Isaac Denner

Date of Award

2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Wyman, Alina

Area of Concentration

Russian Language and Literature

Abstract

To call attention to the descriptions of the demonic in the works of Gogol and Bulgakov is so obvious that it has become a pastiche of literary criticism in the field. Indeed, both authors manage to create worlds that are at once filled to the brim with humor and irony, but also suggest that insidious and terrible things lurk beneath the surface. This thesis seeks to draw parallels between the two authors, analyzing the usage of the demonic in Master and Margarita, “Nevsky Prospekt”, and “The Portrait” to better understand the cosmology that Bulgakov and Gogol use to depict the artist’s relationship to the otherworld. Bulgakov was a great reader of Gogol (perhaps unsurprisingly, given the popularity of Gogol in the Russian canon), and once stated that his literary preference was for Gogol (Milne 110). He also wrote a stage adaptation of Gogol’s Dead Souls during the long period over which Master and Margarita was composed. But one can see that the similarities between the two authors go beyond simple admiration. Both are talented at depicting, as well as denouncing,the many faces of poshlost, a quality signifying banal pretension and the debasement of the sublime. Both are readers of German Romanticism, with seeded references to Schiller, Hoffmann, and Goethe occuring in their works. One can also see that both artists’ works can be classified as in the genre of the fantastic – a genre in which the real world, the imaginary, and fantasy elements seem to blend together for both characters and readers alike. Both, too, seem to share a special philosophy of art, in which artists hold a special place of responsibility and influence in society. It is this philosophy that will be examined in this thesis. The specifics of how Gogol and Bulgakov view artists can be seen through the lenses of the aforementioned commonalities between the two authors: their usage of the demonic, their scorn of poshlost, and their knowledge of the Romantic tradition. Both authors use the ambiguity of demonic influence in order to show ‘tests’ of various artististic characters, condemning some and praising others. Specifically, through their use of the fantastic, Bulgakov and Gogol are able to make commentary on the artistic community as a whole through the representation of various artists in interactions with the demonic. Some artists – representative of the more banal type that Bulgakov and Gogol mutually disliked – are swayed by the temptations offered by the demonic into creating art that lacks quality, lacks authenticity, and acts as a detriment to society as a whole. Some artists, however, seem able to overcome temptations both worldly and otherworldly in order to create truly great art.

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