Instead of an Epilogue

from Gogol's Art : A Search for Identity by Laszlo Tikos

Gogol's Art was published in paperback in 1997 by Bati Publishers, PO Box 263, Leverett, MA 01054. (Price $15). You can reach the author at that address or by email at Tikos@slavic.umass.edu.

Permission is granted to make and distribute complete verbatim electronic copies of this text for non-commercial purposes provided the copyright information and this permission notice are preserved on all copies. All other rights reserved.

The book CD "Gogol and Russian Literature" is built around Gogol's Art: a Search for Identity by Laszlo Tikos, the best book ever written about Russia's most enigmatic and intriguing author. Nikolay Gogol (1809-1852) created a new direction in Russian letters, which was further developed in the 19th century by writers like Dostoyevsky and Rozanov, and in the 20th century by Bely, Bulgakov and Sinyavsky. In addition to Gogol's Art, this CD includes the full text of Dead Souls, Tara Bulba, The Inspector General, and St. John's Eve by Gogol, plus great books by Dostoeyevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov, Pushkin, Turgenev, Andreyev, Gorky, Kuprin, and Lermontov, plus works on Russian history, plus two "Country Studies" -- Russia and Belarus (birthplace of Gogol) -- which were originally published as printed books by the Library of Congress between 1987 and 1995. For details, see our online store http://store.yahoo.com/samizdat/russian.html

Instead of an Epilogue

 Every blade of grass grows and his happy: Everything has its own path, and everything know its path and with a song goes forth, and with a song returns. Only he knows nothing, and understands nothing, neither men nor sounds; he is outside of it all and an outcast. ( F.M.Dostoyevsky:The Idiot )

 It is not easy to establish paradise on earth, and you do seem to count on that a little; paradise is a difficult business, Prince, a great deal more difficult than it seems to your splendid heart . I think it better if we drop the subject, otherwise, we shall indeed get embarrassed again ...(F.M.Dostoyevsky:The Idiot )

 Gogol's influence on Russian as well as world literature is unquestionable. ¹ The significance of his creation had already been recognized during his lifetime. Yet, in casting about for an all overall assessment, many Gogol's critics have run into problems.In this work, I have undertaken to approach Gogol's art with the objective of defining his concept of svoe mesto, which I have translated as the somewhat awkward phrase, "one's own place", one's role with regard to God, one's understanding of the right way to conduct one's life within the context of the place in which one was born. The British notion of station comes closer than any other formulation of the idea. The svoe mesto in our understanding expresses an existentialist quandary over one's "real" situation, which manifests itself through the mixture of hilarious comedy and heart-rending tragedy which marks all of Gogol's works. Relying on the restorative effects of laughter heard through tears, Gogol's acknowledged mater, Pushkin, had formulated an approach to literature: The examples in Gogol's works are unforgettable: Akaki Akakievic's overcoat, the Mayor's quandary upon discovering the truth about Khlestakov, Chichikov stumped by Nozdryov's outrageous behavior and breath-taking lies, these and so many other incidents people the Gogolian stage. But an all-encompassing formula ² barely suffices to explain the seductive magic of Gogol's art and leaves his enigmatic personality a mystery. Indeed, the attempt to plumb his depths and to tear his creation apart threatens to destroy the magic of the trickster world he has conjured into being. For this reason, perhaps, Gogol remained reluctant to explain his intentions in the second and third volumes of Dead Souls -- perhaps even for this reason he destroyed the manuscripts. All his explanations resulted only in creating more mysteries. The example of another Russian writer who also wanted to be "useful" to his contemporaries is a case in point: Vladimir Mayakovsky bent over backwards to explain for the benefit of the masses "How to write poetry". He even produced a "homework example" in his "A Conversation with the Tax-Inspector about Poetry " ³ , in which he compared the poet's work to the tax-collector's, and reached the melancholic admission, permeated with irony, that writing poetry is a difficult and dangerous occupation which always requires hard work and mental involvement, producing, ultimately, a mystery. In the same manner, an assessment of the overall significance of Gogol's oeuvre is an elusive endeavor much like an attempt to assess the overall significance of nature, of green grass, of flowers, of fresh air. Significant in themselves, they are what they are, because we are what we are, and their significance is the same as our own significance. Gogol's art matters in a similar fashion. His hilariously funny images have become proverbial: the history teacher smashing the chairs in the classroom to prove his devotion to the greatness of Alexander the Great; " Major " Kovalev's waking up one morning and finding his nose missing; the many non-sequiturs, the topsy-turvy language, the unforgettable characters, the careful craftsmanship in the creation of a text which fuses folklore, borrowed motifs, anecdotes, autobiography, history, native and foreign influences into a canvas all his own -- these are what distinguish Gogol from the warp and woof of Russian writing of the Nineteenth century as a whole.

D. Fanger's formulation of the "missing qualities of things" in Gogol's world is particularly revealing for our attempt to define Gogol's concept of "one's own place". Other writers have formulated the existentialist unease differently. We have quoted Berthold Brecht's words:die Unzulaenghlichkeit menschlicher Verhaeltnisse " ⁴ -- words which sum up the inconsistencies in the human condition which lie at the heart of Gogol's own vision: -- Observations about the inadequate nature of the stuff of things, of life's vagaries, the contradictory implication of language -- these are Gogol's territory. So is his longing for remedies.Within the framework of the unattainable ideal move the creatures of his imagination in search of solutions, lured always by the "director's daughter", the "pannochka," the "Governor's daughter", in their various manifestations, always beyond the reach of the aspiring males. No matter that in their confusions they transform themselves into the " Spanish King " , the Savior of the wronged Poles, Andrei ( Taras Bulba's turncoat son ) or even Chichikov, the middle-aged and introspective schemer. Their elusiveness, coupled with a foreboding and heart-breaking agony, are the proof of their credibility. But when the older Gogol himself wanted to become the Spanish King, when he wanted to discover a panacea not just for himself but for all Russia and even for mankind, when he put forth "useful" suggestions as to how to be economical, religious, submissive, or commanding, depending on what was demanded by one's station, including, perhaps, even God -- then the credibility of his characters was put to the test: Gogol had convinced readers of his earlier stories that cause and effect have seldom stayed in a straight line, and that ultimately the tribulations generated in the search for one's own place must remain an enigma. Readers have long accepted his vision, believing the logic of Danilo, Katerina's husband in " The Terrible Vengence ", that since "dumplings were good Russian food as was vodka -- all the saints relied on them, too" -- and since Katherine's father did not like them, it was a sure sign that something was wrong. And lo and behold, the old man was a sorcerer ! Yet, the Prince's preaching about "duty" on the final pages of the fragment of Dead Souls' Volume II lacks credibility and smacks of moth-balled 18th-Century rationalism. Indeed, Gogol's failures lie in his efforts to concertize the impossible ideal, just as his triumphs are the fruit of his earlier perceptions that "our place" (svoe mesto ) is unattainable and the closer we get to it, the more it recedes into the distance.

But who are we to criticize? Who are we to give advice to Gogol --who, after all, is long since dead, though his message persists. Who are we to say that there is indeed, no Prince and that no unexpected Inspector General will appear on our doorsteps to call us to account for our "small sins"? And do we not stop short on hearing the Mayor's final outcry: "What are you laughing at: You are laughing at yourselves."

Gogol's significance goes beyond theories. He wrote in the conviction that his art represented the very personification of art's meaning, not to mention his belief that it must teach. He wrote passionately, caustically, to remind us that things are always meaningful in their mysterious way because they hold within themselves the dialectics of laughter and tears, of agony and ecstasy, of life and death -- the dual nature of our existence. Where then, is the real svoe mesto of our being? Gogol sees in the end that it is here and there and everywhere, and we come at last to accept the solution that Gogol himself discovered. Setting up always temporary residences, he lived his life as a "homeless" man, a bezdomnyj. ⁵ He was never, despite his longings, at home. Nor were his characters. Nor might be his readers, unless they open themselves to his laughter, to his dark perception of the possibilities for joy in this most precarious and comical existence which is the common lot of the humanity he so lovingly, so wrily observed.

Footnotes to Epilogue

1. Robert A. Maguire: Gogol from the Twentieth Century. op. cit. p. 1-54. Also: S. Fusco, P. Meyer: Essays on Gogol. Northwest University Press. 1992.

2. See: A. Terts: V teni Gogolya. op. cit. Chapter II: The turn of the "zolotoy klyuch" (the golden key). A Sinyavsky (Tertz) compares the Inspector General to an 18th c. music box, with a charming melody, wexquisite craftmanship, and delightful figurines, who dance the same dance over and over again, upon turning the "golden key."

3. V. Mayakovsky: How to Make Verse. Modern Russian Poets on Poetry. Ed. Carl Proffer, Ardis. 1975. pp. 103-145. Also: Dmitry Obolensky ed.: Heritage of Russian Verse, Indiana Univeristy Press, 1965. pp. 379.

4. Berthold Brecht: Die Dreigroschen Oper. op. cit.

5. As mentioned in the Introduction to this book, M. Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita uses this word to designate the hapless Soviet hack poet Bezdomny, who upon meetin ghte devil in Moscow can escape him only by findin his true identity!

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Epilogue, Bibliography

The book CD "Gogol and Russian Literature" is built around Gogol's Art: a Search for Identity by Laszlo Tikos, the best book ever written about Russia's most enigmatic and intriguing author. Nikolay Gogol (1809-1852) created a new direction in Russian letters, which was further developed in the 19th century by writers like Dostoyevsky and Rozanov, and in the 20th century by Bely, Bulgakov and Sinyavsky. In addition to Gogol's Art, this CD includes the full text of Dead Souls, Tara Bulba, The Inspector General, and St. John's Eve by Gogol, plus great books by Dostoeyevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov, Pushkin, Turgenev, Andreyev, Gorky, Kuprin, and Lermontov, plus works on Russian history, plus two "Country Studies" -- Russia and Belarus (birthplace of Gogol) -- which were originally published as printed books by the Library of Congress between 1987 and 1995. For details, see our online store http://store.yahoo.com/samizdat/russian.html

What do Balzac, Dumas, Flaubert, Tolstoy, Gogol, Machiavelli, Tasso, Luther, Ibsen, and Goethe have in common? They are all on the same World Literature CD with over 600 books, in plain text, with software that lets you listen as well as read.

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