- DOI:
- УДК / UDK: 821.161.1
- Issue:
- Abstract:
The paper is devoted to the study of Nikolai Gogol’s idea of the social and official status of the Mayor, the character of a “head official” in the satirical comedy The Government Inspector. So far Gogol’s view of his character as a raznochinets, a “mean plebeian”, who blemished his rank and position, hasn’t been considered by the scholars. In Gogol’s opinion, Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky, who started his career from the lowest position and acquired his rank and title of nobility with “hard service”, nevertheless hasn’t become a true nobleman because of his bribery and corruption. From this perspective, the character of the Mayor helps to better understand the purpose of Gogol’s satire. Both in The Government Inspector and The Gamblers, another Gogol’s play, that has much in common with his most famous comedy, the satire is not aimed at “those in power”, nor the “state machine”, but at all kinds of frauds and swindlers among officials. Critically examining the state administration in Russia, Gogol shows them through the eyes of a high-ranking, responsible official who takes the problem very much to heart. This point of view resonated with that of the Emperor Nicholas I: it took his personal intervention to have the play published and staged. The paper consists of five parts: 1. The Mayor’s career; 2. Character archetypes in The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforivich and The Government Inspector; 3. Characteristic features of an “average official” in Gogol’s works; 4. The Mayor as a liminal character; 5. Gogol’s use of satire. The paper is based on extensive factual material that allows to trace in detail the Mayor’s career and to specify Gogol’s idea of the comedy as a satiric play aimed at obnoxious saboteurs, both nobles and commoners, who subvert the royal power and the state with their unworthy behavior, who are unfit for the positions they occupy and unable to meet the requirements of the supreme authority. The milestones of the Mayor’s career clearly confirm Gogol’s words that “the government consists of us, we climb the career ladder and make up the government”, that “the occupant of the position is to be blamed, and he is our brother”, and that readers and should be able to find with themselves the faults satirized in the comedy. With utmost sincerity and acuteness Gogol advocates healing self and society, extirpation of vices without the hidden agenda of changing political regime. The paper for the first time considers the connection between two scenes (“Anna Andreevna and Maria Antonovna”. “Khlestakov and Rastakovsky”) published in 1841 and the idea of The Government Inspector.
- Keywords: Gogol, biography, works, interpretation, character typology, radicalism, conservatism, spiritual heritage.
- For citation:
Vinogradov Igor. The Mayor’s career in “The Government Inspector”. On Nikolai Gogol’s political views. Literaturnyi fakt, 2020, no. 1 (15), pp. 237 – 282.
DOI 10.22455/2541-8297-2020-15-237-282
- References:
Vinogradov I.A. “Delo, vziatoe iz dushi” [“Case taken from the soul”]. Gogol' N.V. Polnoe sobranie sochinenii i pisem: V 17 t. (15 kn.) [Complete works and letters, in 17 vols. (15 books)], comp., ed. and comment. I.A. Vinogradov, V.A. Voropaev. Moscow, Kiev, Moscow Patriarchy Publ., 2009, vol. 5, pp. 530 – 571. (In Russ.)
Vinogradov I.A. Gogol' v vospominaniiakh, dnevnikakh, perepiske sovremennikov. Polnyi sistematicheskii svod dokumental'nykh svidetel'stv: V 3 t. [Gogol in contemporaries' memoirs, diaries and correspondence. Full systematic set of documentary evidence, in 3 vols.]. Moscow, A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences Publ., 2011. Vol. 1. 904 с. (In Russ.)
Vinogradov I.A. Blazhenny mirotvortsy. Ot Povesti o ssore k zamyslu “Mertvykh dush” [Blessed are the peacemakers. From the Tale of the quarrel to the concept of “Dead Souls”]. Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. series 9: Philology, 2017, no. 3, pp. 7 – 18, no. 4, pp. 51 – 67. (In Russ.)
Vinogradov I.A. Letopis' zhizni i tvorchestva N.V. Gogolia (1809 – 1852): V 7 tomah [Chronicle of N.V. Gogol’s life and work (1809 – 1852), in 7 vols.], vol. 1, 2, 4, 6. Moscow, A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences Publ., 2017 – 2018. 736, 672, 704, 656 p. (In Russ.)
Vinogradov I.A. “Ogorchennye liudi” v tvorchestve N.V. Gogolia [“Grieving people” in N.V. Gogol’s works]. Problemy istoricheskoi poetiki, 2018, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 29 – 114. (In Russ.)
Vinogradov I.A. N.V. Gogol' v Odesse. Zabytye svidetel'stva sovremennikov (pis'mo protoiereia Anatoliia Korochanskogo i vospominaniia N.I. Savicha) [Gogol in Odessa. Forgotten testimonies of contemporaries (letter of Archpriest Anatoly Korochansky and memoirs of N.I. Savich)]. Literaturnyi fakt, 2019, no. 1 (11), pp. 403 – 415. (In Russ.)
Vinogradov I.A. Kniaz' V.F. Odoevskii, N.V. Gogol' i “Zhurnal Ministerstva Vnutrennikh Del”: K postanovke problemy [Prince V.F. Odoevsky, N.V. Gogol and the “Journal of the Ministry of Internal Affairs”: On the statement of the problem]. Literatura i filosofiia: Ot romantizma k XX veku. K 150-letiiu so dnia smerti V.F. Odoevskogo [Literature and philosophy: From Romanticism to the 20th century. On the 150th anniversary of V.F. Odoevsky’s death], ed. and comp. E.A. Taho-Godi. Moscow, Vodolei Publ., 2019, pp. 58 – 70. (In Russ.)
Vinogradov I.A. Evoliutsiia teksta: avtorskii kommentarii N.V. Gogolia k poetike komedii “Revizor” [The evolution of the text: N.V. Gogol’s comment on the poetics of the comedy “The Government Inspector”]. Problemy istoricheskoi poetiki, 2020, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 146 – 174. (In Russ.)
Gogol' N.V. Polnoe sobranie sochinenii i pisem: V 17 t. (15 kn.) Т. I/II, III/IV, V, VI, VII, IX, X, XII, XIV [Complete works and letters, in 17 vols. (15 books) . Vol. 1/2, 3/4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14], comp., ed. and comment. I.A. Vinogradov, V.A. Voropaev. Moscow, Kiev, Moscow Patriarchy Publ., 2009 – 2010. 664, 688, 680, 744, 816, 967, 392, 488, 704, 608 p. (In Russ.)
Rozsokha L.O. Mirgorodshchina kozatska i gogolivs'ka [Myrhorod region in Cossack and Gogol time]. Kyiv, VB “Avanpost-prim” Publ., 2009. 396 p. (In Ukrainian)
Feduta A.I. Eshche raz ob obraze igroka v “Pikovoi dame”. Ob odnom iz vozmozhnykh prototipov Chekalinskogo [Rrevisiting the image of the gambler in “The Queen of Spades”. On one of the possible prototypes of Chekalinsky]. Vremennik Pushkinskoi komissii [Temporary of the Pushkin Commission]. Issue 32. Collection of scientific papers. St. Petersburg: Rostock Publ., 2016, pp. 263 – 266. (In Russ.)
