Nikolay Gogol. Gogol's life creative path in literature (Gogol N

Role and place in literature

Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol is an outstanding classic of Russian literature of the 19th century. He made a great contribution to drama and journalism. According to many literary critics, Gogol founded a special trend called the "natural school". The writer, with his work, influenced the development of the Russian language, focusing on its nationality.

Origins and early years

N.V. Gogol was born on March 20, 1809 in the Poltava province (Ukraine) in the village of Velyki Sorochintsy. Nikolai was born the third child in the family of a landowner (there were 12 children in total).

The future writer belonged to an old Cossack family. It is possible that the ancestor was hetman Ostap Gogol himself.

Father - Vasily Afanasyevich Gogol-Yanovsky. He was engaged in stage activities and instilled in his son a love for the theater. When Nikolai was only 16 years old, he was gone.

Mother - Maria Ivanovna Gogol-Yanovskaya (nee Kosyarovskaya). She got married at a young age (14 years old). Her beautiful appearance was admired by many contemporaries. Nikolai became her first child who was born alive. And so it was named after Saint Nicholas.

Nikolai spent his childhood in a village in Ukraine. The traditions and life of the Ukrainian people greatly influenced the future creative activity of the writer. And the mother's religiosity was passed on to her son and also reflected in many of his works.

Education and work

When Gogol was ten years old, he was sent to Poltava to prepare for his studies at the gymnasium. He was taught by one local teacher, thanks to whom, in 1821, Nikolai entered the Gymnasium of Higher Sciences in Nizhyn. Gogol's academic performance left much to be desired. He was only strong in drawing and Russian literature. Although the fact that Gogol's academic success was not great, the Gymnasium itself is to blame. The teaching methods were outdated and not useful: cramming and rods. Therefore, Gogol took up self-education: he subscribed to magazines with his comrades, was fond of theater.

After graduating from the gymnasium, Gogol moved to St. Petersburg, hoping for a bright future here. But the reality disappointed him a little. His attempts to become an actor failed. In 1829 he became a minor official, a scribe in the department of the ministry, but he did not work there for long, disillusioned with this business.

Creation

Work as an official did not bring joy to Nikolai Gogol, so he tries himself in literary activity. The first published work is "The Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala" (at first it had a different name). Gogol's fame began with this story.

The popularity of Gogol's works was explained by the interest of the St. Petersburg public in Little Russian (as some regions of Ukraine were previously called) being.

In his work, Gogol often turned to folk legends, beliefs, and used simple folk speech.

The early works of Nikolai Gogol belong to the direction of romanticism. Later he writes in his original style, many associate it with realism.

Major works

The first work that brought him fame was the collection Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka. These stories belong to the main works of Gogol. In them, the author has stunningly accurately reflected the traditions of the Ukrainian people. And the magic that lurks in the pages of this book amazes readers even now.

The historical story "Taras Bulba" is considered to be important works. It is included in the series of stories "Mirogorod". The dramatic fate of the heroes against the background of real events makes a strong impression. Films have been made based on the story.

One of the great achievements in the field of Gogol's drama was the play The Inspector General. The comedy boldly exposed the vices of Russian officials.

Last years

1836 was the year of travels across Europe for Gogol. He is working on the first part of Dead Souls. Returning to his homeland, the author publishes it.

In 1843, Gogol published the short story "The Overcoat".

There is a version that Gogol burned the second volume of Dead Souls on February 11, 1852. And in the same year he was gone.

Chronological table (by dates)

Interesting facts from the life of the writer

• Passion for mysticism led to the writing of the most mysterious work of Gogol - "Viy".
• There is a version that the author burned the second volume of Dead Souls.
• Nikolai Gogol had a passion for miniature publications.

Museum of the writer

In 1984, a museum was opened in the village of Gogolevo in a solemn atmosphere.

Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol is a famous Russian writer, a brilliant satirist, was born on March 20, 1809 in the village of Sorochintsy, on the border of the Poltava and Mirgorod districts, in the family estate, the village of Vasilievka. Gogol's father, Vasily Afanasyevich, was the son of a regimental clerk and came from an old Little Russian family, the ancestor of which was considered an associate of Bogdan Khmelnitsky, hetman Ostap Gogol, and his mother, Marya Ivanovna, was the daughter of the court councilor Kosyarovsky. Gogol's father, a creative, witty person, who had seen a lot and was educated in his own way, who loved to collect neighbors in his estate, whom he occupied with stories full of inexhaustible humor, was a great theater lover, staged performances in the house of a wealthy neighbor and not only took part in them himself, but he even composed his own comedies from the Little Russian life - and Gogol's mother, a homely and hospitable hostess, was distinguished by special religious inclinations. (See the article The Childhood of Gogol.)

The innate properties of Gogol's talent and character and inclinations, partly learned by him from his parents, were clearly manifested in him already in his school years, when he was placed in the Nezhinsky Lyceum. He loved to go with close comrades to the shady garden of the lyceum and there sketch out the first literary experiments, compose caustic epigrams for teachers and comrades, invent witty nicknames and characteristics that vividly marked his extraordinary observation and characteristic humor. The teaching of sciences in the lyceum was very unenviable, and the most gifted young men had to replenish their knowledge through self-education and in one way or another satisfy their needs for spiritual creativity. They contributed magazines and almanacs, the works of Zhukovsky and Pushkin, staged performances in which Gogol took a very close part, performing in comic roles; published their own handwritten journal, of which Gogol was also chosen as editor.

Portrait of N. V. Gogol. Painter F. Müller, 1840

However, Gogol did not attach much importance to his first creative exercises. At the end of the course, he dreamed of leaving for the civil service in St. Petersburg, where, as it seemed to him, he could find both a wide field for activity and the opportunity to enjoy the true benefits of science and art. But Petersburg, where Gogol moved at the end of the course in 1828, did not live up to his expectations, especially at first. Instead of wide activity "in the field of state benefit", he was offered to confine himself to modest occupations in the chancelleries, and literary attempts were so unsuccessful that the first work he published - the poem "Hans Kuchelgarten" - Gogol himself took from bookstores and burned after an unfavorable criticism about her Field.

Unusual living conditions in the northern capital, material shortcomings and moral disappointments - all this plunged Gogol into despondency, and more and more often his imagination and thought turned to his native Ukraine, where he so freely lived in childhood, from where so many poetic memories have survived. They poured into his soul in a wide wave and for the first time poured into the direct, poetic pages of his Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka, published in 1831, in two volumes. Evenings were very warmly greeted by Zhukovsky and Pletnev, and then by Pushkin, and thus finally established Gogol's literary reputation and introduced him to the circle of leading figures of Russian poetry.

From that time on, in the biography of Gogol, the period of the most intense literary creativity began. The closeness to Zhukovsky and Pushkin, before whom he was in awe, inspired his inspiration, gave him vigor and energy. To make himself worthy of their attention, he began to look more and more at art classes as a serious matter, and not just as a game of mind and talent. The appearance, one after the other, of such strikingly original works of Gogol as "Portrait", "Nevsky Prospect" and "Notes of a Madman", and then "The Nose", "Old World Landowners", "Taras Bulba" (in the first edition), "Viy" and "The story of how Ivan Ivanovich quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich" made a strong impression in the literary world. It was obvious to everyone that a great unique talent was born in the person of Gogol, who was destined to give high samples of truly real works and thereby finally consolidate in Russian literature that real creative direction, the first foundations of which were already laid by the genius of Pushkin. Moreover, in Gogol's stories, almost for the first time (albeit still superficially) the psychology of the masses is touched upon, those thousands and millions of "little people" whom literature has hitherto touched only in passing and occasionally. These were the first steps towards the democratization of art itself. In this sense, the young literary generation, represented by Belinsky, enthusiastically welcomed the appearance of Gogol's first stories.

But no matter how powerful and original the writer's talent was in these first works, imbued either with the fresh, enchanting air of poetic Ukraine, or with cheerful, cheerful, truly folk humor, or with the deep humanity and tremendous tragedy of "The Overcoat" and "Notes of a Madman", but not in they expressed the basic essence of Gogol's work, what made him the creator of The Inspector General and Dead Souls, two works that made up an era in Russian literature. Since Gogol began creating The Inspector General, his life has been completely absorbed exclusively in literary work.

Portrait of N. V. Gogol. Artist A. Ivanov, 1841

As far as the external facts of his biography are simple and not diverse, just as deeply - tragic and instructive is the internal spiritual process that he experienced at that time. No matter how great the success of Gogol's first works was, he was still not satisfied with his literary activity in the form of simple artistic contemplation and reproduction of life, in which it has appeared until now, according to the prevailing aesthetic views. He was not satisfied with the fact that his moral personality, with this form of creativity, remained as if on the sidelines, completely passive. Gogol secretly longed to be not only a simple contemplator of life's phenomena, but also a judge of them; he longed for a direct impact on life in the name of good, longed for a civil mission. Having failed to carry out this mission in the service field, first as an official and teacher, and then as a professor of history at the St. Petersburg University, for which he was little prepared, Gogol turns with even more passion to literature, but now his view of art is becoming more and more more severe, more demanding; from a passive artist-contemplator, he tries to transform into an active, conscious creator who will not only reproduce the phenomena of life, illuminating them only with random and scattered impressions, but will lead them through the “furnace of his spirit” and “bring them into the eyes of the people” by a deep, penetrating enlightened synthesis.

Under the influence of this mood, which was developing in him more and more insistently, Gogol finished and put on the stage, in 1836, The Inspector General, an unusually vivid and caustic satire, not only revealing the ulcers of the modern administrative system, but also showing the degree of vulgarity under the influence of this system, the most sincere disposition of a good-natured, Russian person was reduced. The impression made by the "Inspector General" was unusually strong. Despite, however, the enormous success of the comedy, it caused Gogol a lot of trouble and grief, both from the censorship difficulties in staging and printing it, and from the majority of society, hurt by the play for the quick and accused the author of writing libel on his own. fatherland.

N.V. Gogol. Portrait by F. Müller, 1841

Frustrated by all this, Gogol went abroad to start working on Dead Souls there, in a "beautiful far away", far from the hustle and bustle and trifles. Indeed, the relatively calm life in Rome, among the stately monuments of art, initially had a beneficial effect on the work of Gogol. A year later, the first volume of Dead Souls was ready and published. In this highly original and one-of-a-kind "poem" in prose, Gogol develops a broad picture of the serf way of life, mainly from the side as it was reflected in the upper, semi-cultural serf stratum. In this major work, the main properties of Gogol's talent - humor and an extraordinary ability to grasp and embody the negative aspects of life in the "pearl of creation" - have reached their apogee in their development. Despite the relatively limited scope of the phenomena of Russian life he touched upon, many of the types he created in the depth of psychological penetration can compete with the classical creations of European satire.

The impression made by "Dead Souls" was even more amazing than from all other works of Gogol, but it also served as the beginning of those fatal misunderstandings between Gogol and the reading public, which led to very sad consequences. It was obvious to everyone that with this work Gogol was inflicting an irrepressible, cruel blow to the entire serf structure of life; but while the young literary generation drew the most radical conclusions about this, the conservative part of society was indignant at Gogol and accused him of slandering his homeland. Gogol himself seemed to be frightened by the passion and bright one-sidedness with which he tried to concentrate in his work all the vulgarity of people, to reveal "all the mud of little things that entangle human life." To justify himself and express his real views on Russian life and his works, he published the book "Selected Passages from Correspondence with Friends." The conservative ideas expressed there were extremely disliked by the Russian radical Westernizers and their leader Belinsky. Belinsky himself, not long before that, had diametrically changed his socio-political convictions from ardent guardianship to nihilistic criticism of everything and everyone. But now he began to accuse Gogol of “betraying” his former ideals.

Left circles attacked Gogol with passionate attacks, which grew stronger over time. Not expecting this from recent friends, he was shocked and discouraged. Gogol began to look for spiritual support and reassurance in a religious mood, so that with renewed spiritual vigor he began to complete his work - the ending of Dead Souls - which, in his opinion, should have completely dispelled all misunderstandings. In this second volume of theirs, Gogol, against the wishes of the "Westerners", intended to show that Russia is far from being made up of only mental and moral monsters, he thought to depict the types of ideal beauty of the Russian soul. By creating these positive types, Gogol wanted to complete, as the last chord, his creation, Dead Souls, which, according to his plan, was far from being exhausted by the first satirical volume. But the writer's physical strength was already seriously undermined. Too long a closed life, far from his homeland, a harsh ascetic regime imposed by him on himself, health undermined by nervous tension - all this deprived Gogol's work of a close connection with the fullness of life impressions. Suppressed by an unequal, hopeless struggle, in a moment of deep dissatisfaction and melancholy, Gogol burned the draft manuscript of the second volume of Dead Souls and soon died of a nervous fever in Moscow on February 21, 1852.

Talyzin House (Nikitsky Boulevard, Moscow). Here he lived in recent years and died N. V. Gogol, here he burned the second volume of "Dead Souls"

Gogol's influence on the creativity of the literary generation immediately following him was great and versatile, being, as it were, an inevitable addition to those great behests that the untimely deceased Pushkin left far from being completed. Brilliantly completing the great national cause, firmly established by Pushkin, the work of developing a literary language and artistic forms, Gogol, in addition, introduced into the very content of literature two deeply original streams - humor and poetry of the Little Russian nationality - and a bright social element, which from that moment on fiction undeniable value. He reinforced this value by the example of his own ideally high attitude to artistic activity.

Gogol raised the importance of artistic activity to the height of civic duty, to which it had never yet risen to such a vivid degree. The sad episode of the sacrifice by the author of his favorite creation in the midst of the wild civil persecution raised around him will forever remain deeply touching and instructive.

Literature about the biography and work of Gogol

Kulish,"Notes on the Life of Gogol".

Shenrock,"Materials for the biography of Gogol" (M. 1897, 3 volumes).

Skabichevsky, "Works" vol. II.

Biographical sketch of Gogol, ed. Pavlenkova.

Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol was born on March 20 (April 1), 1809 in the village of Bolshiye Sorochintsy, Mirgorodsky district, Poltava province. The future writer spent his childhood at his parental estate Vasilyevka. Educated at the Gymnasium of Higher Sciences in the city of Nizhyn, Chernigov province (1821 - 1828). In 1828 he went to St. Petersburg to "look for a job" for an official. The main reason for leaving for the capital was the desire to establish himself on the literary Olympus.

The first period of creativity (1829 - 1835) In June 1829 Gogol publishes at his own expense the poem "Ganz Kuchelgarten", written in Nizhyn under the pseudonym V. Alov. Reviews for the publication were sharply negative. Gogol takes all copies of the poem from bookstores and burns them, and then leaves for Germany. Returning from abroad, Gogol entered the service - he became an ordinary Petersburg official. The pinnacle of his bureaucratic career was the assistant clerk in the Department of Fates.

The first period of creativity (1829 - 1835) In 1831, Gogol published "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka", which make his name famous. The collection consists of eight novellas, united by the scene (Dikanka and its environs) and the figure of the “publisher” (the pasichnik Rudy Panko). Gogol appears in Evenings ... as a romantic writer. He turns to the fabulous, mythological past of his people, "to the indigenous, national fundamental principles of the Slavic world" (Yu. Mann).

The first period of creativity (1829 - 1835) "Evenings ..." brought success to Gogol, but this success became an indirect reason for the writer's creative crisis. The reason for the writer's dissatisfaction with himself was that in Little Russian stories he laughed “for the amusement of himself”, in order to brighten up the gray “prose” of Petersburg life. A real writer, according to Gogol, should do “good”: “laughing for free”, without a clear moral goal - is reprehensible.

The first period of creativity (1829 - 1835) In 1835 the collection "Mirgorod" was published. All stories in the collection are permeated with the author's thoughts about the polar capabilities of the human spirit. A person's life may be the same as in Taras Bulba, or it may be the same as in The Tale of How Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich. There is a natural evil in the world, which a person cannot cope with: looking into the eyes of Viy, Homa Brut dies of fear. The more acute is the task for people to unite in the face of world evil.

The second period of creativity (1835 - 1842) In the second half of the 30s. in the work of Gogol, a new theme appears - the theme of St. Petersburg. The critics combine five stories written by Gogol at different times in a "Petersburg" cycle. ("Nevsky Prospect", "Nose", "Portrait", "Overcoat", "Notes of a Madman"). Gogol's Petersburg is a city of incredible incidents, ghostly absurd life, fantastic events. The city depersonalizes people, distorts their good qualities, sticks out bad ones, changes their appearance beyond recognition.

The second period of creativity (1835 - 1842) By 1835, the ideas of the comedy "The Inspector General" and the poem "Dead Souls" belong. It is known that during one of the meetings in October 1835, Pushkin gave Gogol the plot of The Inspector General. The first draft was completed in two months. On April 19, 1836, The Inspector General premiered at the Alexandrinsky Theater. In total, Gogol worked on the text of the comedy for 17 years. A year before his death, in 1851, he made the last changes to one of the lines of the fourth act. The final version is considered to be the text of 1842.

The second period of creativity (1835 - 1842) In 1836, Gogol went abroad with the intention of "deeply considering his duties as an author, his future creations." The main work of Gogol during his stay abroad, which lasted for 12 years, was "Dead Souls". In letters to friends, defining the scale of his work, Gogol argued that "all Russia will appear in him." After the death of Pushkin, Gogol began to perceive "Dead Souls" as a "sacred testament" of a teacher and friend. In May 1842, the first volume of the poem was published under the title "The Adventures of Chichikov, or Dead Souls."

The third period of creativity (1842-1852) After the publication of the first volume of Dead Souls, Gogol went abroad and began to create the second volume of the poem. The first edition of the second volume was completed in 1845, but did not satisfy Gogol: the manuscript was burned. In 1846 Gogol published the book Selected Passages from Correspondence with Friends, his religious, moral, and aesthetic manifesto. Gogol the writer gradually turns into Gogol the preacher. In his opinion, a writer cannot be just an artist, he must be a teacher, a moralist, a preacher.

The third period of creativity (1842 -1852) In the last years of his life, Gogol "passionately desired, but was never able to melt the spiritual truths revealed to him into artistic values." In April 1848, after traveling to Jerusalem, to the Holy Sepulcher, Gogol returned to Russia, where he continued to work on the second volume of Dead Souls. A few days before his death, in February 1852, Gogol burned the manuscript of the second volume of Dead Souls. February 21 (March 4) Gogol died.

Writing

Will the time come
(Come desired!).
When the people are not Blucher
And not my foolish lord,
Belinsky and Gogol
Will they carry it from the bazaar?

N. Nekrasov

The work of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol goes far beyond the national and historical framework. His works opened to a wide circle of readers the fabulous and light world of the heroes of the stories from the collection Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka, the harsh and freedom-loving characters of Taras Bulba, lifted the curtain of the mystery of the Russian people in the poem Dead Souls. Far from the revolutionary ideas of Radishchev, Griboyedov, the Decembrists, Gogol, meanwhile, with all his work expresses a sharp protest against the autocratic serf system, which cripples and destroys human dignity, personality, the very life of people forced to him. With the power of the artistic word, Gogol makes millions of hearts beat in unison, kindles the noble fire of mercy in the souls of readers.

In 1831, the first collection of his novellas and short stories "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka" was published. It includes "The Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala", "May Night, or the Drowned Woman", "The Missing Letter", "Sorochinskaya Fair", "The Night Before Christmas". From the pages of his works live characters of cheerful Ukrainian boys and girls emerge. Freshness and purity of love, friendship, companionship are their wonderful qualities. Written in a romantic style on the basis of folklore, fairy-tale sources, Gogol's stories and stories recreate a poetic picture of the life of the Ukrainian people.

The happiness of the lovers Gritsko and Paraska, Levko and Ganna, Vakula and Oksana are hindered by the forces of evil. In the spirit of folk tales, the writer embodied these forces in the images of witches, devils, werewolves. But, no matter how malignant the evil forces may be, the people will prevail against them. And so the blacksmith Vakula, breaking the stubbornness of the old devil, forced him to take himself to St. Petersburg for the cherviches for his beloved Oksana. The old Zaporozhets from the story "The Lost Letter" outwitted the witches.

In 1835, the second collection of Gogol's novellas, Mirgorod, was published, which included novels written in the romantic style: Old World Landowners, Taras Bulba, Viy, and The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich. In "Old World Landowners" and "The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich," the writer reveals the insignificance of the serf class representatives who lived only for the sake of their stomachs, indulged in endless squabbles and quarrels, in whose hearts, instead of noble civic feelings, exaggeratedly petty envy lived. self-interest, cynicism. And the story "Taras Bulba", which depicts an entire era in the national liberation struggle of the Ukrainian people, its fraternal friendship with the great Russian people, takes the reader to a completely different world. Before writing the story, Gogol worked a lot on the study of historical documents about popular uprisings.

The best features of the freedom-loving Ukrainian people are embodied in the image of Taras Bulba. He devoted his whole life to the struggle for the liberation of Ukraine from oppressors. In bloody battles with enemies, he teaches the Cossacks by personal example how to serve the motherland. When his own son Andrii betrayed the sacred cause, Taras did not flinch to kill him. Learning that the enemies have captured Ostap, Taras makes his way through all the obstacles and dangers to the very center of the enemy camp and, looking at the terrible torment that Ostap endures, worries most of all about how his son would not show cowardice during the torture, for then the enemy can take comfort in the weakness of the Russian man.
In his speech to the Cossacks, Taras Bulba says: “Let them all know what comradeship means in the Russian land! If it comes to that, to die - so none of them will have to die like that! .. Nobody, nobody! " And when the enemies seized old Taras and led him to a terrible execution, when they tied him to a tree and made a fire under him, the Cossack was not thinking about his life, but until his last breath he was with his comrades in the fight. "But are there such fires, torments and such a force in the world that would overpower the Russian force!" - the writer exclaims enthusiastically.

Following the collection "Mirgorod" Gogol publishes "Arabesques", which included his articles on literature, history, painting and three stories - "Nevsky Prospect", "Portrait", "Notes of a Madman"; later the Nose, Carriage, Overcoat, Rome were also published, which the author referred to as the Petersburg cycle.

In the story "Nevsky Prospect" the writer claims that in the northern capital everything breathes with lies, and the highest human feelings and impulses are trampled by the power and power of money. An example of this is the sad fate of the hero of the story - the artist Piskarev. The story "Portrait" is dedicated to showing the tragic fate of folk talents in serf Russia.

In "The Overcoat", one of Gogol's most remarkable works, the writer continues the theme raised by Pushkin in The Station Keeper, the theme of the "little man" in autocratic Russia. The petty official Akaki Akakievich Bashmachkin for many years, without unbending his back, copied papers, not noticing anything around. He is poor, his outlook is narrow, his only dream is to acquire a new overcoat. What joy lit up the official’s face when he finally put on a new overcoat! But a misfortune happened - the robbers took away from Akaki Akakievich his "treasure". He seeks protection from his superiors, but everywhere he runs into cold indifference, contempt and misunderstanding.

In 1835, Gogol finished the comedy "The Inspector General", in which he, by his own admission, was able to collect all the bad and unjust in Russia at that time and laugh at it all at once. With the epigraph of the play - "There is no reason to blame the mirror if the face is crooked" - the author emphasizes the connection between comedy and reality. When the play was staged, the actual prototypes of its heroes, all those Khlestakovs and Derzhimord, recognizing themselves in the gallery of swindlers, yelled that Gogol was allegedly slandering the nobility. Unable to withstand the attacks of ill-wishers, in 1836 Nikolai Vasilyevich went abroad for a long time. There he worked hard on the poem "Dead Souls". "I could not devote a single line to someone else's, - he wrote from abroad. - I am irresistibly chained to mine, and our poor, dim world, our chicken huts, naked spaces, I preferred to the best heavens, which looked at me more affably."

In 1841, Gogol brought his work to Russia. But only a year later, the writer managed to print the main creation of life. The generalizing power of the gallery of satirical images created by the author - Chichikov, Manilov, Nozdrev, Sobakevich, Plyushkin, Korobochka - was so impressive and markable that the poem immediately aroused indignation and hatred of the apologists of serfdom and at the same time earned warm sympathy and admiration from the leading contemporaries of the writer ... The true meaning of "Dead Souls" was revealed by the great Russian critic V. G. Belinsky. He compared them with a flash of lightning and called them a "truly patriotic" work.

The significance of Gogol's work is enormous, and not only for Russia. "The same officials," Belinsky said, "only in a different dress: in France and England they do not buy up dead souls, but bribe living souls in free parliamentary elections!" Life has confirmed the correctness of these words.

Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol (1809 - 1852) was born in Ukraine, in the village of Sorochintsy in the Poltava region. His father was from the landowners of the family of Bohdan Khmelnitsky. In total, the family brought up 12 children.

Childhood and youth

Neighbors and friends constantly gathered in the family estate of Gogol: the father of the future writer was known as a great admirer of the theater. It is known that he even tried to write his plays. So Nikolai inherited his talent for creativity on his father's side. While studying at the Nizhyn gymnasium, he became famous for his love of writing bright and funny epigrams for his classmates and teachers.

Since the teaching staff of the educational institution was not distinguished by high professionalism, the gymnasium students had to devote a lot of time to self-education: they subscribed to almanacs, prepared theatrical performances, and published their own handwritten magazine. At that time, Gogol had not yet thought about a writing career. He dreamed of entering the civil service, which was then considered prestigious.

Petersburg period

Moving to St. Petersburg in 1828 and the much-desired public service did not bring moral satisfaction to Nikolai Gogol. It turned out that the work in the office is boring.

At the same time, the first printed poem by Gogol "Hans Kuchelgarten" appeared. But the writer is disappointed in her too. And so much so that he personally takes the published materials from the store and burns them.

Life in St. Petersburg has a depressing effect on the writer: uninteresting work, dull climate, material problems ... More and more often he thinks about returning to his picturesque native village in Ukraine. It was the memories of the homeland that were embodied in a well-conveyed national flavor in one of the most famous works of the writer "Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka." This masterpiece was critically acclaimed. And after Zhukovsky and Pushkin left positive reviews about "Evenings ..."

Inspired by the success of his first successful work, Gogol, after a short time, wrote Notes of a Madman, Taras Bulba, The Nose, and Old World Landowners. They further reveal the talent of the writer. After all, no one before in his works so precisely and vividly touched on the psychology of "little" people. It was not for nothing that the famous critic of that time, Belinsky, spoke so enthusiastically about Gogol's talent. Everything could be found in his works: humor, tragedy, humanity, poetry. But with all this, the writer continued to remain not completely satisfied with himself and his work. He believed that his civic position was expressed too passively.

Having failed in public service, Nikolai Gogol decides to try his hand at teaching history at St. Petersburg University. But even then another fiasco awaited him. Therefore, he makes another decision: to devote himself entirely to creativity. But not as a contemplative writer, but as an active participant, a judge of heroes. In 1836, a bright satire "The Inspector General" came out from the author's pen. The society accepted this work ambiguously. Perhaps because Gogol was able to very sensitively "touch the quick", showing all the imperfection of the then society. Once again, the writer, disappointed in his abilities, decides to leave Russia.

Roman holiday

From St. Petersburg Nikolai Gogol emigrates to Italy. A calm life in Rome has a beneficial effect on the writer. It was here that he started writing a large-scale work - "Dead Souls". And again, society did not accept the real masterpiece. Gogol was accused of slandering his homeland, because society could not take the blow to the serf system. Even the critic Belinsky took up arms against the writer.

Rejection by society did not have the best effect on the writer's health. He tried and wrote the second volume of Dead Souls, but he personally burned the handwritten version.

The writer died in Moscow in February 1852. The official cause of death was named “nervous fever”.

• Gogol was fond of knitting and sewing. He made famous neckerchiefs for himself.
• The writer had a habit of walking the streets only on the left side, which constantly interfered with passers-by.
• Nikolai Gogol was very fond of sweets. You could always find candy or a lump of sugar in his pockets.
• The most favorite drink of the writer was goat's milk, brewed with rum.
• The whole life of the writer was associated with mysticism and legends about his life, which gave rise to the most incredible, sometimes ridiculous rumors.