"Nevsky Prospekt" (russian: Невский Проспект) is a

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

Nikolai Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; uk, link=no, Мико́ла Васи́льович Го́голь, translit=Mykola Vasyliovych Hohol; (russian: Яновский; uk, Яновський, translit=Yanovskyi) ( – ) was a Russian novelist, ...

, written between 1831 and 1834 and published in the collection ''Arabesques'' in 1835 .

Summary

Influenced strongly by the sentimental movement, the protagonist of "Nevsky Prospekt" is a pathetic and insignificant romantic, the narrator is chatty and unreliable (along the lines of ''

Tristram Shandy Tristram may refer to: Literature * the title character of ''The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman'', a novel by Laurence Sterne * the title character of ''Tristram of Lyonesse'', an epic poem by Algernon Charles Swinburne *"Tristra ...

'', the definitive sentimental novel), and realism dominates. The story is organized symmetrically; the narrator describes

Nevsky Prospekt Nevsky Prospect ( rus, Не́вский проспе́кт, r=Nevsky Prospekt (street), Prospekt, p=ˈnʲɛfskʲɪj prɐˈspʲɛkt) is the main street (high street) in the federal city of Saint Petersburg, St. Petersburg in Russian Federation, ...

in great detail, then the plot splits to follow in turn two acquaintances, each of whom follows a beautiful woman whom he has seen on the street. The first story follows the romantic hero, the second follows his realistic foil. The story closes with the narrator once more speaking generally of Nevsky Prospekt. The introduction describes Nevsky Prospekt, the central avenue of St. Petersburg, and its population at different times of the day. The narrator revels in the delights of the street, but he is filled with Poshlost, (defined by literary historian D. S. Mirsky as "'self-satisfied inferiority,' moral and spiritual."Mirsky, D. S. (1927). A History of Russian Literature: From Its Beginnings to 1900 (1999 ed.). Northwestern University Press. . page 158) This is exemplified in the repeated admiring descriptions of mustaches, "to which the better part of a life has been devoted." The description of the street ends abruptly, and the story shifts to the conversation of two acquaintances who have decided to split up to each pursue a different woman seen on the street. The first story told is of a young, romantic

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

, Piskaryov, who follows a dark-haired woman (whom he likens to

Perugino Pietro Perugino (, ; – 1523), born Pietro Vannucci, was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Umbrian school, who developed some of the qualities that found classic expression in the High Renaissance. Raphael was his most famous pupil. Earl ...

's ''Bianca'') to what turns out to be a brothel. However, his interest in the woman is completely innocent and chaste, so he is shocked by her true nature and flees. Back in his room he

dream A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5 to 20 minutes, althou ...

s of her as a woman of wealth and virtue. Living only for his dreams, he develops

insomnia Insomnia, also known as sleeplessness, is a sleep disorder in which people have trouble sleeping. They may have difficulty falling asleep, or staying asleep as long as desired. Insomnia is typically followed by daytime sleepiness, low energy, ...

and turns to

opium Opium (or poppy tears, scientific name: ''Lachryma papaveris'') is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy '' Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, whic ...

to restore his ability to sleep and to dream. After dreaming of the woman as his wife, he decides to marry her, but when he returns to the brothel to propose the woman mocks him. He returns to his lodging and cuts his throat. His funeral is unattended. The second story is of an officer, Lieutenant Pirogov. Crude and realistic, he is the romantic Piskaryov's foil. Pirogov follows a blonde woman to her home, but she turns out to be the wife of a German tinsmith. Returning when the husband is out, Pirogov attempts to seduce the woman, but he is caught with the woman in his arms and is flogged. Pirogov is at first furious and determined to seek revenge, but he is mollified by eating puff pastries, reading a reactionary newspaper and spending an evening dancing. The story concludes with the narrator's warning that "Nevsky Prospekt deceives at all hours of the day, but the worst time of all is at night... when the devil himself is abroad, kindling the street-lamps with one purpose only: to show everything in a false light."

Notes

References

* Gogol, Nikolai. ''The Complete Tales of Nikolai Gogol''. Trans: Constance Garnett. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1985.

External links

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Online text
from public-library.ru {{Authority control Short stories by Nikolai Gogol 1835 short stories