An adaptation of Nicolai Gogol's
short story, "Diary of a Madman", about a clerk's disintegration into
madness. Written in 1834, the story contains one of the earliest descriptions
of schizophrenia, by turns bizarre, funny and sad. It is a first-person narrative
presented in the form of a diary. At the outset, the narrator records his
frustrations and humiliations straightforwardly, rationalizing various affronts
to his dignity. Over time, however, reason gives way to delusion. His
intermittent encounters with Sophie, the radiant daughter of his official
superior, provoke an obsession that leads to his "overhearing" two
dogs discussing his hopelessness. As such hallucinations become more frequent,
he finds solace--and his ultimate rationale--in a new identity as the rightful
king of Spain, whose enemies have engineered his exile. Throughout the story,
interludes of sanity provide striking counterpoint to the deepening psychosis.
It represents the kind of cutting edge writing that placed Gogol in the
forefront of Russian writers, with great influence on the generation that came
after him. It seems that both the citizen in democratic republics, as well
as bureaucrats anywhere are the primary targets of this short story.
