"Author" as a symbolic name in Gogol's "The dead souls"

The article consideres functons and semantics of the symbolic name «author» that plays an important role in metanarrative in «The Dead Souls». Functionally different forms of presenting the author are viewed, and their correlation in Gogol's poem is also shown. Interconnection of a symbolyzing tendency in «The Dead Souls» and symbolic potential that Gogol' puts in the author's image is demonstrated.