Critical Essay | Critical Essay by A. L. Bem

Critical Essay by A. L. Bem

SOURCE: Bem, A. L. “‘The Nose’ and The Double.” In Dostoevsky and Gogol: Texts and Criticism, edited by Priscilla Meyer and Stephen Rudy, pp. 229–48. Ann Arbor, MI: Ardis, 1979.

In the following essay, originally published in 1928, Bem evaluates the influence of Gogol's “The Nose” on Fyodor Dostoevsky's novella The Double.

I could tell you much about how … he, with his own typical atomistic analysis, perceived the character of Gogol's works.

—From a letter of Dr. Yanovsky to A.G. Dostoevsky

“My God! My God! Why such misfortune?”

—Gogol, “The Nose”

“My God! My God! … Give me strength in the inexhaustible depths of my woes. …”

—Dostoevsky, The Double

There is no need to prove the fact that the Gogolian manner, and in particular the tale “The Nose,” influenced Dostoevsky's The Double: A Petersburg Poem, since it is obvious.

There have already been so many convincing comparisons of...
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