Nikolai Gogol: Between Ukrainian and Russian Nationalism - Hardcover

Bojanowska, Edyta M.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0674022912 ISBN 13: 9780674022911

Verlag: Harvard University Press, 2007

Inhaltsangabe

Between Ukrainian and Russian Nationalism

Über diesen Titel

Críticas:

Bojanowska's study is the most thorough yet attempted of Gogol's internally contradictory national identity, and it presents a challenging and convincing portrayal of his creativity...For a thorough and insightful study of Gogol's perpetual preoccupation with national identity...there is no better place to begin thean with Edyta Bojanowska's book. -- Geoffrey A. Hosking Times Literary Supplement 20070601 Bojanowska tackles an important (if narrow) subject with thoroughness and care and comes up with challenging and persuasive conclusions. True, the impact of Ukrainian culture on Gogol's works has been examined before--but never as seriously or with a more sharply defined point of view...Gogol's enduring pro-Ukrainian sympathies have indeed been neglected. Thanks to Bojanowska's efforts that imbalance has been righted. -- R. Gregg Choice 20070801 Takes full advantage of historical hindsight, producing a well-grounded and elegantly astute consideration of Gogol's ever-evolving sense of nationalism and offering a valuable contribution to a growing field of postcolonial studies on Russia...Readers of Gogol will want to turn to Bojanowska's study for a focused and enlightening treatment of the dynamics of nationalism in his life and work. -- Amy Singleton Adams Russian Review 20080101 [Bojanowska]'s broad and all-encompassing analysis, which harnesses previous research, including tiiat of Ukrainianists (a very welcome development indeed), and combines it with fresh observations, careful reading of the entire oeuvre and perceptive contextualization, makes her book a major accomplishment in Russian and Gogolian studies, a noteworthy antidote to the treatment of Gogol as an exclusive Russian possession. This book should become required reading for scholars and students alike. -- Oleh S Ilnytzkyj Canadian Slavonic Papers 20070901 Diplomatically, elegantly, and with sharp intellegnce, [Bojanowska] sets out to undermine this "Russocentric view of Gogol"...Bojanowska gives this complex new problem new life through a scrupulous analysis of Gogol's works, letters, and reception history...Bojanowska's book is not an either/or tract, with simplistic answers to longstanding questions about Gogol's nationality and his relationship to two national cultures. It is a helpful primer for anyone who is interested in objectively reassessing Gogol's purported &ldquoRussianness" and his relationship to Ukraine in an imperial context. Her book's major achievement lies not in the frequent references to him as a "Ukrainian," but in the elimination of the categorical and homogenizing tendencies that have put him forward as a clear-cut "Russian." -- Oleh S. Ilnytzkyj Canadian Slavonic Papers Bojanowska has written an important book that calls into question old assumptions about the interplay between national and imperial identities in nineteenth-century Russia. Extensively researched and with copious notes, it will be read with enormous interest and benefit not only literary scholars and historians of Ukraine and Russia, but by students of nationalities more broadly. -- Robert H. Greene Canadian Journal of History

Reseña del editor:

The nineteenth-century author Nikolai Gogol occupies a key place in the Russian cultural pantheon as an ardent champion of Russian nationalism. Indeed, he created the nation's most famous literary icon: Russia as a rushing carriage, full of elemental energy and limitless potential.In a pathbreaking book, Edyta M. Bojanowska topples the foundations of this russocentric myth of the Ukrainian-born writer, a myth that has also dominated his Western image. She reveals Gogol's creative engagement with Ukrainian nationalism and calls attention to the subversive irony and ambiguity in his writings on Russian themes. While in early writings Gogol endowed Ukraine with cultural wholeness and a heroic past, his Russia appears bleak and fractured. Russian readers resented this unflattering contrast and called upon him to produce a brighter vision of Russia. Gogol struggled to satisfy their demands but ultimately failed.In exploring Gogol's fluctuating nationalist commitments, this book traces the connections and tensions between the Russian and Ukrainian nationalist paradigms in his work, and situates both in the larger imperial context. In addition to radically new interpretations of Gogol's texts, Bojanowska offers a comprehensive analysis of his reception by contemporaries.Brilliantly conceived and masterfully argued, Edyta Bojanowska fundamentally changes our understanding of this beloved author and his place in Russian literature.

Über diese Auflage

• Verlag: Harvard University Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0674022912
• ISBN 13: 9780674022911
• Einband: Tapa dura
• Anzahl der Seiten: 460