Synthesis of Arts in N. V. Gogol’s “Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka"

Yarovoy Sergey Aleksandrovich ORCID: 0000-0002-4500-7455 Postgraduate student at the Department of the History of Russian Literature, Philological Faculty, Lomonosov Moscow State University 119234, Russia, Moscow, Leninskie Gory str., 1 yarovoysa@my.msu.ru

Introduction

The XIX century is a time of flourishing and active development of literature and painting, theater and music, therefore, the interaction of these types of art with each other becomes much closer. Already in "The Sufferings of Young Werther", descriptive fragments of the landscape, the suffering Universe, are found as illustrations of the experiences of the protagonist. Previously, such means of depiction were distinctive features of poetry, but in the XIX century, similar poetic techniques began to be used by prose writers. From that time on, the pictures of nature begin to play the same role in the work as the other characters, to participate in the action with them on an equal basis.

The mutual influence of literature and painting was realized in the attempts of romantic writers to give descriptive fragments greater visibility and "picturesqueness" than in the descriptions of their predecessors. The romantic authors' fascination with the art of painting is primarily due to the similarity of the Romantics' worldviews and the nature of fine art itself with its bright and integral images. In poetry and music, the spirit had no objective expression, while in sculpture and painting it was fully expressed – in the unity of material and spiritual embodiment.

However, not only the language of painting and the language of literature participated in the synthesis of the arts. Music also influenced the organization of the narrative. A striking example can be a fragment from Hoffman's "Kreisleriana" or his short stories "Don Juan" and "Cavalier Gluck", in which music is an integral part of the prose narrative, and musical rhythms penetrate into the text of the literary work itself. Consequently, the types of art in the era of Romanticism interacted, enriching and complementing each other, thereby creating new ways of expression and prerequisites for the creation of a new language – the language of visible images.

Of course, similar processes took place not only in Western European literature. Russian classical writers also thought about the need for the organic use of visual means of painting in literary works, the constructive potential of architecture, the whole spectrum of possibilities of emotional and sensual influence inherent in music. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to search in the works of N. V. Gogol, included in the cycle "Evenings on a farm near Dikanka", techniques and means of other types of art, primarily painting. Achieving this goal involves solving several tasks: first of all, it is necessary, in principle, to describe Gogol's aesthetic views on literature, its mission and tasks, since this is largely what determines the author's manner of narration. Secondly, it is worth noting the writer's attitude to the idea of art synthesis. Finally, to confirm the special specificity of Gogol's stories by defining their features.

Despite the fact that there are still a lot of "white spots" in Gogol studies, of course, this topic cannot be called undeveloped. There is an array of studies devoted to the consideration of Gogol's visuals, the poetics of "Evenings", Gogol's aesthetic ideas. Let's name the works of S. Goncharov, M. Yampolsky ^[13], S. Fusso, N. Drubek-Mayer ^[14], A. Faustov, M. Weiskopf, A. Ivanitsky ^[6], etc. However, at the junction of literary and art criticism approaches, the writer's work has been studied relatively little. The prospects for considering such a broad-format topic are practically unlimited, since Gogol's creative legacy will always be an important component of Russian and world literature and culture.

Gogol 's aesthetic views

In the article "The Last Day of Pompeii" (1834), analyzing the painting of the same name by K. P. Bryullov, Gogol expresses the idea that the task of art is to amaze, for which it uses certain effects. The writer wonders what to do if this means of expression is used by a negligent artist who wants to gain fame and recognition? In this case, the effects "if false, then they are harmful because they spread lies, because the simple-minded crowd rushes to the brilliant without reasoning" ^{[4, VI, p. 290]}. At the same time, "in the hands of a true talent, they are faithful and turn a person into a giant; but when they are in the hands of a fake talent, they are disgusting to a true understanding, as disgusting as Carlo dressed in a giant's dress, as disgusting as a vile person using an undeserved badge of distinction" ^{[4, VI, p. 290]}. The same thought is present in the article "On the Architecture of the present time" (1834), when Gogol expresses admiration for the works of architecture of the past and remarks: "it always makes me sad when I look at new buildings <...> of which rare ones stop the astonished eye with the majesty of the drawing, or the self-willed audacity of imagination, or even luxury and dazzling variegated decorations" ^{[4, VII, p. 255]}. From the writer's point of view, the architecture of the XIX century does not correspond to the main task of art – to educate a person's sense of beauty and serve to improve morals. It does not capture the imagination of a person, does not delight or amaze him, because there is no genuine monumentality and grandeur in architecture, it is not directed upwards, as in the times of antiquity and the Middle Ages. It is the Gothic cathedrals of the Middle Ages – the period of the dominance of the religious worldview – that the writer cites as an example of architectural structures: "They are vast and sublime, like Christianity" ^{[4, VII, p. 256]}. Looking ahead, we note that Gogol subsequently revised his fascination with Gothic, which found expression in the second edition of the story "Taras Bulba", where Andriy's admiration for the beauty and grandeur of the Catholic church is one of the reasons for his defection to the enemy and apostasy.

In the article, the writer expressed the idea of the advantage of religious art over secular art, since the best architectural works were created precisely in "those centuries when faith, fiery, hot faith, directed all thoughts, all minds, all actions to one, when the artist sought higher and higher to lift his creation to heaven, to him alone he was torn and before him, almost in sight of him, reverently raised his praying hand" ^{[4, VII, p. 255]}. In the course of thinking about modern architecture, the writer repeatedly returns to the question of the need for effects and comes to the conclusion that they are needed precisely so that a true work of architecture "rises immeasurably almost above the viewer's head, so that he becomes struck by sudden surprise, barely being able to look at its top with his eyes" ^{[4, VII, p. 261]}. The writer assigns a special role in architectural composition to the reception of contrast: "The true effect lies in the sharp opposite; beauty is never so bright and visible as in contrast" ^{[4, VII, p. 262]}.

In the articles about art published in the collection "Arabesques", published in 1835, the idea of the need for synthesis in art, borrowing techniques and methods of image that can emotionally affect the public and have a beneficial effect on the human soul is increasingly heard.

Here you can see the features of the Baroque influence that passed through the aesthetics of the Romantic era. Thus, the new art, according to Gogol, in order to realize its saving mission, must become synthetic by nature, neutralize differences and adopt the achievements of previous eras. This caused Gogol's admiration for the painting "The Last Day of Pompeii" – its value, in his opinion, lies in the embodiment of the principle of synthesis of arts: "When I looked for the third, fourth time, it seemed to me that sculpture – the sculpture that was comprehended in such plastic perfection by the ancients – that this sculpture finally passed in painting and moreover imbued with some kind of secret music" ^{[4, VI, p. 293]}.

This idea was also present in the article "Sculpture, Painting and Music" (1831), where Gogol also expresses his vision of the gradation of art forms, noting the dominance of each of them in a certain epoch of human development. So, sculpture is associated with antiquity, painting and music belong to the Middle Ages. And each of these types of art is admired by the author in its own way. However, assessing the power of spiritual influence on contemporaries, the writer prefers music and painting over sculpture, which, for all its greatness, is not so relevant, since the desire for pictorial beauty prevails in it over the desire for spiritual beauty. While sculpture was the "queen of the arts" in ancient times, in which beauty and harmony were worshipped, in modern times it does not meet the spiritual needs of a person of the XIX century, "it does not have those secret, boundless feelings that entail endless dreams. In it you will not read the whole long, full of shocks and upheavals of life" ^{[4, VI, p. 286]}.

In a different way, the writer assessed music and painting, "which Christianity raised from insignificance and turned into a gigantic one. By His impulse, they developed and were torn out of the boundaries of the sensory world" ^{[4, VI, p. 286]}, thanks to human aspiration to God. Gogol particularly emphasizes the edifying nature of the new art – it should not only bring pleasure, but also the desire to feel the joys and sorrows of one's neighbor, should serve to purify and regenerate the human soul.

In addition, the arsenal of means of the coming synthetic art is much more extensive. Artistic creativity is able to push the boundaries of the depicted, it "takes more than one person, its boundaries are wider: it encompasses the whole world; all the beautiful phenomena surrounding man are in his power; all the secret harmony and connection of man with nature is in him alone. It connects the sensual with the spiritual" ^{[4, VI, p. 287]}. Thus, it is painting that is the most relevant way of artistic representation of reality, it is at the junction of the spiritual and the material. Above it is only music, which is already located in the sphere of the spirit, whose power is in irrationalism, in the ability to lead a person to catharsis, to fill his soul with the light of divine grace. The main difference between music and painting is its versatility and depth. In this connection, the image of a cathedral arises, under the dome of which people come to unity with God through church hymns. Music, like lyrics in literature, appeals to the deepest levels of human consciousness, it is able to unite people in a single spiritual impulse and direct their thoughts to heaven. Gogol combines musicality and lyricism in aesthetic terms, as the most effective ways of addressing the human soul. These two concepts become important components of true artistry for the writer, serving the salvation and resurrection of the human soul.

Gogol considered the works of A. S. Pushkin to be an example of true artistry, in which picturesqueness, lyricism and musicality were harmoniously combined. Pushkin's main merit was that he managed to comprehend the whole deep meaning of Russian songs, which at first glance seem rather unpretentious, and convey their melody in his works. In the article "A few words about Pushkin" (1832), Gogol characterizes his great contemporary as a "poet", then calls him an "artist" and a "singer", his works, in turn, act as "poems", then "songs", sometimes even "dazzling paintings" ^{[4, VII, p. 278]}. Pushkin was able to show the peculiarities of Russian life in their entirety. The expressiveness of Pushkin's word is so vivid that it is like an artist's brush, "his epithet is so distinct and bold that sometimes one replaces the whole description; his brush flies" ^{[4, VII, p. 275]}.

However, it is precisely when describing Pushkin's genius that the difference in the writers' worldview manifests itself, since "from the very beginning, the aesthetic discourse in Gogol's work is intertwined with the ontological discourse <...> Universal aesthetic categories served for the writer simultaneously as universal categories of the world order and human existence" ^{[11, p. 4-5]}. Gogol's eschatological consciousness comes into conflict with the optimism and Renaissance harmony of Pushkin's works. A certain disintegration of reality is noticeable, which occurred due to man's rejection of divine laws. Gogol's thanatological views on the coming end of the world required a revision of existing opinions about art, to which the writer assigned the main role in the transformation, and in the future – and the salvation of human souls. From this point of view, Pushkin's work is intended for refined natures, only for connoisseurs of "high art", and in order to capture the attention of a "commoner" who is ready to succumb to any strong impression, art needs to use all the techniques to excite the imagination, amaze, cause tears of delight and screams of horror ... Therefore, Gogol in accordance with with his aesthetic impressions, even when creating the first collections ("Evenings on a farm near Dikanka", "Mirgorod", "Arabesques"), he is increasingly thinking that art should have, first of all, a religious basis, since the combination of events that do not occur simultaneously in the artistic space of the work is possible only when when time is not an irreversible process, and the historical course of life is cyclical and repeatable. Such a mixing of the chronotope is necessary for the writer to contrast the arts of the past centuries and the era of Christianity – the star that "stands high in the sky <...> and the whole world shone with a wonderful light" ^{[4, VI, p. 263]}. The art of the new civilization is designed to combine the unique achievements of the past and, thanks to this, lead humanity to faith and salvation. Thus, according to Gogol, the task of art can be formulated with lines from the Gospel – to collect treasures in heaven, not on earth (Matthew 6:20).

The writer comes to the conclusion that in order to influence the broad readership, it is necessary to use effects, primarily visual ones, since they are most quickly and simply assimilated by the human imagination.

Let's explain what we mean by the term "visual techniques and effects". "Visuality" is often interpreted as a synonym for "visibility", that is, clarity and "liveliness" of literary images. However, according to B. M. Eichenbaum, "speech or verbal representation is not a visual representation at all" ^{[12, p. 341]} The problem of the visual nature of Gogol's works has been developed in Russian literary studies for a long time. It is worth remembering the works of Andrei Bely, V. V. Gippius, G. N. Pospelov, Yu. V. Mann, Yu. M. Lotman and many others. However, it is rather the dramatic aspect, the theatrical nature of the writer's early works, that is important to us. Since, as you know, the action in the drama unfolds through the dialogues and actions of the characters, therefore, the word in it appears as an action. Accordingly, it is necessary to analyze the writer's construction of an artistic image according to the laws of spectator perception. V. A. Rozov was one of the first to consider Gogol's "youthful stories" from a similar perspective at the beginning of the twentieth century ^[10]. Later, M. M. Bakhtin addressed this topic ^[1], Yu. V. Mann touched on it in the work "Gogol's Poetics", Yu. M. Lotman touched on it in separate articles ^[7]; ^[8].

The idea of art synthesis in "Evenings on a farm near Dikanka"

Folk legends and the Little Russian way of life, the real and the mystical, history and modernity appear in a unique combination in "Evenings on a farm near Dikanka". Taking folklore tales as the basis of the depicted, the writer interweaves fiction with real everyday details, and folk legends act as an important component of the characteristics of the characters. Such a manner of portrayal in "Evenings ..." becomes a feature of original artistic expressiveness, the brightness and poetry of which was emphasized by V. G. Belinsky in the article "On the Russian story and the stories of G. Gogol": "These were poetic essays of Little Russia, essays full of life and charm. Everything that the nature of beauty can have, the rural life of the commoners is seductive, everything that the people can have original, typical, all this shines with rainbow colors in these first poetic dreams of Gogol. It was young, fresh, fragrant, luxurious, intoxicating poetry..." ^{[2, I, p. 304]}. In addition, Gogol's prose is very colorful. Anticipating the manner of the Impressionists, the author pays considerable attention to descriptions of nature, everyday life, psychological touches, and ambiguous details. His works are extremely dynamic, they are distinguished, among other things, by the rapid change of scenery.

The stories of "Evenings ...", despite the relatively small volume, are distinguished by the dynamic development of the plot, which unfolds according to theatrical laws: there is a stage conflict, intrigue, mystification. The theatrical technique of contrast and counteraction is used by the author in almost all the works of the cycle. So, the plot of "Sorochinskaya Fair" seems to be taken from a traditional Baroque play. The positive hero Gritsko is in love with the beautiful Paraska, but the evil stepmother prevents their marriage. Disguise, hoax – and the evil stepmother is defeated, the young people are getting married. In "May Night" Levko belongs to the village nobility, his father is the head of the village. Hannah is a simple peasant daughter and the unwillingness of the head to connect kinship ties with the poor gives rise to a conflict that lovers must overcome. In "The Night before Christmas", the blacksmith Vakula successfully performs a number of tasks on the way to his happiness.

It also seems noteworthy that there is some "duality" of the characters of the stories associated with the "soul – body" opposition, which are in constant confrontation. A similar division of one psychological type into the righteous and the sinner can be seen in Katerina ("Terrible Revenge"), Peter ("The Night before Ivan Kupala"), Vakula ("The Night before Christmas"). The writer sought to portray, first of all, not just a person, an object or a phenomenon, but to give an idea of them as a part of being, to penetrate into their essence, to evoke relief images and associations in the reader's mind. To do this, he uses various allegories, metaphors, builds a multi-level structure of oppositions. Thus, a complete picture of an object or phenomenon consists of separate images, however, at the same time, "this fragmentation is naturally rejected by the romantic consciousness of the author, but he also sees a positive side in it – "preparation of materials" for the "universal genius", synthetic" ^{[3, p. 280]}. And Gogol's "attention to the landscape is <...> more than just one of the themes" ^{[15, p. 113]} – landscape passages are used by the writer to give the word visibility and clarity. Gogol's use of numerous detailed descriptions of food, clothing, and household details in his works serves the same purpose.

It can be assumed that, thanks to such techniques, Gogol's works will be understandable and close to the modern reader, since one of the distinguishing features of the current state of mass culture is the change of figurative dominants: the audiovisual image replaces the logical-verbal one, which leads to the emergence of the so-called "clip" consciousness. This definition is used in contrast to conceptual thinking and differs in the way of perceiving reality – not as a whole, but through disparate audiovisual images. Researchers see the reason for the appearance of this type of thinking in the ever-increasing flow of information, and the image is absorbed by consciousness much faster (compared to the word).

Visual culture, appealing to the inner world of a person, moves him into the sphere of imaginary being. Thus, the viewer is provided with a way to simulate utopian situations in a reality created by himself. According to the French sociologist E. Morin, "cinema has the charm of the image <...> because it renews and elevates the banal and everyday vision of things" ^{[9, p. 197]}. The viewer perceives without surprise and takes for granted those events and situations that cannot happen in reality.

In this regard, it is necessary to note the place where events unfold in the stories of the collection, because, according to the researcher of Gogol's creativity S. A. Goncharov, in the writer's works "the environment, space, its content / attributes embody the semantic sphere of the characters" ^{[5, p. 80]}. Dikanka in the "Evenings" appears before us not only as a kind of "scene". For all its simplicity and simplicity of organization, it can nevertheless be called a separate world, a microuniverse that exists according to its unwritten laws and rules. In this locus, it is impossible to draw a clear line between the real and the fantastic, since these two worlds are very similar, one is part of the other.

Conclusion

Gogol realized his literary activity as a special mission to enlighten and save man, to protect eternal values. In this regard, the writer sought to convey his views to the broad masses of readers, for which he needed to use not only native literary techniques in the text of works, but also borrow means of expression of other types of art. Thus, reflecting on the synthesis of the arts, on their harmonious coexistence in the text of a literary work, on how to create such works that would contribute to the most important mission of literature, Gogol comes to the conclusion: to influence the public, an effect is needed, a shake-up for the human imagination.

This effect can be achieved by building a prose work according to the laws of visual perception, using dramatic skill techniques in the epic, such as the deployment of action through the statements and actions of characters, the rapid change of events and locations, the saturation of episodes with events. In the stories of "Evenings", the objects of decoration are written out in detail, household details are vividly and in detail, there are landscape descriptions, which gives the literary text clarity and makes it more "spectacular" for the reader.

In articles about the nature of art published in the collection "Arabesques" (created almost simultaneously with "Evenings on a farm near Dikanka), Gogol sums up some of the results of his aesthetic research, describing the theoretical basis of syncretism, the manner of which the writer had previously used in the stories of "Evenings".

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