the influence of Gogol on Dostoyevsky

[mathieu_ory]

in his youth Dostoyevsky was obsessed with Gogol and considered the book Dead Souls as one of the most well written compositions to the date. At that time, the gogolian universe represented the only term of comparison, at the highest level of creativity, in the russian literature. Dostoyevsky's The Double was considered a reply to Gogol's Dead Souls. The influence in his early works is obvious, but does anybody know any concrete examples in his mature writings that bear the influence of Gogol? (As far as my knowledge goes, the writings of Gogol are sprinkled with humor in a clean, liberating form, while in those of Dostoyevsky, when (rarely) the humor appears, it is clad in the form of irony, a thin layer that, when cracked, shows the tragic nature of the facts. Opinions on this last part would be much appreciated too.)

[Dr. Hill]

I would assume that Dostoevsky lost a lot of Gogol's influence in his later works, considering he had made a name for himself and developed his own style.

[Gladys]

Originally Posted by mathieu_ory

...when (rarely) the humor appears, it is clad in the form of irony, a thin layer that, when cracked, shows the tragic nature of the facts.

Like Jane Austen's steady stream of ironic humour in 'Pride and Prejudice', Dostoevsky often evokes laughter free of the tragic. Admittedly in 'Crime and Punishment', humour seems scarce - and I like it least of the several Dostoevsky novels I've read.