The use of Grotesque and Satirical Devices in the Works of Nikolai Gogol

The peculiar juxtaposition of absurd visuals often with a lucid social commentary in Nikolai Gogol´s prose creates an impenetrable satire on the flaws of the 19th century Russian society and man. The article focuses on three important works - “The Nose,” “The Overcoat,” and “The Government Inspector” - and explains how Gogol uses absurd, grotesque devices, and sharp satire. In this paper grotesque is understood as occurrences in Gogol’s fiction that become so strange or distorted that the boundaries between the comic and the evil collapse - times when reality is described in a fantastically distorted or “phantasmagoric” way.