Gogol's full name and years of life. Return to Russia

Even remembering all the writers who contributed to the development of Russian literature, it is difficult to find a more mysterious figure than Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. The biography summarized in this article will help to get some idea of ​​​​the personality of a genius. So, what curious details are known about life path passed by the creator, his family, written works?

Gogol's father and mother

Of course, all fans of the writer's work would like to have an idea about the family in which he was born. Gogol's mother's name was Maria, the girl came from a little-known family of landowners. According to the legend, there was no more beautiful young lady in the Poltava region. Married to father famous writer she entered at the age of 14, gave birth to 12 children, some of them died in infancy. Nikolai became her third child and the first survivor. The memoirs of contemporaries say that Mary was a religious woman, diligently trying to instill love for God in her children.

It is also interesting who became the father of such amazing person like Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. The biography summarized in this material cannot fail to mention him. Vasily Yanovsky-Gogol during years was an employee of the post office, rose to the rank of collegiate assessor. It is known that he was fond of magical world art, even composed poems, which, unfortunately, are practically not preserved. It is possible that the son's talent for writing was inherited from his father.

Biography of the writer

Fans of the genius are also interested in where and when Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol was born. The biography, briefly given in this article, says that his homeland is the Poltava province. The childhood of the boy, born in 1809, passed in the village of Sorochintsy. His education began at the Poltava School, then continued at the Nizhyn Gymnasium. It is curious that the writer could not be called a diligent student. Gogol showed interest mainly in Russian literature, achieved some success in drawing.

Nikolai began to write as a teenager, but his first creations could not be called successful. The situation changed when he moved to St. Petersburg, already an adult boy. For some time Gogol tried to achieve recognition as an actor, he performed on the stage of one of the St. Petersburg theaters. However, having failed, he fully concentrated on writing activity. By the way, a few years later he managed to become famous in the theatrical field, acting as a playwright.

What work allowed such a person as Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol to declare himself as a writer? The biography, summarized in this material, claims that it was the story "The Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala." Initially, the story had a different title, but the publishers, before publication, for unknown reasons, asked to change it.

Notable works

« Dead Souls"- a poem, without which it is difficult to imagine Russian literature, the work is included in school curriculum. The writer in it considers his native state as a country suffering from bribery, mired in vices, impoverished spiritually. Of course, predicts a mystical rebirth Russian Empire. Interestingly, it was after the writing of this poem that N.V. Gogol died.

"Taras Bulba" - historical tale, the creation of which was inspired by the author real events 15-17 centuries, which took place on the territory of Ukraine. The product is interesting not only moral issues that it raises, but also detailed description life of the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks.

"Viy" invites readers to plunge into the legends of the ancient Slavs, to get to know the world inhabited by mystical creatures, allows them to get scared and overcome their fear. The Inspector General ridicules the way of life of the provincial bureaucracy, the vices inherent in its representatives. "Nose" - fantasy story, telling about excessive pride and retribution for it.

Writer's death

There is hardly any famous person, whose death is surrounded by an equally large number of mysteries and assumptions. Many are associated with death. Interesting Facts about Gogol, haunting biographers.

Some researchers insist that Nikolai Vasilievich killed himself using poison. Others argue that his early death was the result of the exhaustion of the body associated with numerous fasts. Still others insist on what the wrong treatment of meningitis entailed. There are also those who assure that the writer was buried alive, staying in Prove failed to any of the theories.

It is only known for certain that during the last 20 years of his life the writer suffered from manic-depressive psychosis, but avoided going to doctors. Gogol died in 1852.

Curious facts

Nikolai Vasilyevich was distinguished by extreme shyness. It got to the point that the genius left the room, the threshold of which was crossed by a stranger. It is believed that the creator left this world without losing his innocence, he never had romantic relationship With a woman. Gogol was also very dissatisfied with his own appearance, his nose caused particular irritation. Apparently, this part of the body really worried him, since he even named the story in her honor. It is also known that when posing for portraits, he forced artists to change the appearance of his nose.

Interesting facts about Gogol are connected not only with his appearance and behavior, but also with his work. Biographers believe that there was a second volume " dead souls", which the writer personally destroyed shortly before his death. It is also curious that the plot of The Inspector General was suggested to him by Pushkin himself, sharing interesting history from life.

April 1 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. It is difficult to find a figure more mysterious in the history of Russian literature. ingenious artist words left behind dozens immortal works and the same number of secrets that are still not subject to researchers of the life and work of the writer.

Even during his lifetime, he was called a monk, a joker, and a mystic, and his work intertwined fantasy and reality, the beautiful and the ugly, the tragic and the comic.

Many myths are associated with the life and death of Gogol. For several generations of researchers of the writer's work, they cannot come up with an unambiguous answer to the questions: why Gogol was not married, why he burned the second volume of "Dead Souls" and whether he burned it at all, and, of course, what ruined the brilliant writer.

Birth

The exact date of birth of the writer for a long time remained a mystery to his contemporaries. At first it was said that Gogol was born on March 19, 1809, then on March 20, 1810. And only after his death from the publication of the metrics it was established that future writer was born on March 20, 1809, i.e. April 1, new style.

Gogol was born in a land full of legends. Near Vasilievka, where his parents' estate was, there was Dikanka, now known to the whole world. In those days, an oak tree was shown in the village, near which Mary's meetings with Mazepa took place, and the shirt of the executed Kochubey.

As a boy, Nikolai Vasilievich's father went to church in the Kharkov province, where there was a miraculous image Mother of God. Once he saw in a dream the Queen of Heaven, who pointed to a child sitting on the floor at Her feet: "...Here is your wife." Soon he recognized in the seven-month-old daughter of his neighbors the features of the child whom he had seen in a dream. For thirteen years, Vasily Afanasyevich continued to follow his betrothed. After the vision recurred, he asked for the girl's hand. A year later, the young people got married, writes hrono.info.

Mysterious Carlo

After some time, the son Nikolai appeared in the family, named after St. Nicholas of Myra, before miraculous icon whom Maria Ivanovna Gogol made a vow.

From his mother, Nikolai Vasilyevich inherited a fine mental organization, a penchant for God-fearing religiosity and an interest in foreboding. His father was inherently suspicious. It is not surprising that from childhood Gogol was fascinated by secrets, prophetic dreams, fatal signs, which later appeared on the pages of his works.

When Gogol studied at the Poltava School, he suddenly died younger brother Ivan, in poor health. For Nikolai, this shock was so strong that he had to be taken away from the school and sent to the Nizhyn gymnasium.

In the gymnasium, Gogol became famous as an actor in the gymnasium theater. According to his comrades, he tirelessly joked, played pranks on friends, noticing their funny features, and performed tricks for which he was punished. At the same time, he remained secretive - he did not tell anyone about his plans, for which he received the nickname Mysterious Carlo after one of the heroes of Walter Scott's novel "The Black Dwarf".

First burnt book

In the gymnasium, Gogol dreams of a wide social activities, which would allow him to accomplish something great "for the common good, for Russia." With these broad and vague plans, he arrived in Petersburg and experienced his first severe disappointment.

Gogol publishes his first work - a poem in the spirit of the German romantic school "Hans Küchelgarten". The pseudonym V. Alov saved Gogol's name from criticism, but the author himself took the failure so hard that he bought up all unsold copies of the book in stores and burned them. Until the end of his life, the writer did not admit to anyone that Alov was his pseudonym.

Later, Gogol received a service in one of the departments of the Ministry of the Interior. "Rewriting the stupidities of the clerk gentlemen," the young clerk carefully looked at the life and life of his fellow officials. These observations will be useful to him later to create the famous stories "The Nose", "Notes of a Madman" and "The Overcoat".

"Evenings on a farm near Dikanka", or childhood memories

After meeting Zhukovsky and Pushkin, inspired Gogol begins to write one of his the best works- "Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka". Both parts of "Evenings" were published under the pseudonym of the beekeeper Rudy Panka.

Some episodes of the book, in which real life intertwined with legends, were inspired by Gogol's childhood visions. So, in the story "May Night, or the Drowned Woman", the episode when the stepmother, who turned into a black cat, tries to strangle the centurion's daughter, but as a result loses her paw with iron claws, recalls real story from the writer's life.

Somehow, the parents left their son at home, and the rest of the household went to bed. Suddenly Nikosha - that's what they called Gogol in childhood - heard a meow, and in a moment he saw a crouching cat. The child was scared half to death, but he had the courage to grab the cat and throw it into the pond. “It seemed to me that I had drowned a man,” Gogol later wrote.

Why was Gogol not married?

Despite the success of his second book, Gogol still refused to consider literary work as his main task. He taught at the Women's Patriotic Institute, where he often told young ladies entertaining and cautionary tales. The fame of a talented "teacher-storyteller" even reached St. Petersburg University, where he was invited to lecture at the Department of World History.

In the personal life of the writer, everything remained unchanged. There is an assumption that Gogol never intended to marry. Meanwhile, many of the writer's contemporaries believed that he was in love with one of the first court beauties, Alexandra Osipovna Smirnova-Rosset, and wrote to her even when she left St. Petersburg with her husband.

Later, Gogol was fascinated by Countess Anna Mikhailovna Vielgorskaya, writes gogol.lit-info.ru. The writer met the Vielgorsky family in St. Petersburg. educated and kind people They warmly received Gogol and appreciated his talent. The writer especially made friends with youngest daughter Vielgorskikh Anna Mikhailovna.

In relation to the Countess, Nikolai Vasilyevich fancied himself a spiritual mentor and teacher. He gave her advice on Russian literature, tried to keep her interested in everything Russian. In turn, Anna Mikhailovna was always interested in health, literary success Gogol, which supported in him the hope of reciprocity.

According to the Vielgorsky family tradition, Gogol decided to propose to Anna Mikhailovna in the late 1840s. "However, preliminary negotiations with relatives immediately convinced him that their inequality social position precludes the possibility of such a marriage," the latest edition Gogol's correspondence with the Vielgorskys.

After failed attempt arrange your family life Gogol wrote to Vasily Andreyevich Zhukovsky in 1848 that he should not, as it seems to him, bind himself with any ties on earth, including family life.

"Viy" - "folk legend" invented by Gogol

Passion for the history of Ukraine inspired Gogol to create the story "Taras Bulba", which was included in the 1835 collection "Mirgorod". He handed over a copy of Mirgorod to the Minister of Public Education Uvarov for presentation to Emperor Nicholas I.

The collection includes one of the most mystical works Gogol - the story "Viy". In a note to the book, Gogol wrote that the story "is a folk tradition," which he conveyed exactly as he heard it, without changing anything. Meanwhile, researchers have not yet found a single piece of folklore that would exactly resemble "Viy".

The name of the fantastic underground spirit - Viya - was invented by the writer as a result of combining the name of the ruler of the underworld "iron Niy" (from Ukrainian mythology) and Ukrainian word"Viya" - eyelid. Hence - the long eyelids of Gogol's character.

Escape

The meeting in 1831 with Pushkin was of crucial importance for Gogol. Alexander Sergeevich not only supported the novice writer in the literary environment of St. Petersburg, but also presented him with the plots of The Government Inspector and Dead Souls.

The play The Inspector General, first staged in May 1836, was favorably received by the Emperor himself, who presented Gogol with a diamond ring in exchange for a copy of the book. However, critics were not so generous with praise. The disappointment experienced was the beginning of a protracted depression of the writer, who in the same year went abroad "to open his longing."

However, the decision to leave is difficult to explain only as a reaction to criticism. Gogol was going on a trip even before the premiere of The Government Inspector. He went abroad in June 1836, traveled almost all Western Europe, having spent the longest time in Italy. In 1839, the writer returned to his homeland, but a year later he again announced his departure to his friends and promised to bring the first volume of Dead Souls next time.

One May day in 1840, Gogol was seen off by his friends Aksakov, Pogodin and Shchepkin. When the crew was out of sight, they noticed that black clouds covered half the sky. It suddenly became dark, and gloomy forebodings about Gogol's fate took possession of the friends. As it turns out, it's no coincidence...

Disease

In 1839, in Rome, Gogol caught the strongest swamp fever (malaria). He miraculously managed to avoid death, but a serious illness led to a progressive mental and physical disorder of health. As some researchers of Gogol's life write, the writer's illness. He began to experience seizures and fainting, which is characteristic of malarial encephalitis. But the most terrible for Gogol were the visions that visited him during his illness.

As Gogol's sister Anna Vasilievna wrote, the writer hoped to receive a "blessing" from someone abroad, and when the preacher Innocent gave him the image of the Savior, the writer took it as a sign from above to go to Jerusalem, to the Holy Sepulcher.

However, the stay in Jerusalem did not bring the expected result. “I have never been so little satisfied with the state of my heart, as in Jerusalem and after Jerusalem,” said Gogol. and selfishness."

Only for a short time the disease receded. In the autumn of 1850, once in Odessa, Gogol felt better, he again became cheerful and cheerful as before. In Moscow, he read individual chapters of the second volume of "Dead Souls" to his friends, and, seeing universal approval and enthusiasm, began to work with redoubled energy.

However, as soon as the second volume of Dead Souls was completed, Gogol felt empty. More and more he began to take possession of the "fear of death", which his father once suffered from.

The difficult condition was aggravated by conversations with a fanatical priest - Matvey Konstantinovsky, who reproached Gogol for his imaginary sinfulness, demonstrated the horrors of the Last Judgment, thoughts about which tormented the writer from early childhood. Gogol's confessor demanded to renounce Pushkin, whose talent Nikolai Vasilievich admired.

On the night of February 12, 1852, an event occurred, the circumstances of which are still a mystery to biographers. Nikolai Gogol prayed until three o'clock, after which he took a briefcase, removed several papers from it, and ordered the rest to be thrown into the fire. Crossing himself, he returned to bed and wept uncontrollably.

It is believed that on that night he burned the second volume of Dead Souls. However, later the manuscript of the second volume was found among his books. And what was burned in the fireplace is still unclear, writes Komsomolskaya Pravda.

After that night, Gogol went deeper into his own fears. He suffered from taphophobia, the fear of being buried alive. This fear was so strong that the writer repeatedly gave written instructions to bury him only when there were clear signs of cadaveric decomposition.

At the time, doctors couldn't recognize him. mental illness and treated with drugs that only weakened him. If the doctors had begun to treat him for depression in a timely manner, the writer would have lived much longer, writes Sedmitsa.Ru, citing M. I. Davidov, associate professor of the Perm Medical Academy, who analyzed hundreds of documents while studying Gogol's illness.

skull mystery

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol died on February 21, 1852. He was buried in the cemetery of the St. Danilov Monastery, and in 1931 the monastery and the cemetery on its territory were closed. When Gogol's remains were transferred to, they discovered that a skull had been stolen from the coffin of the deceased.

According to the professor of the Literary Institute, writer V.G. Lidin, who was present at the opening of the grave, Gogol's skull was removed from the grave in 1909. That year, Alexei Bakhrushin, a patron and founder of the theater museum, persuaded the monks to get Gogol's skull for him. “In the Bakhrushinsky Theater Museum in Moscow there are three skulls belonging to unknown persons: one of them, according to the assumption, is the skull of the artist Shchepkin, the other is the skull of Gogol, nothing is known about the third,” Lidin wrote in his memoirs “Transferring the Ashes of Gogol”.

Rumors about the stolen head of the writer could later be used by Mikhail Bulgakov, a great admirer of Gogol's talent, in his novel The Master and Margarita. In the book, he wrote about the head of the chairman of the board of MASSOLIT stolen from the coffin, cut off by tram wheels on the Patriarch's Ponds.

The material was prepared by the editors of rian.ru based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol was born on March 20 (April 1), 1809 in the Poltava province, the town of Velikie Sorochintsy, Mirgorod district.

Nikolai Vasilyevich was born into the family of a middle-class landowner. On the paternal side, his ancestors were priests, but the writer's grandfather was the first to go into civil service. It was he who added to his hereditary surname Yanovsky, which is now better known to us - Gogol.

Gogol's father worked at the post office. He married the writer's mother, the first beauty of those places, when she was only 14 years old. During the years of marriage, they had 6 children.

The future writer spent his childhood mainly in four estates: in Vasilievka (Yanovshchina), which belonged to their family, Dikanka, where the Minister of Internal Affairs V. Kochubey managed, Obukhovka, the estate of the writer V. Kapnist, and Kibintsy, where a relative lived on his mother's side.

Gogol's first strong impressions were experiences from the prophecies told by his mother about the Last Judgment which he will remember for the rest of his life. In Kibintsy, Nikolai first got acquainted with the vast library of a relative and saw the game of domestic actors.

Beginning of studies and moving to St. Petersburg

In 1818-1819, Gogol studied at the Poltava district school, then took lessons from one of the private teachers. In 1821 he entered the Nizhyn gymnasium. He studies there mediocrely, but devotes a lot of time to the gymnasium theater, playing in performances and creating scenery. Here Gogol first tries to write. But at that time, he was more attracted to the career of a civil servant.

After graduating from the gymnasium, Nikolai Vasilievich goes to St. Petersburg with the hope of finding a job. But here the first life disappointments await him. It is not possible to get a place, the first published poem is completely trashed by criticism, love attractions end in nothing. Gogol briefly leaves for Germany, but returns to his homeland in the same year.

Finally, he manages to get a job, although the work of an official does not bring Gogol any pleasure. The only positive thing about this work was that it gave the writer many new impressions and characters, which he later showed in his works.

During this period, the story "Bisavryuk, or Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala" was published, which for the first time drew the attention of the entire literary community to Gogol. At the end of 1829, he already knew the best writers of St. Petersburg. P.A. Pletnev introduces Gogol to A.S. Pushkin, who will play a significant role in the work of Nikolai Vasilyevich.

Creative takeoff

The success of The Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala inspired Gogol. In the same year, the first part of the collection “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka” was published, which was met with great enthusiasm by Pushkin. The second part of this work will be published next year. Gogol takes off to the pinnacle of fame.

In 1832 he visits Moscow, where he also meets famous writers and theatrical figures. Since 1835 - Gogol leaves teaching at St. Petersburg University and begins to study literary activity. In the same year, the collections "Arabesques" and "Mirgorod" were published, the comedy "Inspector General" was almost finished, the first edition of the comedy "Marriage" was being written. Gogol begins work on the poem Dead Souls. These works represent the new artistic direction in the work of the writer. Instead of strong and bright characters vulgar townsfolk and the disturbing world of the big city appear.

Tragedy "Dead Souls"

In the summer of 1836, Gogol went abroad for more than 12 years. During this time, he visits Russia twice, but not for long. During these years he is working on his main literary work- the poem "Dead Souls". Its plot, like that of The Inspector General, was suggested to Gogol by Pushkin, but was developed in many ways by Nikolaev Vasilyevich himself. In 1842, thanks to Belinsky, Gogol published Volume I in Russia. The work is highly appreciated by the leading writers of that time.

Work on the second volume is painful. At this time, the writer is overtaken by a spiritual crisis. He doubts that literature can change anything in society for the better. Being in a difficult state of mind, Gogol burns the manuscript of an already finished work. In order to somehow justify his act, Nikolai Vasilievich publishes “Selected passages from correspondence with friends”, where he tries to explain the reason for his actions. Here he writes about the paramount importance Christian upbringing society, without which improvement in life is simply impossible. In the same period, works of a theological nature were written, the most significant of which is “Reflections on Divine Liturgy».

After a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in April 1848, Gogol returned to Russia forever. He travels from Odessa to Little Russia, from St. Petersburg to Moscow, visits Optina Pustyn. In the first months of 1852, he finally remained to live in Moscow. By this time, a new edition of the second volume of Dead Souls is ready, which Gogol reads to his friends and receives their full approval. But the writer’s soul is filled with mystical and religious thoughts, Archpriest Father Matvey (Konstantinovsky) expresses his dissatisfaction with the work, last years located near Gogol. At the same time, Nikolai Vasilyevich unsuccessfully tries to arrange his personal life. Under the power of deep spiritual turmoil on the night of February 11-12, 1852, the writer burns the manuscript of the second volume of "Dead Souls" already ready for printing. He has very little time left to live. February 21 (March 4), 1852 in Moscow, on Nikitsky Boulevard, Gogol ends his earthly journey.

Initially, the writer is escorted to last way at the cemetery of St. Danilov Monastery, in Soviet time his remains are reburied at Novodevichy cemetery.

It is interesting:

Gogol received the name Nikolai in honor of the icon of St. Nicholas, which was kept in the local church.

Gogol enjoyed doing needlework: he knitted, sewed dresses and neckerchiefs.

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol was born in 1809 in the village of Bolshie Sorochintsy, into a family of poor landowners - Vasily Afanasyevich and Maria Ivanovna Gogol-Yanovsky. The writer's father was the author of several comedies in Ukrainian. From 1821 to 1828, Nikolai Vasilyevich studied at the Nizhyn Gymnasium of Higher Sciences. Interest in literature and painting, as well as acting talent, manifested itself already in the years of study. A great hobby of many pupils of the gymnasium was the amateur theater, one of the founders of which was Gogol. He was talented performer many roles, as well as a director and artist, author of funny comedies and scenes from folk life.

In the gymnasium, the future writer began to compile the Little Russian Lexicon (Ukrainian-Russian dictionary) and write down folk songs. The writer collected wonderful monuments of oral poetic creativity throughout his life. Gogol's first literary experiments date back to 1823-24. Two years after entering the gymnasium, he became one of the active participants literary circle, whose members published several handwritten magazines and almanacs at once: “Meteor of Literature”, “Star”, “Northern Dawn”, etc. The first stories were published in these publications, critical articles, plays and poems by a novice writer.

After graduating from high school, Gogol went to St. Petersburg and a year later entered public service, and then began to teach history in one of educational institutions. During this period, Nikolai Vasilievich met V.A. Zhukovsky, P.A. Pletnev and A.S. Pushkin, who influenced his work a huge impact. Gogol considered himself a student and follower of the great poet. Along with Pushkin, romantic poetry and prose of the Decembrists had a great influence on the formation of the literary tastes of the future writer.

In 1831-32, Gogol's book "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka" was published, based on Ukrainian folk art- songs, fairy tales, folk beliefs and customs, as well as on the personal impressions of the author himself. This book brought Gogol great success. The appearance of "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka", according to Pushkin, was an unusual phenomenon in Russian literature. Gogol opened to the Russian reader wonderful world folk life filled with romance folk tales and traditions, cheerful lyricism and perky humor.

1832-33 years were turning point in the writer's life. It was a time of persistent search for new themes and images prompted by life. In 1835, two collections were published: "Mirgorod" and "Arabesques", which brought Gogol even greater recognition. The collection "Mirgorod" includes the stories "Old-world landowners", "Taras Bulba", "Viy" and "The Tale of how Ivan Ivanovich quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich." At the same time, work continued on "Petersburg Tales" - a cycle of works devoted to the St. Petersburg theme. The first sketches of the cycle date back to 1831. The most significant of the stories of the St. Petersburg cycle - "The Overcoat" - was completed in 1841.

In 1836, at the Alexandrinsky Theater, the first performance of the comedy The Inspector General took place, in which the author mercilessly ridicules officials and landed nobility. The comedy characters were typical for all of Russia at that time, and many viewers who saw the comedy for the first time believed that the author was making fun of their city, their officials, landowners and policemen. But not everyone accepted the comedy favorably. Representatives of the bureaucratic bureaucracy saw a threat in the comedy. Articles began to appear on the pages of the magazine accusing the author of the comedy of distorting reality. Those who recognized themselves in the heroes of the comedy claimed that its content boils down to an old empty joke.

Critical reviews deeply traumatized Gogol. In subsequent years, he continued to work hard on the composition of the play and the images of the characters. In 1841, the comedy in a significantly revised form was republished as a separate book. But even this edition seemed imperfect to the writer. Only the sixth version of the "Inspector General" Gogol included in the fourth volume of his "Works" in 1842. But in this form, the comedy, due to censorship obstacles, was put on stage only after 28 years.

Almost simultaneously with the first edition of The Inspector General, the first issue of Pushkin's journal Sovremennik was published, in the preparation of which Gogol took an active part. In one of his articles, he criticized editorial publications, after which the attacks from the ruling classes became noticeably more bitter.

In the summer of 1836, Gogol decided to temporarily go abroad, where he spent a total of more than 12 years. The writer lived in Germany, Switzerland, France, Austria, the Czech Republic, but for the longest time in Italy. In subsequent years, he returned to his homeland twice - in 1839-40. and in 1841-42. The death of A.S. Pushkin deeply shocked the writer. The beginning of his work on the poem "Dead Souls" dates back to this time. Shortly before the duel, Pushkin gave Gogol his own plot, and the writer considered his work the "sacred testament" of the great poet.

At the beginning of October 1841, Gogol arrived in St. Petersburg, and a few days later he left for Moscow, where he continued to work on " Dead souls". In May 1842, the first volume of Dead Souls was published, and at the end of May Gogol again went abroad. Russian readers, who got acquainted with Gogol's new creation, were immediately divided into his supporters and opponents. There has been a lot of controversy around the book. Gogol at that time rested and was treated in the small German town of Gastein. The unrest associated with the publication of Dead Souls, material need, attacks by critics caused a spiritual crisis and nervous illness.

In subsequent years, the writer often moved from one place to another, hoping that a change of scenery would help him restore his health. By the mid 40s spiritual crisis deepened. Under the influence of A.P. Tolstoy Gogol was imbued with religious ideas, abandoned his former beliefs and works. In 1847, a series of articles by the writer in the form of letters was published under the title "Selected passages from correspondence with friends." the main idea this book - the need for internal Christian education and re-education of everyone and everyone, without which no social improvements are possible. The book was published in a heavily censored form and was recognized as a weak artistic work. At the same time, Gogol also worked on works of a theological nature, the most significant of which is Meditations on the Divine Liturgy (published posthumously in 1857).

The last years of his life N.V. Gogol lived alone. In 1848, the writer intended to fulfill his main dream - to travel around Russia. But there were no funds for this physical strength. He visited his native places, lived in Odessa for six months. In St. Petersburg he met Nekrasov, Goncharov and Grigorovich, in April 1848 he made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land to the Holy Sepulcher, but most spent time in Moscow. Despite his illness, the writer continued to work, as he saw the meaning of his life in literature.

In recent years, all of Gogol's thoughts have been absorbed by the second volume of Dead Souls. At the beginning of 1852, the writer showed signs of a new mental crisis, he refused food and medical care. His health condition worsened every day. One night, during another attack, he burned almost all of his manuscripts, including the finished edition of the second volume of "Dead Souls" (only 7 chapters were preserved in an incomplete form). Shortly thereafter, the writer died and was buried in St. Danilov Monastery. In 1931, the remains of the writer were reburied at the Novodevichy cemetery. Shortly before his death, Gogol said: "I know that my name after me will be happier than me ...". And he turned out to be right. About two hundred years have passed since the death of the great Russian writer, but his works still occupy an honorable place among the masterpieces of world classics.

It may seem strange the question in the title - is there such a question? Yes there is. Turn to encyclopedic publications and see: most of them contain a date that does not correspond to the truth. All Soviet encyclopedias and dictionaries, as well as the works of Gogol scholars, for example, or Yuri Mann (I name the most famous names), inform us that Gogol was born in 1809 on March 20 - or April 1, according to the new style. However, if he was born on March 20, then we should celebrate his birthday on April 2 in a new style. (In our century, when recalculating from the old style to the new one, 13 days are added.) In addition, and this is the main thing, Gogol was born on March 19, and not on the 20th. There is irrefutable evidence for this.

According to Maria Ivanovna Gogol, the writer's mother, "he was born in the 9th year on March 19". Cousin Gogol, Maria Nikolaevna Sinelnikova (born Khodarevskaya), wrote to Stepan Petrovich Shevyrev (Gogol's friend and executor) on April 15, 1852: "His birthday is very memorable to me - March 19, on the same day as his younger sister Olga ...". Olga Vasilievna Gogol (married Golovnya) was born, as you know, on March 19, 1825, and has repeatedly said that she was born on the same day as her brother. “He was sixteen years older than me,” she recalled, “he was born in the ninth, and I in the twenty-fifth year, and notice, on the same day, March 19, we were born: he is the first son and I - last daughter in our family" .

In 1852, shortly after Gogol's death, the Department of the Russian Language and Literature Russian Academy Sciences decided to publish his biography. Shevyrev was entrusted to write it. In the summer of 1852, he went to the writer's homeland to collect material. In his travel diary, Shevyrev, according to Gogol's relatives, made an entry: “I was born in 1809, on March 19, at 9 o'clock in the evening. Trofimovsky's word when he looked at the newborn: “There will be glorious son”» .

Yuri Mann claims that Gogol "was born on March 20, 1809 in Trakhimovsky's house". Meanwhile, Gogol, apparently, was born in a different place. According to the authoritative testimony of a fellow countryman and one of Gogol's closest friends, Mikhail Alexandrovich Maksimovich, the apartment of Maria Ivanovna Gogol-Yanovskaya in Sorochintsy "was in the house of General Dmitrieva, in which he was born March 19 Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol» . And, we note in parentheses, of course, Gogol's mother made a vow to call him Nikolai not "in honor of the miraculous image of Nikolai, kept in the Dikan church," as Y. Mann writes, but in honor, before miraculously whom she prayed for a son. It was on March 19 that Gogol's friends celebrated his birthday. The same Mikhail Maksimovich wrote to Sergei Timofeevich Aksakov on March 19, 1857: “Today is the birthday of our unforgettable Gogol, and I vividly remember how for seven years we dined with you on this day of the capture of Paris! My God, how well I lived that month of March, and how often I then spent time with you with Gogol ... ". On March 19, 1849, Gogol celebrated his 40th birthday at S.T. Aksakov. The following year, 1850, he dined that day at the Aksakovs' together with M.A. Maksimovich and O.M. Bodyansky. Also present were A.S. Khomyakov and S.M. Solovyov. They drank to Gogol's health and sang Ukrainian folk songs.

On March 19, Gogol was congratulated on his birthday by relatives and people close to him in spirit. “Your letter (of March 19) with congratulations came to me on the day when I was honored to partake of the Holy Mysteries,” Gogol informed his mother and sisters on April 3, 1849. Nadezhda Nikolaevna Sheremeteva, aunt of the poet Fyodor Tyutchev, wrote to Gogol on February 12, 1843 from Pokrovsky near Moscow: “I wanted to write to you and did not receive your letter, so that by March 19 my congratulations would reach you. I congratulate you, my dear friend, on your birth; this day is important for a Christian, we receive the right to inherit eternal bliss, as we will receive if we go through this wandering, as a Christian should ... ".

Biographers of Gogol, primarily P.A. Kulish and V.I. Shenrock, was considered the date of birth of the writer on March 19. Doubts about this arose after the publication of an extract from the parish register of the Transfiguration Church in Sorochintsy, where Gogol was baptized. Here, under No. 25, the following entry was made: “On March 20, the son Nikolai was born to the landowner Vasily Yanovsky and baptized on 22. The abbot John Bevolovsky prayed and baptized.” In the column about the successor, "Mr. Colonel Mikhail Trakhimovsky" is indicated. An extract from the register of births was first published by A. I. Ksenzenko. Later (in 1908) a photocopy of it appeared. Yuri Mann believes that "the publication of these documents clarified the question of Gogol's date of birth - March 20, 1809 ...". However, many researchers insisted on the error of the date indicated in the church book. For example, N. Lerner in the anniversary year of 1909, when the question of Gogol's birthday was raised again, wrote: “In general, metric records, giving the correct date of baptism, quite often nearby are mistaken in the date of birth; the day of baptism is recorded by an eyewitness and a participant in the rite itself, and the birth is dated on the basis of other people's words. Gogol was baptized on March 22, and it is quite possible that the testimony given on that day to the church parable by the relatives of the newborn that the child was born three days ago, that is, March 19, was understood as the third day, that is, March 20. An example of exactly the same error in the date of birth is given by the register of births, in which the birth and baptism of Pushkin are recorded ... It is known that Pushkin's birthday is May 26th. The poet himself knew this ... Pushkin's friends and acquaintances knew this day; so, Baron E.F. Rosen in 1831 sent Pushkin greeting verses entitled “May 26th”, where he said: “As a triumph, as the best day of spring, we celebrate the birth of the poet ...” ... Meanwhile, in the church book, Pushkin’s birth is dated on the 27th ... Believe after that, registers of births!” .

Not all modern literary scholars dealing with Gogol agree with the unreliable version of the birth date of the great Russian writer. Doctor of Philology Igor Alekseevich Vinogradov in the commentary on the new edition of P.A. Kulisha writes: “Gogol’s birthday, according to the testimony of his mother, is exactly March 19, despite the erroneous entry about this in the register of births (March 20). Probably, from childhood, Gogol remembered that his birthday coincided with the day of the capture of Paris on March 19, 1814 (on that day he was five years old), and therefore subsequently celebrated both of these events together ... ". The latest encyclopedic editions also correctly indicate the date of Gogol's birth.