American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages

Idé og virkelighed i Gogol's kunst by Eigil SteffensenReview by: Pierre R. HartThe Slavic and East European Journal, Vol. 14, No. 1 (Spring, 1970), pp. 89-90Published by: American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European LanguagesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/306918 .

Accessed: 12/06/2014 21:11

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages is collaborating with JSTOR todigitize, preserve and extend access to The Slavic and East European Journal.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.58 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 21:11:41 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Reviews 89

Eigil Steffensen. Ide og virkelighed i Gogol's kunst. Kobenhavn: Gyldendal, 1967. 359 pp., 75 DKr.

To what degree can dejstvitel'nost' be equated with vidimost' in Gogol"s fiction? Two diametrically opposed critical attitudes have evolved in which this question is central. There are, on the one hand, those who presume that Gogol' was exclusively concerned with the faithful portrayal of Russian reality. The less extensively developed alternative approach was succinctly put by Valerij Brjusov in his 1909 study of Gogol', Ispepelennyj: "Although Gogol' attempted to be a conscientious portrayer of the life about him, he always remained a dreamer, a visionary, and in his works he essentially embodies only the ideal world of his visions." While such an interpretation demon- strates the particular kinship which the Symbolist generation felt for Gogol', it also suggests that Gogol' should be treated as an author responding to the idealist philo- sophical notions of his own generation.

Despite its attractiveness, this hypothesis has never provided the basis for a detailed analysis of Gogol"'s fiction. Steffensen's study is therefore a most welcome addition to the critical literature for it considers the whole body of the author's work from this viewpoint. Its title (in English translation, Idea and Reality in Gogol"'s Art) reflects the thesis that Gogol' continually sought to escape the confines of external reality and to offer in its place a convincing representation of an idyllic, subjectively perceived level of existence.

In his efforts to convey this vision through fiction, Gogol' used a variety of settings and techniques. The ostensibly folkloristic and historic themes evident in his early works are among the most positive representations of the ideal. Yet Gogol"s artistic integrity was sufficient to compel him to recognize the abstract, illusory quality of such idealizations. In fact, Steffensen maintains, the conflict between his drive to realize a spiritual utopia in fiction at any cost and the transparent falsity of each such attempt proved a constant torment to Gogol'.

Evidence for this conflict may even be found in the early Dikan'ka cycle. Steffensen deserves considerable credit for his convincing demonstration of an organic relation- ship between this cycle and Gogol"'s later works. The opinion, curiously shared by Nabokov and numerous Soviet critics, that these tales are simply bits of local color, is challenged by Steffensen's discussion of their unifying theme: the idyl which is subjected to the destructive threat of demonic forces. Only nominally external, these elements ultimately spring from the passions that determine much of human conduct. As Steffensen remarks: "The opposition between ideal (dream) and reality (existence) has a parallel in the contrast between thought and feeling, an opposition which seems to be of fundamental character for it runs like an important basic theme through all the author's works." Surrender to the forces of evil, leading to the destruction of the individual, is synonymous with the unrestrained development of the passions. Resistance and a concern for spiritual values seem to imply salvation. Even at this early point, Gogol' gives expression to pessimism. The obvious source of spiritual sustenance, the Church, plays a rather ambiguous role. Despite Danilo's firm Orthodox faith in A Terrible Vengeance, for example, it does not prevent him from being sacrificed for the sake of others' sins. The frequent triumph of evil in the Dikan'ka cycle cannot be dismissed as the mere exercise of- romantic literary convention for it presages similar conclusions in Gogol"'s later works.

While the external circumstances of the Petersburg tales distinguish them from the previous works, they are elaborations on many of the same themes. In Nevskij Prospekt, Gogol' introduces the parallel adventures of Piskarev and Pirogov in order to stress the incompatibility of the ideal and the real. Piskarev attempts to discover a reality which will conform to his dreams. When his first, idealized impressions of the

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.58 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 21:11:41 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

90 The Slavic and East European Journal

street walker are not substantiated, his only recourse is to completely retreat into narcotic inspired visions. In so doing, he provides further confirmation of the artist's dilemma. The substitution of an artistic fabrication for an unacceptable reality proves an escape rather than a solution. But the indiscriminate acceptance of the everyday, with all its vulgarity, is equally unsatisfactory as the characterization of Pirogov dem- onstrates. In Steffensen's analysis, the central problem is not conditioned by social and economic factors. Rather, the story should be treated as "a work of ideas in which the author's philosophy is primarily demonstrated through the characters."

Given this emphasis, the particulars of the urban environment assume a completely different function than they have in socially oriented critiques of the Petersburg stories. Rather than acting as the economic determinants of character behavior, they become the means for reflecting particular psychological conditions. Akakij Akakievic's newly aroused passion after he has acquired the overcoat is suggested through his response to a picture in a shop window. The sight of a bared foot attracts him while the picture itself, in which a woman has cast off a shoe (bas'mak), graphically reflects his con- tinuing sense of inadequacy. External detail thus provides an insight into the hero's problem which is defined as an inability to cope with passion.

Akakij's infatuation with his overcoat replaces the more rational concern for his official duties. Indeed, Steffensen maintains, the clerical position was initially conceived as the "ideal situation" for the Gogolian hero, allowing him to develop his own per- sonality while serving others. (Steffensen does admit that, in practice, the job is less stimulating than it might have been.) The obvious problem posed by this interpretation is one which also appears elsewhere in the book. It stems from a tendency to handle themes categorically, as though Gogol' had composed his works with the same rational consistency as his critic applies in the analysis. Although cognizant of Gogol"'s ambivalence toward the artist's role, Steffensen sometimes neglects to give the problem sufficient attention.

One of the most disconcerting lapses of this sort occurs in the discussion of Old World Landowners. The child-like relationship of Afanasij Ivanovi' to his wife serves to create "a nostalgic longing for the lost idyl of childhood." Whether one chooses to regard the story as social satire, a "retreat from love," or an "inverted eclogue," it is clear that the negative element is extremely important to the work and must be inte- grated into the analysis. Within the context of Steffensen's own analysis, it would have seemed appropriate to treat the story as another example of the falsely constructed idyl, this time destroyed by internal contradiction.

When viewed in the perspective of Steffensen's total accomplishment, however, such lapses do not appear major. Long the target of critics seeking a vehicle for developing their own philosophies, Gogol's works are here judged on their merits. It is regrettable that this study is not presently accessible to a wider audience. Steffensen's wish that it be translated into a major language deserves the immediate support of all those interested in the advance of Gogol' scholarship.

Pierre R. Hart, State University of New York at Buffalo

Daniel Gilles. Chekhov: Observer Without Illusion. Tr. by Charles Lam Markmann. New York: Funk & Wagnalls [c. 1968]. viii, 436, $10.00.

When a new biography of Cexov appears, the first question that arises is whether we need another account of his life; at least five already exist in English. Ernest Simmons' recent effort, Chekhov: A Biography (1962), had the virtue of containing a great deal

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.58 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 21:11:41 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions