Gogol And Bulgakov Comparison

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Gogol’s 1830s Tsarist St. Petersburg vs. Bulgakov’s 1930s Communist Moscow Nikolai Gogol and Mikhail Bulgakov were both considered one of the best writers of their generations, the former in the 1830’s and the latter in the 1930’s. Gogol was Bulgakov’s favorite writer and Bulgakov often based his writing off of Gogol’s. “Only through Gogol does Bulgakov explore the artist’s relationship to his own creativity.” There are evident similarities between the two authors, most notably in their writing style (a characteristic that is lost in the translation from Russian), but the techniques used by the authors in such situations differ slightly. In addition to different techniques used for similar themes, symbols, and settings, there are several noteworthy differences between the two authors’ writing; differences that define each author and that are affected by the stories’ location and the year in which they were written. The demonic theme is a common one in Gogol’s short stories and is a paramount theme in Bulgakov’s Master and the Margarita. Bulgakov famously depicts Woland, the devil, who appears in Moscow one day to challenge the mundane, atheist, and greedy society. The devil is most prominent in Gogol’s Evenings Near the Village of Dikanka but rarely appears in Gogol’s other short stories. Rather, a demonic trait is associated to certain characters in short stories such as “The Nose” and “The Overcoat”. Although the similarities between the themes and writing of Nikolai Gogol and Mikhail Bulgakov are unmistakable, they use and apply similar ideas and themes differently, such as the supernatural, religion, the demonic theme, use of setting, and the mockery of the social-hierarchical system of ranks. Furthermore, there are separate themes and aspects that one author addresses while the other does not, such as emasculation in Gogol’s short stories, use of myth and
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