The Kherson’s Landlord: the other space in Gogol’s Dead Souls Cover Image

«Херсонский помещик»: другое пространство в Мертвых душах Гоголя
The Kherson’s Landlord: the other space in Gogol’s Dead Souls

Author(s): Vladislav Krivonos
Subject(s): Human Geography, Semantics, Russian Literature, Theory of Literature
Published by: Vilniaus Universiteto Leidykla

Summary/Abstract: In this article the mechanism of generation of heterotopia in Gogol’s works is considered in connection with the peculiarities of spatial reasoning of the central hero of Dead Souls. This approach is dictated not by the external reference but by the artistic device of the poem, which alone can “testify about their properties” (A. P. Skaftymov). The article discusses the symbolic meaning and function of the plot of the relocation of dead souls to the Kherson province. Chichikov’s writing generates the representation of the reality, as a multilayer space takes the form of palimpsest. The fictional space if superimposed over the geographic space and geographical space emerges in the fictional space, engaging with them in the illogical connection. Resorting to writing every time to give the dead for the living, Chichikov behaves not only as their “buyer”, but as the “boss” of nothingness. The author argues that Gogol travesties the ideas of the “Greek project” of Catherine II, associated with the acquisition of the Crimea. Parodying the image the Crimea as “paradise on earth”, the Kherson Province plays the role of the “other” space in the symbolic structure of Dead Souls.

  • Issue Year: 57/2015
  • Issue No: 5
  • Page Range: 285-294
  • Page Count: 10
  • Language: Russian