In Gogol and Raika, Shukshin depicts a universally relatable series of childhood memories, while also presenting the harsh, painful, and frightening realities of war-time life. First of all, the conversational form of the narration allows a heightened sense of connection between the reader and the narrator. It almost feels like a diary entry, in which the narrator reflects on these distinct childhood memories, but then, occasionally inserts his “present-day” self using parentheticals. In the first of many such parentheticals, the narrator remarks, “(To this day your heart shudders when you remember the live, quivering tug of the tow rope in your hands and the way it slaps against the water when it begins to ‘pull’).” The specificity of these details are such that only the narrator himself, or someone who has very similar experiences would entirely understand. Yet, having this level of intimate look into the narrator’s combined childhood and present-day thought-processes creates a strong sense of investment in the narrator for the reader. I assume the narrator is Ivan Popov, a fictional (?) character based off of Shukshin’s (though this is only an assumption and I might be completely off on that).

As the narrator progresses through his story, he does not follow a linear path. Rather, like in a conversation, or as in a diary entry, he weaves along a rather tangential path, until it all comes together for the most extreme of endings. We’ve read countless stories that end in one surprising, and often dark last paragraph; this seems to be a pattern.

I am interested in the connections between the various key images in this narrative. From the very beginning, we sympathize with and relate to the young boy who will do anything to read, and who cares so deeply for his cow Raika. As relatable and happy-spirited, and optimistic of a character Viy is, there is no shortage of dark and brutal imagery:  the starving “endlessly sad cow’s eyes,” the inescapable cold, the “anxious, terrible night,” (which takes place even in his fantasy for the future joyous spring), the image from “Viy,” of a woman “sitting up in her coffin,” and lastly, the cow “with her intestines hanging out of her belly.” All of these horrific images and fears seem to be contained in the ominous “dark corner,” which the narrator avoids when seated atop his stove, and yet conquers after an expedition with his mother.

Other remaining questions – the cow returns to her family to die – what do we make of this? What about the dog that scares his mother?