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]

...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.

[mouseofcards89]

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.)

We are definitely agreed on the fact that Dostoevsky's pre-incarceration fiction ("Poor Folk" and "The Double") was definitely influenced heavily by Gogol. "Poor Folk" basically took his predecessor's work a step further, as the story more or less emulated Gogol's "The Greatcoat." It portrayed the protagonist in a sympathetic light. "The Double" was perceived by some critics as a step back from that, as it too was influenced by Gogol, though it was seen as an uninspired effort which didn't contain any real new perspective in of itself. Dostoevsky was at first heralded as "the next Gogol," and I feel that he aspired to that. If not for the Petrashevsky affair, then his later work (presuming that there would have been any) might have been radically different.

[Theunderground]

Having just read the idiot i feel that this is fyodors most 'gogolian' work. The ambiguity,realism,irony,allusions to the supernatural and the trumping of universal morality are all staples of gogols work.
The narrator in the idiot also has the amusing gogol like digressions and indeed there is some literary explanation of Gogols' genius as well.
Dostoevsky is gogol plus an attempt at morality and some universal psychological 'truths'. Gogol is realism in all its ambiguity and 'irrationality'...

[gruntingslime]

Even Dostoevsky's last work The Brothers Karamazov is drenched in grotesque elements especially the entire character of Smerdyakov and the behavior of Dmitri and Fyodor. I distinctly remember one scene of Dmitri having a carriage loaded with extravagances like sweets and liquor and driven frantically across the countryside to see Grushenka.