Gogol myth
Sir: Peter Jenkins, in his review of the Old Vic production of Gogol's Government Inspector (15 September), relying apparently on the authority of the programme, which, we are told, relies in turn on Meyerhold, lends his weight to the perpetuation of a myth which has strange consequences for some productions of this play. In his article he appears to accept quite uncritically Pushkin's alleged interpretation (What a sad place . . . ' etc) and then to rebuke the producer for wilfully ignoring it.
The truth is that Pushkin's alleged remark ('alleged' because our only authority is Gogol himself, writing some ten years after the event, when his own attitude to his writings had undergone a drastic change, a change for which he sought the support of Pushkin, now dead) referred not to the Government Inspector at all but to the first few chapters of Gogol's novel Dead Sou& an entirely different matter. What Pushkin thought of the Government Inspector is not known.
The point is of some importance for the reason stated above and because Gogol unfortunately made Pushkin's unexpe cted . reaction to Dead Souls the starting point fo' r a 'more serious' view of his 'mission Ins an artist'.
Edward Sands Emmanuel College, Cambridge
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