Rethinking Hoffmann’s Traditions in Chekhov’s Early Stories

JATS XML:

BibTEX:

Research Information Systems Citation Format:

Download:
PDF
For citation:
Koroleva, V. V., and S. V. Buzina. “Reinterpretation of Hoffmann’s Traditions in Chekhov’s Early Short Stories.” Dva veka russkoi klassiki, vol. 8, no. 1, 2026, pp. 110–131. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22455/2686-7494-2026-8-1-110-131
Abstract:
This article examines the refraction of the Romantic tradition, dating back to the work of E. T. A. Hoffmann, in the early stories of A. P. Chekhov from the 1880s. Hoffmannian intertext in Chekhov’s works is identified using the methodology of the “Hoffmann complex”, which is characterized by the unity of subject matter, imagery, and style. Chekhov uses Hoffmannian intertext not so much to parody classical literary images and plots as to expose the falsehood of life, demonstrating the impoverishment of personality, voluntary slavery, and the descent into vulgarity under the influence of others and the environment.
Keywords: Hoffman and Chekhov, Hoffman’s complex of Russian literature, creative irony, grotesque, the two worlds, the image of a mirror, parody, the problem of mechanization
Author: Vera V. Koroleva
Information about the author:
Vera V. Koroleva, DSc in Philology, Associate Professor, Vladimir State University named after brothers A. G. and N. G. Stoletov, Gor’koro St., bld. 87, 600000 Vladimir, Russia; Privolzhsky Research Medical University, Oktyabrsky Ave., bld. 1, 600000 Vladimir, Russia.

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7608-9772

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Author 2: Svetlana V. Buzina
Information about the author 2:
Svetlana V. Buzina, PhD in Philology, Associate Professor, Vladimir State University named after brothers A. G. and N. G. Stoletov, Gor’koro St., bld. 87, 600000 Vladimir, Russia; Privolzhsky Research Medical University, Oktyabrsky Ave., bld. 1, 600000 Vladimir, Russia.

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3705-4427

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Received: August 03, 2025
Approved after reviewing: October 10, 2025
Published: March 25, 2026
Issue: 2026 Volume 8 No. 1
Pages: 110-131
DOI: Visit Website
EDN:
https://elibrary.ru/USEJZO
UDK: 821.161.1.09"19"
Publication Type: Research Article

References

Belyi, A. “Vishnevyi sad” [“The Cherry Orchard”]. Vesy, no. 2, 1904, pp. 46–48. (In Russ.)
Bitsilli, P. M. “Problema cheloveka u Gogolia” [“The Problem of Man in Gogol’s Work”]. Bitsilli, P. M. Izbrannye trudy po filologii [Selected Works on Philology]. Moscow, Nasledie Publ., 1996, pp. 550–578. (In Russ.)
Berkovskii, N. Ia. O russkoi literature [About Russian Literature]. Leningrad, Khudozhestvennaia literatura Publ., 1985. 383 p. (In Russ.)
Botnikova, A. B. E. T. A. Gofman i russkaia literatura [E. T. A. Hoffmann and Russian Literature]. Voronezh, Voronezh University Publ., 1977. 208 p. (In Russ.)
Golovacheva, A. G. Anton Chekhov, pisatel’ i chitatel’ [Anton Chekhov, Writer and Reader]. Moscow, A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum Publ., 2023. 344 p. (In Russ.)
Grossman, L. P. Gofman, Bal’zak i Dostoevskii [Hoffmann, Balzac, and Dostoevsky], May, no. 5,. Sofia, Moscow, Tipografiia K. F. Nekrasova Publ., 1914, pp. 87–96. (In Russ.)
Derman, A. B. O masterstve Chekhova [On Chekhov’s Mastery]. Moscow, Sovetskii pisatel’ Publ., 1959. 208 p. (In Russ.)
Zimina, M. A. “Eskapistskii siuzhet o blazhennom bezumii v povesti A. P. Chekhova ʽChernyi monakh’.” [“An Escapist Plot of Blissful Madness in A. P. Chekhov’s Story ʽThe Black Monk’.”] Kultura i tekst, no. 10, 2005, pp. 105–110. (In Russ.)
Izrailevich, L. K. “K voprosu o vliianii Gofmana na Gogolia” [“On Hoffmann’s Influence on Gogol”]. Uchenye zapiski Leningradskogo universiteta. Seriia: Filologicheskie nauki, no. 33, issue 2, 1939, pp. 148–154. (In Russ.)
Karabegova, E. B. Aspekty sravnitel’noi tipologii nemetskoi i russkoi literatury XVIII– XX vekov [Aspects of Comparative Typology of German and Russian Literature of the 18th– 20th Centuries]. Yerevan, Bryusov Yerevan State Linguistic University Publ., 2009. 126 p. (In Russ.)
Kibal’nik, S. A. “Giperteksty Flobera u Chekhova (K poniatiiu ʽkonstruktivnoi kriptoparodii’)” [“Flaubert’s Hypertexts in Chekhov (On the Concept of ʽConstructive Cryptoparody’)”]. Literaturovedcheskii zhurnal, no. 3 (53), 2021, pp. 100–111. https://doi. org/10.31249/litzhur/2021.53.06 (In Russ.)
Koroleva, V. V. “ʽZerkal’nost’ kak strukturnyi element ʽgofmanovskogo kompleksa’ v tsikle rasskazov Z. Gippius ʽZerkala’.” [“ʽMirrorness’ as a Structural Element of the ʽHoffmann Complex’ in Z. Gippius’s Short Story Cycle ʽMirrors’.”] Vestnik Kostromskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta, vol. 24, no. 4, 2019, pp. 130–138. https://doi.org/10.34216/1998-0817-2019-25-4-113-119 (In Russ.)
Koroleva, V. V. “ʽGofmanovskii tekst russkoi literatury’ v tvorchestve russkikh simvolistov” [“ʽThe Hoffmann Text of Russian Literature’ in the Works of Russian Symbolists”]. Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Filologiia, no. 71, 2021, pp. 270–281. https://doi.org/10.17223/19986645/71/16 (In Russ.)
Koroleva, V. V. “ʽGofmanovskii kompleks’ v rasskazakh L. Andreeva” [“ʽHoffmann’s Complex’ in L. Andeev’s Stories”]. Novyi filologicheskii vestnik, no. 4 (31), 2019b, pp. 165–178. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.24411/2072-9316-2019-00099
Koroleva, V. V. “Cherty gofmanovskoi poetiki v romane F. M. Dostoevskogo ʽBesy’.” [“Features of Hoffmann’s Poetics in F. M. Dostoevsky’s Novel ʽDemons’.”] Solov’evskie issledovaniia, no. 3 (75), 2022, pp. 159–173. https://doi.org/10.17588/2076-9210.2022.3.159-173 (In Russ.)
Koroleva, V. V. “Prelomlenie gofmanovskikh traditsii v povesti I. S. Turgeneva ʽVeshnie vodi’.” [“Refraction of Hoffmann’s Traditions in I. S. Turgenev’s Story ʽSpring Torrents’.”] Dva veka russkoi klassiki, vol. 6, no. 4, 2024, pp. 138–157. https://doi.org/10.22455/2686-7494-2024-6-4-138-157 (In Russ.)
Kochetov, D. “Chekhov i Gofman: poetika rubezhnykh epokh” [“Chekhov and Hoffmann: The Poetics of Turning Points”]. Molodye issledovateli Chekhova [Young Chekhov Researchers], issue 2: Chekhov i Germaniia [Chekhov and Germany]. Moscow, Moscow State University Publ., 1996, pp. 37–42. (In Russ.)
Kubasov, A. Ia. Proza A. P. Chekhova: iskusstvo stilizatsii [A. P. Chekhov’s Prose: The Art of Stylization]. Yekaterinburg, Ural State Pedagogical University Publ., 1998. 399 p. (In Russ.)
Lebedev, A. A. Personazh rannei prozy A. P. Chekhova i traditsiia N. V. Gogolia [The Character of A. P. Chekhov’s Early Prose and the Tradition of N. V. Gogol: PhD Dissertation]. Moscow, 2003. 176 p. (In Russ.)
Nazirov, R. G. “Parodii Chekhova i frantsuzskaia literatura” [“Chekhov’s Parodies and French Literature”]. Chekhoviana. Chekhov i Frantsiia [Chekhoviana. Chekhov and France]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1992, pp. 52–56. (In Russ.)
Papernyi, Z. S. “Gogol’ v vospriiatii Chekhova” [“Gogol in Chekhov’s Perception”]. Izvestiia AN SSSR. Seriia literatury i iazyka, vol. 44, no. 1, 1985, pp. 68–71. (In Russ.)
Polotskaia, E. A. “Vnutrenniaia ironiia v rasskazakh i povestiakh Chekhova” [“Internal Irony in Chekhov’s Stories and Tales”]. Masterstvo russkikh klassikov [Mastery of Russian Classics]. Moscow, Sovetskii pisatel’ Publ., 1969, pp. 454–482. (In Russ.)
Rodzevich, S. I. “K istorii russkogo romantizma (E. T. A. Gofman i 30–40-e gody v nashei literature)” [“On the History of Russian Romanticism (E. T. A. Hoffman and the 30–40s in our Literature)”]. Russkii filologicheskii vestnik, vol. 77, no. 1–2, part 1, Varshava, 1917, pp. 194–237. (In Russ.)
Chudakov, A. P. Poetika i mir Antona Chekhova: vozniknovenie i utverzhdenie [Poetics and the World of Anton Chekhov: Emergence and Approval]. Moscow, Eksmo Publ., 2024. 752 p. (In Russ.)
Eiges, I. P. Muzyka v zhizni i tvorchestve Chekhova [Music in the Life and Work of Chekhov]. Moscow, Muzgiz Publ., 1953. 96 p. (In Russ.)