INSIDE AND OUTSIDE GOGOL. LEV PUMPYANSKY AND MIKHAIL BAKHTIN

Abstract

The present article examines the main works by Lev Pumpyansky and Mikhail Bakhtin which are devoted to Gogol's opus. It explores the theory of laughter and the ensuing literary genres through the lens of the common experience which the authors shared in Nevel (1919-1920) within the so-called “Nevel School of Philosophy”. By analysing “An attempt at constructing a relativistic reality on the basis of the ‘Inspector'” (1919), the incomplete book “Gogol” (1922-1925) by Pumpyansky, and Bakhtin's work on Rabelais, the paper aims to shed some light on how these authors conceived and elaborated the philosophy of laughter starting from the end of the 1910 s. The article investigates Pumpyansky's and Bakhtin's conceptualization of the origin and development of comic prose as well as their understanding of the role played by Gogol's comic and satirical prose, while also uncovering their views about Saltykov-Shchedrin's and Dostoevsky's work.