Thе article analyzes the dialogue between D. S. Merezhkovsky and Fedor Sologub that showed their vision of “poshlost’” (vulgarity, banality), which in turn had been influenced by N. V. Gogol’s legacy. The author traces the parallels in the artistic depiction of poshlost’ by Sologub in his novel The Petty Demon (1905) and the critical interpretation of the phenomenon of poshlost’ by Merezhkovsky. The connection between Merezhkovsky’s works Gogol and the Devil (1906) and “The Coming Ham” (1906) is also shown. Sologub’s reaction to
the article “The Coming Ham” is discussed, that indicates that he considered the works by Merezhkovsky as a development of issues raised in the novel The Petty Demon.