Publisher's Synopsis
This collection of essays sets out to explore the inner tensions in Nikolay Gogol's writings by a combination of textual and contextual analysis.;It is said that his writing can be viewed as serious or comic, as social criticism, religious allegory, psychological case study or verbal play.;The comedies "The Government Inspector" and "Marriage" are examined in relation to the popular contemporary genre of vaudeville. Close readings are offered of stories from the "Mirgorod" and "Dikan'ka" collections, "Dead Souls", "The Nose" and "Diary of a Madman".;Finally, Gogol is viewed in a twentieth century context, in connection with Andrey Bely's symbolist novel "The Silver Dove" and with the Soviet playwright and novelist Mikhail Bulgakov.
