes of the story “meeting with a significant person” and “punitive fantastic ending” actualizes and transforms the understanding of the theme of the social world and the social individual, which do not correspond to the ethical ideal.

Keywords: N. V. Gogol, “Overcoat”, E. Chizhova, “Nyutochkin House”, E. Dolgopyat, “Victim”, О. Bogaev, “Bashmachkin”