The Sexual Labyrinth of Nikolai Gogol

by Simon Karlinsky

Through careful textual readings of Gogol's most famous works, Karlinsky argues that Gogol's homosexual orientation—which Gogol himself could not accept or forgive in himself—may provide the missing key to the riddle of Gogol's personality.

"A brilliant new biography that will long be prized for its illuminating psychological insights into Gogol's actions, its informative readings of his fiction and drama, and its own stylistic grace and vivacity."—Edmund White, Washington Post Book World

Genres: Russia, Nonfiction, LGBT, Literature, Criticism, Biography

333 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

Reviews

[Eric Byrd]

Best title ever, no?

[nini]

“Illusion, deception, and mistaken identity were among the basic themes of Gogol's writings and of his life. They remained basic to the way his work was read, understood, and written about after his death.”

[Aaron Schuschu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Academic review of the literature of a gay Ukrainian writer during the time of the Russian Empire. Got weirdly religious and misogynistic when he’d hang out with Tolstoy towards the end of his life. Interesting.

[Kate]

Fall 2003 Northampton MA

[Gloomy · Rating 5 out of 5]

""Gogol committed suicide in 1852 at the age of forty-three," Alexei Remizov wrote in his book The Fire of Things. But his death was not only a suicide, it was also a ritual murder. The sentence was passed by an ignorant, fanatical priest in the name of God and Christianity and carried out by the medical science of the time, both parties prescribing the strongest medicine they could think of in order to cure a great writer of being what he was. That the victim collaborated in carrying out his own execution makes Gogol's case particularly harrowing, but not different in kind from other major artists victimized by Western civilization's willful ignorance of variant forms of sexuality and intolerance of sexual minorities."

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm so glad that I finally read this. It's a mostly conversational and low-key funny dive into Gogol's life, work, and dismal death that somehow never loses momentum. Even the "Annotated Mini-Bibliography of Gogol in English" at the back, which judges which translations had so far done his works justice in English, and to what degree, is genuinely interesting. This was a pleasure to read.

[Anna-Karin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great succedent to Gogol's plays.

[Marcie · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most important things ive read