Универсальные приёмы выстраивания образа маленького человека в произведениях Н.В. Гоголя (О нарративной стратегии и рецепции)
The Universal Methods of Building the Image of a Little Man in the Works of N.V. Gogol (On the Narrative Strategy and Reception)

Summary/Abstract: This paper aims at identification of the universal narrative techniques and principles developed by N.V. Gogol to express his views about a little man. On the basis of the narrative strategy, the conceptual core of understanding of a little man by N.V. Gogol has been created. Special techniques and semantic levels of the dialogue with the reader created by the author of the works, in which the above-specified type of character occurs, have been “modeled”. The research is based on such N.V. Gogol’s works as “The Government Inspector” and “Dead Souls”, as well as some individual images from such series as “St. Petersburg Stories”, “Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka”, and “Mirgorod”. This triune approach (the author’s concept – the narrative strategy – the principles of dialogue with the reader) has allowed to reveal new philosophical and artistic aspects of the image of a little man, to establish their connection with the sharp contrast of “the hidden” and “the visible” in the unfolding of the narrative structures, and to describe the conditions for a sudden displacement of contemplative and ironic position of the reader in terms of intuitive reading of riddles of the soul of the characters. The first part of the paper summarizes the observations of literary scholars over the techniques that shape the effect of hiddenness: the details indirectly characterizing the characters, their relationships with others, portrait features, description of the actions, dreams. It has been concluded that the techniques are focused on the generation of an illusion in the reader that the character is understood from different sides, being built following the principle of mosaicity. The author creates a feeling of a certain “preparation” of the character in the reader, which is similar to a distant observation, leading to the final and comprehensive conclusions.

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