Biographical map of Gogol. Creative and life path of Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich

Nikolai Vasilyevich was born in 1809 in the town of Velikie Sorochintsy, Poltava province. This place was the center of provincial culture, there were estates of famous writers.

Gogol's father was an amateur playwright; he served as a secretary for D.P. Troshchinsky, who kept a home serf theater (plays were required for him). Also in the house of Troshchinsky there was a large library in which Gogol read all his childhood. In 1821 he went to study in Nizhyn, at the gymnasium of Higher Sciences. They inspired the idea: an official is a pillar on which everything in the state rests. Consequently, graduates simply had no other way but to go to public service.

The first works and acquaintance with Pushkin

In 1828, after graduating from the gymnasium, Gogol moved from Nizhyn to St. Petersburg, dreaming of becoming an official there. However, they don't want to take him anywhere. Offended and impressed, he wrote a poem Hans Küchelgarten dedicated to the German youth who is not allowed to serve the fatherland. In fact, of course, Gogol meant himself. Critics did not like this creation, and Gogol, offended again, burned the entire print run.

Finally he managed to get a job, but now Gogol realized that all his dreams were childishly naive, but in fact he did not like the service. But he began to communicate with famous writers, met Pushkin.

In 1832 they published Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka- a story in which laughter plays an important role, which becomes evil, fairy tale motifs appear. After this publication, even Pushkin said that Gogol could be useful. He did not describe the suffering of an extra person, but the simple life of ordinary Ukrainians, and this was very unusual for the literature of that era.

However, after that, Gogol suddenly abandons literature and service and begins to enthusiastically study the history of the Ancient World and the Middle Ages, wants to teach. He tries to get a chair at Kiev University, but he fails. In 1835 Gogol gave up science.

Petersburg stories

Gogol quickly begins to write again and almost immediately publishes Arabesque and Mirgorod, which describes not only Ukraine, but also St. Petersburg. His most famous stories are: Portrait, Nevsky prospect, Notes of a madman. Then Gogol writes more Nose and story overcoat: these five stories will later be combined into a collection of St. Petersburg stories. In all of them we are talking about the existence of ordinary people, about how difficult it is sometimes for a small person to survive in a ruthless society. Also in Gogol's work for the first time (with the exception of Pushkin's "The Bronze Horseman") a separate image of the city appears - Petersburg, with all its imperial beauty, cold and light infernality. The European Gothic novel had a great influence on Gogol's work: otherworldly, mysterious and eerie motifs appear in his stories every now and then.

Auditor

After that, Gogol manifests himself in dramaturgy. In 1835 he writes a comedy Auditor, and in 1836 it was first staged on the stage of the Alexandrinsky Theater. The main task of this comedy was to bring together all the worst that is in Russia. Gogol consistently shows all the vices of society; each of the characters is driven by fear, behind each of them is a trail of vices. The production ended in complete failure, the audience did not appreciate the play. However, Gogol had one enthusiastic spectator, whose opinion overlapped all the others - it was Emperor Nicholas I. Since then, friendly relations have developed between him and Gogol.

He does not understand why the audience did not appreciate the production, and because of this he writes a short work "Reflections at the Theater Entrance", where he explains the meaning of the Examiner: Strange: I'm sorry that no one noticed the honest face that was in my play. Yes, there was one honest, noble person who acted in all its continuation. It was laughter.

Roman Period and Dead Souls

Despite the approval of the emperor, Gogol takes offense at the rest of the public who does not understand and leaves for Rome. There he worked hard, wrote Dead Souls which were published in Russia in 1842. (History of the creation of Dead Souls). He conceived this poem as a kind of analogue of Dante's Divine Comedy, but Gogol failed to write three parts. (Genre and plot of Dead Souls). In 1845, he was unexpectedly diagnosed with schizophrenia and placed in a mental hospital in Rome. He is very ill, the Russian ambassador gives Gogol money from the tsar. Having got out, he returns to Russia, thanks the emperor and is going to leave for the monastery.

Selected places from correspondence with friends

But Gogol did not realize this intention, literature turned out to be stronger. In 1847 he published Selected places from correspondence with friends: most of this work was really made up of letters, but there were also journalistic articles. The work turned out to be scandalous - gloomy and very conservative. It is about the state system of Russia and that serfdom does not need to be abolished. According to Gogol, literature in Russia really began with the era of Lomonosov. Conclusion: writers should praise the sovereign then everything will be fine with them.

He sends this book to his confessor as a confession. However, the church declared that it was unsuitable for a secular person to preach; for such liberties, they even wanted to excommunicate Gogol from the church, but the emperor intervened in time. The critic V.G. also spoke out against Gogol. Belinsky, who said that Gogol is trying to pull Russia back into a dark past, and also wants to get a job as an educator of the heir to the throne. In response to this, Gogol invited Belinsky to work together, but after that Gogol suddenly had a new attack of schizophrenia, therefore, he no longer had time for cooperation (although Belinsky agreed).

The last years have become the darkest in Gogol's life: an absolutely sick person writes the second volume of the poem Dead Souls, he is even ready to publish it, but on the night of February 11-12, 1852, he has a clouding of his mind, and for some reason he throws the manuscript into the fire . And ten days later he dies.

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1. Interesting facts from life

By the time Nikolai Gogol's first poem was criticized by his contemporaries, he bought and burned the entire print run. The next work, Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka, made the writer famous: even Alexander Pushkin and Vasily Zhukovsky admired stories about evil spirits. "The Inspector General" and "Dead Souls", the stories "Nevsky Prospekt" and "The Overcoat" - Gogol ridiculed vices and wrote about the "little man". Writer Sergei Aksakov said: "This is a true martyr of lofty thought, a martyr of our time."

Needlework, poetry and evil spirits: Gogol's childhood

Mother of the writer Maria Gogol-Yanovskaya. Image: for-teacher.ru

The house of Dr. Trokhimovsky in Sorochintsy, where Nikolai Gogol was born. Velikie Sorochintsy, Poltava region, Ukraine. Illustration for the book by Iosif Khmelevsky "Gogol in the Motherland: Album of art phototypes and heliogravures". Kyiv, 1902

Nikolai Gogol-Yanovsky as a child. Image: book-briefly.ru

Nikolai Gogol was born in the village of Sorochintsy, Poltava province. His father, Vasily Gogol-Yanovsky, was a collegiate assessor and served in the post office, but in 1805 he retired, married and began to farm. He soon became friends with former minister Dmitry Troshchinsky, who lived in a nearby village. Together they created a home theatre. Gogol-Yanovsky himself wrote comedies for performances in Ukrainian, and took plots from folk tales. Maria Kosyarovskaya married him at the age of 14 and devoted herself to her family. She recalled: “I did not go to any meetings and balls, finding all the happiness in my family; we could not be separated from each other for a single day, and when he went about the housework in the field in a small droshky, he always took me with him..

Nikolai Gogol was the third child in the family, the first two sons were born dead. The future writer was named after St. Nicholas: shortly before the birth, the mother prayed to him. Later, eight more children appeared in the family, but only daughters Maria, Anna, Elizabeth and Olga survived. Gogol spent a lot of time with his sisters and even did needlework with them: he cut curtains and dresses, embroidered, knitted scarves. Olga recalled: “He went to his grandmother and asked for wool, like a garus, to weave a belt: he wove belts on a comb”. He also took an early interest in writing. His father took him to the fields and gave him themes for poetic improvisations: "steppe", "sun", "heaven". At the age of five, Gogol had already begun to write down his works himself. Mother was superstitious and in the evenings she often told stories to children about goblin, brownies and evil spirits.

“Twilight was falling. I pressed myself against the corner of the sofa and listened to the sound of the long pendulum of the old wall clock. Suddenly, the cat's meow disturbed the oppressive peace. I will never forget how she walked, stretching, and her soft paws tapped her claws on the floorboards, and her green eyes sparkled with an unkind light. I got scared. “Kitty, kitty,” I muttered, and, grabbing the cat, I ran into the garden, where I threw it into the pond and several times, when it tried to swim out and go ashore, I pushed it away with a pole.

Grigory Danilevsky, coll. cit., XIV, 119. A story from the words of Gogol

When Gogol was ten years old, his parents brought him to Poltava, to one of the teachers of the local gymnasium. The future writer lived in the teacher's house and was preparing to enter the boarding school: he studied arithmetic, read history books, worked with maps.

Gogol in the gymnasium: the first poem and the school theater

Ivan Zherin. Portrait of Nikolai Gogol. 1836. Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg

Emil Wiesel. Nizhyn Gymnasium of Higher Sciences. 1830s Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg

A copy of "Hanz Kühelgarten" with a dedication inscription by Nikolai Gogol to historian Mikhail Pogodin. 1829. State Public Historical Library of Russia, Moscow

In 1821, Nikolai Gogol entered the Nizhyn Gymnasium for Higher Sciences. He was not diligent: he was often distracted in class and studied only before exams. Latin teacher Ivan Kulzhinsky recalled: “He studied with me for three years and did not learn anything ... During lectures, Gogol always used to hold some book under the bench and read”. The favorite subjects of the future writer were drawing and Russian literature. He admired Alexander Pushkin. When the first chapters of Eugene Onegin came out in 1825, Gogol reread them so many times that he memorized them. He composed himself. Works - the poem "Robbers", the story "The Brothers Tverdislavichi" - he posted in his own handwritten magazine "Star".

“None of us thought that Gogol could ever be a writer, even a mediocre one, because he was known in the Lyceum for being the most negligent and ordinary listener.<...>It was enough for him to say one word, make one movement, so that everyone in the class, like mad or crazy, laughed in one throat, even with a teacher, director.

Nikolai Sushkov, playwright

Nikolai Gogol created a theater in the gymnasium. He chose the plays, distributed the roles and painted the scenery. Students became actors, they also brought what they could to the “theatrical wardrobe”. One of the most popular plays was "Undergrowth" by Fonvizin, Gogol played Mrs. Prostakova. A fellow student of the writer Timofei Pashchenko recalled: “We all thought then that Gogol would enter the stage, because he had a huge talent and all the data for playing on stage”.

In 1825, Gogol's father died. The high school student was very upset by the loss. His mother recalled: “I could not write to the children about our misfortune and asked the director in Nizhyn to prepare my son for such a blow; he was in such grief that he wanted to throw himself out the window from the top floor.. After the death of his father, problems with money began: his mother did not know how to manage the household. Then Gogol first offered to sell the forest, which, according to the will, belonged to him, and then completely abandoned the inheritance in favor of the sisters.

In 1827, Gogol wrote the poem "Hanz Küchelgarten" about a young man who rejected love in order to dream of Greece. A year later, the writer graduated from the Nizhyn gymnasium and decided to go to St. Petersburg. He wrote to Uncle Pyotr Kosyarovsky: “I confess that I have no desire to turn back home ever, especially having witnessed several times how our extraordinary mother struggles, suffers, sometimes even about some penny<...>For my part, I did everything, I take a little money with me so that it becomes for travel and for the first equipment..

“Absolutely met only failures”: life in St. Petersburg

Unknown artist. Portrait of Nikolai Gogol (detail). 1850s Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg

Peter Geller. Nikolai Gogol and Vasily Zhukovsky at Alexander Pushkin's in Tsarskoe Selo (detail). 1910. Image: pouchkin.com

Nathan Altman. Nikolai Gogol in St. Petersburg (detail). Illustration for "Petersburg Tales" by Nikolai Gogol. 1934. Image: antik-dom.ru

In December 1828, Nikolai Gogol came to St. Petersburg to get a job. He recalled: “Petersburg seemed to me not at all what I thought. I imagined him much more beautiful, more magnificent<...>Living here is not quite like a pig, that is, having cabbage soup and porridge once a day is incomparably more expensive than they thought<...>It makes me live like in the desert. I am forced to give up my best pleasure - to see the theater ". The writer could not find a job: either they did not want to accept a graduate of the Nizhyn gymnasium, or they offered too little salary.

In 1829, Gogol wrote the poem "Italy" and sent it to the magazine "Son of the Fatherland" without a signature. The work was published, and this gave confidence to the writer. He decided to publish the school poem "Hanz Kühelgarten" under the pseudonym V. Alov. However, this time the book did not sell: the essay was criticized for its naivete and lack of composition. Then Nikolai Gogol bought the entire circulation from the booksellers and burned it. After the failure, he tried to become an actor and auditioned for the director of the imperial theaters, Sergei Gagarin. But the writer was not taken. Gogol recalled: “Thoughts lean on one another in clouds, not giving one another a place<...>Everywhere I met absolutely nothing but failures and - what is strangest of all - where they could not be expected at all.<...>what a terrible punishment! For me, there was nothing more poisonous and crueler than him in the world.. In the summer of 1829 he left on a trip to Germany.

In the autumn of 1829 Nikolai Gogol returned to St. Petersburg. There was not enough money, and he got a job as an assistant clerk in the department of appanages. The writer was a collegiate assessor - the youngest rank in the Table of Ranks. Gogol wrote to his mother: “After endless searches, I finally managed to find a place, very, however, unenviable. But what to do?. The writer accepted complaints, stitched documents and carried out small assignments from his superiors, and in his spare time he composed stories about life in Ukraine. Gogol turned to his mother for help: “Do me a favor, describe for me also the manners, customs, beliefs<...>what dresses the centurions, their wives, thousanders, themselves had in their time, what materials were known in their time, and all in great detail”. In 1830, in the journal Otechestvennye Zapiski, the writer published the story Bisavryuk or Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala. The text was very different from the original: the publisher Pavel Svinin edited the work to his taste.

Gradually, Gogol wrote more and more for magazines. In 1831, the Literaturnaya Gazeta published the materials “A Few Thoughts on Teaching Geography to Children” and “Woman”, and the chapters of the historical novel “Hetman” appeared in the almanac “Northern Flowers”. Both editions were owned by Anton Delvig. The poet introduced the young author to the literary circle and introduced him to Vasily Zhukovsky and Pyotr Pletnev. The writers helped Nikolai Gogol find a new job: he became a teacher at the Women's Patriotic Institute, and on weekends he gave private lessons to the children of nobles. In parallel, the writer worked on a series of stories about Ukraine.

"An unusual phenomenon in literature": Gogol's famous works

Nikolay Gogol. Mirgorod. Tales that serve as a continuation of Evenings on a farm near Dikanka. Part two. St. Petersburg: Printing house of the Department of Foreign Trade, 1835

Boris Lebedev. Critic Vissarion Belinsky and Nikolai Gogol (fragment). Postcard from the series “V.G. Belinsky in B. Lebedev's drawings. Moscow: Art, 1948

Alexander Ivanov. Portrait of Nikolai Gogol. 1841. State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

In 1831, Gogol's book "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka" was published, which included four stories: "Sorochinsky Fair", previously published "Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala", "May Night, or a Drowned Woman" and "The Missing Letter". The action of the book took place in the author's homeland, in the Mirgorod district of the Poltava province. The heroes were the inhabitants of the Ukrainian village, and in the plot, everyday life was mixed with mystical motives that were in use among the villagers. The collection immediately became popular and received good reviews from readers: the author was praised by the poets Alexander Pushkin, Evgeny Baratynsky, Ivan Kireevsky and many others. Baratynsky wrote: “We have not yet had an author with such cheerfulness, in our north it is a great rarity<...>His style is alive, original, full of colors and often taste.. And Pushkin, in a letter to Alexander Voeikov, left the following review about Gogol:

“I just read “Evenings near Dikanka”. They amazed me. Here is real gaiety, sincere, unconstrained, without affectation, without stiffness. And in places what poetry, what sensitivity! I was told that<...>typesetters were dying of laughter, typing his book"

Already in 1832, Gogol published the second volume of Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka. Four more stories were included there: "The Night Before Christmas", "A Terrible Revenge", "Ivan Fedorovich Shponka and His Aunt" and "The Enchanted Place". The new book is a success. Gogol was invited to all literary evenings, he often saw Alexander Pushkin. In the summer of 1832, the writer decided to visit his relatives and on the way he visited Moscow for the first time, where he met publicists Sergei Aksakov and Mikhail Pogodin, actor Mikhail Shchepkin. Gogol wrote from home: “I arrived at the estate completely upset. Lots of unpaid debts. They pester from all sides, and now it is a complete impossibility to pay..

In 1834, the writer was offered a position as an adjunct professor at the Department of World History at St. Petersburg University. Nikolai Gogol agreed. During the day he lectured about the Middle Ages and the period of the Great Migration of Nations, in the evening he studied the history of peasant-Cossack uprisings in Ukraine. I wrote all my free time. In 1835, another collection of Gogol's called "Arabesques" was released, which combined works of different genres. One of the most popular in the book was the article "A few words about Pushkin." In it, Gogol analyzed his work and called Pushkin the first Russian national poet. Arabesques also published Gogol's first St. Petersburg novels: Portrait, Notes of a Madman and Nevsky Prospekt. The collection also contained articles on historical topics: "A look at the compilation of Little Russia", "On the teaching of world history", "Al Mamun" and others.

A month after the collection "Arabesques", Gogol published another book - "Mirgorod". It was a continuation of "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka": the writer used elements of Ukrainian folklore, and the action itself took place in Zaporozhye. "Mirgorod" includes the stories "Old-world landowners", "Taras Bulba", "Viy" and "The Tale of how Ivan Ivanovich quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich." While working on his works, Gogol used his scientific achievements. So, "Taras Bulba" was based on the peasant uprising of 1637-1638, and the ataman Okhrim Makukha became the prototype of the main character.

The entire circulation of the collections "Arabesques" and "Mirgorod" was quickly sold out. Critic Vissarion Belinsky wrote: “His talent does not decline, but gradually rises<...>The new works of Mr. Gogol's playful and original imagination are among the most extraordinary phenomena in our literature and fully deserve the praise that the audience who admires them showers on them..

In 1835, Nikolai Gogol began writing Dead Souls. The plot of the work was prompted by Pushkin: during his exile in Chisinau, he was told about a landowner who passed off the dead as fugitives. A few months later, Gogol was already reading the first chapters of the work to the poet. From the book "Selected Places from Correspondence with Friends": “Pushkin, who always laughed when I read (he was a hunter of laughter), began to gradually become more and more gloomy, gloomy, and finally became completely gloomy. When the reading was over, he said in a voice of anguish: “God, how sad is our Russia!”. However, Gogol soon abandoned work on the novel.

“The reason for the cheerfulness that was noticed in the first works of mine that appeared in print was a certain spiritual need. I was subjected to fits of melancholy, inexplicable to me, which, perhaps, was due to my morbid condition. To amuse myself, I invented for myself all the funny things that I could think of ”

Nikolai Gogol, writer

“I was going to collect everything bad in Russia”: the comedy “The Government Inspector”

Nikolay Gogol. Portrait of the poet Alexander Pushkin. 1830s Image: artchive.ru

Drawings by Nikolai Gogol for the comedy The Inspector General. Illustration for the book by Iosif Khmelevsky "Gogol in the Motherland: Album of art phototypes and heliogravures". Kyiv, 1902

Peter Karatygin. Nikolai Gogol at a rehearsal of The Inspector General at the Mariinsky Theater on April 18, 1836 (detail). Image: a4format.ru

In the autumn of 1835, Nikolai Gogol resigned from the university. He decided to take up literature professionally and try to compose a play. The writer wrote a letter to Pushkin: “Do me a favor, give some plot, at least some funny or unfunny, but the Russian is purely an anecdote. The hand is shaking to write a comedy<...>the spirit will be a comedy of five acts, and I swear, much funnier than the devil! For God's sake, my mind and stomach are both starving.". The poet told Gogol a story about a gentleman who pretended to be a high-ranking official. She formed the basis of the comedy "The Inspector General". According to the plot, the collegiate registrar Khlestakov lost money in cards and accidentally ended up in a county town. The mayor, superintendent of schools, postmaster, judge and many other employees mistook him for an auditor. They tried to hide the real state of affairs and gave Khlestakov bribes.

“In The Government Inspector, I decided to put together everything that was bad in Russia, which I then knew, all the injustices that are being done in those places and in those cases where justice is most required of a person, and at one time laugh at everything”

Nikolai Gogol, writer

In 1836, Gogol finished the comedy and read it while visiting Vasily Zhukovsky. Among the listeners were Alexander Pushkin, Pyotr Vyazemsky, Ivan Turgenev and others. The writer was advised to put the play in the theatre. However, it was possible to obtain permission for the performance only with the patronage of Zhukovsky: the comedy was not censored, and the poet had to personally persuade the emperor. A few months later, Gogol began rehearsals at the Alexandrinsky Theater in St. Petersburg. He drew the layouts of the actors on the stage, gave recommendations to the director and costume designers. In May 1836, Emperor Nicholas I came to the premiere of the comedy along with his heir Alexander. The emperor liked the performance so much that he ordered the ministers to visit it without fail.

"The Inspector General" caused a mixed reaction from the audience. Gogol recalled: "Everything is against me. The elderly and respectable officials shout that nothing is sacred to me when I dared to speak like that about the people who serve; policemen against me; merchants against me; writers are against me. Scold and go to the play; there are no tickets available for the fourth performance. If it were not for the high intercession of the sovereign, my play would not have been on stage for anything.. A few weeks later, the comedy was also played in Moscow. There it was staged by Gogol's friend, actor Mikhail Shchepkin.

At the same time, the first issue of the Sovremennik magazine was published, published by Pushkin. The issue featured Nikolai Gogol's story "The Nose" about an official who lost his nose one morning, and with it the possibility of a promotion. The work "Carriage" was also published here. According to the plot, in the evening the landowner Chertokutsky praised the carriage and promised to sell it to the general, and in the morning he hid from the buyer out of shame: the carriage turned out to be "the most unsightly".

Gogol Abroad: "Dead Souls" and "The Overcoat"

Fedor Moller. Portrait of Nikolai Gogol (detail). 1840s Ivanovo Regional Art Museum, Ivanovo

Ilya Repin. Nikolai Gogol burns the second volume of "Dead Souls" (fragment). 1909. State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Boris Kustodiev. Illustration for Nikolai Gogol's story "The Overcoat". Akaky Akakievich in a new overcoat goes to the department (detail). 1909. State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Shortly after the premiere of The Inspector General, Gogol urgently left for Germany. He explained his trip: “After various excitements, annoyances, and other things, my thoughts are so scattered that I am unable to collect them in harmony and order.<...>I'm going abroad, there I open the anguish that my compatriots inflict on me every day<...>Bring two or three rogues on stage - a thousand honest people get angry, say: "We are not rogues". He traveled to Switzerland, then moved to Paris. There Gogol continued to write the novel "Dead Souls", for which the author did not have enough time in St. Petersburg. In February 1837, Pushkin died. The writer was very upset by the death of the poet. Colonel Andrei Karamzin wrote: “It is touching and pitiful to see how this man was affected by the news of Pushkin's death. He hasn't been himself at all ever since. He gave up what he wrote, and longingly thinks about returning to St. Petersburg, which was empty for him.. However, instead of Russia, Gogol went to Italy. There, in 1841, he completed the first volume of Dead Souls and returned to Moscow a few months later to have the work printed. The writer settled in the house of the historian Mikhail Pogodin.

Censorship allowed "Dead Souls" to print by the spring of 1842. Gogol designed the cover for the publication himself. The story of Chichikov, who traveled around Russia and bought paper from the landowners for dead peasants, evoked different responses from readers. Nikolai Gogol's friend Sergei Aksakov recalled: “All listeners were completely delighted, but there were people who hated Gogol<...>So, for example, I myself heard the famous American Count Tolstoy say<...>that he is “an enemy of Russia and that he should be sent in shackles to Siberia”. In total, Gogol planned to write three volumes of Dead Souls. The writer was guided by the idea of ​​Dante Alighieri: Chichikov, like the hero of the Divine Comedy, had to change and revise his concepts of morality during his travels.

In 1842, another work by Gogol was published - the story "The Overcoat". The action took place in St. Petersburg. The petty official Akaki Akakievich Bashmachkin spent all day copying papers for a small salary. Once his overcoat was torn, and the employee began to save up for a new one: he stopped drinking tea, went home in a dressing gown so as not to wear out other clothes. However, when he finally saved up, "some people with mustaches" picked her up on the street.

In June 1842 Gogol went abroad again. Rome, Düsseldorf, Nice, Paris - the writer often moved. During this time he was working on the second volume of Dead Souls. Gogol wrote: “Criticism itself must now repay me for all that I have lost through it. And I lost a lot; for the glibness and lively fire that were in me before I knew at least one rule of art, for several years they no longer appeared to me ”. In 1845, Gogol suffered a mental crisis. In an impulse, he burned the second volume of Dead Souls and all his manuscripts. He practically stopped writing to friends, and in 1848 he went to Jerusalem. Gogol recalled: “Never before have I been so little satisfied with the state of my heart, as in Jerusalem and after Jerusalem. It was as if I was at the Holy Sepulcher in order to feel there on the spot how much coldness of the heart is in me, how much self-love and self-love ”.

In 1849, the writer returned to Russia and began to restore the lost volume of Dead Souls from memory. However, he soon began to complain of fits of melancholy. In January 1852, Gogol's longtime acquaintance Ekaterina Khomyakova died. The writer stopped eating, admitted to the confessor that his "fear of death" and stopped writing. On the night of February 11-12 of the same year, Nikolai Gogol burned all his manuscripts, including an almost restored version of Dead Souls. He hasn't left the house in recent days. February 21, 1852 the writer died. He was buried at the Danilovsky cemetery in Moscow. In 1931, Gogol's grave was opened, and his remains were transferred to the Novodevichy cemetery.

Nikolay Alekseev. Pushkin and Gogol (detail). Earlier 1881. Image: arzamas.academy

Vladimir Taburin. Nikolai Gogol reads The Inspector General to the artists of the Moscow Maly Theater and invited persons (fragment). Image: magisteria.ru

Georgy Echeistov. Portrait of Nikolai Gogol (detail). 1934. Image: magisteria.ru

1. The real name of the writer is Gogol-Yanovsky. However, the writer did not like that it was long, so he threw back the second part and asked to be called only Gogol. The poet Nestor Kukolnik recalled: “Once, already in St. Petersburg, one of my comrades asked Gogol in my presence: “Why did you change your last name?” - "I did not think." - "Why, you are Yanovsky." - "And Gogol too." - "Yes, what does gogol mean?" - “Drake,” Gogol answered dryly and turned the conversation to another matter..

2. Gogol's mother considered her son a genius and attributed to him the invention of the steam engine, the railway and other technical innovations of that time.

3. Students considered Nikolai Gogol a useless history teacher. He often skipped classes or could tell the material for only half an hour together. Writer Nikolai Ivanitsky recalled: “Gogol's lectures were very dry and boring: not a single event called him into a lively and animated conversation. With some sleepy eyes he looked at the past centuries and obsolete tribes..

4. Nikolai Gogol always had debts. Despite the success of his works, the writer did not receive large fees. He wrote to Pushkin: “Booksellers are the kind of people who, without any conscience, can be hung on the first tree”.

5. The writer carried the Gospel with him everywhere. Gogol wrote: “It is impossible to invent higher than what is already in the Gospel. How many times has humanity recoiled from it and how many times has it turned. He also read a chapter from the Old Testament every day.

The fate and work of, perhaps, the most mystical domestic writer Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol is still surrounded by a mass of rumors and secrets.

The literary talent of the great writer was recognized during his lifetime, and Nikolai Vasilyevich could hear rave reviews about his works from his contemporaries.

Gogol, whose biography still causes a lot of controversy among researchers, is the most extraordinary personality in Russian literature of the 19th century.

Brief biography of N. V. Gogol

Gogol Nikolay Vasilievich ( years of life from 1809 to 1852) is a writer, by nationality - Russian, author of theatrical productions, critic. Mother and father are landowners. Born in the city of Poltava, near the settlement of Sorochintsy.

In his youth, he studied at the Poltava School, and after the successful completion of the latter, he studied at the Nizhyn Gymnasium. The further fate of Gogol proceeded in St. Petersburg, where from 1828 he was in the public service.

The first work that came out from the writer's pen and gave him fame was the collection of stories "Basavryuk". A little later, when finalized, this book received the name "Evening on the eve of Ivan Kupala."

The most famous creations of Nikolai Vasilyevich were "May Night", "Terrible Revenge", "Taras Bulba", "The Night Before Christmas". In all of them, the writer reproduces the everyday life of the population of the hinterland from Ukraine.

After his fiasco in the dramatic field, Nikolai Vasilyevich sets off to seek inspiration in European countries - Switzerland, France, Italy. It was during this tour that Gogol completed work on his masterpiece, Dead Souls.

The end of the writer's life is marked by the deepest creative crisis, during which Nikolai Vasilyevich destroys the second volume of Dead Souls. Death met Gogol on February 21, 1852.

Childhood and youth

The date of birth of N.V. Gogol is considered to be March 20, 1809 (according to the new style, the date of birth is April 01, 1809). His small homeland is a small settlement called Velyki Sorochintsy, which is located in the Mirgorod district on the Poltava land.

Gogol's family was quite prosperous, and his father and mother (name - Maria Ivanovna) were landowners. According to the archives, they owned at least 400 serfs and about 1,000 hectares of land.

Gogol's childhood years were spent together with his parents in the estate located in Vasilievka (or, according to other sources, at that time the name was Yanovshchina). Together with his parents, young Nikolai often visited the surrounding villages - Dikanka, Obukhovka, Kibintsy. Of the entertainment provided by Gogol, there was a large library and even a small theater.

From the age of 5, Gogol showed considerable talent for literature, trying his hand at writing poetry. The well-known publicist G. P. Danilevsky, who witnessed his work, highly appreciated his literary talent.

Upbringing and education

When Gogol was ten years old, his father gave Nikolai to study with a private teacher in the city of Poltava. Already by 1818, this training had an effect and Nikolai Vasilievich was able to enroll in the Poltava district school.

Here Gogol studied in the period from 1818 to 1819.

After that, Gogol again begins to take lessons from a private teacher, which allows him to prepare well and continue his studies at the gymnasium of higher sciences, located in the city of Nizhyn. The period of study at this institution was from May 1821 to June 1828.

Passion for literature, drama, as well as painting, did not have the best effect on the progress of Nikolai Vasilyevich. Nevertheless, his ability to quickly memorize a large amount of information allowed him to quickly master the material on the eve of exams and move from class to class.

Education in the gymnasium was carried out in accordance with the decree of Emperor Alexander I, who was a fierce opponent of European liberties. Much attention was paid to spiritual education, and prayers were introduced into the daily routine. The teaching of many subjects was carried out by memorization, which also did not affect the assimilation of knowledge in the best way.

Most importantly, to compensate for these shortcomings, Gogol, together with his gymnasium comrades, was engaged in the release of his own journal, where Nikolai Vasilyevich managed to use his talent on a grand scale - hyperbolic turns, a combination of high syllable and ordinary dialect.

Active self-education made it possible to form a personality and cause the professional growth of the great Russian writer.

The beginning of the creative path

Gogol's path as an independent writer begins in 1829, when he, a young writer, full of romantic hopes, moves to St. Petersburg, waiting to present his work to the world.

The first work and the first experience of publication is manifested in the romantic poem "Hanz Küchelgarten", which Gogol wrote using the pseudonym "V. Alov.

However, the audience does not accept the first work of the writer. On the contrary, critics, after reading the summary, show stinging ridicule at him.

After such a failure, Nikolai Vasilievich closes in on himself, looking for answers in mystical moods. He collects information about the traditions and traditions of the indigenous peoples of Ukraine, turning them into his stories.

Personal life

Nikolai Vasilyevich never in his entire life had his own apartment, estate, or family. After the death of the writer, there was also little property - the only valuable thing was the gold watch that Zhukovsky gave him.

Alexandra Osipovna Smirnova - maid of honor of the Russian imperial court, acquaintance, friend and interlocutor of A. S. Pushkin, V. A. Zhukovsky, N. V. Gogol, M. Yu. Lermontov. Frank, sometimes caustic, memories of the life of Russian society in the first half of the 19th century are attributed to her.

Only two women passed through Gogol's life and work, with whom he was connected by any feelings. This is Alexandra Smirnova-Rosset. Gogol was connected with her by touching feelings, which resulted in a lengthy correspondence. However, social status did not allow these feelings to spill over into a relationship.

Another passion of Nikolai Vasilyevich was Maria Sinelnikova, who was a cousin of Nikolai Vasilyevich. She met a real masculine understanding in Gogol, but the growing religiosity of the writer did not allow their relationship to develop.

Hobbies of Nikolai Vasilyevich

Among Gogol's hobbies, a whole list can be distinguished:

• being a creative person, the writer was very fond of singing (despite the lack of hearing) and drawing;
• Gogol was a collector, collected a collection of English keepers with views of foreign countries;
• the writer was very fond of making sketches of the historical architectural beauties that he visited;
• Gogol was also fond of botany, spending a lot of time in greenhouses.

Another interesting fact is that Gogol was fond of needlework (sewing, cutting) and housework (furniture making).

The last years of life and death of the writer

In the last half of January 1852, Gogol, being in an extremely upset mood, provides Archpriest Matthew for reading the second volume of Dead Souls, who speaks negatively, even demanding that some chapters be burned.

By the beginning of Lent, the writer begins to limit himself to food, and by February 5 he already completely refuses food. The most important thing is On the night of February 11-12, 1852, Gogol, together with his servant, destroy the second volume of Dead Souls.

By February 18, the writer's condition worsened so much (due to refusal to eat) that he could not get out of bed. He himself claims that he began preparations for death.

By February 20, the state was already so helpless that the medical council decides on compulsory treatment. Despite the measures taken, Gogol's death is declared a day later. He died on February 21, 1852.

Nikolai Vasilievich was buried in the graveyard of the Danilov Monastery, which is located in Moscow.

In 1931, the grave was reburied at the Novodevichy Cemetery.

According to Vladimir Lidin, a witness of those events, the remains in the coffin were located unnaturally (on the side), and deep scratches were present on the lid of the coffin.

Famous works of Gogol

Of the most popular creations of Nikolai Vasilyevich, the following books and works are distinguished:

• "Viy";
• "Taras Bulba";
• "Evenings on a farm near Dikanka" (two parts);
• "Dead Souls" (two volumes);
• "Inspector";
• "Overcoat";
• "Nose".

Gogol rightfully occupies one of the first places in the list of the most talented Russian writers of the 19th century. His works still excite the minds with their mysticism, and the biography has many questions.

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol was born on March 20, 1809 in the small village of Sorochintsy, Poltava province. A brief biography of the writer with the most interesting facts is presented in the article.

Nikolai Vasilyevich's father was a creative person. He wrote scripts for home theater and was an excellent storyteller. In many ways, this influenced his son - from childhood he was passionate about theatrical art.

The mother of the future writer, Maria Ivanovna, was very beautiful. At fourteen she married a man twice her age. During her life she gave birth to twelve children. Two sons were born dead. Then Kolya was born.

He was very sickly in childhood, but survived, unlike his brothers. The fourth child in the family, Ivan, also died in infancy, as did the sister of the future writer, Maria.

I must say that the mother was a very impressionable woman. She devoted her life to religion and mystical phenomena. This incredibly strongly influenced Nikolai Vasilyevich as a child and accompanied him until the end of his days.

When the boy was ten years old, his parents moved to Poltava to prepare him for studying at the gymnasium. Gogol was successfully trained and soon became a student of the Gymnasium of Higher Sciences in the city of Nizhyn.

It cannot be said that he studied flawlessly, but the teachers praised the boy for his good memory, which allowed him to pass exams well. The weak side of the high school student was foreign languages. But Kolya was good at literature and drawing.

Young Gogol was very fond of spending time in the company of his friends. He communicated well with Gerasim Vysotsky, Alexander Danilevsky, Nikolai Prokopovich, Nestor Kukolnik. Together, the guys decided to create a handwritten magazine, and a talented teenager wrote a lot of poetry.

After the death of his father, Kolya had to take care of the family. He did his best to reassure his mother - he was her hope and support in everything. Maria Ivanovna considered her son a genius and also spared nothing for him. Later, Nikolai refused to share in the inheritance, giving it to his sisters. The only hobby of the young man at that time was literature.

Nikolai Vasilyevich dreamed of devoting himself to military service, but due to health reasons he could not do this business. In his youth, he talks a lot about what mission was entrusted to him from above. Simple, everyday life seemed uninteresting and boring to him.

Moving to St. Petersburg

Since 1828, Nikolai Vasilyevich has been living in St. Petersburg. The young man hoped to become famous, to become famous, but it was not easy. There was not enough money to live on, but Gogol hoped that everything would be fine in the future. He was unusually strong in character and very enterprising. The young man tried himself in bureaucracy, in acting and, of course, in literature.

Gradually, literature becomes the only thing that completely occupies him, allows him to express himself. Gogol writes about his native land. He understands that this topic is interesting to people.

It is interesting! Gogol's pseudonym at the very beginning of his career was V. Alov. So he signs the romantic novel "Hanz Küchelgarten" published in 1829. He wrote in Nizhyn, two years earlier. This work was saturated with the dreams of a young author. After the release, Gogol destroyed the entire print run of the book due to the negative reaction from critics.

Nikolai could no longer stay in the city where he could not realize himself, and decided to move abroad, to Lübeck. Gogol imagined America as an ideal country, but the reality was different from his hopes.

In 1831, Nikolai Vasilyevich met his idol, and V. A. Zhukovsky. This event greatly influenced his activities in the future.

Gogol communicated with Zhukovsky with great pleasure. Both of them were fond of art, religion and inexplicable mystical phenomena, and on this basis they became very close.

An idea was born in Nikolai's head to write about life in Little Russia. He turned to his mother with a request to write to him more about customs and traditions, to tell him interesting details - about costumes, signs, legends, about the way of life in general. He also carefully studies documents written by ancestors, ancient manuscripts.

Another pseudonym of Gogol is also known - G. Yanov. He signs some of his works like this. The author was very excited about how the public perceived unusual works, because the peculiarity of his work during this period was the attraction to mysticism.

• In 1830, “Night on the Eve of Ivan Kupala” was published in the publication “Domestic Notes”. And in 1929, "May Night" and "Sorochinsky Fair" were published.
• After that, the collection “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka” is published in two parts. The writer very accurately and interestingly was able to describe the daily life of his native Ukrainians. And this made an impression not only on ordinary people, but also on the famous Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin.

In 1832, he temporarily stops working due to personal concerns, but the following year he gets down to business with renewed vigor:

• He writes the collections "Arabesques" and "Mirgorod", which were published in 1835. At this time, their author is already a famous writer, whom many love and appreciate. It is interesting that "Mirgorod", in fact, is a continuation of "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka". It includes such famous works of the writer as "Taras Bulba", "Old World Landowners", "Viy".
• In 1842, he completely rewrites the novel, brings many historical details to the plot and clearly defines each of the characters. The prerequisite for writing the novel was real events - the uprisings of the Cossacks. It is believed that the writer read the diaries of an eyewitness to these events in Ukraine - a soldier from Poland, Simon Okolsky.
• The play The Government Inspector, written at the end of 1835, was a great success. The very next year it was staged at the Alexandrinsky Theatre. In this play, with amazing accuracy, the author managed to convey Russian reality without embellishment. Some admired the work. Others took up arms against the writer for harsh criticism of the way in society.

Gogol, unable to withstand the heat in society about his person and tired of hard work, decides to go on a long trip abroad. In 1836, he carried out his intention, which he never regrets later.

Writer's life abroad

Outside of Russia, Nikolai Vasilyevich lived for about ten years - in Germany, Paris and Switzerland.

I fell in love with Rome very much, where in 1845 the only photo of the brilliant author was taken. He studied cultural monuments and art galleries with interest.

Those who visited the writer at that time, he gladly showed this city and shared his impressions. Periodically came to his native land, but not for long.

Note! Abroad, Nikolai Vasilievich writes one of his most famous works -. The public reacts ambiguously. Gogol is convinced that he has a talent, and he is able to influence the lives of his contemporaries. The writer considers himself a prophet, and wants to direct his gift for the benefit of others.

Nikolai Vasilievich was convinced that it was important to constantly improve oneself spiritually, and for this, devote a lot of time to the knowledge of God. The severe illnesses that he suffered due to poor health only strengthened his faith.

But such thoughts of the writer did not always find support in society and even among friends. Because of this, Nikolai Vasilyevich experienced severe mental suffering. Succumbing to emotions, the author set fire to the continuation of the book "Dead Souls", on which he had been working for a long time. And Gogol makes a will - life is no longer sweet to him.

The writer wants to spend the rest of his days in a monastic monastery. Here, far from worldly fuss, the author created another work - "Selected places from correspondence with friends." In it, Gogol tells readers about the main mission to which humanity must come - to improve oneself spiritually. The book was published in the capital in 1839, after the writer nevertheless returned from the monastery, but was accepted by society without enthusiasm.

The writer also perceives his next failure with great difficulty. He comes to the conclusion that all failures in life are due to a spiritual crisis. Gogol finds consolation in the thought that he must certainly go to Jerusalem and bow to the Holy Sepulcher. In 1847-1848, he fulfills his dream, hoping that this will open up new ideas, thoughts, that he will finally be able to convey to people the idea of ​​the need to develop spiritually.

Return to Russia

The trip does not bring relief to Gogol. Standing at the coffin, the writer realizes how much arrogance is in him. In 1848, Nikolai Vasilievich came to his homeland and wrote a sequel to Dead Souls. Many times the author rewrites the novel anew under the influence of mood. In addition, the writer is getting weaker. Strength and health already at a young age leave him.

However, Gogol is so afraid of dying that he can no longer write anything. Once Gogol habitually spent the evening in prayer, and suddenly he distinctly heard the words that the end of his life was near. Since then, the writer no longer left the house. Friends were worried and offered to see doctors, but Gogol no longer needed this. Before leaving for the other world, the writer asked the man who worked in the house to open the stove damper and threw his works into the blazing fire. He later explained this by the influence of dark forces on him. On February 21, 1852, the talented writer died.

In this publication, we will consider the most important thing from the biography of N.V. Gogol: his childhood and youth, literary path, theater, the last years of his life.

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol (1809 - 1852) - writer, playwright, classic of Russian literature, critic, publicist. First of all, he is known for his works: the mystical story "Viy", the poem "Dead Souls", the collection "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka", the story "Taras Bulba".

Nikolai was born into a landowner's family in the village of Sorochintsy on March 20 (April 1), 1809. The family was large - Nikolai eventually had 11 brothers and sisters, but he himself was the third child. Education began at the Poltava School, after which it continued at the Nizhyn Gymnasium, where the future great Russian writer devoted time to justice. It is worth noting that Nikolai was strong only in drawing and Russian literature, but it did not work out with other subjects. He also tried himself in prose - the works turned out to be unsuccessful. It's hard to imagine now.

At the age of 19, Nikolai Gogol moved to St. Petersburg, where he tried to find himself. He worked as an official, but Nikolai was drawn to creativity - he tried to become an actor in the local theater, continued to try himself in literature. In Gogol's theater, things were not going very well, and the public service did not satisfy all the needs of Nikolai. Then he decided - he decided to continue to engage exclusively in literature, to develop his skills and talent.

The first work of Nikolai Vasilyevich, which was printed - "Basavryuk". Later, this story was revised and received the title "Evening on the eve of Ivan Kupala." It was she who became the starting point for Nikolai Gogol as a writer. This was Nicholas' first success in literature.

Gogol very often described Ukraine in his works: in May Night, Sorochinskaya Fair, Taras Bulba, etc. And this is not surprising, because Nikolai was born on the territory of modern Ukraine.

In 1831, Nikolai Gogol began to communicate with a representative of the literary circles of Pushkin and Zhukovsky. And this had a positive effect on his writing career.

Nikolai Vasilievich's interest in the theater did not fade away, because his father was a famous playwright and storyteller. Gogol decided to return to the theater, but as a playwright, not an actor. His famous work The Inspector General was written specifically for the theater in 1835, and a year later it was staged for the first time. However, the audience did not appreciate the production and spoke negatively about it, which is why Gogol decided to leave Russia.

Nikolai Vasilievich visited Switzerland, Germany, France, Italy. It was in Rome that he decided to take up the poem "Dead Souls", the basis of which he came up with back in St. Petersburg. After completing work on the poem, Gogol returned to his homeland and published his first volume.

While working on the second volume, Gogol was seized by a spiritual crisis, which the writer never coped with. On February 11, 1852, Nikolai Vasilyevich burned all his work on the second volume of Dead Souls, thus burying the poem as a continuation, and 10 days later he himself died.