2009/06/01 by Svitlana Krys · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies #Discourse Analysis and Cultural Communication #Historical, Literary, and Cultural Studies
paper · doi:10.1080/00085006.2009.11092612
openalex publication_date 2009/06/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Critics have noted similarities between Nikolai Gogol'’s three early horror stories (Vecher nakanune Ivana Kupala [St. John’s Eve], Strashnaia mest' [A Terrible Vengeance] Vii) and the works of his famous German predecessor Ludwig Tieck. There also exists some speculation concerning the relationship between his Ukrainian tales and the works of E.T.A. Hoffmann. However, a detailed comparison between the two authors focused only on Gogol'’s “St. Petersburg” stories. His early tales have been ignored because they were presumed to depend mostly on folklore. This article argues that there are intertextual connections between Gogol'’s St. John’s Eve and A Terrible Vengeance, and Hoffmann’s Der Sandmann [The Sandman] and Ignaz Denner. The paper contends that Gogol' was recapitulating, consciously or unconsciously, Hoffmann’s oeuvre in his works both in terms of plot detail and on a deeper psychological level.