“Kathleen Scollins’ spirited, innovative engagement with the ‘Petersburg theme’ takes on highly canonical texts and yet says new and interesting things about them, providing among other things a sustained reading of Gogol’s complex Petersburg tales. She argues that Peter’s reforms divorced Russian representation from its typical Orthodox focus on the visual and aural, instead allying it to a Western focus on Logos, the word. This led literature to predominate in St. Petersburg, its might unleashing the representational power to shape the idea of the city itself, in the process giving rise to literary figures who themselves attempted to harness the power of the word.”
— Katya Hokanson, University of Oregon

“In this extensive, interesting new study of the collective literary output we know as the Petersburg text, Kathleen Scollins seeks to redirect an extensive critical debate to the linguistic register. … Through extensive discussion of biblical and historical contexts, as well as through consideration of the tension between orality and writing in the tradition of texts about St. Petersburg, Scollins has written a compelling and persuasive reevaluation of familiar texts. The book should prove useful to a broad audience of undergraduate and graduate students with an interest in literary representations of St. Petersburg and the evolution of the Russian canon.” —Ani Kokobobo, University of Kansas, the Slavic Review Vol. 78, No. 1

“In this extensive, interesting new study of the collective literary output we know as the Petersburg text, Kathleen Scollins seeks to redirect an extensive critical debate to the linguistic register. … Through extensive discussion of biblical and historical contexts, as well as through consideration of the tension between orality and writing in the tradition of texts about St. Petersburg, Scollins has written a compelling and persuasive reevaluation of familiar texts. The book should prove useful to a broad audience of undergraduate and graduate students with an interest in literary representations of St. Petersburg and the evolution of the Russian canon.” —Ani Kokobobo, University of Kansas, the Slavic Review Vol. 78, No. 1
— Ani Kokobobo

“This book is a very welcome addition to investigations of the Petersburg Text. … Scollins writes with admirable clarity. The chapters all offer their own lively and imaginative readings of classic texts. In each case the readings rest on a firm foundation, revealing a precise and detailed engagement with literary and historical scholarship, but never collapsing under their own weight. Having contributed to undergraduate courses on Petersburg literature, this reviewer would not hesitate to recommend the book to undergraduates. It also offers a good deal for readers already familiar with this particular and idiosyncratic corner of canonical Russian literature.” —Katharine Hodgson, University of Exeter, Modern Language Review, Vol. 115, No. 1

Kathleen Scollins is an assistant professor at the University of Vermont, where she teaches Russian language and literature in the Department of German and Russian.

Prologue: In the Beginning Was Peter’s Word

Introduction: St. Petersburg

Myth, Text, Word

1. Cursing at the Whirlwind

The Book of Job according to Pushkin

2. Gambling Away the Petri-mony

Rival Models of Social Advancement in Pushkin’s “The Queen of Spades”

3. Body Parts, Puff Pastries, and the Devil Himself

Nevsky Prospect as the Hellmouth of Gogol’s Petersburg

4. Mertvye ushi

The Annunciation Motif and Disorder of the Senses in “The Nose”

5. Kako sdelan Akakii

Letter as Hero in “The Overcoat”

Conclusion: Beyond the Schism

Works Cited