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.

“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.”

• 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

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.

“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.”

• 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

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.

“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.”

• 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