Description
Book SynopsisThis innovative study of one of the most important writers of Russian Golden Age literature argues that Gogol adopted a deliberate hybrid identity to mimic and mock the pretensions of the dominant culture.
Trade Review"This innovative, multidisciplinary study of the life and work of Nikolai Gogol (1809–52) explores his complex identity as a nineteenth-century writer of Ukrainian origin who contradictorily achieved world renown as an icon of Russian literature." -- K. Rosneck, University of Wisconsin-Madison *
CHOICE *
"Her approach is necessarily and wonderfully multidisciplinary, and one fully expects that Nikolai Gogol will appeal to scholars of Russian and Ukrainian literature, ethnicity and nationalism, and critical theory and the digital humanities in Slavic studies for years to come." -- Nicholas Kupensky, US Air Force Academy *
H-Net Reviews *
"Ilchuk’s exploration of Gogol’s hybrid identity and language raises fascinating questions and provides profound insights, and her book is a valuable contribution to Gogolian scholarship. The issues and questions she raises provide fertile ground for additional scholarship, and that is a mark of a genuinely significant book." -- Michael R. Kelly, Brigham Young University *
Slavic Review *
“It is hard to think what more this book could do. Devoted to the topic of identity in its dizzying complexity, it is theoretically sophisticated, clearly and engagingly written, methodologically bold, and rich in detail. Ultimately Ilchuk’s aim, in the best spirit of the theorists whose ideas she mobilizes, is not only to provide an objective analysis of an oeuvre, idiom, and life, but also to show its positive generative potential. She succeeds.” -- Timothy Langen, University of Missouri *
Modern Language Review *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Note on Transliteration List of Illustrations Introduction 1. The Negotiation of Ukrainian Identities in the Russian Empire 2. Gogol’s Self-Fashioning and Performance of Identity in the 1830s 3. Hybrid Language and Narrative Performance in Evenings on a Farm Near Dikan′ka 4. Heteroglossia, Speech Masks, and the Synthesis of Languages 5. Gogol’s Texts as Palimpsest: Taras Bulba and Dead Souls 6. The Posthumous Publications and Translations of Gogol’s Texts Afterword Notes Appendix Bibliography Index
