Gogol’s Literary Reputation: Between Two Canons (On the Material of the 200th Anniversary of the Birth of the Writer in 2009). Article 1

The article discusses the principles of the formation of Nikolay Gogol’s literary reputation on the material of events dedicated to the 200th anniversary of Gogol’s birth in 2009. The literary anniversary is considered as a social genre, which occupies a special place among other commemorative practices. In both cultural spaces, Russian and Ukrainian, there is a revival of the tradition of the literary anniversary in the early 2000s. In this situation of the reactualization of previous cultural practices, there is a restoration tendency to “nationalize anniversaries” and use them for political purposes. By the example of the biographical and literary Gogolian myths formed in the anniversary context, the problem of the existence of a classic image at the crossroads of two literary canons - Russian and Ukrainian - is actualized. The revealed anniversary publishing stories outlined three strategies for appropriating Gogol in Russian and Ukrainian canons. The first publishing plot, the Russian publishing academic project, edited by Yu.V. Mann, is the formation of a reputation based on the achievements of modern Gogol studies, which go far beyond the boundaries of Russian studies. In this case, a world-class classic is created. The second publishing plot, connected with Orthodox Gogol studies, sets an example of canonization almost in the literal sense of the term. In the “Orthodox” collected works, a strategy emerged to build the reputation of Gogol as an Orthodox writer, existing over the national and political barriers. The inclusion of Gogol and his works in the religious literary canon in essence seeks to level out Russian and Ukrainian secular literary canons. The composition of the working team for the publication of this Collected Works does not reflect the unification of the research efforts of Russian and Ukrainian Gogol studies. The dominance of the “field of religion” over the “research field” determined the leading role of V.A. Voropaeva and I. A. Vinogradov, as representatives of religious Gogol studies, in the team. The third publishing story, connected with the Ukrainianization of Gogol through translation, demonstrates the re-release of old translations of Gogol’s works into Ukrainian. This Collected Works can be considered as a kind of a completion of the publishing project, which was not fully implemented at the peak of the Ukrainian cultural renaissance in the 1920s and 1930s. The second obvious direction of Ukrainian publishing practices is focusing on translated editions of the novel Taras Bulba. This novel creates the reputation of Gogol as the author of the novel, which is important for the complex of nationalist ideas of modern Ukraine.

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