Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol (surname at birth Yanovsky, since 1821 - Gogol-Yanovsky; March 20, 1809, Sorochintsy, Poltava province - February 21, 1852, Moscow) - Russian prose writer, playwright, poet, critic, publicist, recognized as one of the classics Russian literature. He came from an old noble family Gogol-Yanovsky.

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol is one of the most original Russian writers, his fame went far beyond the Russian cultural space. His books are interesting throughout his life, each time he manages to find new facets in them, almost new content. His life was not full of external events. All of her was in hard work, in an in-depth internal analysis of her actions and thoughts. The work of the writer was for Gogol inextricably merged with the social, educational role of art, became for him a creative feat. Having revealed to the world "all of Russia", first of all, its funny, sad, dramatic sides - but not only these, but also heroic ones - prophetically speaking about its wonderful future, Gogol created books that were a genuine discovery in artistic culture, had a great influence on the development of Russian literature and art in general. Gogol's books actively exist in the spiritual life of our time. Artistic word of Gogol is perceived today as prophetic. Gogol is not just a writer, but a man of exceptional, tragic fate, a thinker and a prophet who stood on the threshold of a true unraveling of the historical destinies of Russia, whose fate in one way or another reflected the fate of literature and social thought of that time. Gogol is the beginning of a new era in the artistic consciousness of Russia in the 19th century.

N.V. Gogol, the great Russian writer, created his own artistic world, in which several generations of Russian readers have been living. None of the Russian classics had as many common characters as Gogol. Gogol's Gorodnichiy, Khlestakov and Chichikov, Taras Bulba and Akaky Akakiyevich - all these characters, by the creative imagination of a brilliant prose writer, are perceived by us as historical or really existing personalities.

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

Gogol's father, Vasily Afanasyevich Yanovsky-Gogol, served at the Little Russian Post Office, from where he retired with the rank of collegiate assessor. He served as a secretary to a distant relative, a former minister, a county representative of the nobility, D.P. Troshchinsky. Vasily Afanasyevich loved art, he wrote poems and comedies in Ukrainian.

Gogol's mother, Maria Ivanovna, nee Kosyarovskaya, was, according to legend, the first beauty in the Poltava region. She came from a family of landowners. She married Yanovsky-Gogol at the age of 14, gave birth to six children.

According to legend (information not confirmed), the second part of the surname - Gogol - was added to his (Yanovsky) grandfather of Nikolai Vasilyevich. This was done to prove the origin of the family from Colonel Ostap Gogol, who became famous in Ukraine in the 17th century.

The Gogol family was very religious, which undoubtedly left its mark on the worldview of the future writer. The mother paid special attention to the spiritual education of children.

1818 - 1819 - Nikolai Gogol, together with his brother Ivan, studied at the Poltava district school.

1820 - 1821 - Gogol takes lessons from the Poltava teacher Gabriel Sorochinsky.

1821 - 1828 - studying at the gymnasium of higher sciences in Nizhyn.

The Nizhyn Gymnasium of Higher Sciences was a kind of analogue of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum; children of provincial nobles studied here. At the gymnasium, Gogol studied music, painting, and participated in theatrical productions. By this time, the first literary experiments of Nikolai Vasilyevich, who at first worked with different genres, belonged: he wrote tragedies, elegies, stories. At the same time, the first satire that was not preserved was written “Something about Nizhyn, or the law is not written for fools.” When it came time to choose a specialty, Nikolai Gogol chose jurisprudence - he wanted to "suppress injustice." 1828 - 1829 - in December 1828 Gogol went to St. Petersburg. He failed to get a job. An attempt to make money with literary work ended unsuccessfully: only two works were published, the poem "Italy" and "idyll in pictures" "Hanz Kühelgarten". The latter, published under the pseudonym "V. Alov” caused condescending ridicule from critics. Gogol burns the unsold edition of the book and, disappointed, leaves for Germany (July 1829).

The end of 1829 - Nikolai Vasilyevich returns to St. Petersburg. This time, the job search was successful, and Gogol managed to get a job as a scribe in the Department of State Economy and Public Buildings of the Ministry of the Interior. The service was monotonous and boring, the only outlets were classes in painting and literature. Another positive moment from the “state service” is that it provided the writer with the richest material for future works. 1830 - Gogol's story "Basavryuk" was first published in the journal Otechestvennye Zapiski. Later, the story was revised by the author, after which it was called "Evening on the eve of Ivan Kupala." The same year, December - in the anthology "Northern Flowers" (published by Delvig), a chapter from Gogol's historical novel "Hetman" appears. The first work that came out with the real name of the author was the story "Woman". After the first publications, Nikolai Vasilievich was accepted into the circle of St. Petersburg writers. He becomes close to Delvig, Pushkin, Zhukovsky. Lives in Pavlovsk, among other things, carries out assignments for the publication of Pushkin's Tales of Belkin. Critics claim that it was Alexander Sergeevich who gave Gogol the ideas for such works as The Inspector General and Dead Souls. During this period, Gogol earns private lessons, and soon becomes a history teacher at the Patriot Institute.

1831 - 1832 - "Evenings on a farm near Dikanka" were written and published. It was this work that brought Gogol real popularity. 1832 - Gogol arrives in Moscow as a well-known writer. Works on his first comedy "Vladimir of the 3rd degree", but does not finish it. 1834 - Nikolai Vasilyevich seeks to work at the department of general history at the newly opened Kiev University, but all attempts end in failure. The writer was accepted as an adjunct professor at the Department of World History at St. Petersburg University. Studying the history of his native Ukraine, Gogol develops the idea of ​​the work "Taras Bulba". Secretly from everyone, he writes stories for the collections "Mirgorod" and "Arabesques". The same year - in the book "Housewarming" published "The Tale of how Ivan Ivanovich quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich." 1835 - Gogol leaves the university to devote himself entirely to literature. In the same year, he completes and publishes the collections "Mirgorod" (including "Old World Landowners", "Viy", "Taras Bulba", etc.), "Arabesques". In addition, in 1835 the "Inspector General" was launched. In the same year, 1835, work began on the first volume of the poem Dead Souls. The idea, as already mentioned above, was submitted by Pushkin. He also became the first to whom Gogol read several chapters. Alexander Sergeevich approved of the writer, but at the same time the poem upset him. January 1836 - at the evening at Zhukovsky's, in the presence of Pushkin, Gogol reads The Government Inspector. April 19, 1836 - premiere of The Government Inspector at the Alexandrinsky Theatre. May 25, 1836 - premiere of The Government Inspector at the Maly Theatre. The first reviews of the comedy were negative. Unfortunately, Nikolai Vasilyevich read exactly them; after that, he no longer had the desire to open others.

The writer is going abroad. The same year - Gogol lives first in Switzerland, then in Paris. All this time he continues to work on Dead Souls. 1837 - Gogol arrives in Rome. 1839 - 1840 - Gogol spends several months in Russia. In Moscow and St. Petersburg he reads 6 chapters of Dead Souls. May 1840 - M.Yu. Lermontov, who reads his new poem "Mtsyri" to the guests. A few days later Gogol leaves for Rome. On the way, he stops in Rome to complete the long-begun drama "For the Shaved Mustache" - an etude from the history of Zaporozhye. However, the manuscript was burned. It was in Vienna that Gogol was first overtaken by a severe nervous illness. 1840 - 1841 - work on the first volume of "Dead Souls" was completed in Rome. October 1841 - Gogol comes to Russia to publish Dead Souls. He is assisted by V.G. Belinsky. The censorship passed the poem, but on the condition that the Tale of Captain Kopeikin should be withdrawn for the book edition and the title changed.

May 1842 - the book "The Adventures of Chichikov, or Dead Souls" was published. The beginning of 1843 - "The Works of Nikolai Gogol" was published in four volumes. The second half of the 1840s - Nikolai Vasilyevich is experiencing a spiritual crisis. It got to the point that the writer doubted the meaning and effectiveness of fiction and was ready to renounce his works. The end of June 1845 - Gogol burns the manuscript of the second volume of the poem Dead Souls. The reason was the state of mind of the writer, in modern terms, prolonged depression. Later, Nikolai Vasilyevich explained his act in the work “Four Letters to Different Persons About “Dead Souls” - Selected Places”: in the second volume, “paths and roads” to the ideal were not indicated enough. 1847 - Gogol publishes Selected passages from correspondence with friends. Belinsky is extremely dissatisfied with this circumstance, especially the religious and mystical ideas of the writer, sounding in "Correspondence ...".

April 1848 - Gogol visits the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, after which he finally returns to Russia. Lives in Odessa, St. Petersburg and Moscow, all this time working on the second volume of Dead Souls. The writer's health is deteriorating. With regard to spiritual moods, mysticism and religion continue to occupy his thoughts. Spring 1850 - Gogol makes a marriage proposal to A. M. Vielgorskaya, but is refused. 1852 - Nikolai Vasilievich regularly meets and talks with Archpriest Matvey Konstantinovsky, a fanatic and mystic. Night of February 11-12, 1852 - Gogol burns the now white manuscript of the second volume of Dead Souls. There is a version that Konstantinovsky persuaded the writer to do this. February 21, 1852 - Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol dies in Moscow. He was originally buried in the cemetery of St. Danilov Monastery. In 1931 Gogol's ashes were buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery.

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol is a classic, known to each of us since school days. This is a brilliant writer and a talented publicist, to whose work interest has not waned to this day. In this article, we will turn to what Gogol managed to write in his short life. The list of the author's works inspires respect, let's consider it in more detail.

About creativity

All the work of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol is a single inseparable whole, united by the same themes, motives and ideas. Lively bright style, unique style, knowledge of the characters found in the Russian people - that's what Gogol is so famous for. The list of the author's works is very diverse: there are sketches from the life of farmers, and descriptions of landowners with their vices, the characters of serfs are widely represented, the life of the capital and the county town is shown. Truly, Gogol describes the whole picture of the Russian reality of his time, making no distinction between estates and geographical location.

Gogol: list of works

We list the main works of the writer. For convenience, the stories are grouped into cycles:

• cycle "Mirgorod", which includes the story "Taras Bulba";
• "Petersburg Tales" includes the story "The Overcoat";
• cycle "Evenings on a farm near Dikanka", which includes one of Gogol's most famous works - "The Night Before Christmas";
• the play "Inspector";
• the cycle "Arabesques", which stands out strikingly against the background of everything written by the author, as it combines journalism and artistry;
• poem "Dead Souls"

Now let's take a closer look at the key works in the writer's work.

Cycle "Evenings on a farm near Dikanka"

This cycle became Nikolai Vasilyevich and came out in two parts. The first was published in 1831, and the second only a year later.

The stories of this collection describe stories from the life of farmers that occurred in different time periods, for example, the action of "May Night" takes place in the 18th century, and "Terrible Revenge" - in the 17th. All the works are united in the image of the narrator - uncle Foma Grigorievich, who retells the stories he once heard.

The most famous story of this cycle is "The Night Before Christmas", written in 1830. Its actions take place during the reign of Catherine II in Ukraine, in the village of Dikanka. The story is fully sustained in the romantic tradition with its mystical elements and extraordinary situations.

"Inspector"

This play is considered Gogol's most famous work. This is due to the fact that from the moment it was first staged in the theater (1836), it has not left the stage to this day, not only in our country, but also abroad. This work was a reflection of the vices, arbitrariness and limitations of county officials. This is how Gogol saw the provincial towns. It is impossible to make a list of the author's works without mentioning this play.

Despite the social and moral overtones and criticism of autocracy, which are well guessed under the cover of humor, the play was not banned either during the life of the author himself, or later. And its success can be explained by the fact that Gogol was able to depict the vicious representatives of his time with unusual accuracy and aptness, which, unfortunately, are still encountered today.

"Petersburg Tales"

Gogol's stories included in this collection were written at different times - approximately from the 30s to the 40s of the 19th century. What unites them is a common place of action - St. Petersburg. The uniqueness of this collection lies in the fact that all the stories included in it are written in the spirit of fantastic realism. It was Gogol who managed to develop this method and so brilliantly embody it in his cycle.

What is it This is a method that allows you to use the techniques of grotesque and fantasy in the depiction of reality, while maintaining the topicality and recognizability of images. So, despite the absurdity of what is happening, the reader can easily recognize the features of the real Northern Palmyra in the image of a fictional Petersburg.

In addition, one way or another, the hero of each work of the cycle is the city itself. Petersburg in the view of Gogol acts as a force that destroys a person. This destruction can occur on a physical or spiritual level. A person can die, can lose his individuality and turn into a simple layman.

"Overcoat"

This work is included in the collection "Petersburg Tales". At the center of the story this time is Akaki Akakievich Bashmachkin, a petty official. N. V. Gogol tells about the life and dream of the “little man” in this work. The overcoat is the limit of the protagonist's desires. But gradually this thing grows, becomes larger than the character himself, and eventually absorbs him.

A certain mystical connection is formed between Bashmachkin and the overcoat. The hero seems to give part of his soul to this piece of clothing. That is why Akaki Akakievich dies a few days after the disappearance of the overcoat. After all, with her, he lost a part of himself.

The main problem of the story is the harmful dependence of people on things. The subject has become the determining factor in the judgment of a person, and not his personality - this is the horror of the surrounding reality, according to Gogol.

Poem "Dead Souls"

Initially, the poem, according to the author's intention, was to be divided into three parts. The first describes a kind of "hell" of reality. In the second - "purgatory", when the hero had to realize his sins and set foot on the path of repentance. In the third - "paradise", the rebirth of the character.

In the center of the story is the former customs officer Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov. This gentleman all his life dreamed of only one thing - to make a fortune. And now, in order to fulfill his dream, he embarked on an adventure. Its meaning was to buy up the dead peasants who were listed alive according to the last census. Having acquired a certain number of such souls, he could borrow a decent amount from the state and leave with it somewhere in warmer climes.

About what adventures await Chichikov, and tells the first and only volume of Dead Souls.

Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol-Yanovsky; Russian Empire, Poltava province; 03/20/1809 - 02/21/1852

The great Russian prose writer and playwright Nikolai Gogol earned recognition during his lifetime. But the stories and novels of NV Gogol are very popular even now. Many of his works have been filmed, and the name of this writer has become a landmark for Russian and world literature. The best proof of this is the high position of the author in our rating, where NV Gogol is in the top twenty.

Biography of N. V. Gogol

Nikolai Gogol - Yanovsky was born in the village of Bolshie Sorochintsy, Poltava province. Subsequently, he will discard the second part of his surname, although it was under this surname that his great-grandfather lived. The great-grandfather changed his surname after accepting Russian citizenship. The Gogol family had 11 children, but only five of them survived to adulthood. Nikolai himself was the third child, but of the survivors, the first. Because of this, he best remembered his father, who wrote small plays for home productions, and was generally a wonderful storyteller. In part, it was he who instilled in NV Gogol his first love for the theater.

At the age of ten, Nikolai was sent to study in Poltava. First, he takes preparatory courses with one of the local teachers, and then enters the Gymnasium of Higher Sciences. Since this educational institution was just formed, the educational process was not very well established, perhaps this was the reason for Gogol's low academic performance. But at the same time, having created circles of like-minded people, the students were engaged in self-education and even organized their own magazine. It was during self-education that Nikolai Gogol fell in love with creativity, which later played a significant role in his works.

After graduating from high school at the age of nineteen, Nikolai Gogol moved to St. Petersburg. His modest savings are not enough to live in a big city, and he is forced to look for work, either an actor or a civil servant, but he does not stay long in any of them. At the same time, in 1829, Gogol's first poem, "Hanz Küchelgarten", was published. She does not receive recognition, which for a long time inspires the writer with distrust in her abilities. Nevertheless, the writer does not stop in his endeavors and a year later, “Evenings on the Eve of Ivan Kupala” is published, which is received more positively.

In 1830, thanks to friends, NV Gogol managed to get a job as a teacher, first at the Patriotic Institute, and then at the Department of History at St. Petersburg University. This significantly improved the author's financial affairs and allowed him to plunge headlong into literature. It was during this period that the publication of the stories of N. V. Gogol "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka", "The Night Before Christmas" was published, which are still popular to read at the present time. This brings fame to the author and allows him to become one of the leading writers of Russia at that time. From 1834 to 1842, such famous works by N. V. Gogol as "Taras Bulba", "The Inspector General", "Dead Souls" and many others were published.

Since 1836, Gogol has been spending a lot of time abroad. His second "homeland" is Rome, which the author himself called "a city in spirit." At the same time, the writer becomes an increasingly religious person and makes a journey to the Holy Sepulcher. But, according to the author himself, when he got caught in the rain in Palestine, he felt like the stations in Russia. Therefore, this trip to Gogol did not bring peace of mind. Upon his return in 1949, he worked hard on the second volume of Dead Souls, but destroyed them just before his death.

Gogol was buried in the cemetery of the Danilov Monastery, but later the remains were transferred to the Novodevichy cemetery. In 1952, the pedestal of the monument was changed, and the “Golgotha”, which had previously served as a monument to Gogol, was subsequently acquired by the wife as a monument to her husband. After all, Bulgakov considered Gogol's stories to be a model for his work.

Works by NV Gogol on Top Books website

In the ratings of our site, the stories of N. V. Gogol are presented quite widely. Many of them are in our rating and occupy far from the lowest positions there. At the same time, the popularity of N. V. Gogol's comedies "The Government Inspector", "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka", "The Night Before Christmas" to read is so great that it allowed these and some other works of N. V. Gogol to get into our rating. At the same time, many of them occupy quite high places in this rating and have every chance to strengthen their positions.

All books by Gogol N.V.

1. Author's confession
2. Al-Mamun
3. Alfred
4. Annunziata
5. Articles from Arabesques
6. Evening on the eve of Ivan Kupala
7. Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka
8. A look at the composition of Little Russia
9. Vladimir of the third degree
10. Ganz Küchelgarten
11. Hetman
12. Maidens Chablova
13. The rain was continuous...
14. Marriage

Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol is the literary talent of Russia in the 19th century. The first work - the poem "Italy" - was published in 1829. He was engaged in writing almost until the last days of his life.

His creations are very original, here mysticism is closely intertwined with reality. The writer's calling card was sketches of the "naturalness" of ordinary life, a reflection of the bare Russian reality without embellishment and smoothing. For the first time, he created social types, endowing his heroes with common features of people of a certain social stratum, and surprisingly accurately summarized everything characteristic of Russian cities, creating a single image of a province and a big city. Each character of Gogol is not some well-known personality, but a collective image that embodies the characters and customs of a whole generation or social stratum.

Best works

Without taking into account the destroyed 2nd volume of Dead Souls, Gogol's literary baggage totals 68 works. The most famous of them:

• "Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka",
• "Viy",
• "The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich"
• "Nose",
• "Overcoat",
• "Diary of a Madman",
• "Selected places from correspondence with friends."

The list is far from complete, but these works are able to represent the author's work as much as possible.

Perhaps the most famous work of the writer is the play-comedy "The Government Inspector" in 5 acts. The author began work on it in the autumn of 1835, and just six months later - in January 1836 - he finished writing. The main character is a petty St. Petersburg official Khlestakov, whom everyone took for an important inspector. The sly bureaucrat quickly realized what was happening, and began to take advantage of the state of affairs with might and main, accepting bribes, gifts and eating for free at secular dinners. Everyone fawned over him, trying to appease and please.

When he leaves the city, everyone accidentally becomes aware that Khlestakov is a swindler, and then a real auditor comes to the town. Silent scene.

The play has been staged more than once on the stage of theaters, including European ones. And although the first production in St. Petersburg was not successful, all subsequent ones were very warmly received by the public.

In Gogol's diaries, a mention was found that the idea of ​​"The Government Inspector" was given to him by Pushkin, who was one of the first listeners of the play and accepted it with great enthusiasm.

Genius work. Deep in essence and complete in artistic design. One of the most significant works of the author, which, according to the notes of Gogol himself, was originally conceived as a three-volume work. The first volume was published in 1842. The second was never published. According to the generally accepted version, based on the testimony of the writer's servant, "being in a state of physical weakness and mental disorder," Nikolai Vasilievich burned the already finished manuscript of the second volume. After Gogol's death, handwritten first 5 chapters were found in his drafts. Today they are kept in the personal collection of Timur Abdullayev, an American businessman of Russian origin. The only thing known about the third volume is that it was conceived as a description of the heroes of the poem who had reformed after the "purgatory".

The plot of the work was also suggested by Pushkin. As a result, a literary masterpiece was born, telling about the adventures of the protagonist, the collegiate adviser Chichikov, who in the city of N bought “dead souls”, that is, dead serfs, from the landowners. Why did he need it? In the future, he planned to mortgage them in a bank and use the loan received to buy some kind of estate for arranging his future. Events developed in such a way that the scam failed, and Chichikov ended up in the gendarmerie, from where he was rescued with difficulty by the millionaire Murazov. This is where the first volume ends.

The most colorful characters:

• "Sweet to the point of cloying" landowner Manilov, a man of no use to society, an empty dreamer;
• Korobochka is a landowner known for all her greed and pettiness;
• Sobakevich, whose all efforts are aimed only at arranging life and strengthening material well-being;
• Plyushkin is the most caricatured character. Extremely stingy, regrets throwing away even the sole that has come off the boot. Incredibly suspicious, he refused not only from society, but even from his own children, believing that everyone wants to rob him and let him go around the world.

These and many other heroes reflect the world of inverted values, lost ideals. Their souls are empty, dead... Such a view allows one to interpret the title "Dead Souls" allegorically.

The poem has withstood many theatrical productions, film adaptations. Has been translated into different languages.

This story is a very serious work. It highlights the heroism of the Ukrainian people in the fight against the Turks and Tatars. It is large-scale in content and events covered by it, the images of its heroes are epic, the epic heroes served as the basis for their creation.

The main scenes of the story are the battles of the Zaporozhye Cossacks with foreign invaders. They are painted close-up, attention is paid to details. The course of the battle, the actions of individual soldiers, their appearance are described in detail, with bright strokes.

Every fictional character in the story is hyperbolic. The images reflect not individual historical figures, but entire social strata of that time.

To write "Taras Bulba" Nikolai Vasilyevich studied many historical sources, chronicles, epics, folk songs and legends.

Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka

This two-volume edition was published in 1832. Each volume contains 4 stories, the action of which covers the 17th-19th centuries. Gogol very thinly rings the past and the present, weaves a true story and a fairy tale, giving his work a historical and spiritual unity.

"Evenings ..." received very high marks from literary critics - the author's contemporaries, as well as such masters as Pushkin, Baratynsky. The collection fascinates the reader not only with fabulous plots, but also with high poetic style.

In fact, "Evenings ..." is a fantasy, masterfully crafted folklore. On the pages of the work, witches, sorcerers, mermaids, goblins, devils and other evil spirits settled next to people.

Final chord

Gogol is a writer with a capital letter. It is difficult to single out the most famous work of this author. It is difficult to convey in words the depth, poetry and richness of his works. Only by directly familiarizing yourself with each work, you can not only understand, but feel the lively, rich and original talent of Gogol. The reader will definitely enjoy reading his writings.

The life of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol is so vast and multifaceted that historians are still researching the biography and epistolary materials of the great writer, and documentary filmmakers are making films that tell about the secrets of the mysterious genius of literature. Interest in the playwright has not faded for two hundred years, not only because of his lyrical-epic works, but also because Gogol is one of the most mystical figures in Russian literature of the 19th century.

Childhood and youth

To this day, it is not known when Nikolai Vasilyevich was born. Some chroniclers believe that Gogol was born on March 20, while others are sure that the true date of birth of the writer is April 1, 1809.

The childhood of the master of phantasmagoria passed in Ukraine, in the picturesque village of Sorochintsy, Poltava province. He grew up in a large family - in addition to him, 5 more boys and 6 girls were brought up in the house (some of them died in infancy).

The great writer has an interesting pedigree dating back to the Cossack noble dynasty of Gogol-Yanovsky. According to family legend, the playwright's grandfather Afanasy Demyanovich Yanovsky added a second part to his surname to prove blood ties with the Cossack hetman Ostap Gogol, who lived in the 17th century.

The writer's father, Vasily Afanasyevich, worked in the Little Russian province in the post office, from where he retired in 1805 with the rank of collegiate assessor. Later, Gogol-Yanovsky retired to the Vasilievka estate (Yanovshchina) and began to farm. Vasily Afanasyevich was known as a poet, writer and playwright: he owned the home theater of his friend Troshchinsky, and also acted on the stage as an actor.

For productions, he wrote comedy plays based on Ukrainian folk ballads and legends. But only one work of Gogol Sr. has reached modern readers - "The Simpleton, or the Cunning of a Woman Outwitted by a Soldier." It was from his father that Nikolai Vasilyevich adopted his love for literary art and creative talent: it is known that Gogol Jr. began writing poetry from childhood. Vasily Afanasyevich died when Nikolai was 15 years old.

The writer's mother, Maria Ivanovna, nee Kosyarovskaya, according to contemporaries, was pretty and was considered the first beauty in the village. Everyone who knew her said that she was a religious person and was engaged in the spiritual education of children. However, the teachings of Gogol-Yanovskaya were not reduced to Christian rites and prayers, but to prophecies about the Last Judgment.

It is known that a woman married Gogol-Yanovsky when she was 14 years old. Nikolai Vasilyevich was close to his mother and even asked for advice on his manuscripts. Some writers believe that thanks to Maria Ivanovna, Gogol's work is endowed with fantasy and mysticism.

The childhood and youth of Nikolai Vasilievich passed in the midst of a peasant and squire life and were endowed with those petty-bourgeois features that the playwright scrupulously described in his works.

When Nikolai was ten years old, he was sent to Poltava, where he studied science at the school, and then studied literacy with a local teacher Gabriel Sorochinsky. After classical training, the 16-year-old boy became a student at the Gymnasium of Higher Sciences in the city of Nizhyn, Chernihiv region. In addition to the fact that the future classic of literature was in poor health, he was also not strong in his studies, although he had an exceptional memory. Nicholas did not get on well with the exact sciences, but he excelled in Russian literature and literature.

Some biographers argue that the gymnasium itself is to blame for such an inferior education, rather than the young writer. The fact is that in those years, weak teachers worked in the Nizhyn gymnasium, who could not organize decent education for students. For example, knowledge in the lessons of moral education was presented not through the teachings of eminent philosophers, but with the help of corporal punishment with a rod, a literature teacher did not keep pace with the times, preferring the classics of the 18th century.

During his studies, Gogol gravitated towards creativity and zealously participated in theatrical productions and impromptu skits. Among his comrades, Nikolai Vasilyevich was known as a comedian and a perky person. The writer talked with Nikolai Prokopovich, Alexander Danilevsky, Nestor Kukolnik and others.

Literature

Gogol began to be interested in writing as a student. He admired A.S. Pushkin, although his first creations were far from the style of the great poet, but more like the works of Bestuzhev-Marlinsky.

He composed elegies, feuilletons, poems, tried himself in prose and other literary genres. During his studies, he wrote a satire "Something about Nizhyn, or the law is not written for fools", which has not survived to this day. It is noteworthy that the young man initially regarded the craving for creativity more as a hobby, and not a matter of his whole life.

Writing was for Gogol "a ray of light in the dark realm" and helped to escape from mental anguish. Then the plans of Nikolai Vasilyevich were not clear, but he wanted to serve the Motherland and be useful to the people, believing that a great future awaited him.

In the winter of 1828, Gogol went to the cultural capital - Petersburg. In the cold and gloomy city of Nikolai Vasilyevich, disappointment awaited. He tried to become an official, and also tried to enter the service in the theater, but all his attempts were defeated. Only in literature could he find opportunities for earning money and self-expression.

But failure awaited Nikolai Vasilyevich in writing, as only two of Gogol's works were published by magazines - the poem "Italy" and the romantic poem "Hanz Kühelgarten", published under the pseudonym V. Alov. "Idyll in Pictures" received a number of negative and sarcastic reviews from critics. After the creative defeat, Gogol bought up all the editions of the poem and burned them in his room. Nikolai Vasilievich did not abandon literature even after a resounding failure; the failure with "Hanz Kuchelgarten" gave him the opportunity to change the genre.

In 1830, Gogol's mystical story "The Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala" was published in the eminent journal Otechestvennye Zapiski.

Later, the writer meets Baron Delvig and begins to publish in his publications Literary Gazette and Northern Flowers.

After his creative success, Gogol was warmly received in the literary circle. He began to communicate with Pushkin and. The works “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka”, “The Night Before Christmas”, “The Enchanted Place”, seasoned with a mixture of Ukrainian epic and worldly humor, made an impression on the Russian poet.

Rumor has it that it was Alexander Sergeevich who gave Nikolai Vasilyevich the background for new works. He suggested plot ideas for the poem Dead Souls (1842) and the comedy The Inspector General (1836). However, P.V. Annenkov believes that Pushkin "not quite willingly gave him his property."

Fascinated by the history of Little Russia, Nikolai Vasilyevich becomes the author of the Mirgorod collection, which includes several works, including Taras Bulba. Gogol, in letters to his mother Maria Ivanovna, asked her to tell in more detail about the life of the people in the outback.

Frame from the film "Viy", 2014

In 1835, Gogol's story "Viy" (included in "Mirgorod") about the demonic character of the Russian epic was published. According to the story, three bursaks lost their way and came across a mysterious farm, the owner of which turned out to be a real witch. The main character Homa will have to face unprecedented creatures, church rites and a witch flying in a coffin.

In 1967, directors Konstantin Ershov and Georgy Kropachev staged the first Soviet horror film based on Gogol's story Viy. The main roles were played by and.

Leonid Kuravlev and Natalya Varley in the film "Viy", 1967

In 1841, Gogol wrote the immortal story "The Overcoat". In the work, Nikolai Vasilievich talks about the "little man" Akaki Akakievich Bashmachkin, who is getting poorer to such an extent that the most ordinary thing becomes a source of joy and inspiration for him.

Personal life

Speaking about the personality of the author of The Inspector General, it is worth noting that from Vasily Afanasyevich, in addition to a craving for literature, he also inherited a fatal fate - psychological illness and fear of early death, which began to manifest themselves in the playwright from his youth. Publicist V.G. wrote about this. Korolenko and Dr. Bazhenov, based on Gogol's autobiographical materials and epistolary heritage.

If in the days of the Soviet Union it was customary to keep silent about the mental disorders of Nikolai Vasilyevich, then such details are very interesting to the current erudite reader. It is believed that Gogol suffered from manic-depressive psychosis (bipolar affective personality disorder) since childhood: the young writer's cheerful and perky mood was replaced by severe depression, hypochondria and despair.

This disturbed his mind until his death. He also admitted in letters that he often heard "gloomy" voices calling him into the distance. Because of life in eternal fear, Gogol became a religious person and led a more reclusive ascetic life. He loved women, but only at a distance: he often told Maria Ivanovna that he was going abroad to live with a certain lady.

He corresponded with charming girls of different classes (with Maria Balabina, Countess Anna Vielgorskaya and others), courting them romantically and timidly. The writer did not like to advertise his personal life, especially amorous affairs. It is known that Nikolai Vasilyevich has no children. Due to the fact that the writer was not married, there is a theory about his homosexuality. Others believe that he never had a relationship that went beyond the platonic.

Death

The early death of Nikolai Vasilievich at the age of 42 still haunts the minds of scientists, historians and biographers. Mystical legends are composed about Gogol, and to this day they argue about the true cause of the death of the visionary.

In the last years of his life, Nikolai Vasilyevich was seized by a creative crisis. It was associated with the early departure from the life of Khomyakov's wife and the condemnation of his stories by Archpriest Matthew Konstantinovsky, who sharply criticized Gogol's works and also believed that the writer was not pious enough. Gloomy thoughts took possession of the playwright's mind; from February 5, he refused food. On February 10, Nikolai Vasilievich "under the influence of an evil spirit" burned the manuscripts, and on the 18th, while continuing to observe Great Lent, he went to bed with a sharp deterioration in health.

The master of the pen refused medical attention, expecting death. The doctors, who diagnosed him with inflammatory bowel disease, probable typhus and indigestion, eventually diagnosed the writer with meningitis and prescribed forced bloodletting, dangerous to his health, which only worsened Nikolai Vasilyevich's mental and physical condition. On the morning of February 21, 1852, Gogol died in the count's mansion in Moscow.

Memory

The writer's works are obligatory for studying at schools and higher educational institutions. In memory of Nikolai Vasilyevich, postage stamps were issued in the USSR and other countries. Streets, a drama theater, a pedagogical institute and even a crater on the planet Mercury are named after Gogol.

According to the creations of the master of hyperbole and the grotesque, theatrical performances are still being created and works of cinematographic art are being filmed. So, in 2017, the premiere of the gothic detective series “Gogol. Beginning" with and starring.

There are interesting facts in the biography of the mysterious playwright, all of which cannot be described even in a whole book.

• According to rumors, Gogol was afraid of thunderstorms, as a natural phenomenon affected his psyche.
• The writer lived in poverty, walked in old clothes. The only expensive item in his wardrobe is a gold watch donated by Zhukovsky in memory of Pushkin.
• The mother of Nikolai Vasilyevich was known as a strange woman. She was superstitious, believed in the supernatural, and constantly told amazing stories, embellished with fiction.
• According to rumors, Gogol's last words were: "How sweet it is to die."

Monument to Nikolai Gogol and his troika bird in Odessa

• Gogol's work inspired.
• Nikolai Vasilyevich adored sweets, so sweets and pieces of sugar were constantly in his pocket. Also, the Russian prose writer liked to roll bread crumbs in his hands - it helped to concentrate on thoughts.
• The writer was painfully concerned with appearance, mainly his own nose irritated him.
• Gogol was afraid that he would be buried, being in a lethargic dream. The literary genius asked that in the future his body be buried only after the appearance of cadaveric spots. According to legend, Gogol woke up in a coffin. When the body of the writer was reburied, those present, surprised, saw that the head of the deceased was turned to one side.

Bibliography

• "Evenings on a farm near Dikanka" (1831-1832)
• "The Tale of how Ivan Ivanovich quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich" (1834)
• "Viy" (1835)
• "Old World Landowners" (1835)
• "Taras Bulba" (1835)
• "Nevsky Prospekt" (1835)
• "Inspector" (1836)
• "The Nose" (1836)
• "Notes of a Madman" (1835)
• "Portrait" (1835)
• "Carriage" (1836)
• "Marriage" (1842)
• "Dead Souls" (1842)
• "Overcoat" (1843)