Stages of the biography of Gogol's work. Biography of Nikolai Gogol
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Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol (1809 – 1852) – classic of Russian literature, writer, playwright, publicist, critic. Gogol’s most important works are considered to be: the collection “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka”, dedicated to the customs and traditions of the Ukrainian people, as well as the greatest poem “ Dead Souls”.
Among the biographies of great writers, the biography of Gogol stands in a separate row. After reading this article you will understand why this is so.
Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol is a generally recognized literary classic. He worked masterfully in the most different genres. Both his contemporaries and writers of subsequent generations spoke positively about his works.
Conversations about his biography still do not subside, since he is one of the most mystical and mysterious figures among the intelligentsia of the 19th century.
Childhood and youth
Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol was born on March 20, 1809 in the town of Sorochintsy (Poltava province, Mirgorod district) into a family of local poor Little Russian nobles who owned the village of Vasilyevka, Vasily Afanasyevich and Maria Ivanovna Gogol-Yanovsky.Since childhood, Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol’s belonging to the Little Russian nationality had a significant influence on his worldview and writing activity. Psychological characteristics Little Russian nationality were reflected in the content of it early works and on the artistic style of his speech.
My childhood years were spent on my parents' estate Vasilyevka, Mirgorod district, not far from the village of Dikanki. An hour's drive from Vasilyevka along the Oposhnyansky tract was the Poltava Field - the site of the famous battle. From his grandmother Tatyana Semyonovna, who taught the boy to draw and even embroider with garus, Gogol listened to Ukrainian music on winter evenings. folk songs. The grandmother told her grandson historical legends and traditions about the heroic pages of history, about the Zaporozhye Cossack freemen.
The Gogol family stood out for its stable cultural needs. Gogol's father, Vasily Afanasyevich, was a talented storyteller and theater lover. He became close friends with a distant relative, former Minister of Justice D.P. Troshchinsky, who lived in retirement in the village of Kibintsy, not far from Vasilyevka. A rich nobleman arranged in his estate home theater, where Vasily Afanasyevich became a director and actor. He composed his own comedies for this theater in Ukrainian, the plots of which he borrowed from folk tales. V.V. Kapnist, a venerable playwright, author of the famous “The Yabeda,” took part in the preparation of the performances. His plays were performed on the stage in Kibintsy, as well as “The Minor” by Fonvizin and “Podshchipa” by Krylov. Vasily Afanasyevich was friends with Kapnist, sometimes his whole family visited him in Obukhovka. In July 1813, little Gogol saw G. R. Derzhavin here, visiting a friend of his youth. Gogol inherited his writing and acting talent from his father.
Mother, Maria Ivanovna, was a religious, nervous and impressionable woman. Having lost two children who died in infancy, she waited with fear for the third. The couple prayed in the Dikan Church in front of the miraculous icon of St. Nicholas. Having given the newborn the name of a saint revered by the people, the parents surrounded the boy with special affection and attention. From childhood, Gogol remembered his mother’s stories about the last times, about the death of the world and the Last Judgment, about the hellish torments of sinners. They were accompanied by instructions on the need to maintain spiritual purity for the sake of future salvation. The boy was especially impressed by the story about the ladder that angels lower from heaven, giving their hand to the soul of the deceased. There are seven measures on this ladder; the last, seventh, raises the immortal soul of man to the seventh heaven, to the heavenly abodes that are accessible to a few. The souls of the righteous go there - people who spent their earthly life “in all piety and purity.” The image of the staircase will then pass through all of Gogol’s thoughts about the fate and calling of man to spiritual improvement.
From his mother, Gogol inherited a subtle mental organization, a penchant for contemplation and God-fearing religiosity. Kapnist’s daughter recalled: “I knew Gogol as a boy who was always serious and so thoughtful that it worried his mother extremely.” The boy's imagination was also influenced by the pagan beliefs of the people in brownies, witches, merman and mermaids. The many-voiced and motley, sometimes comically cheerful, and sometimes fear-inducing, mysterious world of folk demonology was absorbed by Gogol’s impressionable soul from childhood.
In 1821, after two years of study at the Poltava district school, the boy’s parents enrolled the boy in the newly opened gymnasium of higher sciences of Prince Bezborodko in Nizhyn, Chernigov province. It was often called a lyceum: like the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, the gymnasium course was combined with university subjects, and classes were taught by professors. Gogol studied in Nizhyn for seven years, visiting his parents only on vacation.
At first, studying was difficult: insufficient preparation at home had an effect. Children of wealthy parents, classmates of Gogol, entered the gymnasium with knowledge of Latin, French and German. Gogol envied them, felt slighted, shunned his classmates, and in letters home begged them to take him away from the gymnasium. The sons of rich parents, among whom was N.V. Kukolnik, did not spare his pride and ridiculed his weaknesses. From his own experience, Gogol experienced the drama of the “little” man, learned the bitter price of the words of the poor official Bashmachkin, the hero of his “The Overcoat,” addressed to the scoffers: “Leave me alone! Why are you offending me? Sick, frail, suspicious, the boy was humiliated not only by his peers, but also by insensitive teachers. Rare patience and the ability to silently endure insults gave Gogol the first nickname he received from schoolchildren - “Dead Thought.”
But soon Gogol discovered an extraordinary talent in drawing, far outstripping his offenders in success, and then enviable literary abilities. Like-minded people appeared, with whom he began to publish a handwritten magazine, publishing his articles, stories, and poems in it. Among them is the historical story “The Tverdislavich Brothers”, the satirical essay “Something about Nezhin, or the law is not written for fools”, in which he ridiculed the morals of local inhabitants.
The beginning of a literary journey
Gogol early became interested in literature, especially poetry. His favorite poet was Pushkin, and he copied his "Gypsy", "Poltava", and chapters of "Eugene Onegin" into his notebooks. Gogol's first literary experiments date back to this time.Already in 1825, he contributed to a handwritten gymnasium magazine and composed poetry. Another hobby of Gogol, a high school student, was the theater. He took an active part in the production school plays, played comic roles, painted scenery.
Gogol early awakened dissatisfaction with the musty and dull life of Nizhyn “existents”, dreams of serving noble and high goals. The thought of the future, of “serving humanity,” already captured Gogol. These youthfully enthusiastic aspirations, this thirst for socially useful activity, a sharp rejection of philistine complacency found their expression in the first poetic work of his that has come down to us, the poem “Hanz Küchelgarten.”
Dreams and plans for future activities drew Gogol to the capital, to distant and tempting St. Petersburg. Here he thought to find an application for his abilities, to devote his strength to the good of society. After graduating from the gymnasium, in December 1828, Gogol left for St. Petersburg.
St. Petersburg did not kindly greet the enthusiastic young man who had come from distant Ukraine, from a quiet provincial wilderness. Gogol faces setbacks from all sides. The official-bureaucratic world treated the young provincial with indifferent indifference: there was no service, life in the capital for a young man who had very modest means turned out to be very difficult. Gogol also experienced bitter disappointment in the literary field. His hopes for the poem "Hanz Küchelgarten", brought from Nizhyn, were not justified. Published in 1829 (under the pseudonym V. Alov), the poem was not successful.
An attempt to enter the stage also ended in failure: Gogol’s true Riolist talent as an actor turned out to be alien to the then theater management.
Only at the end of 1829 Gogol managed to get a job as a minor official in the department of state economy and public buildings. However, Gogol did not stay in this position for long and already in April 1830 he became a scribe in the department of appanages.
During these years, Gogol became aware of the deprivation and need experienced in St. Petersburg by the majority of the service and poor people. Gogol served as an official in the department for a whole year. However, bureaucratic service attracted him little. At the same time, he attended the Academy of Arts, studying painting there. His literary studies resumed. But now Gogol no longer writes dreamy-romantic poems like “Hanz Küchelgarten,” but turns to Ukrainian life and folklore, which he knows well, starting work on a book of stories, which he entitled “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka.”
In 1831, the long-awaited acquaintance with Pushkin took place, which soon turned into a close friendship between both writers. Gogol found in Pushkin an older comrade, a literary leader.
Gogol and theater
In 1837, he appeared in Sovremennik with the article “St. Petersburg Notes of 1836,” much of which was devoted to drama and theater. Gogol's judgments broke the established canons and asserted the need for a new artistic method for the Russian stage - realism. Gogol criticized two popular genres that took over “theaters all over the world” in those years: melodrama and vaudeville.Gogol sharply condemns the main vice of this genre:
Our melodrama lies in the most shameless way
Melodrama does not reflect the life of society and does not produce the proper impact on it, arousing in the viewer not participation, but some kind of “anxious state.” Vaudeville, “this light, colorless toy,” in which laughter “is generated by light impressions, fluent witticisms, puns,” also does not correspond to the tasks of the theater.
Theater, according to Gogol, should teach and educate audiences:
We made a toy out of the theater, like those trinkets that are used to lure children, forgetting that this is a pulpit from which a live lesson is read to a whole crowd at once.
In the draft version of the article, Gogol calls the theater a “great school.” But the condition for this is the fidelity of the reflection of life. “Really, it’s time to know already,” writes Gogol, that only a true depiction of characters, not in general, established features, but in their nationally expressed form, strikes us with liveliness, so that we say: “Yes, this seems to be a familiar person,” - only such an image brings significant benefits.” Here and in other places, Gogol defends the principles of realistic theater and only attaches great social and educational importance to such theater.
For God's sake, give us Russian characters, give us ourselves, our rogues, our eccentrics! on stage, to everyone's laughter!
Gogol reveals the importance of laughter as a powerful weapon in the fight against social vices. “Laughter,” Gogol continues, is a great thing: it does not take away either life or property, but before it the guilty person is like a tied hare...” In the theater “with the solemn brilliance of lighting, with the thunder of music, with unanimous laughter, an acquaintance appears, hiding vice". A person is afraid of laughter, Gogol repeatedly repeats, and refrains from doing things “from which no force would restrain him.” But not every laughter has such power, but only “that electric, life-giving laughter” that has a deep ideological basis.
In December 1828, Gogol said goodbye to his native Ukrainian lands and headed north: to alien and tempting, distant and desired Petersburg. Even before his departure, Gogol wrote: “From the very times of the past, from the very years of almost misunderstanding, I burned with unquenchable zeal to make my life necessary for the good of the state. I went over in my mind all the states, all the positions in the state and settled on one. On Justice. “I saw that here only I can be a blessing, here only I will be useful to humanity.”
So. Gogol arrived in St. Petersburg. The very first weeks of his stay in the capital brought Gogol bitter disappointment. He failed to fulfill his dream. Unlike Piskarev, the hero of the story “Nevsky Prospekt,” Gogol does not perceive the collapse of his dreams so tragically. Having changed many other activities, he still finds his calling in life. Gogol's calling is to be a writer. “... I wanted,” Gogol wrote, “in my essay to highlight primarily those higher properties of Russian nature that are not yet fairly valued by everyone, and mainly those low ones that have not yet been sufficiently ridiculed and amazed by everyone. I wanted to collect here some striking psychological phenomena, to place those observations that I have made for a long time in secret about a person.” Soon the poem was completed, which Gogol decided to make public. It was published in May 1829 under the title Hanz Küchelgarten. Soon critical reviews appeared in the press. They were sharply negative. Gogol took his failure very painfully. He leaves St. Petersburg, but soon returns again.
Gogol was seized by a new dream: theater. But he didn't pass the exam. His realistic style of acting clearly conflicted with the tastes of the examiners. And here again failure. Gogol almost fell into despair.
After a little time, Gogol receives a new position in one of the departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. After 3 months, he couldn’t stand it here and wrote a letter of resignation. He moved to another department, where he then worked as a scribe. Gogol continued to look closely at the life and everyday life of his fellow officials. These observations later formed the basis of the stories “The Nose” and “The Overcoat”. After serving for another year, Gogol left the departmental service forever.
Meanwhile, his interest in art not only did not fade away, but every day it overpowered him more and more. The bitterness with “Hanz Küchelgarten” was forgotten, and Gogol continued to write.
His new collections and works will be published soon. 1831 - 1832 Gogol writes the collection “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka”, 1835 - the collection “Mirgorod”, in the same year he begins to create “ Dead souls" and "The Inspector General", in 1836 - the story "The Nose" was published and the premiere of the comedy "The Inspector General" took place in theaters in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Only later, after his death, some stories depicting St. Petersburg “in all its glory,” with officials and bribe-takers, were combined into “Petersburg Stories.” These are stories such as: “The Overcoat”, “The Nose”, “Nevsky Prospekt”, “Notes of a Madman”. IN Petersburg stories both the highest and by no means the best properties of the Russian character, the life and customs of different layers of St. Petersburg society - officials, military men, artisans - were reflected. Literary critic A.V. Lunacharsky wrote: “The vile faces of everyday life teased and called for a slap.” The story “Nevsky Prospect” with its Pirogov, Hoffmann and Schiller, with ladies, generals and department officials wandering along Nevsky Prospect “from two to three o’clock in the afternoon...” became such a bummer.
In St. Petersburg, Gogol had a difficult life, full of disappointments. He couldn't find his calling. And finally I found it. N.V. Gogol’s calling is to be a writer depicting the vices of the human soul and the nature of Little Russia.
Gogol died at the age of 43. Doctors who treated him last years, were in complete bewilderment about his illness. A version of depression was put forward.
It began with the fact that at the beginning of 1852, the sister of one of Gogol’s close friends, Ekaterina Khomyakova, died, whom the writer respected to the depths of his soul. Her death provoked severe depression, resulting in religious ecstasy. Gogol began to fast. His daily diet consisted of 1-2 tablespoons of cabbage brine and oatmeal broth, and occasionally prunes. Considering that Nikolai Vasilyevich’s body was weakened after illness - in 1839 he suffered from malarial encephalitis, and in 1842 he suffered from cholera and miraculously survived - fasting was mortally dangerous for him.
On the night of February 24, he burned the second volume of Dead Souls. After 4 days, Gogol was visited by a young doctor, Alexey Terentyev. He described the writer’s condition as follows:
He watched as a man for whom all tasks were resolved, every feeling was silent, every word was in vain... His whole body became extremely thin, his eyes became dull and sunken, his face became completely drawn, his cheeks sunken, his voice weakened...
Doctors invited to see the dying Gogol found he had severe gastrointestinal disorders. They talked about “intestinal catarrh,” which turned into “typhoid fever,” and about unfavorable gastroenteritis. And finally, about “indigestion,” complicated by “inflammation.”
As a result, the doctors diagnosed him with meningitis and prescribed bloodletting, hot baths and douses, which were deadly in such a condition.
The writer's pitiful withered body was immersed in a bath, his head was watered cold water. They put leeches on him, and with a weak hand he frantically tried to brush away the clusters of black worms that had attached themselves to his nostrils. Was it possible to imagine a worse torture for a person who had spent his whole life disgusted with everything creeping and slimy? “Remove the leeches, lift the leeches from your mouth,” Gogol moaned and begged. In vain. He was not allowed to do this.
A few days later the writer passed away.
Gogol's ashes were buried at noon on February 24, 1852 by parish priest Alexei Sokolov and deacon John Pushkin. And after 79 years, he was secretly, thieves removed from the grave: the Danilov Monastery was transformed into a colony for juvenile delinquents, and therefore its necropolis was subject to liquidation. It was decided to move only a few of the graves dearest to the Russian heart to the old cemetery of the Novodevichy Convent. Among these lucky ones, along with Yazykov, Aksakovs and Khomyakovs, was Gogol...
On May 31, 1931, twenty to thirty people gathered at Gogol’s grave, among whom were: historian M. Baranovskaya, writers Vs. Ivanov, V. Lugovskoy, Y. Olesha, M. Svetlov, V. Lidin and others. It was Lidin who became perhaps the only source of information about the reburial of Gogol. With his light hand they began to walk around Moscow scary legends about Gogol.
The coffin was not found immediately, he told the students of the Literary Institute; for some reason it turned out not to be where they were digging, but somewhat further away, to the side. And when they pulled it out of the ground - covered in lime, seemingly strong, from oak boards - and opened it, then bewilderment was mixed with the heartfelt trembling of those present. In the coffin lay a skeleton with its skull turned to one side. No one found an explanation for this. Someone superstitious probably thought then: “This is a publican - he seems not to be alive during life, and not dead after death - this strange great man.”
Lidin's stories stirred up old rumors that Gogol was afraid of being buried alive in a state of lethargic sleep and seven years before his death he bequeathed:
My body should not be buried until obvious signs of decomposition appear. I mention this because even during the illness itself, moments of vital numbness came over me, my heart and pulse stopped beating
What the exhumers saw in 1931 seemed to indicate that Gogol’s behest was not fulfilled, that he was buried in a lethargic state, he woke up in a coffin and experienced nightmarish minutes of dying again...
To be fair, it must be said that Lida’s version did not inspire confidence. The sculptor N. Ramazanov, who removed Gogol’s death mask, recalled: “I did not suddenly decide to take off the mask, but the prepared coffin... finally, the constantly arriving crowd of people who wanted to say goodbye to the dear deceased forced me and my old man, who pointed out the traces of destruction, to hurry...” explanation for the rotation of the skull: the side boards of the coffin were the first to rot, the lid lowers under the weight of the soil, presses on the dead man’s head, and it turns to one side on the so-called “Atlas vertebra.”
Matyavina Elena
Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol was born in 1809 in the village of Bolshiye Sorochintsy, into a family of poor landowners - Vasily Afanasyevich and Maria Ivanovna Gogol-Yanovsky. The writer's father was the author of several comedies in Ukrainian
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ABSTRACT
N.V.Gogol.
Life and art.
Prepared by: Elena Matyavina
N.V.Gogol. Life and art.
Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol was born in 1809 in the village of Bolshiye Sorochintsy, into a family of poor landowners - Vasily Afanasyevich and Maria Ivanovna Gogol-Yanovsky. The writer's father was the author of several comedies in Ukrainian. From 1821 to 1828, Nikolai Vasilyevich studied at the Nezhin Gymnasium of Higher Sciences. Interest in literature and painting, as well as acting talent, appeared already during the years of study. The great hobby of many students at the gymnasium was amateur theater, one of the creators of which was Gogol. He was a talented performer of many roles, as well as a director and artist, the author of funny comedies and scenes from folk life.
In the gymnasium, the future writer began to compile the “Little Russian Lexicon” (Ukrainian-Russian dictionary) and record folk songs. The writer collected remarkable monuments of oral poetic creativity throughout his life. Gogol's first literary experiments date back to 1823–24. Two years after entering the gymnasium, he became one of the active participants in the literary circle, whose members published several handwritten magazines and almanacs: “Meteor of Literature”, “Star”, “Northern Dawn”, etc. The first stories, critical articles, plays and poems by an aspiring writer.
After graduating from high school, Gogol left for St. Petersburg and a year later entered the civil service, and then began teaching history in one of the educational institutions. During this period, Nikolai Vasilyevich met V.A. Zhukovsky, P.A. Pletnev and A.S. Pushkin, who had a huge influence on his work. Gogol considered himself a student and follower of the great poet. Along with Pushkin, the romantic poetry and prose of the Decembrists had a great influence on the formation of the literary tastes of the future writer.
In 1831–32, Gogol’s book “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka” was published, based on Ukrainian folk art- songs, fairy tales, folk beliefs and customs, as well as the personal impressions of the author himself. This book brought Gogol great success. The appearance of “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka,” according to Pushkin, was an extraordinary phenomenon in Russian literature. Gogol opened a wonderful world to the Russian reader folk life, imbued with the romance of folk legends and traditions, cheerful lyricism and playful humor.
The years 1832–33 were a turning point in the writer’s life. It was a time of persistent search for new themes and images suggested by life. In 1835, two collections were published: “Mirgorod” and “Arabesques”, which brought Gogol even greater recognition. The collection “Mirgorod” includes the stories “Old World Landowners”, “Taras Bulba”, “Viy” and “The Story of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich”. At the same time, work continued on “Petersburg Tales” - a cycle of works devoted to St. Petersburg themes. The first sketches of the cycle date back to 1831. The most significant story in the St. Petersburg cycle, “The Overcoat,” was completed in 1841.
In 1836, in Alexandrinsky Theater, the first performance of the comedy “The Inspector General” took place, in which the author mercilessly ridicules officials and the landed nobility. The characters in the comedy were typical for all of Russia at that time, and many viewers who saw the comedy for the first time believed that the author was making fun of their city, its officials, landowners and police officers. But not everyone received the comedy favorably. Representatives of the bureaucracy saw comedy as a threat. Articles began to appear on the pages of the magazine accusing the author of the comedy of distorting reality. Those who recognized themselves in the heroes of the comedy argued that its content boiled down to an old empty joke.
Critical reviews deeply traumatized Gogol. In subsequent years, he continued to work hard on the composition of the play and the images of the characters. In 1841, the comedy, in a significantly revised form, was published a second time as a separate book. But this edition also seemed imperfect to the writer. Gogol included only the sixth version of The Inspector General in the fourth volume of his Works in 1842. But in this form, the comedy, due to censorship obstacles, was staged only 28 years later.
Almost simultaneously with the first edition of The Inspector General, the first issue of Pushkin’s journal Sovremennik was published, in the preparation of which Gogol took an active part. In one of his articles, he criticized editorial publications, after which attacks from the ruling classes noticeably intensified.
In the summer of 1836, Gogol decided to temporarily go abroad, where he spent a total of more than 12 years. The writer lived in Germany, Switzerland, France, Austria, the Czech Republic, but most of all in Italy. In subsequent years, he returned to his homeland twice - in 1839–40. and in 1841–42. Death of A.S. Pushkin deeply shocked the writer. The beginning of his work on the poem “Dead Souls” dates back to this time. Shortly before the duel, Pushkin gave Gogol his own plot, and the writer considered his work the “sacred testament” of the great poet.
At the beginning of October 1841, Gogol arrived in St. Petersburg, and a few days later he left for Moscow, where he continued to work on “ Dead souls" In May 1842, the first volume of Dead Souls was published, and at the end of May Gogol went abroad again. Russian readers, who became acquainted with Gogol's new creation, were immediately divided into his supporters and opponents. Heated debates erupted around the book. Gogol at this time was resting and receiving treatment in the small German town of Gastein. The unrest associated with the publication of Dead Souls, material need, and attacks from critics became the cause of a spiritual crisis and nervous illness.
In subsequent years, the writer often moved from one place to another, hoping that a change of environment would help him restore his health. By the mid-40s, the spiritual crisis deepened. Under the influence of A.P. Tolstoy, Gogol became imbued with religious ideas and abandoned his previous beliefs and works. In 1847, a series of articles by the writer in the form of letters was published entitled “Selected Passages from Correspondence with Friends.” the main idea This book is the need for internal Christian education and re-education of each and every person, without which no social improvements are possible. The book was published in a heavily censored form and was considered weak in artistically work. At the same time, Gogol also worked on works of a theological nature, the most significant of which is “Reflections on the Divine Liturgy” (published posthumously in 1857).
The last years of his life N.V. Gogol lived alone. In 1848, the writer intended to fulfill his main dream - to travel around Russia. But there was no longer any money or physical strength for this. He visited his native places and lived in Odessa for six months. In St. Petersburg he met Nekrasov, Goncharov and Grigorovich, in April 1848 he made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land to the Holy Sepulcher, but spent most of his time in Moscow. Despite his illness, the writer continued to work, as he saw the meaning of his life in literature.
In recent years, all of Gogol's thoughts were absorbed in the second volume of Dead Souls. At the beginning of 1852, the writer showed signs of a new mental crisis; he refused food and medical care. His health condition worsened every day. One night, during another attack, he burned almost all of his manuscripts, including the completed edition of the second volume of “Dead Souls” (only 7 chapters survived in incomplete form). Soon after this, the writer died and was buried in the St. Daniel Monastery. In 1931, the writer's remains were reburied at Novodevichy Cemetery. Shortly before his death, Gogol said: “I know that after me my name will be happier than me...”. And he was right. About two hundred years have passed since the death of the great Russian writer, but his works still occupy an honorable place among the masterpieces of world classics.
Essay on life and work
The beginning of the way. In December 1828, Gogol graduated from the Nizhyn Gymnasium of Higher Sciences and headed to St. Petersburg. It should be noted that this trip was planned with the utmost seriousness and the young man’s dreams of his own device were quite specific. He “... went to the capital with great intentions and generally useful enterprises: firstly, to inform my mother at least 6,000 rubles. the money he will receive for his tragedies; Secondly, to ask Little Russia to waive all taxes.” This is how one of the family’s friends ironically describes Gogol’s hopes.
Naturally, the dreams remained dreams, and the search for money for food was quite difficult and darkened the first years of life in the capital. The publication of the idyll poem “Hans Küchelgarten” written in Nizhyn under the pseudonym V. Alov does not bring success. Having read the lines: “My small payment / For the rest of my life is a story,” the reviewer wrote: “The payment for such poems should be to save them under a bushel.” The review forced the author to buy the remaining copies of the poem and destroy them.
However, Gogol does not tire of writing new works, and his prose stories quickly find their readers. Published in early 1830, the work “Bisavryuk, or the Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala” was noticed by readers and critics. Gogol makes literary acquaintances. He manages to enlist in the Department of Appanages. Moving up the career ladder, he even becomes an assistant to the head of the office.
At the same time, the aspiring writer works a lot and actively publishes, choosing various pseudonyms. Yes, for the chapter historical novel pseudonym chosen: “0000” (these are four “o”s from the first and last name: Nikolai Gogol-YANOVSKY).
True, it is not yet possible to live comfortably. “I’ll tell you about myself,” Gogol writes to his “dear friend Mama” on February 10, 1831. - that my circumstances are getting further, better and better, everything gives me hope that if not this year, then next year I will be able to support myself with my own labors; at least the foundation is laid from the strongest stone. Only now I will greatly disturb you with a convincing request to send two hundred and fifty rubles.”
On May 20, 1831, Gogol's greatest dream came true: he was introduced to Pushkin. The desire to assert oneself is characteristic of every person, and one can understand the desire of an aspiring writer to prove to his mother and all his loved ones that he is “on friendly terms” with Pushkin. This gave rise to the awkward actions of the young provincial. In the summer, Gogol lives as a tutor at the Vasilchikovs' dacha in Pavlovsk, and Pushkin rents a dacha for his family in Tsarskoe Selo. So Nikolai Vasilyevich tells his mother: “Address letters to me in the name of Pushkin, in Tsarskoe Selo, like this: “To His High Nobility Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. And I ask you to give it to N.V. Gogol. In the next letter he repeats: “Do you remember the address? in the name of Pushkin." Realizing the awkwardness of his action, in his first letter to Pushkin, Gogol apologizes for his tactlessness.
Life is enriched by friendly meetings with interesting people. The writer’s artistic talent also contributed to the expansion of his circle of acquaintances. “In addition to facial expressions, Gogol was able to adopt the voices of others. During his stay in St. Petersburg, he liked to introduce an old man, V., whom he knew in Nezhin.
One of his listeners, who had never seen this B., once comes to Gogol and sees some old man... the voice and manners of this old man immediately reminded him of Gogol’s performance. He takes the owner aside and asks if it is B.. Indeed, it was B."
"Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka". At the beginning of September 1831, the first part of the collection “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka” was published. By January 1832, all the stories in this cycle were completed. The first part includes “Sorochinskaya Fair”, “The Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala”, “May Night, or the Drowned Woman”, “The Missing Letter”). In the second - “The Night Before Christmas”, “Terrible Revenge”, “Ivan Fedorovich Shponka and his Aunt”, “Enchanted Place”.
Pushkin’s response to the publication of the collection is known: “How amazed we were at the Russian book that made us laugh, we, who had not laughed since the time of Fonvizin!” Here is how Belinsky assessed this collection: Gogol, who so cutely pretended to be Pasichnik, is one of the extraordinary talents. Who doesn’t know his “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka”? How much wit, gaiety, poetry and nationality do they have? Later he would write: “This is a cheerful comic, the smile of a young man greeting God’s beautiful world. Everything is bright here, everything sparkles with joy and happiness; the gloomy spirits of life do not confuse with heavy forebodings a young heart trembling with the fullness of life.”
The unusual nature of the works created by the young author attracts Pushkin, Zhukovsky, and Pletnev. At this time, writes a contemporary, “the most important thing in Gogol was the thought that he brought with him everywhere. We are talking about an energetic understanding of the harm produced by vulgarity, laziness, indulgence in evil, on the one hand, and gross complacency, arrogance and insignificance of moral foundations, on the other... In his pursuit of the dark sides of human existence there was a passion that constituted true moral expression his face." While denouncing, Gogol actively drew material from constant observations of everything that was happening around him, including from observations of his own actions.
Filled with the brightest hopes, Gogol seemed to be capable of any field of activity. Besides creating works of art, he decided to try himself in historical science. Using the patronage of his friends, the writer receives the position of professor of history at St. Petersburg University. However, he quickly realized the hopelessness of the idea: lecturing required intense, tireless work and great knowledge. After reading two excellent lectures (one of which was listened to by Pushkin, the other was listened to and described by Tyrgenev), Gogol began to skimp heavily on his studies and finally gave up teaching. He openly admitted this failure to his friend M.A. Maksimovich. Now literary creativity completely controls his thoughts.
"Mirgorod". In 1835, the collection “Mirgorod” was published, consisting of two parts. The first part included the stories “Old World Landowners” and “Taras Bulba”, the second - “Viy” and “The Story of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich. Although Gogol wrote that these are “stories that serve as a continuation of Evening on a Farm near Dikanka,” the cheerful romantic idyll is a thing of the past. Satirical sketches of everyday life, tragic pictures of reality, and vitally true scenes of the historical past filled the pages of this collection. The reader no longer meets the naive and complacent narrator Rudy Pasichnik, the author-narrator appears before him.
The author's courage and sharpness of denunciation are also visible when referring to the past. “Strike the present in the past, and your word will be clothed with triple power,” Gogol advised N.M. Yazykov. The writer contrasted the world of vulgarity and boredom with sublime passions in the historical story “Taras Bulba”. V. G. Belinsky in the article “On the Russian story and the stories of Mr. Gogol” called distinctive features the writer's creativity - simplicity of fiction, the perfect truth of life, nationality, originality. “And this is our life: at first it’s funny, then it’s sad,” the critic wrote.
The first comedy. "Inspector". A restless disposition and continuous creative search often gave rise to funny everyday solutions. So, on the way to St. Petersburg from his homeland (after a summer visit to his relatives), as the writer’s friend A. S. Danilevsky recalls, “the original rehearsal of “The Inspector General” was performed... Gogol wanted to thoroughly study the impression that would make on stationmasters his revision with an imaginary incognito. For this purpose, he asked Pashchenko to go ahead and spread the word everywhere that an auditor was following him, carefully concealing the real purpose of his trip. Pashchenko had left several hours earlier and arranged it so that everyone at the stations was already prepared for the arrival and meeting of the imaginary auditor. Thanks to this maneuver, which was remarkably successful, all three of them rode with extraordinary speed... Gogol’s travel document read: “adjunct professor,” which was usually taken by the confused caretakers as almost an adjutant of His Imperial Majesty.”
Work on the play “The Inspector General” was in full swing, and already in January 1836 Gogol wrote that the comedy was ready and rewritten. One of the writer’s contemporaries recalled: “When reading it, the censorship got scared and strictly banned it. All that remained for the author was to appeal this decision to a higher authority.” Thanks to the efforts of friends, the play gets to Nicholas 1, and, as Gogol tells his mother, “if the sovereign himself had not shown his high patronage and intercession, then, probably, “The Inspector General would never have been played or published.”
The performance was a triumph in St. Petersburg, then in Moscow, but Gogol was not pleased with the success. He told Zhukovsky his doubts: “The Inspector General” was played, and my soul was so vague, so strange... I expected, I knew in advance how things would go, and with all that, a feeling of sadness and annoyingly painful came over me... My laughter was good-natured at first; I did not at all think of ridiculing anyone for any purpose, and I was so amazed when I heard that entire classes and classes of society were offended and even angry with me that I finally thought about it. If the power of laughter is so great that people fear it, then it should not be wasted.”
Abroad. Work on the poem “Dead Souls”. The desire to avoid a heated discussion of comedy and an acute feeling of fatigue drives Gogol out of the capitals. He goes abroad, spending about three years traveling from June 1836 to September 1839. In Paris, he learns about the death of Pushkin, this message shocks Gogol. Changing his place of residence again and again, he comes to Rome, which fascinates him. Here work continues on the poem “Dead Souls”. There is a rapprochement with Russian artists, and in particular with A. A. Ivanov, who in those years worked on the painting “The Appearance of Christ to the People.” Here the friendship with Count I.M. Vielgorsky tragically ends: the young man dies in the arms of the writer. This death for Gogol will be a farewell to his own youth.
The need to organize household chores brings the writer back to Russia. During this visit Gogol stayed in his homeland less than a year: I met with friendly and hospitable Moscow, with my admirers in St. Petersburg, and made new acquaintances. A meeting took place with V. G. Belinsky, and at a dinner, which was traditionally given in honor of Gogol’s name day on May 9, 1840 in the garden of Pogodin’s house on Devichye Pole in Moscow, he met Lermontov and listened to the author’s reading of the poem “Mtsyri”.
Leaving abroad again, the writer promises his friends to bring the finished poem in a year. By the end of August 1841, the first volume was finished and rewritten by the hands of volunteer assistants. The promise made to friends when parting was fulfilled. Gogol returns to Russia to print the first volume of Dead Souls. Through joint efforts, censorship obstacles were overcome; for this purpose, “The Tale of Captain Kopeikin” was remade. So, the main work of life has already been done. However, the author believes that this is only the beginning of a great work, since he hoped that it would be he who would be able to show the way to the revival of Russia. “Gogol sets himself the goal of giving “positive images” of Russian people - of presenting them in brightly living, telling examples that can act with force... These illustrative examples of an exemplary life should have been: a clever acquirer, landowner Kostanzhoglo, a virtuous wine farmer, a millionaire Murazov, a noble governor-general, a pious priest and, finally, Tsar Nicholas himself, who with his mercy revives the repentant Chichikov to life” (V. Veresaev).
A turning point was finally determined in the writer’s mind. S. T. Aksakov notes: “...He began to write “Dead Souls” as a curious and funny anecdote. Only later did he learn, in ero words, “what strong and deep thoughts and profound phenomena an insignificant plot can suggest,” that... little by little this colossal edifice was built up, filled with the painful phenomena of our public life... subsequently he felt the need to escape from this terrible gathering of human monsters. This is where Gogol’s constant desire to improve himself begins. spiritual person and the predominance of the religious trend, which subsequently reached... Takoro a high mood, which is no longer compatible with the human body..."
From now on, all subsequent works of the writer are subordinated to the realization of an impossible goal: Gogol feels like a preacher, he strives to teach people to live according to high moral laws. “When all the utopianism that was in Gogol when he wrote The Inspector General received a cruel blow from the obvious discrepancy between the artistic value of the creations of art (in this case The Inspector General) and its impact on morals, on the moral consciousness of society. Then Gogol found in the religious worldview a different basis for understanding the function of art, emphasizes V. Zenkovsky, a researcher of the writer’s work.
“Selected passages from correspondence with friends.” At first, Gogol expected a direct and immediate result from “The Inspector General”, then - from “Dead Souls”, from those stories and stories on which he worked in parallel, but with the creation of a poem. Then his hopes were connected with “Selected Passages from Correspondence with Friends.” In the preface to this book, he writes: “My heart says that my book is needed and that it can be useful...” The writer again touches on those issues and problems, those aspects of Russian life that are touched upon in stories, comedies, and poems.
The desire of any person to subordinate the will of those around him to what he himself considers an absolute good inevitably ends in failure. An attempt to create a work that will show all people how one can and should live, the sincere confidence that only this decision is correct, and the inability to do this precisely thanks to the merciless honesty of talent is the cause of tragedy. Gogol set himself a task that was impossible for humans. He doomed himself to defeat in advance.
A lot of controversy has arisen and is arising around “You cursed passages from correspondence with friends.” Disappointed in the writer's capabilities, Gogol decides to turn to people with the word of a preacher. He said: “... For some time, my occupation became not the Russian man and Russia, but man and the soul in general.” The result of the appearance of Gogol’s work will be the writer’s polemic with the critic V. G. Belinsky, in which the widest literary circles were involved. The critic argued: “... rope to the man whom nature itself created as an artist, rope to him if, dissatisfied with his own path, he rushes onto someone else’s path!&”
Gogol writes in the "Author's Confession", created in May - June 1847, that he decides to quit writing. Depressed by misunderstanding, he undertakes a pilgrimage in January 1848. Zhukovsky explains his decision this way: “My journey to Palestine was definitely made by me in order to find out personally and, as it were, to see with my own eyes how great the callousness of my heart is. Friend, this callousness is great! I was honored to spend the night at the tomb of the Savior, I was honored to partake of the holy mysteries that stood on the tomb itself instead of the altar, and for all that I did not become the best, whereas everything earthly should have burned up in me and only the heavenly remained.
Work on the second volume of Dead Souls. Last years of life. Returning to Russia, Gogol continues work on the second volume of Dead Souls. For other travelers, returning to their homeland was also a return to their home. For Gogol, this was only a change in the place of his wanderings. As always, the road had a beneficial effect on him: “The road is my only medicine”; “...the road through our open steppes immediately performed a miracle on me. Kaluga governor A. O. Smirnova, who was close to him and sympathized with his spiritual quest, remarked: “He always needs to warm up somewhere, then he’s healthy.” And he “warmed up” with A. O. Smirnova, V. A. Zhukovsky, the Vielgorskys in Nice, S. P. Apraksina in Naples, M. P. Pogodin and Count A. P. Tolstoy in Moscow. He never had his own home. But he did not like and did not know how to be alone: in St. Petersburg he lived next to A. S. Danilevsky, I. G. Pashchenko, in Rome he lived next to P. V. Annenkov, N. M. Yazykov, V. A. Panov.
He attempted to overcome loneliness only once. This happened in the family of Count Vielgorsky, a rich and noble courtier. His house was, as contemporaries write, the center of the capital's aristocratic life. The count himself was a good musician, and R. Schumann called him the most brilliant of amateurs. Vielgorsky was close to Karamzin, Zhukovsky, Pushkin and Gogol. largely thanks to him. The Inspector - hit the stage. His son Joseph Mikhailovich died in 1839 in Rome in Gogol’s arms. With the youngest daughter, Anna Mikhailovna, something happened that Gogol himself obviously considered (an affair). Anna Mikhailovna (aka Anolina, Nozi) eagerly listened to the writer’s teachings and was in constant correspondence with him. But the friendship of the smart and kind girl, as it turned out, did not imply a closer relationship. Gogol's attempt to offer his hand and heart remained unanswered.
Gogol had no close friends throughout his life. Closed and distrustful, ironic and mocking, he did not trust anyone with his innermost thoughts and feelings.
The constant life of a homeless wanderer, the lack of any effective care from those around him, deteriorating health, together with the exorbitance of creative claims, brought the tragic denouement closer. Usually “Hans Küchelgarten” is remembered only as an unsuccessful attempt at writing, but the poem contains lines that sound the dreams of a young man that survived until the last day of the writer’s life.
Am I really going to lose my soul here?
And don’t I know any other purpose?
Doom yourself to ignominy as a sacrifice?
Is it your soul, fortunately not cooled down,
Can't drink the excitement of the world?
And you won’t find anything beautiful in it?
Existence not to be noted?
The “markedness” of Gogol’s existence is obvious, but the fate of the satirist is always bitter.
The influence of Gogol’s work on the development of Russian literature.
Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol - the most mysterious star in the Russian sky literature of the 19th century and the 20th century - to this day amazes the reader and viewer with both the magical power of depiction and the most unusual originality of its path to the Motherland, to the solution and even... the creation of a future for it. A bias towards the Future... Gogol - let us remember once again Pushkin’s dream “Rumor about me will spread throughout all of Great Rus'”, and Mayakovsky’s bashful hope that sounded a hundred years later “I want to be understood by my native country” - completed the idea of moving into the Future, into the alarming and, as many believed, in the “beautiful Dapyoko”, which would not only be cruel to a person. And in this regard, it is closest to much in Russian folklore, in folk songs
“It is impossible to forget anything that Gogol said, even little things, even unnecessary things,” noted F. M. Dostoevsky. “Gogol had the chisel of Phidias,” wrote the philosopher and critic of the 20th century V.V. Rozanov. - How many words are dedicated to Petrushka, Chichikov’s lackey? And I remember no less than Nikolai Rostov. And Osip? In fact... The melancholy Osip, Khlestakov’s servant in “The Inspector General,” says just that, warning his master, the inspired writer of the poem about his own importance: “Leave from here. By God, it’s time,” and accepts gifts from merchants, including... a commemorative rope (“give me a rope, and the rope will come in handy on the road”). But this “string in reserve” was remembered by many generations of Russian viewers.
And with what supernatural completeness were combined in Gogol two of the most beautiful qualities that live separately in many, with the exception of Pushkin: exceptional vital observation and an equally rare power of imagination. If artistic image as the main exponent of the spiritual life of Russia, the concentration of its spiritual life was, before Gogol, as if distant from facts, from factuality, then in Gogol’s work - long before M. Gorky! — the fact seemed to have moved deeper into the image, sharpened the image, made it heavier.
From Gogol’s reality, incredibly wide trousers, the fatal pipe, Taras Bulba’s “cradle,” and the dried-out “singing doors” in the idyllic house of “old-world landowners” will forever appear in memory. And the mysterious melody of “a string ringing in the fog,” from Poprishchin’s St. Petersburg fantastic dreams (“Notes of a Madman”), which amazed even A. Blok.
To this day it is difficult to decide whether we “remember” in detail even the magical bird-three itself, this “simple, it seems, road projectile”? Or, each time, together with Gogol, do we “compose” this winged troika in our own way, “complement” it, decipher the transcendental mystery of the indomitable, terrifying movement? The immense mystery of the “smoking road”, the secret of horses unknown to the world with incredible, but seemingly visible “whirlwinds in their manes”? Probably, Gogol’s contemporary I. Kireevsky was right when he said that after reading “Dead Souls” we have “hope and thought about the great destiny of our fatherland.”
But to this day the unanswered question remains mysterious - the epigraph to all post-Gogol literature - “Rus, where are you rushing to? Give an answer. Doesn't give an answer! And what could be the answer if the Rus'-troika rushes “through Korobochek and Sobakevich” (P.V. Palievsky)? If two most famous writer the beginning of the twentieth century, creating their own image of Gogol, close to symbolism, they made up this Rus'-troika “of the crazy Poprishchin, the witty Khlestakov and the prudent Chichikov” (D.S. Merezhkovsky) or?. “Gogol the rich: not one, but two troikas - Nozdryov - Chichikov - Manilov and Korobochka - Plyushkin - Sobakevich... Nozdryov - Chichikov - Manilov soar through the forests and mountains of life under the clouds - an airy troika. They don’t build life, but the owners - another trio: Korobochka - Plyushkin - Sobakevich.”
What did Gogol teach all subsequent Russian literature?
The usual answer is that he brought Laughter as an element of life to the fore, that viewers and readers in Russia have never laughed so much - after D. Fonvizin’s “The Minor” with his Prostakovs, Skotinins and Mitrofanushka, after A. Griboyedov’s “Woe from Wit”, - how they laughed along with Gogol, is hardly accurate in everything. Gogol’s laughter in “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka” (1832) is still bright, light, and sometimes funny, although often the appearances of all kinds of sorcerers, sorcerers, and moon thieves alternate with continuous dances that are frightening in their automatism, with “hopak”, as if protecting this optimism . An uncontrollable surge of some kind of desperate mischief holds together the ideal and idyllic world.
And what is the laughter in the “Petersburg stories”, in the entire Gogolian demonology of Petersburg, this most fatal, deliberate city in Russia? Gogol removes in these stories the funny or scary figures of the bearers of evil, all the visual mischievous fantasy and devilry, removes somewhere Basavryuk, the witch lady, mermaids, sorcerers - but some kind of faceless, boundless evil reigns in his Petersburg. For the first time in Russian prose, that “diabolism” is born, that world evil, which will later be “disenchanted” by Bulgakov in “The Master and Margarita” with his Satan Woland, and Platonov in many plays, and of course, A. Bely in “Paterburg” ", F.K. Sologub in "The Little Demon" and even Shukshin in his phantasmagoria "Until the third roosters" and "In the morning they woke up...". Even Dostoevsky, and Sukhovo-Kobylin with his dramatic trilogy “The Wedding of Krechinsky”, “The Affair”, “The Death of Tarepkin”, as well as Gogol’s “The Nose” with its deceptive figurativeness, false concreteness, terrible ghostliness, came out of more than one “Overcoat”. fear of space, the desire to shield oneself from the encroaching emptiness... Squares of hypertrophied sizes in St. Petersburg... reflect incomplete habitability, little processing of space in early St. Petersburg (it is no coincidence that Shoes are not robbed in a wide square, whereas in Moscow this was done in narrow alleys). The fear of St. Petersburg, the evil itself in Gogol’s “Petersburg tales”, is no longer a nasty neighbor-devil, a sorcerer, or Basavryuk. The writer does not see the carriers of living evil, the carriers of witchcraft. The entire Nevsky Prospect is a continuous phantasmagoria, a deception: “Everything is a deception, everything is a dream, everything is not what it seems!” With this spell, Gogol concludes Nevsky Prospekt, an alarming story about the tragic death of the idealist artist Piskarev and the happy “enlightenment”, deliverance from the thirst for revenge of the vulgar lieutenant Pirogov, flogged by German craftsmen. From this St. Petersburg, together with Khlestakov, it is fear, the companion and shadow of St. Petersburg, that will come to the national team provincial town in "The Inspector General".
Gogol “sang” (didn’t he sing the funeral service?) of St. Petersburg in such a unique way that many historians later unfairly blamed and reproached him: with him, Gogol, begins the well-known “tarnishing”, the darkening of the image of St. Petersburg, the clouding of its royal beauty, the protracted era of the tragic twilight of Petropol.
It was after Gogol that the tragic Petersburg of Dostoevsky appeared, and the entire disturbing silhouette of the ghost city in the novel “Petersburg” by A. Bely, and that city of A. Blok, where “Over the bottomless pit into eternity, / A trotter flies, gasping for breath...”. Gogol’s Petersburg became in the twentieth century the prototype, the basis of that grandiose stage platform for the multi-act action of revolutions, became a city “familiar to tears” (O. Mandelstam), for A. Blok in the poem “The Twelve” and many others.
The scope and depth of contradictions in an artist are often evidence of the greatness of his quest, the transcendence of his hopes and sorrows. Did Gogol, who created the comedy “The Inspector General” (1836), together with the future Khlestakov (he was called Skakunov in the first edition) understand this new, mirage space, full of echoes of the future, did he understand the whole meaning of “The Inspector General,” his brilliant creation?
The funny heroes of “The Inspector General” - extremely distinct, like sculptured figures of officials, inhabitants of a prefabricated city - seem to be drawn into the field of action of forces alienated, even from the author, into a field of absurdity and delusion. They are wrapped up in some kind of impersonal carousel. They even burst onto the stage, literally squeezing out, tearing down the door, just as Bobchinsky burst into Khlestakov’s room, knocking down the door to the floor, from the corridor. Gogol himself seems to be alienated from comedy, where the element of laughter, the element of action and expressive language reigns. Only at the end of the comedy does he seem to “come to his senses” and tries to attribute both to the audience and to himself a very edifying and sad doubt: “Why are you laughing? You’re laughing at yourself!” By the way, in the text of 1836 this significant remark, a signal to stop the “carousel”, to general petrification, the transformation of sinners into a kind of “pillars of salt”, was not there. Are they, the funny heroes of The Inspector General, really villainous? Such truthful, frank, trusting “villains”, as if begging to soften the punishment, rushing about with their vices, as if laying out everything about themselves in confession, did not exist before Gogol. They behave as if walking under God, convinced that Khlestakov (the messenger of the terrible, St. Petersburg higher power) knows their thoughts and deeds in advance...
“Dead Souls” (1842) is a lonely, even more difficult attempt by Gogol, the direct predecessor of Dostoevsky’s prophetic realism, to express in an extremely conceptual way the “Russian point of view” on the fate of man in the world, on all his irrational connections, to express through analysis the feelings of conscience and voice vices. The immortal poem is a synthesis of the entire artistic and spiritual experience of the writer and, at the same time, a sharp overcoming of the boundaries of literature, even foreshadowing Tolstoy’s future renunciation of the artistic word. Leo Tolstoy, by the way, will speak almost like Gogol about the spiritual exhaustion, the overstrain of the cognizing thought of the Russian writer, about his suffering conscience and the torment of the word: for him in his later years, on the threshold of the twentieth century, all creativity is the knowledge of the Motherland “at the limit of thought and at the beginning of prayer."
Gogol is the founder of a great series of grandiose ethical attempts to save Russia by turning it to Christ: it was continued in the sermons of L. Tolstoy, and in S. Yesenin’s often woeful attempts to understand the fate, the whirlwind of events, the actions of those who in Russia in 1917 only “ They sprayed it all around, piled it up / And disappeared under the devil’s whistle.” And even in some kind of sacrifice of V. Mayakovsky: “I will pay for everyone, I will pay for everyone”... The death of A. Blok in 1921 at the moment when music disappeared in the era is also a distant version of “Gogol’s self-immolation.” Gogol “gogolized” many of the decisions and thoughts of writers. It was as if he was trying to move the most motionless, petrified thing, to call everyone along the path of the Rus' Troika. And the mystery of “Dead Souls,” that is, the first volume, with Chichikov’s visits to six landowners (each of them is either “dead” or more alive than the previous one), with the wreckage of the second volume, is most often solved by focusing on the image of the road, on the motives movements. As in “The Inspector General,” Gogol’s thought in “Dead Souls” seems to be rushing through sinful Rus', past the pile of junk in Plyushkin’s house to holy, ideal Rus'. The idea of God-forsaken Rus' is refuted by many insightful, mournful views in the biographies of heroes, including Chichikov. Often the writer hears and sees something that comes to the aid of his despair, his melancholy: “It is still a mystery - this inexplicable revelry, which is heard in our songs, rushes somewhere past life and the song itself, as if burning with the desire for a better homeland.” . His Chichikov, who laughed at Sobakevich’s “comments” on the list of dead souls, suddenly himself creates entire poems about the carpenter Stepan Probka, about the barge hauler Abakum Fyrov, who went to the Volga, where “the revelry of a broad life” and a song “infinite as Rus'” reign.
The life of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol is so vast and multifaceted that historians are still researching the biography and epistolary materials of the great writer, and documentarians are making films that tell about the secrets of the mysterious genius of literature. Interest in the playwright has not waned for two hundred years, not only because of his lyric-epic works, but also because Gogol is one of the most mystical figures of Russian literature of the 19th century.
Childhood and youth
To this day it is unknown when Nikolai Vasilyevich was born. Some chroniclers believe that Gogol was born on March 20, while others are sure that the true date of birth of the writer is April 1, 1809.
The master of phantasmagoria spent his childhood in Ukraine, in the picturesque village of Sorochintsy, Poltava province. He grew up in a large family - in addition to him, 5 more boys and 6 girls were raised in the house (some of them died in infancy).
The great writer has an interesting pedigree, dating back to the Cossack noble dynasty of the Gogol-Yanovskys. According to family legend, the playwright’s grandfather Afanasy Demyanovich Yanovsky added the second part to his surname to prove blood ties with the Cossack hetman Ostap Gogol, who lived in the 17th century.
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The writer's father, Vasily Afanasyevich, worked in the Little Russian province in the postal department, from where he retired in 1805 with the rank of collegiate assessor. Later, Gogol-Yanovsky retired to the Vasilyevka estate (Yanovshchina) and began farming. Vasily Afanasyevich was known as a poet, writer and playwright: he owned the home theater of his friend Troshchinsky, and also performed on stage as an actor.
For productions, he wrote comedy plays based on Ukrainian folk ballads and tales. But before modern readers Only one work by Gogol Sr. has survived - “The Simpleton, or the Cunning of a Woman Outwitted by a Soldier.” It was from his father that Nikolai Vasilyevich adopted his love for literary art and creative talent: it is known that Gogol Jr. began writing poetry from childhood. Vasily Afanasyevich died when Nikolai was 15 years old.
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The writer's mother, Maria Ivanovna, née Kosyarovskaya, according to contemporaries, was pretty and was considered the first beauty in the village. Everyone who knew her used to say that she was a religious person and was involved in the spiritual education of children. However, Gogol-Yanovskaya’s teachings were reduced not to Christian rituals and prayers, but to prophecies of the Last Judgment.
It is known that the woman married Gogol-Yanovsky when she was 14 years old. Nikolai Vasilyevich was close to his mother and even asked for advice on his manuscripts. Some writers believe that thanks to Maria Ivanovna, Gogol’s work is endowed with fantasy and mysticism.
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Nikolai Vasilyevich’s childhood and youth were spent surrounded by peasant and gentleman’s life and were endowed with those bourgeois characteristics that the playwright meticulously described in his works.
When Nikolai was ten years old, he was sent to Poltava, where he studied science at school, and then learned to read and write from a local teacher, Gabriel Sorochinsky. After classical training, the 16-year-old boy became a student at the Gymnasium of Higher Sciences in the city of Nizhyn, Chernihiv region. In addition to the fact that the future classic of literature was in poor health, he was also not strong in studies, although he had an exceptional memory. Nikolai’s relationship with the exact sciences did not work out, but he excelled in Russian literature and literature.
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Some biographers argue that the gymnasium itself is to blame for such an inferior education, rather than the young writer. The fact is that in those years the Nizhyn gymnasium had weak teachers who could not provide students with decent education. For example, knowledge in moral education lessons was presented not through the teachings of eminent philosophers, but through corporal punishment with a rod; the literature teacher did not keep up with the times, preferring the classics of the 18th century.
During his studies, Gogol gravitated toward creativity and zealously participated in theatrical productions and improvised skits. Among his comrades, Nikolai Vasilyevich was known as a comedian and a perky person. The writer communicated with Nikolai Prokopovich, Alexander Danilevsky, Nestor Kukolnik and others.
Literature
Gogol began to be interested in the writing field back in student years. He admired A.S. Pushkin, although his first creations were far from the style of the great poet, but were more like the works of Bestuzhev-Marlinsky.
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He composed elegies, feuilletons, poems, tried himself in prose and other literary genres. During his studies, he wrote a satire “Something about Nezhin, or the law is not written for fools,” which has not survived to this day. It is noteworthy that the young man initially regarded his craving for creativity as a hobby rather than as his life’s work.
Writing was for Gogol “a ray of light in dark kingdom"and helped to distract from mental torment. Then Nikolai Vasilyevich’s plans were not clear, but he wanted to serve the Motherland and be useful to the people, believing that a great future awaited him.
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In the winter of 1828, Gogol went to the cultural capital - St. Petersburg. In the cold and gloomy city, Nikolai Vasilyevich was disappointed. He tried to become an official, and also tried to join the theater, but all his attempts were defeated. Only in literature was he able to find opportunities for income and self-expression.
But failure also awaited Nikolai Vasilyevich in his writing, since only two of Gogol’s works were published in magazines - the poem “Italy” and the romantic poem “Ganz Küchelgarten,” published under the pseudonym V. Alov. “Idyll in Pictures” received a number of negative and sarcastic reviews from critics. After his creative defeat, Gogol bought all editions of the poem and burned them in his room. Nikolai Vasilyevich did not abandon literature even after a resounding failure; the failure with Hanz Küchelgarten gave him the opportunity to change the genre.
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In 1830, it was published in the eminent journal Otechestvennye zapiski mystical story Gogol "The Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala".
Later, the writer meets Baron Delvig and begins to publish in his publications “Literary Newspaper” and “Northern Flowers”.
After creative success Gogol was warmly received in the literary circle. He began to communicate with Pushkin and. The works “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka”, “The Night Before Christmas”, “Enchanted Place”, seasoned with a mixture of Ukrainian epic and everyday humor, impressed the Russian poet.
Rumor has it that it was Alexander Sergeevich who gave Nikolai Vasilyevich the background for new works. He suggested plot ideas for the poem “Dead Souls” (1842) and the comedy “The Inspector General” (1836). However, P.V. Annenkov believes that Pushkin “did not quite willingly cede his property to him.”
Fascinated by the history of Little Russia, Nikolai Vasilyevich becomes the author of the collection “Mirgorod”, which includes several works, including “Taras Bulba”. Gogol, in letters to his mother Maria Ivanovna, asked her to talk in more detail about the life of the people in the outback.
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In 1835, Gogol's story "Viy" (included in "Mirgorod") about the demonic character of the Russian epic was published. In the story, three students lost their way and came across a mysterious farm, the owner of which turned out to be a real witch. The main character Khoma will have to face unprecedented creatures, church rituals and a witch flying in a coffin.
In 1967, directors Konstantin Ershov and Georgy Kropachev produced the first Soviet horror film based on Gogol's story "Viy". The main roles were played by and.
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In 1841, Gogol wrote the immortal story “The Overcoat”. In the work, Nikolai Vasilyevich talks about “ little man"Akaki Akakievich Bashmachkin, who becomes poor to such an extent that the most ordinary thing becomes a source of joy and inspiration for him.
Personal life
Speaking about the personality of the author of The Inspector General, it is worth noting that from Vasily Afanasyevich, in addition to a craving for literature, he also inherited fatal fate– psychological illness and fear early death, which began to appear in the playwright from his youth. Publicist V.G. wrote about this. Korolenko and Doctor Bazhenov, based on Gogol’s autobiographical materials and epistolary heritage.
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If during the times of the Soviet Union it was customary to keep silent about the mental disorders of Nikolai Vasilyevich, then today’s erudite reader is very interested in such details. It is believed that Gogol suffered from manic-depressive psychosis (bipolar affective personality disorder) since childhood: a cheerful and perky mood young writer gave way to severe depression, hypochondria and despair.
This troubled his mind until his death. He also admitted in letters that he often heard “gloomy” voices calling him into the distance. Because of life in eternal fear, Gogol became a religious person and led a more reclusive life as an ascetic. He loved women, but only from a distance: he often used to tell Maria Ivanovna that he was going abroad to visit a certain lady.
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He corresponded with lovely girls of different classes (with Maria Balabina, Countess Anna Vielgorskaya and others), courting them romantically and timidly. The writer did not like to advertise his personal life, especially his amorous affairs. It is known that Nikolai Vasilyevich has no children. Due to the fact that the writer was not married, there is a theory about his homosexuality. Others believe that he never had relationships beyond platonic ones.
Death
The early death of Nikolai Vasilyevich at the 42nd year of his life still excites the minds of scientists, historians and biographers. Mystical legends are written about Gogol, and about the real reason The death of the visionary is still debated to this day.
In the last years of his life, Nikolai Vasilyevich was overcome by a creative crisis. It was associated with the early death of Khomyakov’s wife and the condemnation of his stories by Archpriest Matthew Konstantinovsky, who sharply criticized Gogol's works and besides, he believed that the writer was not pious enough. Gloomy thoughts took possession of the playwright's mind, and from February 5 he refused food. On February 10, Nikolai Vasilyevich, “under the influence of an evil spirit,” burned the manuscripts, and on the 18th, continuing to observe Lent, went to bed with a sharp deterioration in health.
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The master of the pen refused medical help, expecting death. Doctors, who diagnosed him with inflammatory bowel diseases, probable typhus and indigestion, eventually diagnosed the writer with meningitis and prescribed forced bloodletting, dangerous for his health, which only worsened his mental and physical state Nikolai Vasilievich. On the morning of February 21, 1852, Gogol died in the count's mansion in Moscow.
Memory
The writer's works are required for study in schools and universities. educational institutions. In memory of Nikolai Vasilyevich, postage stamps were issued in the USSR and other countries. Streets, a drama theater, a pedagogical institute, and even a crater on the planet Mercury are named after Gogol.
The works of the master of hyperbole and grotesque are still used in theatrical productions and films of cinematographic art. Thus, in 2017, Russian viewers can expect the premiere of the gothic detective series “Gogol. The Beginning" with and starring.
The biography of the mysterious playwright contains Interesting Facts, it is impossible to describe all of them even in a whole book.
- According to rumors, Gogol was afraid of thunderstorms because a natural phenomenon affected his psyche.
- The writer lived poorly and wore old clothes. The only expensive item in his wardrobe is a gold watch, donated by Zhukovsky in memory of Pushkin.
- Nikolai Vasilyevich’s mother was known as a strange woman. She was superstitious, believed in the supernatural and constantly told amazing stories, embellished with fiction.
- According to rumors, Gogol’s last words were: “How sweet it is to die.”
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- Gogol's work was inspiring.
- Nikolai Vasilyevich loved sweets, so he always had sweets and pieces of sugar in his pocket. The Russian prose writer also loved to roll bread crumbs in his hands - this helped him concentrate on his thoughts.
- The writer was sensitive to his appearance; he was mainly irritated by his own nose.
- Gogol was afraid that he would be buried while in a lethargic sleep. The literary genius asked that in the future his body be buried only after the appearance of cadaveric spots. According to legend, Gogol woke up in a coffin. When the writer’s body was reburied, the surprised those present saw that the dead man’s head was turned to one side.
Bibliography
- “Evenings on a farm near Dikanka” (1831–1832)
- “The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich” (1834)
- "Viy" (1835)
- "Old World Landowners" (1835)
- "Taras Bulba" (1835)
- "Nevsky Prospekt" (1835)
- "The Inspector General" (1836)
- "The Nose" (1836)
- "Notes of a Madman" (1835)
- "Portrait" (1835)
- "The Carriage" (1836)
- "Marriage" (1842)
- "Dead Souls" (1842)
- "The Overcoat" (1843)
Even remembering all the writers who contributed to the development of Russian literature, it is difficult to find a more mysterious figure than Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. The biography briefly outlined in this article will help to get some idea of the personality of the genius. So, what interesting details are known about life path, passed through by the creator, his family, written works?
Gogol's father and mother
Of course, all fans of the writer’s work would like to have an idea about the family into which he was born. Gogol's mother's name was Maria, the girl came from a little-known family of landowners. If you believe the legend, there was no more beautiful young lady in the Poltava region than her. Married to father famous writer She entered at the age of 14, gave birth to 12 children, some of them died in infancy. Nikolai became her third child and first survivor. The memoirs of contemporaries say that Mary was a religious woman who diligently tried to instill the love of God in her children.
It is also interesting who became the father of such amazing person, like Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. The biography briefly outlined in this material cannot fail to mention him. Vasily Yanovsky-Gogol was an employee of the post office for many years and rose to the rank of collegiate assessor. It is known that he was fond of magical world art, even composed poems, which, unfortunately, have practically not survived. It is possible that the son’s talent for writing was inherited from his father.
Biography of the writer
Fans of the genius are also interested in where and when Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol was born. The biography briefly given in this article states that his homeland is the Poltava province. The boy, born in 1809, spent his childhood in the village of Sorochintsy. His education began at the Poltava School, then continued at the Nizhyn Gymnasium. It is curious that the writer could not be called a diligent student. Gogol showed interest mainly in Russian literature, and achieved some success in drawing.
Nikolai began writing as a teenager, but his first creations could not be called successful. The situation changed when he moved to St. Petersburg, already an adult youth. For some time, Gogol tried to achieve recognition as an actor, performing on the stage of one of the St. Petersburg theaters. However, having failed, he completely concentrated on writing. By the way, a few years later he managed to become famous in the theater field, acting as a playwright.
What work allowed such a person as Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol to declare himself as a writer? The biography, briefly summarized in this material, claims that it was the story “The Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala.” Initially, the story had a different title, but the publishers, for unknown reasons, asked to change it before publication.
Famous works
“Dead Souls” is a poem without which it is difficult to imagine Russian literature; the work is included in school curriculum. The writer in it views his native state as a country suffering from bribery, mired in vices, and spiritually impoverished. Of course, predicts a mystical rebirth Russian Empire. It is interesting that it was after the writing of this poem that N.V. Gogol died.
“Taras Bulba” is a historical story, the creation of which the author was inspired by real events of the 15-17 centuries that took place on the territory of Ukraine. The work is interesting not only for the moral questions it raises, but also for its detailed description of the life of the Zaporozhye Cossacks.
“Viy” invites readers to plunge into the legends of the ancient Slavs, to get to know the world inhabited by mystical creatures, allows them to get scared and overcome their fear. “The Inspector General” ridicules the lifestyle of provincial bureaucrats and the inherent vices of its representatives. "Nose" - fantastic story, which tells about excessive pride and the price to pay for it.
Death of a Writer
There is hardly a famous person whose death is surrounded by as many mysteries and assumptions. It is with death that many interesting facts about Gogol are connected that haunt biographers.
Some researchers insist that Nikolai Vasilyevich committed suicide using poison. Others argue that his early death was the result of exhaustion associated with numerous fasts. Still others insist on what resulted from improper treatment of meningitis. There are also those who claim that the writer was buried alive while in prison. None of the theories could be proven.
All that is known for certain is that during the last 20 years of his life the writer suffered from manic-depressive psychosis, but avoided seeing doctors. Gogol died in 1852.
Curious facts
Nikolai Vasilyevich was distinguished by extreme shyness. It got to the point that the genius left the room, the threshold of which was crossed by a person unfamiliar to him. It is believed that the creator left this world without losing his innocence; he never had a romantic relationship with a woman. Gogol was also very dissatisfied with his own appearance; his nose caused particular irritation. Apparently, this part of the body really worried him, since he even named the story after it. It is also known that when posing for portraits, he forced artists to change the appearance of his nose.
Interesting facts about Gogol are connected not only with his appearance and behavior, but also with his creativity. Biographers believe that there was a second volume of Dead Souls, which the writer himself destroyed shortly before his death. It is also curious that the plot of “The Inspector General” was suggested to him by Pushkin himself, sharing interesting story from life.