In this publication we will consider the most important things from the biography of N.V. Gogol: his childhood and youth, literary path, theater, last years of life.
Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol (1809 – 1852) – writer, playwright, classic of Russian literature, critic, publicist. He is primarily known for his works: the mystical story “Viy”, the poem “Dead Souls”, the collection “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka”, the story “Taras Bulba”.
Nikolai was born into the family of a landowner in the village of Sorochintsy on March 20 (April 1), 1809. The family was large - Nikolai eventually had 11 brothers and sisters, but he himself was the third child. Training began at the Poltava School, after which it continued at the Nizhyn Gymnasium, where the future great Russian writer devoted his time to justice. It is worth noting that Nikolai was only strong in drawing and Russian literature, but did not work out with other subjects. He also tried himself in prose - the works turned out unsuccessful. Now it is perhaps difficult to imagine.
At the age of 19, Nikolai Gogol moved to St. Petersburg, where he tried to find himself. He worked as an official, but Nikolai was drawn to creativity - he tried to become an actor in the local theater, and continued to try himself in literature. Gogol's theater was not doing very well, and the government service did not satisfy all of Nikolai's needs. Then he made up his mind - he decided to continue to engage exclusively in literature, to develop his skills and talent.
The first work of Nikolai Vasilyevich that was published was “Basavryuk”. Later this story was revised and received the title “The Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala.” It was she who became the starting point for Nikolai Gogol as a writer. This was Nikolai's first success in literature.
Gogol very often described Ukraine in his works: in “May Night”, “Sorochinskaya Fair”, “Taras Bulba”, etc. And this is not surprising, because Nikolai was born on the territory of modern Ukraine.
In 1831, Nikolai Gogol began to communicate with representatives of the literary circles of Pushkin and Zhukovsky. And this had a positive impact on his writing career.
Nikolai Vasilyevich’s interest in theater never faded, because his father was a famous playwright and storyteller. Gogol decided to return to the theater, but as a playwright, not an actor. His famous work “The Inspector General” was written specifically for the theater in 1835, and a year later it was staged for the first time. However, the audience did not appreciate the production and responded negatively to it, which is why Gogol decided to leave Russia.
Nikolai Vasilyevich visited Switzerland, Germany, France, Italy. It was in Rome that he decided to work on the poem “Dead Souls,” the basis of which he came up with back in St. Petersburg. After completing work on the poem, Gogol returned to his homeland and published his first volume.
While working on the second volume, Gogol was overcome by a spiritual crisis, which the writer never coped with. On February 11, 1852, Nikolai Vasilyevich burned all his work on the second volume of “Dead Souls,” thereby burying the poem as a continuation, and 10 days later he himself died.
Gogol, Nikolai Vasilievich
(1809-1852) - one of the greatest writers of Russian literature, whose influence determines its modern character and reaches to the present moment. He was born on March 19, 1809 in the town of Sorochintsy (on the border of Poltava and Mirgorod districts) and came from an old Little Russian family (see below); in the troubled times of Little Russia, some of his ancestors pestered the Polish nobility, and Gogol’s grandfather, Afanasy Demyanovich, wrote in an official paper that “his ancestors, with the surname G., of the Polish nation,” although he himself was a real Little Russian and others considered him prototype of the hero of "Old World Landowners". Great-grandfather, Ian G., a graduate of the Kyiv Academy, “went to the Russian side”, settled in the Poltava region, and from him came the nickname “Gogol-Yanovsky”. G. himself, apparently, did not know about the origin of this increase and subsequently discarded it, saying that the Poles had invented it. Father G., Vas. Afanasyevich (see above), died when his son was 15 years old; but it is believed that the stage activities of his father, who was a man of a cheerful character and a wonderful storyteller, did not remain without influence on the tastes of the future writer, who early showed a penchant for the theater. Life in the village before school and after, during the holidays, went on in the complete atmosphere of Little Russian life, lordly and peasant. These impressions were the root of Gogol’s later Little Russian stories, his historical and ethnographic interests; Subsequently, from St. Petersburg, G. constantly turned to his mother when he needed new everyday details for his Little Russian stories. The inclinations of religiosity, which subsequently took possession of G.’s entire being, are attributed to the influence of his mother, as well as the shortcomings of his upbringing: his mother surrounded him with real adoration, and this could be one of the sources of his conceit, which, on the other hand, was early generated by the instinctive consciousness of the genius power hidden in him . At the age of ten, G. was taken to Poltavud to prepare for the gymnasium, to one of the teachers there; then he entered the gymnasium of higher sciences in Nizhyn (from May 1821 to June 1828), where he was first a self-employed student, then a boarder of the gymnasium. G. was not a diligent student, but had an excellent memory, prepared for exams in several days and moved from class to class; He was very weak in languages and made progress only in drawing and Russian literature. Apparently, the gymnasium itself, which was poorly organized at first, was also to blame for the poor teaching; for example, the literature teacher was a fan of Kheraskov and Derzhavin and an enemy of modern poetry, especially Pushkin. The shortcomings of the school were made up for by self-education in a friendly circle, where there were people who shared literary interests with G. (Vysotsky, who apparently had considerable influence on him at that time; A. S. Danilevsky, who remained his friend for life, as well as N. Prokopovich ; Nestor Kukolnik, with whom, however, G. never got along). Comrades contributed magazines; They started their own handwritten journal, where G. wrote a lot in poetry. Along with literary interests, a love for the theater also developed, where G., already distinguished by his unusual comedy, was the most zealous participant (from the second year of his stay in Nizhyn). G.'s youthful experiences developed in the style of romantic rhetoric - not in the taste of Pushkin, whom G. already admired then, but rather in the taste of Bestuzhev-Marlinsky. The death of his father was a heavy blow for the whole family. Concerns about business also fall on G.; he gives advice, reassures his mother, and must think about the future arrangement of his own affairs. Towards the end of his stay at the gymnasium, he dreams of broad social activity, which, however, he sees not at all in the literary field; no doubt under the influence of everything around him, he thinks to advance and benefit society in a service for which in fact he was completely incapable. Thus the plans for the future were unclear; but it is curious that G. was possessed by a deep confidence that he had a wide career ahead of him; he is already talking about the instructions of providence and cannot be satisfied with what simple “existents” are content with, as he put it, which were the majority of his Nezhin comrades. In December 1828, G. went to St. Petersburg. Here for the first time he was met with severe disappointment: his modest means turned out to be very meager in the big city; brilliant hopes were not realized as quickly as he expected. His letters home during this time are a mixture of this disappointment and of broad expectations for the future, albeit vague. He had a lot of character and practical enterprise in reserve: he tried to enter the stage, become an official, and devote himself to literature. He was not accepted as an actor; the service was so meaningless that he immediately began to feel burdened by it; the more attracted he was to the literary field. In St. Petersburg, for the first time, he found himself in a Little Russian circle, partly from his former comrades. He found that Little Russia aroused interest in society; experienced failures turned his poetic dreams to his native Little Russia, and from here arose the first plans for work, which was supposed to give rise to the need for artistic creativity, and at the same time bring practical benefits: these were plans for “Evenings on a farm near Dikanka.” But first, under the pseudonym V. Alova, he published that romantic idyll “Hanz Küchelgarten” (1829), which was written back in Nizhyn (he himself marked it with the year 1827) and the hero of which was given the ideal dreams and aspirations with which he himself was fulfilled in last years of Nizhyn life. Soon after the book was published, he himself destroyed it when critics reacted unfavorably to his work. In a restless search for life's work, G. at that time went abroad, by sea to Lubeck, but a month later he returned again to St. Petersburg (in September 1829) and then mysteriously justified this strange trick by the fact that God had shown him the way to a foreign land, or exiled to some kind of hopeless love: in reality, he was running from himself, from the discord between his lofty and arrogant dreams and practical life. “He was drawn to some fantastic land of happiness and reasonable productive work,” says his biographer; America seemed like such a country to him. In fact, instead of America, he ended up serving in the Department of Appanages (April, 1830) and remained there until 1832. Even earlier, one circumstance had a decisive influence on his future fate and on his literary activity: it was a rapprochement with the circle of Zhukovsky and Pushkin. The failure with Hanz Küchelgarten was already some indication of the need for a different literary path; but even earlier, from the first months of 1828, G. besieged his mother with requests to send him information about Little Russian customs, legends, costumes, as well as to send “notes kept by the ancestors of some old family, ancient manuscripts,” etc. All this was material for future stories from Little Russian life and legends, which became the first beginning of his literary fame. He already took some part in the publications of that time: at the beginning of 1830, in the old “Notes of the Fatherland” Svinin was published with corrections from the editors “The Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala”; at the same time (1829) “Sorochinskaya Fair” and “May Night” were started or written. G. then published other works in the publications of Baron Delvig, Literaturnaya Gazeta and Northern Flowers, where, for example, a chapter from the historical novel Hetman was published. Perhaps Delvig recommended him to Zhukovsky, who received G. with great cordiality: apparently, from the first time the mutual sympathy of people related by love of art, by religiosity inclined towards mysticism was felt between them - after that they became very close friends. Zhukovsky handed over the young man to Pletnev with a request to accommodate him, and indeed, already in February 1831. Pletnev recommended G. for the position of teacher at the Patriotic Institute, where he himself was an inspector. Having gotten to know G. better, Pletnev waited for an opportunity to “bring him under Pushkin’s blessing”: this happened in May of the same year. G.'s entry into this circle, which soon recognized his great budding talent, had a great influence on his entire fate. The prospect of the broad activity that he had dreamed of was finally revealed to him, but in a field not of service, but of literature. Financially, G. could have been helped by the fact that, in addition to a place at the institute, Pletnev provided him with private lessons from the Longinovs, Balabins, and Vasilchikovs; but the main thing was the moral influence that G. met in the new environment. He entered the circle of people who stood at the head of Russian fiction: his long-standing poetic aspirations could now develop in all their breadth, his instinctive understanding of art could become a deep consciousness; Pushkin's personality made an extraordinary impression on him and forever remained an object of worship for him. Serving art became for him a high and strict moral duty, the requirements of which he tried to fulfill religiously. Hence, by the way, his slow manner of work, the long definition and development of the plan and all the details. The society of people with a broad literary education and in general was useful for a young man with very meager knowledge learned from school: his powers of observation became deeper, and with each new work his artistic creativity increased. At Zhukovsky, G. met a select circle, partly literary, partly aristocratic; in the latter he began a relationship that later played a significant role in his life, for example. with the Vielgorskys; At the Balabins he met the brilliant maid of honor A. O. Rosetti, later Smirnova. The horizon of his life observations expanded, long-standing aspirations gained ground, and G.’s high concept of his destiny was already falling into extreme conceit: on the one hand, his mood became sublime idealism, on the other, the possibility of those deep mistakes that had marked recent years already arose his life.
This time was the most active era of his work. After small works, partly mentioned above, his first major literary work, which marked the beginning of his fame, was “Evenings on a farm near Dikanka. Stories published by the beekeeper Rudy Panko,” published in St. Petersburg in 1831 and 1832, in two parts (in the first "Sorochinskaya Fair", "The Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala", "May Night, or the Drowned Woman", "The Missing Letter" were placed; in the second - "The Night Before Christmas", "Terrible Revenge, Ancient Reality", "Ivan Fedorovich Shponka and His Auntie", "Enchanted Place"). It is known what impression these stories made on Pushkin, depicting in an unprecedented way pictures of Little Russian life, shining with gaiety and subtle humor; At first, the full depth of this talent, capable of great creations, was not understood. The next collections were first “Arabesques”, then “Mirgorod”, both published in 1835 and composed partly from articles published in 1830-1834, partly from new works that appeared here for the first time. G.'s literary fame was now completely established. He grew in the eyes of his inner circle, and especially in the sympathies of the young literary generation; it already guessed in him the great force that would carry out a revolution in the course of our literature. Meanwhile, events took place in G.'s personal life that in various ways influenced the internal structure of his thoughts and fantasies and his external affairs. In 1832, he was in his homeland for the first time after completing a course in Nizhyn. The path lay through Moscow, where he met people who later became his more or less close friends: Pogodin, Maksimovich, Shchepkin, S.T. Aksakov. Staying at home first surrounded him with impressions of his native, beloved environment, memories of the past, but then also with severe disappointments. Household affairs were upset; G. himself was no longer the enthusiastic young man he had been when he left his homeland: life experience taught him to look deeper into reality and see its often sad, even tragic basis behind its outer shell. Soon his “Evenings” began to seem to him like a superficial youthful experience, the fruit of that “youth during which no questions come to mind.” Little Russian life still provided material for his imagination, but the mood was already different: in the stories of “Mirgorod” this sad note constantly sounds, reaching the point of high pathos. Returning to St. Petersburg, G. worked hard on his works: this was generally the most active time of his creative activity; At the same time, he continued to make plans for his life. From the end of 1833, he was carried away by a thought as unrealizable as his previous plans for service: it seemed to him that he could enter the scientific field. At that time, preparations were being made for the opening of the Kyiv University, and he dreamed of occupying the department of history there, which he taught to girls at the Patriotic Institute. Maksimovich was invited to Kyiv; G. thought to settle with him in Kyiv, he wanted to invite Pogodin there too; in Kyiv, he finally imagined Russian Athens, where he himself thought of writing something unprecedented in universal history, and at the same time studying Little Russian antiquity. To his chagrin, it turned out that the department of history had been given to another person; but soon he was offered the same chair at St. Petersburg University, of course, thanks to the influence of his high literary friends. He actually occupied this pulpit; Once or twice he managed to give a spectacular lecture, but then the task was beyond his strength, and he himself refused the professorship in 1835. This was, of course, great arrogance; but his guilt was not so great if we remember that G.’s plans did not seem strange either to his friends, among whom were Pogodin and Maksimovich, professors themselves, or to the Ministry of Education, which considered it possible to give a professorship to a young man who had completed his course with sin in half gymnasiums; The entire level of university science at that time was still so low. In 1832, his work was somewhat suspended due to all sorts of domestic and personal troubles; but already in 1833 he was working hard again, and the result of these years were the two mentioned collections. First came “Arabesques” (two parts, St. Petersburg, 1835), which contained several articles of popular scientific content on history and art (“Sculpture, painting and music”; a few words about Pushkin; about architecture; about Bryullov’s painting; about teaching general history; a look at the state of Little Russia; about Little Russian songs, etc.), but at the same time new stories: “Portrait”, “Nevsky Prospect” and “Notes of a Madman”. Then, in the same year, “Mirgorod. Stories serving as a continuation of Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka” (two parts, St. Petersburg, 1835) was published. A whole series of works were placed here, in which new striking features of G.’s talent were revealed. In the first part of “Mirgorod” “Old World Landowners” and “Taras Bulba” appeared; in the second - "Viy" and "The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich." “Taras Bulba” appeared here in the first essay, which was developed much more widely by G. subsequently (1842). The plans of some other works of G. date back to these first thirties, such as the famous “Overcoat”, “Carriage”, perhaps “Portrait” in its revised edition; these works appeared in Pushkin's Sovremennik (1836) and Pletnev's (1842) and in the first collected works (1842); a later stay in Italy includes “Rome” in Pogodin’s “Moskvityanin” (1842). The first idea of “The Inspector General” dates back to 1834. G.'s surviving manuscripts generally indicate that he worked on his works extremely carefully: from what has survived from these manuscripts, it is clear how the work in its completed form known to us grew gradually from the initial outline, becoming more and more complicated with details and finally reaching that amazing artistic completeness and vitality with which we know them at the end of a process that sometimes lasted for years. It is known that the main plot of The Inspector General, like the plot of Dead Souls, was reported by G. Pushkin; but it is clear that in both cases the entire creation, from the plan to the last details, was the fruit of G.’s own creativity: an anecdote that could be told in a few lines turned into a rich work of art. “The Inspector General,” it seems, especially caused in G. this endless work of determining the plan and details of execution; there is a whole series of sketches, in whole and in parts, and the first printed form of the comedy appeared in 1836. The old passion for the theater took possession of G. to an extreme degree: comedy did not leave his head; he was languidly fascinated by the idea of coming face to face with society; he tried with the greatest care to ensure that the play was performed completely in accordance with his own ideas about characters and action; The production encountered various obstacles, including censorship, and finally could only be carried out by the will of Emperor Nicholas. “The Inspector General” had an extraordinary effect: the Russian stage had never seen anything like it; the reality of Russian life was conveyed with such force and truth that although, as G. himself said, the matter was only about six provincial officials who turned out to be rogues, the whole society rebelled against him, which felt that it was about a whole principle, about a whole the order of life in which it itself resides. But, on the other hand, the comedy was greeted with the greatest enthusiasm by those best elements of society who were aware of the existence of these shortcomings and the need to expose them, and especially by the young literary generation, who saw here once again, as in the previous works of their beloved writer, a whole revelation, a new, the emerging period of Russian art and Russian public. This last impression was probably not entirely clear to G.: he had not yet set himself such broad social aspirations or hopes as his young admirers; he stood completely in line with the point of view of his friends in the Pushkin circle, he only wanted more honesty and truth in the given order of things, and that is why he was especially struck by the cries of condemnation that rose against him. Subsequently, in “Theatrical Tour after the Presentation of a New Comedy,” he, on the one hand, conveyed the impression that “The Inspector General” made in various strata of society, and on the other, expressed his own thoughts about the great importance of theater and artistic truth.
G.'s first dramatic plans appeared even before The Inspector General. In 1833, he was absorbed in the comedy "Vladimir of the 3rd degree"; it was not completed by him, but its material served for several dramatic episodes, such as “The Morning of a Business Man,” “Litigation,” “The Lackey” and “Excerpt.” The first of these plays appeared in Pushkin's Sovremennik (1836), the rest - in the first collection of his works (1842). In the same meeting, “Marriage,” the first drafts of which dated back to 1833, and “The Players,” conceived in the mid-thirties, appeared for the first time. Tired of the intense work of recent years and the moral anxieties that “The Inspector General” cost him, G. decided to rest away from this crowd of society, under a different sky. In June 1836, he went abroad, where he then stayed, with interruptions of visits to Russia, for many years. The stay in the “beautiful distance” for the first time strengthened and calmed him, gave him the opportunity to complete his greatest work, “Dead Souls” - but it also became the embryo of deeply fatal phenomena. Disconnection with life, an increased withdrawal into oneself, the exaltation of religious feeling led to pietistic exaggeration, which ended with his last book, which amounted to a kind of negation of his own artistic work... Having gone abroad, he lived in Germany, Switzerland, and spent the winter with A Danilevsky in Paris, where he met and became especially close to Smirnova and where he was caught by the news of Pushkin’s death, which shocked him terribly. In March 1837, he was in Rome, which he fell in love with greatly and became like a second homeland for him. European political and social life has always remained alien and completely unfamiliar to G.; he was attracted by nature and works of art, and the Rome of that time represented only these interests. G. studied ancient monuments, art galleries, visited artists’ workshops, admired people’s life and loved to show Rome and “treat” visiting Russian acquaintances and friends to it. But in Rome he worked hard: the main subject of this work was “Dead Souls,” conceived in St. Petersburg in 1835; Here, in Rome, he finished “The Overcoat”, wrote the story “Anunziata”, later remade into “Rome”, wrote a tragedy from the life of the Cossacks, which, however, after several alterations he destroyed. In the fall of 1839, he and Pogodin went to Russia, to Moscow, where the Aksakovs greeted him with delight. Then he went to St. Petersburg, where he had to take his sisters from the institute; then he returned to Moscow again; in St. Petersburg and Moscow he read completed chapters of Dead Souls to his closest friends. Having built several of his own affairs, G. again went abroad, to his beloved Rome; He promised his friends to return in a year and bring the finished first volume of Dead Souls. By the summer of 1841 this first volume was ready. In September of this year, G. went to Russia to print his book. He again had to endure the severe anxieties that he had once experienced during the production of The Inspector General. The book was first submitted to the Moscow censorship, which intended to ban it completely; then the book was submitted to the St. Petersburg censorship and, thanks to the participation of G.’s influential friends, was, with some exceptions, allowed. It was published in Moscow (“The Adventures of Chichikov or Dead Souls, poem by N. G.”, M. 1842). In June G. went abroad again. This last stay abroad was the final turning point in G.’s mental state. He lived now in Rome, now in Germany, in Frankfurt, Dusseldorf, now in Nice, now in Paris, now in Ostend, often in the circle of his closest friends, Zhukovsky, Smirnova , Vielgorsky, Tolstoy, and the pietistic direction mentioned above developed more and more in him. A high idea of his talent and the responsibility that lay upon him led him to the conviction that he was doing something providential: in order to expose human vices and take a broad look at life, one must strive for internal improvement, which is given only by thinking of God. Several times he had to endure serious illnesses, which further increased his religious mood; in his circle he found favorable soil for the development of religious exaltation - he adopted a prophetic tone, self-confidently gave instructions to his friends and eventually came to the conviction that what he had done so far was unworthy of the high goal to which he now considered himself called. If before he said that the first volume of his poem was nothing more than a porch to the palace that was being built in it, now he was ready to reject everything he wrote as sinful and unworthy of his high mission. One day, in a moment of heavy thought about fulfilling his duty, he burned the second volume of “Dead Souls”, sacrificed it to God, and the new content of the book, enlightened and purified, was presented to his mind; It seemed to him that he now understood how to write in order to “direct the whole society towards the beautiful.” New work began, and in the meantime another thought occupied him: he rather wanted to tell society what he considered useful for him, and he decided to collect in one book everything he had written to friends in recent years in the spirit of his new mood and ordered the publication of this Pletnev's book. These were “Selected Passages from Correspondence with Friends” (St. Petersburg, 1847). Most of the letters that make up this book date back to 1845 and 1846, the time when this mood of G. reached its highest development. The book made a grave impression even on G.’s personal friends with its tone of prophecy and teaching, preaching humility, because of which, however, one could see extreme conceit; condemnations of previous works, in which Russian literature saw one of its best decorations; complete approval of those social orders, the inconsistency of which was clear to enlightened people without distinction of parties. But the book’s impression on G.’s literary fans was depressing. The highest degree of indignation aroused by “Selected Places” was expressed in the famous (unpublished in Russia) letter from Belinsky, to which G. did not know how to respond. Apparently, he was not fully aware of this significance of his book. He explained the attacks on her partly by his mistake, the exaggeration of the teacher’s tone, and by the fact that the censor did not miss several important letters in the book; but he could explain the attacks of former literary adherents only by calculations of parties and pride. The social meaning of this controversy eluded him; he himself, having left Russia long ago, retained those vague social concepts that he acquired in the old Pushkin circle, was alien to the literary and social ferment that had arisen since then and saw in it only the ephemeral disputes of writers. In a similar sense, he then wrote the “Preface to the second edition of Dead Souls”; “The Inspector General’s Denouement,” where he wanted to give a free artistic creation a strained character of some kind of moralizing allegory, and “Pre-Notice,” where it was announced that the fourth and fifth editions of “The Inspector General” would be sold for the benefit of the poor... The failure of the book had an overwhelming effect on Gogol action. He had to admit that a mistake had been made; even friends, like S. T. Aksakov, told him that the mistake was gross and pathetic; he himself confessed to Zhukovsky: “I swung such Khlestakov in my book that I don’t have the courage to look into it.” In his letters since 1847, there is no longer the former arrogant tone of preaching and teaching; he saw that it is possible to describe Russian life only in the midst of it and by studying it. His refuge remained a religious feeling: he decided that he could not continue work without fulfilling his long-standing intention to venerate the Holy Sepulcher. At the end of 1847 he moved to Naples and at the beginning of 1848 he sailed to Palestine, from where he finally returned to Russia through Constantinople and Odessa. His stay in Jerusalem did not have the effect he expected. “I have never been so little satisfied with the state of my heart as in Jerusalem and after Jerusalem,” he says. “I was at the Holy Sepulcher as if there to feel on the spot how much coldness of heart I had, how much selfishness and self-esteem." G. calls his impressions of Palestine sleepy; one day caught in the rain in Nazareth, he thought he was just sitting at a station in Russia. He spent the end of spring and summer in the village with his mother, and on September 1 he moved to Moscow; spent the summer of 1849 with Smirnova in the village and in Kaluga, where Smirnova’s husband was governor; spent the summer of 1850 again with his family; then he lived for some time in Odessa, was again at home, and in the autumn of 1851 he settled again in Moscow, where he lived in the house of gr. A.P. Tolstoy. He continued to work on the second volume of Dead Souls and read excerpts from it from the Aksakovs, but the same painful struggle between artist and pietist that had been going on in him since the early forties continued. As was his custom, he revised what he had written many times, probably succumbing to one mood or another. Meanwhile, his health became increasingly weaker; in January 1852 he was struck by the death of Khomyakov’s wife, who was the sister of his friend Yazykov; he was overcome by the fear of death; he gave up his literary studies and began fasting at Maslenitsa; One day, when he was spending the night in prayer, he heard voices saying that he would soon die. One night, in the midst of religious reflections, he was seized by religious horror and doubt that he had not fulfilled the duty imposed on him by God; he woke up the servant, ordered the fireplace chimney to be opened, and, taking papers from the briefcase, burned them. In the morning, when his consciousness cleared, he repentantly told gr. Tolstoy and believed that this was done under the influence of an evil spirit; from then on, he fell into gloomy despondency and died a few days later, on February 21, 1852. He was buried in Moscow, in the Danilov Monastery, and on his monument are the words of the prophet Jeremiah: “I will laugh at my bitter word.”
The study of Gogol's historical significance has not yet been completed. The present period of Russian literature has not yet escaped from his influence, and his activities represent various aspects that become clear with the course of history itself. At first, when the last facts of Gogol’s activity took place, it was believed that it represented two periods: one, where he served the progressive aspirations of society, and the other, when he became openly on the side of immovable conservatism. A more careful study of Gogol’s biography, especially his correspondence, which revealed his inner life, showed that no matter how contradictory the motives of his stories, “The Inspector General” and “Dead Souls”, on the one hand, and “Selected Places”, on the other hand, may be, another, in the writer’s personality itself there was not the turning point that was expected in it, one direction was not abandoned and another, opposite one was adopted; on the contrary, it was one integral inner life, where already at an early time there were the makings of later phenomena, where the main feature of this life did not cease - service to art; but this personal life was broken by the contradictions that she had to reckon with in the spiritual principles of life and in reality. G. was not a thinker, but he was a great artist. About the properties of his talent, he himself said: “I only did well what I took from reality, from the data known to me” ..... “My imagination has not yet given me a single remarkable character and created not a single thing that my eye did not notice somewhere in nature.” It could not have been simpler or stronger to indicate the deep basis of realism that lay in his talent; but the great property of his talent was that he elevated these features of reality “to the pearl of creation.” And the faces he depicted were not repetitions of reality: they were entire artistic types in which human nature was deeply understood. His heroes, as rarely in any other Russian writer, became household names, and before him there was no example in our literature of such an amazingly inner life being revealed in the most humble human existence. Another personal feature of G. was that from his earliest years, from the first glimpses of his young consciousness, he was excited by lofty aspirations, the desire to serve society in something high and beneficial; from an early age he hated limited self-satisfaction, devoid of internal content, and this trait was later expressed, in the thirties, by a conscious desire to expose social ills and depravity, and it also developed into a high idea of the importance of art, standing above the crowd as the highest enlightenment of the ideal. .. But G. was a man of his time and society. He didn't get much out of school; no wonder that the young man did not have a definite way of thinking; but there was no inclination for this in his further education. His opinions on fundamental issues of morality and social life remained patriarchal and simple-minded even now. A powerful talent was ripening in him - his feeling and observation deeply penetrated into life phenomena - but his thought did not stop at the causes of these phenomena. He was early filled with a magnanimous and noble desire for human good, sympathy for human suffering; he found sublime poetic language, deep humor and stunning pictures to express them; but these aspirations remained at the level of feeling, artistic insight, ideal abstraction - in the sense that, with all their strength, G. did not translate them into the practical thought of improving society, and when they began to show him a different point of view, he could no longer understand it. .. All of G.’s fundamental ideas about life and literature were ideas of the Pushkin circle. G. joined it as a young man, and the persons in this circle were already people of mature development, more extensive education, and a significant position in society; Pushkin and Zhukovsky are at the height of their poetic glory. The old legends of Arzamas developed into a cult of abstract art, which ultimately led to a withdrawal from the issues of real life, with which the conservative view on social subjects naturally merged. The circle worshiped the name of Karamzin, was carried away by the glory of Russia, believed in its future greatness, had no doubts about the present and, indignant at the shortcomings that could not be ignored, attributed them only to the lack of virtue in people, the failure to comply with the laws. By the end of the thirties, while Pushkin was still alive, a turn began, showing that his school had ceased to satisfy the emerging new aspirations of society. Later, the circle became more and more secluded from new directions and was at enmity with them; according to his ideas, literature was supposed to soar in sublime regions, shun the prose of life, stand “above” social noise and struggle: this condition could only make its field one-sided and not very broad... The artistic feeling of the circle was, however, strong and appreciated G.’s unique talent, the circle also took care of his personal affairs... Pushkin expected great artistic merit from G.’s works, but hardly expected their social significance, as Pushkin’s friends and G. himself did not fully appreciate it later. was ready to renounce him... Later G. became close to the Slavophile circle, or actually with Pogodin and Shevyrev, S. T. Aksakov and Yazykov; but he remained completely alien to the theoretical content of Slavophilism, and it had no influence on the structure of his work. In addition to personal affection, he found here warm sympathy for his works, as well as for his religious and dreamily conservative ideas. But then, in the elder Aksakov, he also met a rebuff to the mistakes and extremes of “Selected Places”... The sharpest moment of the collision of G.’s theoretical ideas with the reality and aspirations of the most enlightened part of society was Belinsky’s letter; but it was already too late, and the last years of G.’s life passed, as said, in a difficult and fruitless struggle between the artist and the pietist. This internal struggle of the writer represents not only the interest of the personal fate of one of the greatest writers of Russian literature, but also the broad interest of a socio-historical phenomenon: the personality and activities of G. were reflected in the struggle of moral and social elements - prevailing conservatism, and demands for personal and social freedom and justice , the struggle between old tradition and critical thought, pietism and free art. For G. himself, this struggle remained unresolved; he was broken by this internal discord, but nevertheless, the significance of G.'s main works for literature was extremely deep. The results of its influence are reflected in many different ways throughout subsequent literature. Not to mention the purely artistic merits of execution, which after Pushkin further increased the level of possible artistic perfection among later writers, his deep psychological analysis had no equal in previous literature and opened up a wide path of observations, of which so many were made subsequently. Even his first works, “Evenings”, which he later so strictly condemned, undoubtedly contributed a lot to strengthening the loving attitude towards the people that subsequently developed. “The Inspector General” and “Dead Souls” were again, unprecedented to this extent, a fiery protest against the insignificance and depravity of public life; This protest broke out from personal moral idealism and did not have any specific theoretical basis, but this did not prevent it from making a striking moral and social impression. The historical question about this meaning of G., as noted, has not yet been exhausted. They call it a prejudice the opinion that G. was the pioneer of realism or naturalism, that he made a revolution in our literature, the direct consequence of which is modern literature; they say that this merit is the work of Pushkin, and G. only followed the general flow of the then development and represents only one of the stages of approaching literature from transcendental heights to reality, that the brilliant accuracy of his satire was purely instinctive and his works are striking in the absence of any conscious ideals - as a result of which he later became entangled in the labyrinth of mystical-ascetic speculating; that the ideals of later writers have nothing in common with this and therefore G. with his brilliant laughter and his immortal creations should in no way be placed ahead of our century. But there is an error in these judgments. First of all, there is a difference between taking, manner naturalism and the content of literature. A certain degree of naturalism in our country dates back to the 18th century; G. was not an innovator here, although even here he went further than Pushkin in approaching reality. But the main thing was in that bright new feature of the content, which before him, to this extent, did not exist in literature. Pushkin was pure epic in his stories; G. - at least semi-instinctively - is a writer social. There is no need that his theoretical worldview remained unclear; A historically noted feature of such genius talents is that they often, without being aware of their creativity, are profound exponents of the aspirations of their time and society. Artistic merits alone cannot explain either the enthusiasm with which his works were received by younger generations, or the hatred with which they were met in the conservative crowd of society. What explains the internal tragedy, cat. spent G.'s last years of his life, if not a contradiction between his theoretical worldview, his repentant conservatism, and the extraordinary social influence of his works, which he did not expect or imagine? G.'s works precisely coincided with the emergence of this social interest, which they greatly served and from which literature no longer emerged. The great importance of G. is also confirmed by negative facts. In 1852, for a small article in memory of G. Turgenev, he was arrested in his unit; censors were ordered to strictly censor everything that was written about G.; a complete ban was even declared on talking about G. The second edition of “Works,” begun in 1851 by G. himself and not completed due to these censorship obstacles, could only be published in 1855-1856... G.’s connection with subsequent literature is not is subject to doubt. The defenders of the mentioned opinion, which limits the historical significance of G., themselves admit that Turgenev’s “Notes of a Hunter” seem to be a continuation of “Dead Souls.” The “spirit of humanity” that distinguishes the works of Turgenev and other writers of the new era was not brought up among our literature by anyone more than G., for example, in “The Overcoat”, “Notes of a Madman”, “Dead Souls”. In the same way, the depiction of the negative aspects of landowner life is reduced to G. Dostoevsky’s first work is adjacent to G. to the point of obviousness, etc. In their subsequent activities, new writers made independent contributions to the content of literature, just as life posed and developed new questions - but the first excitement was given by Gogol.
By the way, definitions of G. were made from the point of view of his Little Russian origin: the latter explained, to a certain extent, his attitude towards Russian (Great Russian) life. G.'s attachment to his homeland was very strong, especially in the first years of his literary activity and right up to the completion of the second edition of Taras Bulba, but his satirical attitude towards Russian life, no doubt, is explained not by his tribal properties, but by the whole nature of his internal development . There is no doubt, however, that tribal traits also affected the nature of G.’s talent. These are the features of his humor, which still remains unique in our literature. The two main branches of the Russian tribe happily merged in this talent into one, highly remarkable phenomenon.
Editions. Above are the main editions of Gogol's works, as they appeared during his career. The first collection of works was compiled by himself in 1842. He began preparing the second in 1851; it was already completed by his heirs: here the second part of “Dead Souls” appeared for the first time. In the publication of Kulish, in six volumes, 1857, an extensive collection of Gogol’s letters appeared for the first time (the last two volumes), which has not been repeated since then. In the edition prepared by Chizhov (1867), “Selected passages from correspondence with friends” were printed in their entirety, including what was not omitted by the censor in 1847. The latest, 10th, edition, published since 1889 under the editorship of N. S. Tikhonravov, is the best of all: this is a scholarly publication with text corrected from manuscripts and Gogol’s own editions, and with extensive comments, which detail the history of each from Gogol’s works based on surviving manuscripts, evidence of his correspondence and other historical data. The material of letters collected by Kulish and the text of G.'s works began to be replenished, especially since the sixties: “The Tale of Captain Kopeikin” based on a manuscript found in Rome (“R. Archive”, 1865); unpublished from "Selected Places" first in "R. Arch." (1866), then in Chizhov’s edition; about G.’s comedy “Vladimir of the 3rd degree,” by Rodislavsky, in “Conversations in the Society of Lovers of Russian Literature” (M. 1871). Recently, a number of studies of G.’s texts and his letters: articles by V. I. Shenrok in “Bulletin of Europe”, “Artist”, “R. Antiquity”; Mrs. E. S. Nekrasova in "R. Antiquity" and especially the comments of Mr. Tikhonravov in the 10th edition and in the special edition of "The Inspector General" (M. 1886). For the letters, see Mr. Shenrok’s “Index to Gogol’s Letters” (2nd ed. M. 1888), which is necessary when reading them in Kulish’s edition, where they are interspersed with blank, arbitrary letters instead of names and other censorship omissions. "Letters from G. to Prince V. F. Odoevsky" (in the "Russian Archive", 1864); “to Malinovsky” (ibid., 1865); “to Prince P. A. Vyazemsky” (ibid., 1865, 1866, 1872); “to I. I. Dmitriev and P. A. Pletnev” (ibid., 1866); “to Zhukovsky” (ibid., 1871); “to M.P. Pogodin” from 1833 (not 1834; ibid., 1872; more complete than Kulish, V, 174); "Note to S. T. Aksakov" ("R. antiquity", 1871, IV); Letter to the actor Sosnitsky about “The Inspector General” in 1846 (ibid., 1872, VI); Letters from Gogol to Maksimovich, published by S. I. Ponomarev, etc.
Biographical and critical materials. Belinsky, "Works", vols. I, III, VI, XI and many references in general. - "An attempt at G.'s biography, with the inclusion of up to forty of his letters", op. Nikolai M. (Kulisha; St. Petersburg, 1854), and another, widespread publication: “Notes about the life of G., compiled from the memories of his friends and from his own letters” by P. A. Kulish. Two volumes, with a portrait (St. Petersburg, 1856-57). But the same author, who was a panegyrist here, rebelled against G.’s Little Russian stories in “Russian Conversation” (1857) and especially in “Osnova” (1861-62), to which Maksimovich responded to him in “The Day.” - N. G. Chernyshevsky, “Essays on the Gogol period of Russian literature” (Sovremennik, 1855-56, and separately, St. Petersburg, 1892); on the publication of "Works and Letters of G." Mr. Kulisha, "We will modernize." (1857, No. 8), and in “Critical Articles” (St. Petersburg, 1892). - "Memory of G." Longinov, in "Contemporary" 1854, No. 3. - "Memoirs of G. (Rome) in the summer of 1841" by P. Annenkov, "Bible for Reading," 1857, and in "Memoirs and Critical Essays" , vol. I. (St. Petersburg, 1877). - "Recreational." L. Arnoldi, "R. Vestn." 1862, No. 1, and in a new separate edition. - "Recreational." J. Grota, "R. archive", 1864. - "Recollection." (about the Roman life of G.) M. Pogodin, "R. Architect.", 1865. - "Recollection of the group. V. A. Sollogub", in the same place, 1865, and in a separate edition (St. Petersburg, 1887). - "Recreational." N.V. Berg, “R. old.”, 1872, V. - The correspondence of G.’s friends regarding his affairs is important: Zhukovsky, Pletnev, Mrs. Smirnova, Prince. Vyazemsky, and their biographies. - O. N. Smirnova “Etudes et Souvenirs” in “Nouvelle Revue”, 1885, book. 11-12. - "Childhood and youth G." Al. Koyalovich, in "Moscow collection." Sharapova (M. 1887). - "Appearance of G.'s works in print." in "Research and articles on Russian literature and education." Sukhomlinov, vol. II (St. Petersburg, 1889). - "The story of my acquaintance with G." S. T. Aksakova, "R. arkh.", 1890, and separately (see "Vestn. Evr.", 1890, book 9). - “G. and Ivanov” by E. Nekrasova, “Vestn. Evr., 1883, book 12; hers, “On the relationship of G. to the gr. A.P. Tolstoy and gr. A. E. Tolstoy", in "Collection in memory of S. A. Yuryev" (M., 1891). - "G. and Shchepkin" by N. S. Tikhonravova, "Artist", 1890, No. 1 - "Memories of G." by princess N. V. Repnina, "R. Archive", 1890, No. 10. - About "Dead Souls" (the experience of revealing their integral plan) by Alexei Veselovsky, "Vestn. Evr.", 1891, No. 3. - P. V. Vladimirova, "From G.'s student years." (Kiev, 1890). - "Essay on the development of G.'s creativity." (Kiev, 1891). - "On G.'s attitude to mother" Mrs. Belozerskaya, "R. antiquity", 1887; Mrs. Chernitskaya about the same, "Histor. Bulletin", 1889, June; M. A. Trakhimovsky, "Rus. old man", 1888. - "G. in his letters" Or. Miller, in "R. antiquity", 1875, No. 9, 10, 12. - A number of biographical works by V. I. Shenrok are combined in "Materials for the biography of G." (volumes one and two, M. 1892-1893). Let us finally note the new biographical messages of O. N. Smirnova, in “North. Vestn." (1893). - On the historical significance of Gogol, see also Skabichevsky, "Works" (vol. II, St. Petersburg, 1890, about the historical novel), and "History of modern Russian. literature" (St. Petersburg, 1891); Pypina, "Characteristics of literature. opinions of the 1820-50s" (2nd ed., St. Petersburg, 1890). A review of the literature about Gogol was made by Mr. Ponomarev in the Izvestia of the Nizhyn Philological Institute for 1882 and in the Bibliographic Index about N V. Gogol from 1829 to 1882" by Gorozhansky, in the appendix to "Russian. thoughts" (1883); finally, briefly - in the book of Mr. Shenrock.
Translations of G. into foreign languages (French, German, English, Danish, Swedish, Hungarian, Polish, Czech) are listed in Mezhov’s “Systematic Catalog” (from 1825 to 1869; St. Petersburg, 1869). More famous: "Nouvelles russes, trad. par L. Viardot" (Par., 1845-1853), "Nouvelles, trad. par Mérimée" (Par., 1852); "Les Ames Mortes, par Moreau" (Par., 1858); "Russische Novellen, von Bode" (translated from Viardot, Lpc., 1846); "Die Todten Seelen, von Löbenstein" (Lpc., 1846); "Der Revisor, von Viedert" (Berl., 1854) and so on. Finally, translations into Little Russian by Olena Pchilka, M. Staritsky, Loboda and others.
A. Pypin.
(Brockhaus)
Gogol, Nikolai Vasilevich
Famous Russian writer (1809-1852). Mention of Jews and Jewish images found in his works - mainly in "Taras Bulba" and so-called. “Excerpts from an unfinished story” - capture the ordinary anti-Semitism of the era. This is not a real image, but caricatures that appear primarily to make the reader laugh; petty thieves, traitors and ruthless extortionists, Gogol's Jews are devoid of all human feelings. Andrei, the son of Taras Bulba, betrayed his homeland - his own father sentences him to death for this heinousness, but the Jew Yankel does not understand the very horror of betrayal: “He is better off there, he moved there,” he says calmly. Seeing Bulba, who had once saved him from imminent death, the Jew first of all thought that his savior’s head was valued; he was ashamed of his self-interest and “struggled to suppress in himself the eternal thought of gold, which, like a worm, wraps itself around the soul of the Jew”; however, the author leaves the reader in doubt: perhaps Yankel would have betrayed his savior if Bulba had not rushed to give him the two thousand ducats promised for his head by the Poles. Dubious reports about the Jewish lease of Orthodox churches were translated into fiction by G. twice with details that are not, of course, found in any historical documents: a Jew places a sign with chalk on Holy Easter with an “unclean hand”, Jewish women sew skirts from priest’s robes, Jews - tax farmers rob a hundred-year-old man of his unpaid Passover, etc. Rarely do those bloody retributions to which Jews in Ukraine were subjected for their imaginary guilt evoke a human attitude in Gogol: the endless contempt that imprints his every word about a Jew forces G. to portray humorously the darkest tragedies of their existence. When the raging tyrants-Cossacks drown Jews without any guilt, only because their coreligionists were guilty of something somewhere, the author sees only “pathetic faces, distorted by fear” and ugly people, “crawling under the skirts of their Jews.” G., however, knows how Ukrainian Jews paid during the Cossack disturbances for their natural position as trade intermediaries. “A hair would now stand on end from those terrible signs of the ferocity of the semi-savage age that the Cossacks brought everywhere.” Beaten babies, cut off breasts of women, skin torn from the legs up to the knees of those released, in a word, “the Cossacks repaid their former debts with large coins.” True, G., through the lips of a tipsy Pudka, seems to be making fun of vulgar anti-Semitism: “Why, goodness, isn’t this offensive? What was it like for every Christian to bear the fact that the burner was in the hands of the enemies of Christianity?"; however, through the mouth of Yankel, he himself reminds of some of the truths of trampled justice: "because everything that is good, everything falls on the Jew, because... they think is he really not a man if he is a Jew?" But the writer himself put so little humanity into Jewish images that Yankel's reproach could also be directed against himself. Of course, when assessing Gogol's attitude towards the Jews, one should not exaggerate its significance. Gogol's anti-Semitism does not have nothing individual, concrete, comes from acquaintance with modern reality: this is a natural echo of the traditional theological idea of the unknown world of Jewry, this is the old template according to which types of Jews were created in Russian and Jewish literature.
A. Gornfeld.
(Heb. enc.)
Gogol, Nikolai Vasilievich
One of the largest representatives of the estate style of the 30s and early 40s. Genus. in Ukraine, in the town of Sorochintsy, on the border of Poltava and Mirgorod districts. The most important stages of his life are as follows: he spends his childhood until he is 12 years old on his father’s small estate - Vasilyevka, from 1821 to 1828 he studies at the Nizhyn Gymnasium of Higher Sciences, for seven years - with short breaks - he lives in St. Petersburg; 1836-1849 spends, intermittently, abroad; from 1849 he settled in Moscow, where he lived until his death. G. himself later characterizes the situation of his estate life in his letter to Dmitriev, written from Vasilyevka in the summer of 1832. “What would this region seem to lack? A full, luxurious summer. Bread, fruit, everything vegetable - death. And the people are poor, estates "They are ruined and the arrears cannot be paid... They begin to understand that it is time to get down to business with manufactories and factories; but there is no capital, the happy thought is dormant, finally dies, and they (the landowners) are out of grief hunting for hares... Money is a complete rarity here." Gogol's departure to St. Petersburg was caused by his repulsion from the socially worthless and economically impoverished small-scale environment, the representatives of which he contemptuously calls “existents.” The St. Petersburg period is characterized by Gogol's acquaintance with the bureaucratic environment (service in the department of appanages from 1830 to 1832) and rapprochement with the large estate and high society environment (Zhukovsky, Pushkin, Pletnev, etc.). Here G. publishes a number of works, has great success and finally comes to the conclusion that he was sent to earth to fulfill the divine will as a prophet and preacher of new truths. He leaves abroad due to fatigue and chagrin from theatrical intrigues and the noise raised around the comedy “The Inspector General” staged on the Alexandria stage. Lives abroad, ch. arr. in Italy (in Rome), and is working there on the first part of “Dead Souls”. In 1847 he published the didactic essay “Selected Passages from Correspondence with Friends.” Abroad, he begins work on the second part of “Dead Souls,” where he tries to portray the positive types of the local bureaucratic circle. Feeling that the task he has taken on is overwhelming, G. seeks a way out in personal self-improvement. He is overcome by religious and mystical moods, and for the purpose of spiritual renewal, he undertakes a trip to Palestine. The Moscow period is characterized by the continuation of unsuccessful work on the second part of “Dead Souls” and the progressive mental and physical collapse of the writer’s personality, finally ending with the tragic story of the burning of “Dead Souls” and death.
At the first glance at Gogol’s work, we are struck by the variety of social groups he depicts, as if they had nothing in common with each other. In 1830, G.'s first work appeared in print - an idyll from German life - "Hanz Küchelgarten"; from 1830-1834 a whole series of Ukrainian novels and short stories were created, combined into collections - “Evenings on a farm near Dikanka” and “Mirgorod”. In 1839, a long-planned and carefully processed novel from the same life, Taras Bulba, was published; in 1835, a colorful story about the life of the local environment, “The Carriage,” appeared; in 1842 - the comedy "The Players"; in 1834-1842, chapters of the first part of “Dead Souls” were created one after another, covering with unprecedented breadth the landowner life of the pre-reform province, and in addition a whole series of works from the life of the bureaucratic circle; in 1834 "Notes of a Madman" appeared, in 1835 - "The Nose", in 1836 - "The Inspector General" and in 1842 - "The Overcoat". During the same time, G. tries to portray intellectuals - writers and artists - in the stories "Nevsky Prospekt" and "Portrait". Since 1836, G. creates a series of sketches from the life of large estates and high society. A whole series of unfinished works from the life of this circle appears: an excerpt from “The Morning of a Business Man”, “Lackey”, “Litigation”, the unfinished story “Rome” and, finally, until 1852 - the year of his death - G. worked hard on the second part of “The Dead” souls", where most of the chapters are devoted to the image of a large circle. G.'s genius seems to overcome both chronological and social boundaries and, with the supernatural power of imagination, widely embraces both the past and the present.
However, this is only the first impression. Upon closer study of Gogol’s work, this entire motley string of themes and images turns out to be connected by organic kinship, growing and developing on the same soil. This soil turns out to be a small estate that raised and educated G. himself. Through all of G.’s works, their characters, faces, scenes and movements, we gradually see the full-length image of the small landowner of the pre-reform era in all its economic and psychological variations. The very external history of Gogol’s work makes us feel this.
G.'s largest and most significant work - "Dead Souls" - is precisely dedicated to the depiction of the main layer of the small-scale environment, the depiction of various types of small landowners who have not broken their ties with the small estate and peacefully live out their lives in remote provincial estates.
G. shows in extreme relief the decomposition of local patriarchal foundations. The extensive gallery of local “existents” displayed here clearly illustrates all their social worthlessness. And the sensitive, dreamy Manilov, and the noisy, active Nozdryov, and the cold-blooded, judicious Sobakevich, and, finally, the most synthetic type of Gogol - Chichikov - they are all smeared with the same world, they are all either real slackers, or stupid, useless busybodies. At the same time, they are not at all aware of their worthlessness, but on the contrary, most often they are convinced that they are the “salt of the earth.” This is where all the comedy of their situation flows; this is where Gogol’s “bitter laughter” at his heroes, which permeates all of his work, flows. The worthlessness and conceit of G.'s heroes are more their misfortune than their guilt: their behavior is dictated not so much by their personal qualities as by their social nature. Free from all serious and responsible work, deprived of all creative meaning, the mass of the local class became lazy and stupefied with idleness. His life, devoid of serious interests and concerns, turned into idle vegetation. Meanwhile, this trifling life moved to the forefront, reigning like a lamp on a mountain. Only exceptional people from the landowner environment guessed that such a life was not a lamp, but a smokehouse. And the ordinary, mass landowner, who served as the main object of Gogol’s creativity, smoked the sky and at the same time looked around like a clear falcon.
The transition from local themes to bureaucratic themes occurred quite naturally in G., as a reflection of one of the paths of evolution of the local environment. The transformation of a landowner into a city dweller - an official - was a fairly common occurrence in those days. It took on ever larger proportions depending on the growing ruin of the landowners' economy. The bankrupt and impoverished landowner got a job in order to improve his circumstances, gradually found his feet in the service, striving to acquire a village again and return to the bosom of his native local environment. There was a very close connection between the local and bureaucratic environment. Both environments were in constant communication. The landowner could and often did go over to the ranks of officials; the official could return again and often returned to the local milieu. As a member of the local environment, G. was constantly in contact with the bureaucratic environment. He himself served and, therefore, experienced something of the psychology of this environment. It is not surprising that G. was an artist of the bureaucratic circle. The ease of transition from depicting a local to depicting an official environment is very well illustrated by the story of the comedy "Marriage". This comedy was conceived by Gogol and sketched back in 1833 under the title “Grooms.” Here the characters are all landowners, and the action takes place on the estate. In 1842, Gogol reworked the comedy for print, introducing several new faces, but all the old ones were preserved, without changing at all in their characters. Only now they are all officials, and the action takes place in the city. Socio-economic kinship is inevitably associated with psychological kinship; That is why the psychology of the official circle in its typical features was homogeneous with the psychology of the local circle. Comparing local and official heroes with each other, we can already establish at first glance that they are very close relatives. Among them there are also Manilovs, Sobakeviches, and Nozdryovs. The official Podkolesin from the comedy "Marriage" is very close to Ivan Fedorovich Shponka; officials Kochkarev, Khlestakov and Lieutenant Pirogov show us Nozdryov in an official uniform; Ivan Pavlovich Yaichnitsa and the mayor Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky differ in the character of Sobakevich. However, the break with the landowner's estate and the flight to the city occurred not only for economic reasons and not only to become officials. Along with the economic collapse, the primitive harmony of the local psyche was shaken. Along with the invasion of money and exchange, which destroyed the serf-based subsistence economy, new books and new ideas invaded, penetrating into the most remote corners of the province. These ideas and books in young and at least somewhat active minds gave rise to a vague thirst for the new life that was spoken of in these books, gave rise to a vague impulse to leave the cramped estate for the unknown new world where these ideas arose. The impulse turned into action, and there were individuals, albeit exceptional ones, who went in search of this new world. Most often, these searches led to the same bureaucratic swamp and ended with a return to the estate when the so-called attack came. "reasonable age" In exceptional cases, these seekers fell into the ranks of intellectual workers, writers and artists. Thus, a numerically insignificant group was created, in which, of course, the typical features of the local psyche were preserved, but they experienced an extremely complex evolution and acquired their own special and sharply different physiognomy. The energetic work of thought, communication with the intelligentsia of various ranks or, if successful, with high society circles - strongly responded to the psychology of this group. Here the break with the estate was much deeper and more decisive. The psychology of this group was also close to G. The brilliant artist of the small-scale environment could not help but explore and reproduce all the ways of development of his social group.
He also depicted her as joining the ranks of the city intelligentsia. But he saw only these people from the small-scale world in the world of the urban intelligentsia, creating the images of two artists: the Manilov-like sensitive Piskarev and the Nozdrev-like active Chertkov. The indigenous urban intelligentsia, the intelligentsia of the landowner elite and the professional bourgeois intelligentsia remained outside his field of vision. In general, a strong intellectual life remained beyond Gogol’s achievements precisely because the intellectual culture of the small-scale circle was quite elementary. This was the reason for G.’s weakness when he took on the depiction of the intelligentsia, but it was also the reason for that particularly penetrating achievement of the psychology of the ordinary “existent” from the local and bureaucratic circle, which gave him the right to eternity as an artist of these circles.
G.'s attempts to depict the high society circle reflected the similarity of the latter in its typical features with the small-scale milieu. It is undeniable, and G. clearly feels it. However, peering at the excerpts and unfinished works from the life of the high society circle created by G., you feel that in this area G. would hardly be able to create anything serious and deep. Obviously, the transition from the environment of small estates and bureaucrats to the environment of large estates and high society turned out to be not at all as easy as it seemed to the artist. Obviously, it was just as difficult for an artist of a small estate to move on to depicting a large estate as it was difficult and almost impossible for a small landowner to turn into a large ace or a high-society lion. Comme il faut" upbringing and, at least superficial, but not devoid of brilliance, education complicated this psychology so much that the similarity became very distant. That is why G.’s attempts to capture with his brush the upper layers of the landowner circle were not entirely successful. Nevertheless, with Despite all the imperfections of these fragmentary sketches, it would be unfair to deny the significance behind them: G. outlines here a number of completely new characters, which only much later received a vivid artistic expression in the works of Tolstoy and Turgenev. - We have already noted above that the unsightly reality of small-scale existence in everything young and at least somewhat active caused protest and impulses to leave in search of another more interesting and fruitful life. These impulses to get away from one’s environment and at least in dreams of living with other living people in G.’s work were reflected in the form of a transition from local motives to imitative and historical motives. Already his earliest work is “Hanz Küchelgarten”, which is an imitation of either Pushkin or Zhukovsky; then to the German poet Voss, is an attempt to transfer the yearning local hero - the “seeker” - into a setting of exotic life. True, this attempt turned out to be unsuccessful, because exoticism did not suit the small-town hero with his meager wallet and no less meager education, but nevertheless, “Hanz Küchelgarten” is of significant interest to us in the sense that here we first encounter the theme of opposition a sleepy, inactive existence - a life rich in vivid impressions and extraordinary adventures. This theme is subsequently developed by Gogol in a number of his works. Only now, having abandoned the exotic excursions that had failed him, G. turns his dreams to the past of Ukraine, so rich in energetic, passionate natures and stormy, stunning events. In his Ukrainian stories we also see a contrast between vulgar reality and bright dreams, only here the real images nurtured by the small-scale environment are contrasted not by the exoticism that is completely alien to G., but by the images he assimilated through Cossack thoughts and songs, through the legends of old Ukraine and finally through acquaintance with the history of the Ukrainian people. Both in “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka” and in “Mirgorod” we see, on the one hand, a large group of small-scale sky-smokers, dressed up in Cossack scrolls, and on the other, ideal types of Cossacks, constructed on the basis of poetic echoes of Cossack antiquity. The elderly Cossacks depicted here - Cherevik, Makogonenko, Chub - are lazy, rude, roguishly simple-minded, extremely reminiscent of landowners of the Sobakevich type. The images of these Cossacks are bright, lively and leave an unforgettable impression; on the contrary, the ideal images of Cossacks, inspired by Little Russian antiquity - Levko, Gritsko, Petrus - are extremely uncharacteristic and pale. This is understandable, since living life influenced G., of course, stronger and deeper than purely literary impressions.
Turning to the consideration of the composition of Gogol's works, we notice here also the dominant influence of the small-scale environment, which gave the structure of his works truly original, purely Gogolian features. One of these extremely characteristic features of Gogol’s composition, which sharply distinguishes him from other major artists of the word, is the absence in his works of the main character - the hero. This is explained by the fact that Gogol is an artist of an ordinary person who cannot become a leading hero, because everyone around him is the same equal heroes. That is why in G. every personality is equally interesting, described with all care, always clearly and strongly outlined, and if Gogol has no heroes, then there is no crowd. To this we must also add that all Gogol’s images are, so to speak, static in nature. In none of G.'s works will you find an image of evolution, character development, or at least a successful image. Its characters are too primitive and uncomplicated to be involved in their evolution! Thanks to the latter circumstance, the very development of Gogol’s work proceeded in a very unique way: Gogol could not develop his works in depth by depicting the chronological and psychological growth of his hero, but he developed the more extensively in breadth, recording in his works an increasing number of characters. Another characteristic feature of Gogol’s composition, found, however, in all other artists of the local environment, is the slowness and thoroughness of the narrative; consistently, smoothly and calmly G. unfolds before the reader picture by picture, event by event. He has nowhere to rush and there is no need to worry: the serf life around him flows slowly and monotonously, and for years and even decades everything
remains the same unchanged in any noble nest. The slowness and thoroughness of the narrative is expressed in G. in the predominance of the epic element over the dramatic, story over action; they are manifested in the abundance of broad paintings, especially paintings of nature, in the many portraits, distinguished by the care of decoration, and finally, in the abundance of digressions of all kinds, subjective reflections and lyrical outpourings of the author. At the same time, carefully examining each individual structural component of the narrative, we notice that as a depicter of nature, G. was formed almost exclusively under the influence of the Ukrainian-Cossack elements. His landscapes did not arise under the living influence of direct impressions, but were born as a result of literary influences and the creative work of the imagination. G.'s landscapes do not have internal strength, but they captivate us with the external beauty of speech and the grandeur of the images. If, as a landscape painter, G. drew least of all from his native local environment, then, on the contrary, as a genre painter, he takes most of all from a small estate and a provincial town. Here his paintings breathe life and truth. A small and medium-sized estate, a provincial town, a fair, a ball - this is where his creative brush produces original and artistically finished paintings. Where he tries to go beyond these limits, his paintings become pale and imitative. Such are his attempts to depict a large European city in the story "Rome" or a social ball in "Nevsky Prospekt". In the genre paintings of Cossack Ukraine, Gogol is also not distinguished by great visual power. Here he is most successful in battle paintings, in the depiction of which G. successfully uses the poetic techniques of Ukrainian folk poetry. As for G.'s sketches of the appearance of his heroes, he gives in his works a large collection of portraits of first-class dignity. G.'s portraitism is explained by the fact that the pre-reform local way of life provided special conveniences for portraiture. The rapid change of things and persons, characteristic of a barter economy, did not take place here; on the contrary, the pre-reform landowner, attached to one place and isolated in his estate from the whole world, was an extremely stable figure with an eternally unchanged way of life, with traditional manners, with a traditional cut of dress. However, in G. only those portraits have artistic value that reproduce images of the local and bureaucratic world; where Gogol, trying to get away from these dull and vulgar images, creates demonic or beautiful portraits, his colors lose their brightness and originality. In connection with the already indicated features of the composition, there is another structural feature specific to G., namely, the absence of harmonious coherence and organic unity in the structure of his works. Each chapter, each part of G.’s work represents something complete, independent, connected to the whole by a purely mechanical connection. This mechanical structure of Gogol's works is, however, far from accidental. It could not be more suitable for conveying the characteristics of the social element depicted by G.. Organic coherence not only was not needed by G., but would have been downright inappropriate for him, while the mechanicalness of the work in itself makes the reader feel all the primitiveness and simplicity of life in the small-scale and petty-official provincial wilderness, the absence of bright personalities and deep social connections, lack of development, harmony and connectedness. Among the features of the architectonics of G.’s works is the introduction of fantasy. This fiction by G. also has an extremely unique character. This is not mysticism or vision, not a fantasy of the supernatural, but a fantasy of nonsense, nonsense, which grew on the basis of stupidity, absurdity and illogic of the small-scale environment. It has its roots in the lies of Khlestakov and Nozdryov, and grows out of the hypotheses of Ammos Fedorovich and the lady “pleasant in all respects.” Gogol skillfully uses this fantasy and, with the help of it, paints before us more clearly and vividly all the hopeless everyday life and vulgarity of the social environment he depicts.
G.'s language makes an ambivalent impression. On the one hand, the speech sounds measured, rounded, solemn - something songlike can be heard in the rhythm and turns of this speech. It is replete with lyrical digressions, epithets and tautologies, that is, precisely those literary techniques that are characteristic of epic folk poetry and the Ukrainian Duma. Gogol uses this style mainly in works depicting the life of the Cossacks. However, G. often uses the same techniques of the solemn style when depicting the real life around him, and so on. arr. a new aesthetic effect is obtained. The discrepancy between style and content causes uncontrollable laughter; the contrast of content with form clearly outlines the essence of the content. G. generously and with great skill took advantage of this contrast. That property of Gogol's work, which is designated by the word humor, largely comes down to this contrast. But still, when depicting real life, it is not these techniques that play a primary role, they do not give the tone to the style. Here another series of stylistic devices inherent in Gogol’s work comes onto the scene, snatched from life itself and perfectly conveying the characteristic features of the social corner depicted by G. Of these, first of all, it is necessary to mention alogisms, i.e., phrases composed completely illogically, according to like “There’s an elderberry in the garden, and there’s a guy in Kyiv.” The speech of Gogol’s heroes is replete with alogisms; the ignorance, stupidity and idle thoughts of small-scale existences find their expression in the expression of all sorts of absurd hypotheses, in the presentation of incredible arguments to prove their thoughts. The idle talk of the small-scale environment is inevitably accompanied by idle talk; lack of ideas, weakness of mental development entails inability to speak, a small vocabulary, and tongue-tiedness. Idle talk in Gogol's language. transmitted by using a special amplification technique. Amplification, i.e. helplessly marking time, piling up phrases without a subject and predicate, or phrases that are completely unnecessary in the meaning of speech, peppering speech with meaningless words, like “that”, “it”, “in some way”, etc. ., perfectly conveys the speech of an undeveloped person. Among other techniques, we should also note the use of provincialisms and the familiarity of the language. and characteristic comparisons. Provincialisms, with which Gogol’s speech is abundantly equipped, are often rude, but always bright and characteristic words and expressions, which the local, and even more so, the bureaucratic environment of the pre-reform era, were very inventive in using. The familiarity of the language, so beloved by Gogol as a technique, was necessary for him to convey that special shortness of relationships that was created in the conditions of small-scale life. The rough patriarchal nature of the small estate and petty bureaucratic environment and at the same time its fragmentation into small groups led to the fact that people knew all the ins and outs about each other and were close to each other almost like family. The comparisons used by G. in his real language are also taken, with few exceptions, from the everyday life of the local bureaucratic circle. Only some comparisons were clearly borrowed by him from folk poetry; Most of them, on the contrary, are distinguished by exceptional originality, being constructed from the original elements of small-scale and petty-official life.
G.'s work, like the work of any writer, does not represent a completely isolated phenomenon, but, on the contrary, is one of the links in a continuously developing literary chain. On the one hand, G. is the successor of the traditions of satirical literature (Narezhny, Kvitka, etc.) and is their best exponent; on the other hand, he is the founder and leader of a new literary movement, the so-called. "natural school" Gogol's worldwide fame rests on his artistic works, but he also acted as a publicist. Of his journalistic works, at one time they made a lot of noise: “Selected passages from correspondence with friends” and “Confession”, where G. takes on the role of a preacher and teacher of life. These journalistic statements by Gogol were extremely unsuccessful both in their philosophical naivety and in the extreme reactionary nature of the thoughts expressed. The consequence of these speeches was the well-known murderous rebuke of Belinsky. However, despite the fact that G. was subjectively a representative and defender of the reactionary interests of the local nobility, objectively he served the cause of the revolution with his artistic activity, awakening among the masses a critical attitude towards the surrounding reality. This is how Belinsky and Chernyshevsky assessed him in their time, and this is how he entered our consciousness.
Bibliography: I. Best of the ed. collection composition Gogol - tenth, ed. N. S. Tikhonravova, M., 1889, 5 vols. Behind death ed. was completed by V.I. Shenrok, who released 2 additional volumes; Among others, we note ed. "Enlightenment", ed. V. Kallash, 10 vols., St. Petersburg, 1908-1909; Letters of N. Gogol, ed. V. I. Shsnroka, 4 vols., St. Petersburg, 1902.
II. Kotlyarevsky N., Gogol, St. Petersburg, 1915; Mandelstam I., On the nature of Gogol’s style, Helsingfors, 1902; Ovsyaniko-Kulikovsky D.N., Collection. works., vol. I. Gogol, ed. 5th, Guise; Pereverzev V.F., Gogol’s works, ed. 1st, M., 1914; Slonimsky A, Gogol’s comic technique, P., 1923; Gippius V., Gogol, L., 1924; Vinogradov V., Sketches about Gogol’s style, L., 1926; His, The Evolution of Russian Naturalism, L., 1929 (the last four works are of a formalist nature).
III. Mezier A., Russian literature from the 11th to the 19th centuries. inclusive, part II, St. Petersburg, 1902; Vladislavlev I., Russian writers, Leningrad, 1924; His, Literature of the Great Decade, M. - L., 1928; Mandelstam R.S., Fiction in the assessment of Russian Marxist criticism, ed. 4th, M., 1928.
V. Pereverzev.
(Lit. enc.)
Gogol, Nikolai Vasilievich
Outstanding Russian writer, classic of Russian literature. Genus. in the village Velikiye Sorochintsy (Poltava province, now Ukraine), graduated from the Nizhyn Gymnasium of Higher Sciences; since 1928 he lived in St. Petersburg, worked as an official in various departments. dep., adjunct prof. at St. Petersburg University; several lived abroad for years.
The attraction to science fiction is predominant. fairy-tale and ballad type - the first publication reveals already. G.'s book, "idyll in pictures", "Hanz Küchelgarten" (1829 ). Track. book, "Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka" (1831-32 ) relied heavily on science fiction. basis, in which the motives of lit. origin (V.Tik, E. Hoffman, O. Somov, etc.) intertwined with folklore motifs; created thus the mythologized image of Ukraine found development and completion in the story "Viy" (1835 ), in which fiction is organically fused with everyday life. Along with the image of Ukraine, G. from the beginning. 1830s intensively develops a mythologized, science fiction-colored one. tone image of St. Petersburg - the stories "Portrait", "Notes of a Madman", "Nevsky Prospekt" (all in the collection. "Arabesque", 1835 ), as well as “The Nose” (1836) and “The Overcoat” (1842); the fiction of G.'s "Petersburg stories" was also based both on lit. ( E. Hoffman, V. Odoevsky etc.), and on oral traditions (the so-called “Petersburg folklore”).
In terms of poetics, Georgian fiction underwent a significant evolution. If in a number of his early productions. infernal forces - devils or persons who have entered into a criminal relationship with him - actively interfere in the action, then in other productions. the participation of such characters was relegated to mythology. prehistory, to the present In the temporal plan, only a “fantastic trace” remained - in the form of various. anomalies and fatal coincidences. A key place in the development of Gogol's fiction is occupied by the story "The Nose", where the subject of infernal evil (and, accordingly, the personified source of fiction) is generally eliminated, but the very fantastic and unrealizable nature of the incident is left, which is emphasized by the removal from the original text of the mention of a dream as the motivation for the "extraordinarily strange incidents."
Science fiction elements occupy a special place in G. TV. utopias, as in art. - 2nd volume "Dead Souls"(phragm. 1855 ), and in conceptual and journalistic expression (“Selected passages from correspondence with friends”); however, such motives should not be exaggerated: G. nowhere strictly adheres to the boundaries of utopian time and space, striving to find and root a positive principle in the national. and historical characteristics of Russian life.
Lit. (selectively):
V.I. Shenrok "Materials for the biography of Gogol" in 5 volumes. (1892-97).
S. Shambinago "Trilogy of Romanticism (N.V. Gogol)" (1911).
V. Gippius "Gogol" (1924).
"Gogol in the memoirs of his contemporaries" (1952).
N.L. Stepanov "N.V. Gogol. Creative Path" (1959).
G.A. Gukovsky "Gogol's Realism" (1959).
N.L.Gogol "Gogol" (1961).
Abram Tertz ( A. Sinyavsky) "In the Shadow of Gogol" (1975 - London).
Y. Mann "Gogol's Poetics" (1978; revised add. 1988).
I.P. Zolotussky "Gogol" (1979; revised addition 1984).
Lermontov Encyclopedia
Gogol, Nikolai Vasilievich one of the greatest writers of Russian literature (1809 1852). He was born on March 20, 1809 in the town of Sorochintsy (on the border of Poltava and Mirgorod districts) and came from an old Little Russian family; in troubled... ... Biographical Dictionary
Russian writer. Born into a family of poor landowners V.A. and M.I. Gogol Yanovsky. Father G. wrote several comedies in Ukrainian. Education G.... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Gogol Nikolai (03/20/1809 – 02/21/1852) - Russian writer, poet, author of dramatic works, publicist. He is a classic of Russian literature.
Early years
Nikolai Vasilyevich received the surname Yanovsky at birth; he was born in the village of Sorochintsy, Poltava province. Biographers have different opinions regarding his origins; most of them consider him to be a Little Russian; there are also versions about his Polish roots. Gogol's grandfather received a noble title; after government service, his father devoted a lot of time to theatrical life, wrote plays and was an excellent storyteller. Perhaps, thanks to his activities, Nikolai developed an early passion for theater.
Gogol's mother, according to contemporaries, was a rare beauty, half the age of her husband. It is believed that she influenced the writer's interest in mysticism. In total, eleven children were born in the family, many of them died in infancy, two were born dead. When Nikolai was ten years old, he was sent to study in Poltava.
From 1821 to 1828 he received his education at the Nezhin gymnasium. He was not diligent in his studies; his good memory helped him pass each class, thanks to which he could prepare for exams in a short time. Gogol had a hard time with languages; he received good marks for literature and fine arts.
At the gymnasium, students organized a literary club, where they subscribed to periodicals together, and also organized their own magazine, which was written by hand. Gogol often posted his poems there. In 1825, his father died, which greatly undermined the spirit of the family; as the eldest son, Nikolai’s shoulders fell on the shoulders of worries about the family and material problems.
High school student N.V. Gogol, 1820s
Initiation into the literary world
After high school, Gogol moved to St. Petersburg. He made big plans for his life in the capital, but here he faced many difficulties. There wasn’t enough money, and at first it was impossible to find a decent job. Nikolai tried many times to become an actor, but was not accepted; he was completely unsuitable for bureaucratic service. As a result, Gogol still found his calling in literature.
While still in Nizhyn, he wrote the poem “Hanz Küchelgarten,” which was published in 1829. The author signed himself as V. Alov. Having met a wave of negative responses, Nikolai bought the edition and burned the books with his own hands. Failure brought new disappointments, after which Gogol undertook a trip to Germany, then served briefly in the political police, after which he served for two years in the department of appanages.
In 1831, Gogol entered the social circle of Zhukovsky, Pushkin, and other literary figures. After the unsuccessful "Gantz" he realizes the need to change his literary style. From the beginning of his stay in St. Petersburg, Nikolai asked his mother to send him stories of Little Russian life, information about customs, and ancient manuscripts. He collected this data for his new works “Sorochinskaya Fair”, “The Missing Letter”, etc.
Having become close to Zhukovsky and Pletnev, Gogol got a job as a teacher at the Patriotic Institute, and he was finally noticed in the literary field. In 1834 he became an assistant at the history department at the University of St. Petersburg. Nikolai received extensive new knowledge about art, expanded his horizons, while improving his skills.
Literary activity
The first successful brainchild of Nikolai Vasilyevich was “Evenings on a farm near Dikanka”, consisting of two parts, which in turn included separate stories. These works made a great impression with their unique description of Ukrainian life combined with a humorous style. The author quickly became famous and strengthened his success in 1835 by publishing “Mirgorod” and “Arabesques,” which were also collections of works. This was the time when Gogol was most active as a writer.
His manuscripts testify to the meticulousness with which the author approached the writing of his works. The initial essay gradually acquired many details before being presented to the reader. In 1834, Gogol began work on “The Inspector General,” the idea of which was told to him by Pushkin (later he would be the source of the idea for “Dead Souls”). This comedy had special significance for the writer; it was evidence of his love for the theater. Particularly exciting for him was the challenge to a society that had never seen anything like it before. Opinions about The Inspector General were divided: some greeted it with admiration, others with protest. The reason was the author’s surprisingly accurate depiction of the situation of that time.
Pushkin from Gogol (M. Klodt)
Gogol decided to interrupt the period of intense creativity with a change of scenery. In 1836 he went abroad. For ten years he managed to live in France, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. Abroad, he completes his outstanding work “Dead Souls” (first volume) and writes new stories. In 1841 he comes to Russia to publish his main creation. Here he again experiences experiences associated with the public reaction. With some delays, the first volume of Dead Souls was finally released, slightly corrected by censorship. In 1842, Gogol's collected works were also published for the first time.
After the writer returned abroad, all this time he developed a sense of his high destiny. Religious sentiments became increasingly stronger, especially due to the serious illnesses that he had to endure. In 1845, all this resulted in an internal crisis. Having decided to become a monk, Gogol leaves a will and destroys the sequel to Dead Souls. Then he nevertheless leaves thoughts about serving in a monastery, rushing to worship through literature and studying church books.
Nikolai Vasilyevich decides to publish a new type of creativity, collecting together his moralizing letters to friends. The book was published in 1847, but was not successful. The failure greatly undermined the author’s mood and forced him to take a fresh look at his work. In search of spiritual food, he made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, after which he returned to Russia. He lived alternately in his native village, Odessa, and Moscow. I worked on the second part of Dead Souls, constantly adding to what I had written, as usual. Health problems returned, and by 1952 Gogol gave up literary activity, turning to prayer and fasting and anticipating his imminent death.
Gogol on his deathbed (V. Rachinsky, 02/22/1952)
Death
At the beginning of 1952, the writer had communication with Archpriest M. Konstantinovsky, whom he had previously known. It was he who became the only person who read the second part of “Dead Souls,” and his review of the work was negative. In February, Nikolai Vasilyevich no longer traveled anywhere; one night he burned his last manuscripts. Three days before his death, he refused food and brushed off any attempts to help. As a result, they decided to treat him forcibly, but this worsened the writer’s condition. After his death, Gogol left practically no property, except for a gold watch and a library, books from which, without an inventory, were immediately sold for pennies. He did not consider the proceeds from the sale of his own books to be his own and donated them to charity.
The funeral service for Nikolai Vasilyevich was held in the church at the university, and he was buried in Moscow at the Danilov Monastery. A black stone and a bronze cross were placed on the grave. After the monastery was closed in 1931, Gogol was reburied at the Novodevichy cemetery. In 1952, a bust was installed on the grave, and the old tombstone was sent to the workshop. There it was bought by M. Bulgakov’s wife for her husband’s grave. In honor of the writer’s bicentenary, the monument was restored to its original appearance.
Mysterious person
Nikolai Vasilyevich amazingly combined a satirist and a religious thinker; he is one of the most mysterious figures in Russian literature. His work united Russian and Ukrainian cultures. He was the author of not only works of art, but also numerous articles and even prayers. Both during his life and after his death, there were many rumors and assumptions around Gogol’s personality. Thus, the lonely and secluded life of Nikolai Vasilyevich became the source of rumors about his unconventional orientation. At the same time, practically no data has been preserved about his personal life.
Monument to Gogol (Moscow, Gogolevsky Boulevard)
Many legends are associated with the death of the writer. There is speculation that he suffered from a mental disorder before his death. Another hypothesis claims that Gogol did not die, but only fell into a lethargic sleep. According to some evidence, when the grave was opened, his remains were in an unnatural position. In addition, some scientists suggest that the writer starved himself to death. Finally, another version is poisoning with a medicine containing mercury.
Nikolai Vasilyevich had a huge influence on Russian culture; he became the author of dozens of interesting works. In Russia, his name is known to everyone; certain works are mandatory for the school curriculum. They have been filmed more than once; plays, operas and ballets have been staged based on them. Many streets and educational institutions bear the name of the writer. There are more than 15 monuments to Gogol in the world.
The future writer was born on March 20, 1809 in the Poltava province, in a small place called Velikiye Sorochintsy. His family was not rich. His father’s name was Vasily Afanasyevich, and his mother’s name was Maria Ivanovna.
He received his education at the Nizhensky Gymnasium of Higher Sciences. This gymnasium was founded in 1821. It was there that young Gogol began to show interest in the literary craft, and his outstanding acting abilities were also revealed. Gogol wanted to devote himself to the cause of justice and for this reason he decided to move to St. Petersburg in 1828.
He published his first poems under the pseudonym V. Alov, but they were not very successful. In 1831, Gogol met Pushkin, this acquaintance had a significant influence on him. The first work that brought him fame is called “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka”, was written in 1831-32.
In 1835, Gogol wrote his well-known comedy, called "The Inspector General." Already in 1836, this play was staged and performed at the Alexandrinsky Theater. The work made such a strong impression on people that some reactionary forces began to treat Gogol poorly. In June of the same year, Gogol decided to leave Russia for a while. Thus, he lived in Rome, where he worked on one of his main creations in life called “Dead Souls”. It was originally intended that the work would consist of three volumes. The first volume of “dead souls” was published in 1846 under the title “The Adventures of Chichikov and Dead Souls.” In the same year, a collection of Gogol’s works was published in St. Petersburg, which included previously unpublished works. These include works called “Marriage” and “Players”.
Gogol's subsequent creative activity proceeded rather unevenly. Between 1842 and 1845 he travels abroad and still cannot find himself, meanwhile working on his second novel of dead souls.
The final stage of Gogol’s life can be called his pilgrimage to Jerusalem, where he prays before the Holy Sepulcher and asks for his help in writing “Dead Souls.” On the night of February 11–12, Gogol burned the entire second volume, after which he dies 10 days later.
Option 2
N.V. Gogol is a recognized classic of Russian literature and one of the founders of realism. He has written prose, poetic, dramatic works, critical and journalistic articles.
He was born in 1809. in Ukraine (in the village of Bolshie Sorochintsy) in the family of a poor landowner. His childhood years were spent in the village of Vasilyevka.
Gogol received his primary education at home. Since 1818 to 1819 studied at the Poltava district school, and from 1821. to 1828 – at the Nizhyn Gymnasium of Higher Sciences. Even during his school years, he enjoys playing on stage and tries his hand as a stage director. In addition, he is interested in Ukrainian history, folk customs and folklore, writes his first literary works and publishes them in handwritten magazines and almanacs.
After graduating from high school, Nikolai goes to St. Petersburg. He dreams of fame as a writer, wants to prove himself in the acting field, but is forced to get a job as an official for a small salary.
In 1829 publishes the poem “Hans Küchelgarten” at his own expense. Critics responded unfavorably to this work. Gogol bought all his unsold copies and burned them.
Nikolai Vasilyevich understands that it is necessary to look for a new direction that will interest readers. Several of his stories and a chapter from the novel “Hetman” appear in printed publications. However, real success came to him after the publication of the collection “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka.”
Since 1834 to 1835 Gogol is engaged in teaching activities - he lectures on history at the St. Petersburg Imperial University. In 1835 His collections “Mirgorod” and “Arabesques” were published, and the play “The Inspector General” was written, the first production of which took place in 1836.
The public did not like the play. The disappointed writer goes abroad for a long time (however, he periodically visits Russia). He lives for some time in Germany, Switzerland, France, and then in Italy. He especially loved Rome. Everything there promotes creativity, so N.V. Gogol is working hard on the novel “Dead Souls”, finishing the story “The Overcoat”, etc.
Having published the first volume of Dead Souls, the writer is working on the second, but in 1845. he has a mental crisis. He makes a will, wants to go to a monastery, burns the handwritten version of the second volume, and makes a trip to Jerusalem.
In 1848 returns to Russia. He resumes work on Dead Souls, but shortly before his death he again burns the manuscripts. He plunges into dark thoughts, stops leaving the house, observes strict fasting and brings himself to physical and nervous exhaustion.
In 1852 Gogol died.
Gogol. Biography 3
Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol was born in 1809 and died in 1852.
During his lifetime, Gogol wrote many works that are still studied by schoolchildren today. The moral that Gogol laid down in the lines of his creations in the fourteenth century is still relevant today.
Gogol received a decent education in his youth. And after finishing school he moved from his village to St. Petersburg. There he wrote tirelessly, trying to break through from unknown authors to more recognizable ones.
Interesting fact: it is known that the second volume was written by Gogol, but in 1852 he burned the manuscript.
Nikolai Vasilyevich also loved to travel to foreign cities. This gave him a breath of fresh air and inspiration to write many of his plays.
Gogol's dramaturgy became a new word in the history of Russian theater. The beginning of creative activity in this field is usually dated to 1832; it was at this time that the writer’s first plans were formed.
Nikolai Vasilyevich very clearly expressed his sympathy for the “little man”; this is reflected in many of his stories.
Gogol loved the Ukrainian people very much - for the writer he was the personification of everything bright and beautiful and the people are depicted mainly in their romantic ideal appearance.
5th grade, 7th grade. Creativity for children
Biography by dates and interesting facts. The most important.
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From school we know the work of N.V. Gogol, his main works. But here we will focus on only one aspect: how life circumstances influenced the writer’s personality. Researchers note that the classic of Russian literature successively experienced different periods: naturalistic, passion for Ukrainian folklore and mysticism, religious and journalistic, and so on. What influenced the formation and formation of such a complex genius?
N.V. Gogol. Biography: short pedigree
Everyone knows that this mysterious Russian of origin was born in 1809 in the village of Velikiye Sorochintsy (Poltava province, Mirgorod district). It is also no secret that his parents were landowners. But few researchers delved into the writer’s genealogy. But she is very interesting. Gogol's biography indicates that the child's worldview was formed under the influence of his father and mother. Their stories also left a lasting impression on him. Maria Ivanovna Kosyarovskaya was from a noble family. But my father was from a hereditary line of priests. True, the writer’s grandfather, whose name was Afanasy Demyanovich, left the spiritual field and signed up for service in the hetman’s office. He, in fact, added the prefix Gogol to his surname - Yanovsky, which “related” him to the glorious 17th century colonel Eustachius.
Childhood
His father's stories about his Cossack ancestors instilled in young Nikolai a love of Ukrainian history. But even more than the memories of Vasily Afanasyevich, the very area where he lived influenced the writer. Gogol's biography tells that he spent his childhood years on the family estate Vasilyevka, which is located in close proximity to Dikanka. There are villages in Ukraine where local residents say that sorcerers and witches live there. In the Carpathian region they are called malfars, in the Poltava region various terrible stories were simply passed on from mouth to mouth, in which the inhabitants of Dikanka appeared. All this left an indelible imprint on the boy’s soul.
Parallel reality
Having completed his studies at the gymnasium in 1828, Nikolai left for the capital, St. Petersburg, in the hope that a bright future would now open before him. But severe disappointment awaited him there. He failed to get a job; his first attempts at writing caused derogatory criticism. Gogol's biography defines this period in the writer's life as realistic. He works as a minor official in the allotments department. Gray, routine life proceeds, as it were, in parallel with the creative search of the writer. He attends classes at the Academy of Arts, and after the success of the story “Basavryuk” he meets Pushkin, Zhukovsky, and Delvig.
Biography of Gogol and emigration
The theme of the “little man,” criticism of the Russian bureaucracy, grotesque and satire - all this was embodied in the cycle of St. Petersburg stories, the comedy “The Inspector General,” as well as the world-famous poem “Dead Souls.” However, Ukraine did not leave the writer’s heart. In addition to “Evenings on the Farm,” he writes the historical story “Taras Bulba” and the horror film “Viy.” After the reactionary persecution of “The Inspector General,” the writer leaves Russia and goes first to Switzerland, then to France and Italy. Gogol's biography makes us understand that somewhere in the second half of the 1840s, the writer's work took an unexpected turn towards fanaticism, mysticism and praise of autocracy. The writer returns to Russia and writes a series of publications that alienate his former friends. In 1852, on the verge of a mental breakdown, the writer burned the second volume of Dead Souls. A few days later, on February 21, Gogol died.