Oleh S. Ilnytzkyj

Russian culture and Slavic Studies maintain that Gogol is an incontrovertible Russian writer. To call him a Ukrainian is to encounter deep skepticism. Oddly, the grounds of his "Russianness" are rarely made explicit and even less often examined critically. This book addresses these problems. It shows, for example, how scholars assume that language and theme make Gogol Russian. How others call him Russian by denying Ukrainians status as a separate nation, while still others avoid explanations altogether by representing him as a typical Russian in a national culture and literature. This book challenges such paradigms, situating Gogol within an "imperial culture," where Russian and Ukrainian elites shared intellectual pursuits but clashed over rival national projects. It reveals Gogol as a Ukrainian Russian-language Imperial Writer, a person who embraced an emergent Ukrainian movement while remaining a loyal imperial subject. This book will appeal to Russianists and Ukrainianists, anyone interested in questions of identity, cultural politics, and colonialism. It provides ample context and background, making it suitable for students. Readers who enjoy Taras Bulba will be drawn to the chapter that dispels the myth of its "Russianness."

A Study in Identity

Nikolai Gogol: Ukrainian Writer in the Empire

Günter Berghaus

Christina Lodder

Gabriella Elina Imposti

The ninth volume of the International Yearbook of Futurism Studies is dedicated to Russian Futurism and gathers ten studies that investigate the impact of F.T. Marinetti’s visit to Russia in 1914; the neglected region of the Russian Far East; the artist and writers Velimir Khlebnikov, Vasily Kamensky, Maria Siniakova and Vladimir Mayakovsky; the artistic media of advertising, graphic arts, cinema and artists’ books.

Oleh S. Ilnytzkyj

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