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Abstract:

This article recounts the brief history of the interpretation and reception of the novel “Taras Bulba” by European and American literary critics and historians in the 19^th and 20^th centuries. Special attention is paid to the first translation of the novel into French in 1845. In the second half of the 19^th century, the novel was perceived both in France and England as a talented imitation of the Western literary classics (Homer, Rabelais, Hofmann, Balzac, Scott...). On the other hand, the writer’s name immediately became associated with a unique writing style and the creation of a picturesque and legendary image of the Cossacks. In the 20th century, at least two major historical and cultural approaches emerged to the study of the writer’s work — psychoanalysis and the national question. Since the late 1950s, following the work of H. McLean, many international scholars have analysed hidden erotic motifs both in the writer’s work in general and in the novel “Taras Bulba” in particular. Since the late 1960s, a major approach to the study of Gogol’s literary heritage, which still remains relevant today, is the consideration of the writer’s national identity and his affiliation with Russian and/or Ukrainian culture, history and literature. Today, Gogol’s multiple, hybrid, and fragmented identity is variously evaluated by researchers depending on their viewpoint and position.