THE WORKS OF NIKOLAI GOGOL IN THE SOVIET MEDIA SPACE: RADIO PRODUCTIONS AND ANIMATED FILM ADAPTATIONS

Abstract

The article examines four intermedial adaptations of works by Nikolai Gogol released between 1945 and 1951: two radio plays directed by Roza Ioffe — May Night, or the Drowned Maiden (1946) and The Nose (1951) — and two animated films created by sisters Valentina and Zinaida Brumberg — The Lost Letter (1945) and The Night Before Christmas (1951). Drawing on contemporary research in adaptations studies and transmedial narratology, the authors analyze how distinctive features of Gogol’s prose (the construction of the narrator’s image, comic skaz, the poetic of “ambiguous carnivalization” and “veiled fantasy”) are transferred into new media formats. Special attention is given to the ways in which educational goals, ideological imperatives of the postwar era, and the characteristics of each medium shaped the relationship between the literary text and its adaptations. The analysis reveals, on the one hand, the revitalization of certain Gogolian narrative techniques, and on the other, an increasing emphasis on the didactic value of his work, which culminated in the centennial celebrations of 1952. Overall, radio and film adaptations of Gogol’s works are shown to reflect the key ideological and artistic debates that defined Soviet society in the early postwar years.