The writing

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

N. Nekrasov

The work of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol goes far beyond national and historical boundaries. His works opened to a wide range of readers the fabulous and bright 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 veil of the mystery of the Russian people in the poem “Dead Souls”. Far from the revolutionary ideas of Radishchev, Griboedov, the Decembrists, Gogol meanwhile expresses a sharp protest with all his work against the autocratic-serf system, which cripples and destroys human dignity, personality, and the very life of the people subject to him. By 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 novels and short stories, Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka, was published. It included "The Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala", "May Night, or the Drowned Woman", "The Missing Letter", "Sorochinsky Fair", "The Night Before Christmas". From the pages of his works, lively characters of cheerful Ukrainian lads and girls emerge. The freshness and purity of love, friendship, camaraderie are their remarkable qualities. Written in a romantic style based on folklore, fairy tale sources, Gogol's novels and stories recreate a poetic picture of the life of the Ukrainian people.

Happily in love Gritsko and Parasky, 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 wicked the evil forces are, the people will overcome them. And so the blacksmith Vakula, having broken the stubbornness of the old devil, forced him to take himself to St. Petersburg for little laces for his beloved Oksana. The old Cossack from the story "The Missing Letter" outwitted the witches.

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

The image of Taras Bulba embodies the best features of the freedom-loving Ukrainian people. 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 Andriy betrayed the sacred cause, Taras did not flinch to kill him. Having learned 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 torments that Ostap endures, worries most of all about how his son would not show cowardice during the torture, for then the enemy can console himself with the weakness of the Russian people.
In his speech to the Cossacks, Taras Bulba says: “Let them all know what partnership means in the Russian land! If it comes to that, to die, then none of them will ever die like that! .. No one, no one! 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 did not think about his life, but until his last breath he was with his comrades in the struggle. “Yes, 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", where his articles on literature, history, painting and three stories were placed - "Nevsky Prospekt", "Portrait", "Notes of a Madman"; later, "The Nose", "Carriage", "Overcoat", "Rome" are printed, attributed by the author to the "Petersburg cycle".

In the story "Nevsky Prospekt", the writer claims that everything in the northern capital breathes lies, and the highest human feelings and impulses are trampled on 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 Stationmaster, the theme of the "little man" in autocratic Russia. Petty official Akaky Akakievich Bashmachkin for many years, without straightening his back, rewrote papers, not noticing anything around. He is poor, his horizons are 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 his "treasure" from Akaky Akakievich. He seeks protection from his superiors, but everywhere he encounters cold indifference, contempt and misunderstanding.

In 1835, Gogol finished the comedy The Inspector General, in which, by his own admission, he was able to put together everything that was bad and unfair in Russia at that time and laugh at it all at once. The epigraph of the play - "There is nothing to blame on the mirror, if the face is crooked" - the author emphasizes the connection between comedy and reality. When the play was staged, the real prototypes of its heroes, all these 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 Vasilievich went abroad for a long time. There he worked hard on the poem "Dead Souls". “I couldn’t devote a single line to someone else’s,” he wrote from abroad. “I am chained to my own with an irresistible chain, and I preferred our poor dim world, our smoky huts, bare spaces to the best heaven, who 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 well-aimed that the poem immediately aroused indignation and hatred of the apologists for serfdom and at the same time won ardent 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 to a flash of lightning, 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.

I. - Do you know, - said the queen, - that I have the power to make you an Arab sovereign, and at this moment I can take your life?

I know very well, answered my lord, that my life is now in the power of your majesty; only I would rather agree to lose my life than bow to your will.

The queen, seeing that he did not agree to her proposal, took the intention of seducing him with her beauty, for among the Arabs she was considered a great beauty, and, opening before my lord her black breasts, which were of a fair build, she said:
- Look, my lord, you, of course, have never seen such pleasant and tender members in London?

“It is true, Your Majesty,” he replied, “that even in London itself, a vile woman would not agree to open these members publicly before a man for any money, which for the sake of Your Majesty I advise you to continue to close them.

The queen, hearing these contemptible words from my lord, was greatly ashamed and exceedingly distressed, and said:
- Oh, ungrateful slave! Could I think that you would dare to make me such a contemptible curse and insult my majesty; no, don't think, you ungrateful one, that I won't punish you for your insolence; I will teach you to know how to treat the queen; you will soon find out and you will repent of your crime, but you cannot turn my mercy on yourself. - And immediately she screamed: - Take this villain from me and, having exposed him, throw him into the deepest aedicule, so that he can more feel the various reptiles crawling on it!

II. The queen's sister, Elena, fell so in love with my lord at first sight that without any shame she made many love explanations, but he, not wanting to enter into any conversations with her, answered all her questions as briefly as possible. Meanwhile, as he was cutting up the roast, he cut his finger, and taking a handkerchief from his pocket, tied his hand with it. Elena, seeing this, immediately removed the ribbon from her neck and, giving it to my lord, said:
- If this tape is not disgusting to you, then I ask you to bandage your finger with it and calm your blood flowing from it, what a special pleasure I am.

My lord, seeing Elenino's obscene insolence, answered her:
- I humbly thank you for your favor, only your hands do not like silk, and for this I advise you to re-bandage your neck, which has lost a lot of beauty without a ribbon.

The queen heard this and, turning to her ladies-in-waiting, burst out laughing; and then, getting up from the table, she began to dance.

"The Tale of the Adventures of the English Milord George and the Brandenburg Margravine Friederike-Louise".

Encyclopedic dictionary of winged words and expressions Serov Vadim Vasilyevich

When a peasant is not Blucher, / And not a stupid milord - / Belinsky and Gogol / Will he carry from the market?