“On friendly terms with Pushkin”: the genius and insignificance of Ivan Aleksandrovich Khlestakov

The article suggests once again asking the question about the special role of Khlestakov in the comedy “The Inspector General” in the context of a long-standing controversy between the writer S. Sergeev-Tsensky and the literary critic Yu.V. Mann. Sergeev-Tsensky saw in Khlestakov not an ordinary liar, but a great artist who brilliantly played the role of the one for whom he was mistaken. This writer’s judgment has been disputed. From the point of view of Yu.V. Mann, Khlestakov does not go beyond his horizons - his imagination is daring, but pathetic and trivial. Thus, “genius” and “nothingness” became signs of the same person. Gogol endowed Khlestakov with characteristics that were associated in the writer’s mind with both himself and the name of Pushkin. One of them is an irrepressible imagination and caustic laughter, and the other is a fascinating proteism. Only when their union was achieved did Gogol succeed in realizing his plan - “to gather in one pile everything bad in Russia” and “to laugh at everything at once”. The article pays special attention to the Pushkin context. The rapprochement between Khlestakov and Pushkin is considered in the perspective of Gogol’s text about Pushkin, and more precisely, of that important plan where the idea of Pushkin’s all-responsibility is developed. It is obvious that the semantic configuration of the images of Pushkin and Khlestakov in Gogol’s case is the same. It is determined by the lack of personal certainty and the resulting possibility of transformation. Khlestakov appears before “Gorodnichy and Co” in the images that their imagination draws. Khlestakov’s artistic genius lies precisely in the fact that he makes you believe in the imaginary figures he creates for himself and others. At the same time, the article notes the non-accidental difference between Khlestakov, carried away under the “canopy of the streams” in the mayor’s house, and Khlestakov, showing sarcastic accuracy of observation in a letter to Tryapichkin. Gogol’s Khlestakov complements Pushkin’s Khlestakov just as Gogol complements Pushkin in his reflections on him. Giving Pushkin his due, Gogol nevertheless denied him any significance for modern times. The desire to add Gogol’s to Pushkin’s could have influenced the logic of the author’s behavior in the comedy “The Inspector General”.