Madness and Truth. “Diary of a Madman” by N. Gogol and other ephemeris

Abstract

The present article surveys the conception of insanity that can be read in some Russian literary works from A. Pushkin to F. Dostoievsky. Such a conception can be summarized as strongly related to the classical paradigm, as analyzed by M. Foucault in his History of Insanity in the Age of Reason, i.e., it is not yet the clinical conception of the XXth century, although the XIXth century is to a great extent a transition period. In order to do so, this article analyzes the circulation and presence of certain political, philosophical and ideological discourses, as well as the figures of the genius and prophet, which concern the conception of insanity in the tackled period, in some literary works by Pushkin, Gogol and Dostoievski.