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 A.M.GORKY INSTITUTE OF WORLD LITERATURE
OF THE RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Povarskaya 25A, bld. 1, 121069 Moscow, Russia
fedor@dostmirkult.ru

ISSN 2619-0311 (Print)
ISSN 2712-8512 (Online)

Gogol’s Comedies as a Literary Cycle

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  • Author: Igor A. Vinogradov
  • Information about the author:

    DSc in Philology, Director of Research, A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Povarskaya St., 25A, bld. 1, 121069 Moscow, Russia.

    https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9151-4554

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  • For citation:

    Vinogradov, I. A. “Gogol’s Comedies as a Literary Cycle.” Dostoevsky and World Culture. Philological journal, no. 3 (31), 2025, pp. 203–265. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22455/2619-0311-2025-3-203-265
  • Received: 26 Mar. 2025
  • Approved after reviewing: 15 Aug. 2025
  • Published: 25 Sept. 2025
  • Issue: 2025 no. 3 (31)
  • Department: DOSTOEVSKY: HIS READINGS
  • Pages: 203-265
  • DOI: Visit Website
  • EDN:

    https://elibrary.ru/QQGDRD
  • UDK: 821.161.1.0+82.0
  • BBK: 83.3(2Рос=Рус)
  • Publication Type: Research Article
  • Keywords: Gogol, comedies, dramatic scenes and fragments, literary cycle, concept of the game, axiology, mystification, prototypes, prototypes, hagiography, spiritual heritage.
  • Abstract: The article is devoted to the cycle of Gogol's works of art, united in 18A2 by the author in the last volume of the first lifetime collection of works in four volumes. Unlike the carefully studied four previous literary and artistic cycles of Gogol (three collections Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka, Mirgorod, Arabesques, a collection of "urban" stories, published together in 1842 under the general title Stories), the last Gogol cycle, which received the laconic title of Comedies in the Collected Works of Nikolay Gogol, remains, as before, as a holistic phenomenon, a real terra incognita. It is proved that from the point of view of the unity of the cycle, the common content inherent in all dramatic works placed in 1842 under one cover, lies in a stable motif for all the writer's work, which in dramaturgy received the most complete and finished expression. All Gogol's comedy are united by the theme of dishonest, roguish play. This motif embraces all the comedies and dramatic fragments of the volume, each time refracting anew in one or another concept. The characters of The Government Inspector play a fraudulent game with the government. The craft of the characters of The Gamblers lies in the roguish game with society. A "winning" marriage is the desired object of the characters of the eponymous "wedding comedy" (as well as The Government Inspector and the dramatic Fragment - Scenes from High Life). Like The Gamblers, the heroes of Marriage also strive to "outplay" each other, having received, without much effort, either a new social status (moving from a merchant's rank to a noble one), or a rich dowry. In Fragment, The Government Inspector, Marriage the theme of the game of egos is also raised: awards, titles, ranks, fortunes, the very way of life. The referee and card "game" is depicted in the dramatic scenes The Morning of a Businessman and Lawsuit. The "game" also unfolds in The Servants' Room, where lazy, idle servants deceive the master and, like merchants striving to become nobles, also copy the habits of the idle "high society." The motif of the game is widely presented in the final work of the volume (and the final dramatic "article" of the entire collection): the play Theatrical Passage after the Performance of a New Comedy, where a discussion of various stage "rogues" unfolds. All of life, presented by Gogol in a critical light, appears in his dramatic works as a vast "card table" at which the "players"-philistines deceive each other, catching their advantage, and forming in totality the social phenomenon of the "cheating land." Gogol's authorial preferences (the depiction of a roguish game) are also reflected in his choice of plays for M.S. Shchepkin's benefit performances: two translated comedies that were not included in the volume of Gogol's original works, Sganarelle by Moliere and L'Ajo nell' imbarazzo by Giraud. The framework of the Gogol cycle, its encyclopedism, the history of its creation are outlined in detail; the problem of the cycle's perception by contemporaries and subsequent critics is mentioned. The issue of real and literary prototypes of the characters-players is considered (Count F.I. Tolstoy, P.G. Volkov, A.F. Kropotov, and negative images presented along with the description of the exploits of saints in Christian hagiography). There are numerous similarities between the plays and fragments of the cycle and Gogol's works of other genres: Taras Bulba, Dead Souls, etc.

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