Gogol as a dualist

Discuss this comment in the context of at least two of the stories studied

Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol was born at Mirgorod (Ukraine) in 1809. Born in the provinces of Russia, Gogol always considered himself a provincial writer; indeed his early work (Evenings on a farm near Dikanka-published in 1831/1832) is mainly concerned with the rural idyll and superstitions of provincial life.

In 1828, Gogol moved to St Petersburg and became acquainted with Alexander Pushkin, who encouraged Gogol’s literary ambitions. At this point in time, Russia was under the rule of Nicholas I- a czar who censored subversive ideas. The years 1831 through to 1836 was Gogol’s most prodigious period and helped him to establish his literary reputation.

In 1842, Gogol published his collected works; from this point on Gogol’s health in body and mind deteriorated rapidly until February 1852 when he starved himself to death-his last wish being for all of his work to be destroyed.

Diary of A Madman is a metatextual piece of work- it is a book that is concerned mainly with writing and one of the more humorous episodes in the book is where Poprischin begins to critique the letters from the dogs.

Written in 1842, The Overcoat was Gogol’s last short story. It tells of how ‘Akaky Akakievich’ experiences an almost spiritual transformation when he buys a new overcoat. Akaky can be seen as the anti-hero, he is a downtrodden little man and indeed his name in the Greek form (Akakia) means guileless, innocence and simplicity. With the advent of his new coat, Akaky becomes more masculine:

“And did you know that the Dhey of Algiers has a wart right under his

Gogol wrote through the medium of short stories and his stories were comedical although grotesque. His dualistic universe of humour and the supernatural horror complement each other to produce a genre that is entirely of Gogol’s own making.

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