Nikolai Gogol was born on March 20 (April 1), 1809 in the town of Bolshiye Sorochintsy on the border of Poltava and Mirgorod districts (Poltava province). He came from an old Ukrainian Cossack family. IN troubled times In Ukraine, some of his ancestors also pestered the nobility, and Gogol’s grandfather, Afanasy Demyanovich Gogol (1738-1805), wrote in an official document that “his ancestors, with the last name Gogol, are of the Polish nation.”

Great-grandfather, Yan Gogol, a graduate of the Kyiv Academy, settled in the Poltava region, and from him the nickname “Gogol-Yanovsky” came. Gogol's father, Vasily Afanasyevich Gogol (1777-1825), died when his son was fifteen years old. It is believed that the stage activities of his father, who was a man of cheerful character and a wonderful storyteller, did not remain without consequences and determined the interests of the future writer, who showed an early inclination towards the theater.

Life in the village before school and after went on in the complete atmosphere of Little Russian life, both lordly and peasant. These impressions were the root of Gogol's later Little Russian stories, his historical and ethnographic interests. Subsequently, from St. Petersburg, Gogol constantly turned to his mother when he needed new everyday details for his stories. The inclinations of religiosity, which subsequently took possession of Gogol’s entire being, are attributed to the influence of his mother.

At the age of ten, Gogol was taken to Poltava to prepare for the gymnasium, to one of the local teachers; then he entered the Gymnasium of Higher Sciences in Nizhyn (from May 1821 to June 1828), where he was first a self-employed student and then a boarder at the gymnasium. Gogol was not a diligent student, but had an excellent memory, prepared for exams in a few days and moved from class to class; he was very weak in languages ​​and made progress only in drawing and Russian literature.

Apparently, the gymnasium itself, which was not very well organized at first, was also to blame for the poor teaching; for example, the literature teacher was a fan of Kheraskov and Derzhavin and an enemy of modern poetry, including Pushkin.

The shortcomings of the school were made up for by self-education in a circle of comrades, where there were people who shared literary interests with Gogol (G. I. Vysotsky, who apparently had considerable influence on him at that time; A. S. Danilevsky, who remained his lifelong friend, as well as N. Prokopovich; Nestor Kukolnik, with whom, however, Gogol never got along).

Comrades contributed magazines; They started their own handwritten journal, where Gogol wrote a lot in poetry. Along with literary interests, a love for the theater also developed, where Gogol, already distinguished by his unusual comedy, was the most zealous participant (from the second year of his stay in Nizhyn). Gogol's youthful experiences were formed in the style of romantic rhetoric - not in the taste of Pushkin, whom Gogol already admired then, but rather in the taste of Bestuzhev-Marlinsky.

The death of his father was a heavy blow for the whole family. Concerns about business also fall on Gogol; he gives advice, reassures his mother, and must think about the future arrangement of his own affairs. By the end of his time at the gymnasium, he dreams of a wide social activities, which, however, he sees as not at all literary field; no doubt under the influence of everything around him, he thinks to advance and benefit society in a service for which in fact he was completely incapable. Thus the plans for the future were unclear; but it is curious that Gogol was possessed by a deep confidence that he had a wide career ahead of him; he is already talking about the instructions of providence and cannot be satisfied with what ordinary people are content with, as he put it, which were the majority of his Nezhin comrades.

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol was born on March 20 (April 1), 1809 in the town of Velikie Sorochintsy, Mirgorod district, Poltava province, into the family of a poor Ukrainian landowner Vasily Afanasyevich Gogol-Yanovsky and his wife Maria Ivanovna. His childhood years were spent on his parents' estate Vasilyevka, Mirgorod district, not far from the village of Dikanki. These were places included in the chronicles. Here Kochubey was at enmity with Mazepa, and in the Dikanka church his bloody shirt was kept, in which, according to Mazepa’s slander, he was executed. An hour's drive from Vasilyevka along the Oposhnyansky tract was the Poltava Field - the site of the famous battle. From his grandmother Tatyana Semyonovna, who taught the boy to draw and even embroider with garus, Gogol listened winter evenings Ukrainian folk songs. The granddaughter of the glorious Lizogub, an associate of Peter the Great, her grandmother told her grandson historical legends and traditions about the heroic pages of history, about the Zaporozhye Cossack freemen. Those daring Cossacks about whom songs and legends were composed have long since disappeared from Mirgorod. Their descendants became pillar nobles or free cultivators. From the former military glory, guns, pistols and Cossack sabers hung on the walls as decorations remained.

The Gogol family stood out against this background for its stable cultural demands. Vasily Afanasyevich was a talented storyteller and theater lover. He became close friends with a distant relative, former Minister of Justice D.P. Troshchinsky, who lived in retirement in the village of Kibintsy, not far from Vasilyevka. A rich nobleman arranged in his estate home theater, where Vasily Afanasyevich became a director and actor. He composed his own comedies in Ukrainian for this theater, the plots of which he borrowed from folk tales. V.V. Kapnist, a venerable playwright, author of the famous “The Yabeda,” took part in the preparation of the performances. His plays were performed on the stage in Kibintsy, as well as “The Minor” by Fonvizin and “Podshchipa” by Krylov. Vasily Afanasyevich was friends with Kapnist, sometimes his whole family visited him in Obukhovka. In July 1813 little Gogol I saw G.R. Derzhavin here, visiting a friend of his youth. Gogol inherited his writing and acting talent from his father.

Mother, Maria Ivanovna, was a religious, nervous and impressionable woman. Having lost two children who died in infancy, she waited with fear for the third. The couple prayed in the Dikan Church in front of the miraculous icon of St. Nicholas. Having given the newborn the name of a saint revered by the people, the parents surrounded the boy with special affection and attention. From childhood, Gogol remembered his mother’s stories about the last times, about the death of the world and the Last Judgment, about the hellish torments of sinners. They were accompanied by instructions on the need to maintain spiritual purity for the sake of future salvation. The boy was especially impressed by the story about the ladder that angels lower from heaven, giving their hand to the soul of the deceased. There are seven measures on this ladder; the last, seventh raises the immortal soul of man to the seventh heaven, in heavenly abodes, which are available to few. The souls of the righteous go there - people who spent earthly life"in all godliness and purity." The image of the staircase will then pass through all of Gogol’s thoughts about the fate and calling of man to spiritual improvement.

From his mother, Gogol inherited a subtle mental organization, a penchant for contemplation and God-fearing religiosity. Kapnist’s daughter recalled: “I knew Gogol as a boy who was always serious and so thoughtful that it worried his mother extremely.” The boy's imagination was also influenced by the pagan beliefs of the people in brownies, witches, merman and mermaids. Multi-voiced and motley, sometimes comically cheerful, and sometimes leading to fear and awe mysterious world Folk demonology was absorbed by the impressionable Gogolian soul from childhood.

In 1821, after two years of study at the Poltava district school, the boy’s parents enrolled the boy in the newly opened gymnasium of higher sciences of Prince Bezborodko in Nizhyn, Chernigov province. It was often called a lyceum: like the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, the gymnasium course was combined with university subjects, and classes were taught by professors. Gogol studied in Nizhyn for seven years, visiting his parents only on vacation.

At first, studying was difficult: insufficient preparation at home had an effect. Children of wealthy parents, classmates of Gogol, entered the gymnasium with knowledge of Latin, French and German languages. Gogol envied them, felt slighted, shunned his classmates, and in his letters home begged them to take him away from the gymnasium. The sons of rich parents, among whom was N.V. Kukolnik, did not spare his pride and ridiculed his weaknesses. From his own experience, Gogol experienced the drama of the “little” man, learned the bitter price of the words of the poor official Bashmachkin, the hero of his “The Overcoat,” addressed to the scoffers: “Leave me alone! Why are you offending me? Sick, frail, suspicious, the boy was humiliated not only by his peers, but also by insensitive teachers. Rare patience and the ability to silently endure insults gave Gogol the first nickname he received from schoolchildren - “Dead Thought.”

But soon Gogol discovered an extraordinary talent in drawing, far ahead of his offenders in success, and then the enviable literary abilities. Like-minded people appeared, with whom he began to publish a handwritten magazine, publishing his articles, stories, and poems in it. Among them is the historical story “The Tverdislavich Brothers”, the satirical essay “Something about Nezhin, or the law is not written for fools”, in which he ridiculed the morals of local inhabitants.

But Gogol’s first literary experiments have not reached us. In 1824, the gymnasium authorities allowed students to open their own theater. Gogol enthusiastically devoted himself to this endeavor: he himself painted the scenery for performances, acted as a stage director and leading comic actor. He was especially successful in the roles of old men and old women, and once he captivated the audience with his masterful performance of the role of Prostakova in Fonvizin’s comedy “The Minor.”

This “silent man” and “dead thought” suddenly came out of hiding and discovered inexhaustible sources of humor. Everyone noticed his keen eye and ability to capture the essence of human character one by one. His specialty was, for example, the comic imitation of lyceum teachers, so accurate and accurate that the students laughed until their stomachs hurt. And once, in order to avoid corporal punishment, Gogol acted out madness so believably that the frightened gymnasium authorities sent him to a hospital. But behind the external Gogolian gaiety, a tragic note was always felt, some kind of hidden challenge sounded. It was then that the most apt nickname was born, which was given to this small and sickly prankster by the schoolchildren - “Mysterious Karla”. Subsequently, Gogol said: “The reason for the gaiety that was noticed in my first works that appeared in print was a certain spiritual need. I was overcome by fits of melancholy, inexplicable to me, which perhaps stemmed from my painful state. To amuse myself, I came up with all the funniest things I could think of.” Thus, already in his gymnasium years, Gogol’s comic gift was formed - “comic animation, always overcome by a feeling of sadness and deep despondency,” noted by Belinsky.

The period of Gogol's studies in the gymnasium coincided with the turn of Russian social thought from culture French classicism to romantic philosophy and poetry of Germany. In Nizhyn, this turn was marked by the professor of German literature F. I. Singer, beloved by the schoolchildren, and the professor of law N. G. Belousov, who introduced the students to Herder and Schelling. If the classics yearned for Ancient Hellas, then the romantics turned to the Christian Middle Ages. Approved new look on history as a process during which each people, in accordance with its “national spirit” and vocation, makes its own contribution to general development humanity.

The idea of ​​the need for national self-knowledge awoke, and young Gogol, with the help of his mentors, followed the society of “lyubomudrov” that arose in Moscow. D.V. Venevitinov’s article “A few thoughts on the plan of the magazine” did not go unnoticed for him: “Self-knowledge is the only idea that can animate the universe; this is the goal and crown of man... From this point of view, we must look at each people as a separate entity, which directs all its own efforts towards self-knowledge, marked by the seal of a special character.”

Gogol also accepted the way Venevitinov criticized modern Russian literature. “Among all peoples,” he said, “enlightenment developed from the beginning of our own. Russia received everything from outside.” She “adopted the outward form of education and erected an imaginary edifice of literature without any foundation.” The task of modernity is to return to ourselves, to our own historical roots, to Russian antiquity, to folk song as the guardian of national memory. One of the “lyubomudrov”, M. A. Maksimovich, then began collecting Ukrainian folk songs, and the other, P.V. Kireevsky, is Great Russian. Interest in Ukraine as the cradle of East Slavic and Russian history was awakened.

In 1824, the “lyubomudry”, together with V.K. Kuchelbecker, organized their own printed organ - the almanac “Mnemosyne”. Its second issue opened with V. F. Odoevsky’s programmatic story “Elladius”. It sounded a call for the spiritual rebirth of man: “Whose life has been continuous improvement, he is familiar with heavenly things on earth, he cheerfully leaves the dust of the earth, he is accustomed to shaking them off! – but woe to the one who has become grounded in body and spirit!”

Gogol reads this almanac. A year before graduating from high school, he writes to his friend G.I. Vysotsky in St. Petersburg: “You know all our existences who have crushed the high purpose of man under the bark of their earthliness and insignificant complacency. And between these beings I must grovel.” In accordance with the religious philosophy of the “lyubomudrov”-romantics, Gogol believes in his high destiny.

Blessed is that wondrous moment,

When it's time for self-knowledge,

At the time of your mighty forces

You, chosen by heaven, have comprehended

The highest goal of existence... -

This is how he writes about his calling in the romantic poem “ Hanz Kuchelgarten", composed in the last year of his studies at the gymnasium.

In 1826, Gogol began his collecting work. He starts the “Book of Sundries, or Handy Encyclopedia” - a voluminous notebook of five hundred pages. He writes down Ukrainian folk songs, proverbs and sayings, folk legends, descriptions of village rituals, excerpts from the works of Ukrainian writers, extracts from the works of ancient Western European travelers to Russia. This includes an extensive “Little Russian lexicon” - materials for a dictionary of the Ukrainian language.

In 1825, the Gogol family experienced a grave loss: their father, Vasily Afanasyevich, died suddenly. Gogol endures this blow “with the firmness of a Christian.” He remains the eldest in the family. From this moment his rapid growth begins: the young man seriously thinks about his vocation, about his choice life path. “If there’s anything I think about now, it’s all about my future life,” he writes to his mother. “In my dreams and in reality I dream of St. Petersburg and serving the state.” “I went over in my mind all the states, all the positions in the state and settled on one. On justice,” he shares his plans with his uncle.

How sincere are these confessions of “The Mysterious Carla”? After all, he carefully packed the romantic poem “Hanz Küchelgarten” and “The Encyclopedia at Hand” into his travel bag! The title of writer was not taken seriously in the eyes of the Russian nobility of the 1830s. And in the life of that time, the concept of “professional writer,” if we recall Pushkin, had difficulty winning its place in the public “table of ranks.”

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 documentarians are making films that tell about the secrets of the mysterious genius of literature. Interest in the playwright has not waned for two hundred years, not only because of his lyric-epic works, but also because Gogol is one of the most mystical figures of Russian literature of the 19th century.

Childhood and youth

To this day it is unknown 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 master of phantasmagoria spent his childhood 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 raised in the house (some of them died in infancy).

The great writer has an interesting pedigree, dating back to the Cossack noble dynasty of the Gogol-Yanovskys. According to family legend, the playwright’s grandfather Afanasy Demyanovich Yanovsky added the 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 postal department, from where he retired in 1805 with the rank of collegiate assessor. Later, Gogol-Yanovsky retired to the Vasilyevka estate (Yanovshchina) and began farming. Vasily Afanasyevich was known as a poet, writer and playwright: he owned the home theater of his friend Troshchinsky, and also performed on stage as an actor.

For productions, he wrote comedy plays based on Ukrainian folk ballads and tales. But before modern readers Only one work by Gogol the Elder has survived - “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, née Kosyarovskaya, according to contemporaries, was pretty and was considered the first beauty in the village. Everyone who knew her used to say that she was a religious person and was involved in the spiritual education of children. However, Gogol-Yanovskaya’s teachings were reduced not to Christian rituals and prayers, but to prophecies of the Last Judgment.

It is known that the 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.

Nikolai Vasilyevich’s childhood and youth were spent surrounded by peasant and gentleman’s life and were endowed with those bourgeois characteristics that the playwright meticulously described in his works.

When Nikolai was ten years old, he was sent to Poltava, where he studied science at school, and then learned to read and write from 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 studies, although he had an exceptional memory. Nikolai’s relationship with the exact sciences did not work out, 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 the Nizhyn gymnasium had weak teachers who could not provide students with decent education. For example, knowledge in moral education lessons was presented not through the teachings of eminent philosophers, but through corporal punishment with a rod; the literature teacher did not keep up with the times, preferring the classics of the 18th century.

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

Literature

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

He composed elegies, feuilletons, poems, and tried himself in prose and other literary genres. During his studies, he wrote a satire “Something about Nezhin, or the law is not written for fools,” which has not survived to this day. It is noteworthy that the young man initially regarded his craving for creativity as a hobby rather than as his life’s work.

Writing was for Gogol “a ray of light in dark kingdom"and helped to distract from mental torment. Then Nikolai Vasilyevich’s plans 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 - St. Petersburg. In the cold and gloomy city, Nikolai Vasilyevich was disappointed. He tried to become an official and also tried to join the theater, but all his attempts were defeated. Only in literature was he able to find opportunities for income and self-expression.

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

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

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

After creative success Gogol was warmly received in the literary circle. He began to communicate with Pushkin and. Works “Evenings on a farm near Dikanka”, “The Night before Christmas”, “ Enchanted place", seasoned with a mixture of Ukrainian epic and everyday 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 ideas for the plots of the poem " Dead Souls"(1842) and the comedy "The Inspector General" (1836). However, P.V. Annenkov believes that Pushkin “did not quite willingly cede his property to him.”

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

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

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

In 1841, Gogol wrote the immortal story “The Overcoat”. In the work Nikolai Vasilyevich talks about “ little man"Akaki Akakievich Bashmachkin, who becomes poor 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 the craving for literature, he also inherited a fatal fate - psychological illness and fear early death, which began to appear in the playwright from his youth. Publicist V.G. wrote about this. Korolenko and Doctor Bazhenov, based on Gogol’s autobiographical materials and epistolary heritage.

If during times Soviet Union It was customary to keep silent about Nikolai Vasilyevich’s mental disorders, but today’s erudite reader is very interested in such details. It is believed that Gogol suffered from manic-depressive psychosis (bipolar affective personality disorder) since childhood: a cheerful and perky mood young writer gave way to severe depression, hypochondria and despair.

This troubled 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 life as an ascetic. He loved women, but only from a distance: he often used to tell Maria Ivanovna that he was going abroad to visit a certain lady.

He corresponded with lovely girls 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 his 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 relationships beyond platonic ones.

Death

The early death of Nikolai Vasilyevich at the 42nd year of his life still excites the minds of scientists, historians and biographers. Mystical legends are written about Gogol, and about the real reason The death of the visionary is still debated to this day.

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

The master of the pen refused medical care waiting for death. 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 required for study in schools and universities. educational institutions. In memory of Nikolai Vasilyevich in the USSR and other countries were issued postage stamps. Streets are named after Gogol drama theater, a pedagogical institute and even a crater on the planet Mercury.

Based on the works of the master, hyperbole and grotesque are still created theatrical performances and works of cinematic art are filmed. Thus, in 2017, Russian viewers can expect the premiere of the gothic detective series “Gogol. The Beginning" with and starring.

The biography of the mysterious playwright contains interesting facts, it is impossible to describe all of them even in a whole book.

• According to rumors, Gogol was afraid of thunderstorms because natural phenomenon affected his psyche.
• The writer lived poorly and wore old clothes. The only expensive item in his wardrobe is a gold watch, donated by Zhukovsky in memory of Pushkin.
• Nikolai Vasilyevich’s mother 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.”

• Gogol's work was inspiring.
• Nikolai Vasilyevich loved sweets, so he always had sweets and pieces of sugar in his pocket. The Russian prose writer also loved to roll bread crumbs in his hands - this helped him concentrate on his thoughts.
• The writer was sensitive to his appearance; he was mainly irritated by his own nose.
• Gogol was afraid that he would be buried while in lethargic sleep. Literary genius He asked that in the future his body be interred only after the appearance of cadaveric spots. According to legend, Gogol woke up in a coffin. When the writer’s body was reburied, the surprised those present saw that the dead man’s head 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)
• "The Inspector General" (1836)
• "The Nose" (1836)
• "Notes of a Madman" (1835)
• "Portrait" (1835)
• "The Carriage" (1836)
• "Marriage" (1842)
• "Dead Souls" (1842)
• "The Overcoat" (1843)

“Born on March 20 (1.IV) 1809 in the town of Velikie Sorochintsy, Mirgorod district, Poltava province. He came from a landowner family: the Gogols had about 400 serfs and over 1000 acres of land.

He spent his childhood years on the Vasilievka estate (another name for Yanovshchina), visiting Dikanka with his parents, which belonged to the Minister of Internal Affairs V.P. Kochubey, and to Obukhovka, where the writer V.V. lived. Kapnist, but most often he visited the Kibintsy estate, where Gogol’s distant relative on his mother’s side, D.P. Troshchinsky had an extensive library and home theater.

He almost never used his real surname - Gogol-Yanovsky, leaving only (as they sometimes say) the lesser half of it. “When he was five years old, Gogol decided to write poetry,” recalled publicist G.P. Danilevsky from the words of the mother of the future writer. - Nobody understood what kind of poetry he wrote. Famous writer V.V. Kapnist, visiting Gogol’s father one day, found his five-year-old son writing. Little Gogol was sitting at the table, thoughtfully thinking about some scripture. . Kapnist managed to persuade the child writer to read his work with requests and affection. Gogol took Kapnist to another room and there he read his poems to him. Kapnist did not tell anyone the contents of what he heard. Returning to Gogol’s family, he, caressing and hugging the little writer, said: “He will be a great talent, only fate will give him the leadership of a Christian teacher.”

Gogol admired since childhood native nature and people were scared. Even twenty years later, he wrote to one of his friends: “What would this region seem to be missing? Full, luxurious summer. Bread, fruits, everything vegetable - death. But the people are poor, their estates are ruined and their arrears are unpaid... They are beginning to understand that it is time to get down to business with manufactories and factories; but there is no capital, the happy thought slumbers, finally dies, and they (the landowners) hunt for hares out of grief.” In 1821 he entered the Nizhyn Gymnasium of Higher Sciences.

The comrades were not very fond of the new student. Shy, secretive, he was extremely tormented by the poorly concealed ambition given to him by nature.

But in the gymnasium he developed a talent for imitating - a talent for strange, sometimes simply ridiculous exaggerations, which later spoiled a lot of blood for his friends. HELL. Galakhov, a writer and teacher who knew the writer well, later recalled: “Gogol lived with Pogodin, studying, as he said, the second volume of Dead Souls.” Shchepkin I went to talk with him almost every day. “Once,” he says, “I come to him and see him sitting at his desk so cheerful.” - “How is your health? It's noticeable that you're in good location spirit." - “You guessed it right: congratulate me: you finished your work.” Shchepkin almost started dancing with pleasure and began to congratulate the author in every possible way... When they met in the house Aksakova, Shchepkin, before lunch, addressing those present, said: “Congratulate Nikolai Vasilyevich. He finished the second part of Dead Souls. Gogol suddenly jumps up - “What nonsense? Who did you hear this from? - Shchepkin I was amazed. - “Yes, from yourself; You told me this morning.” - “Why, my dear, cross yourself: you must have eaten henbane or seen it in a dream.” - The question arises: why did the person lie? Why did you deny your own words?”

In 1828 he came to St. Petersburg. I dreamed of becoming an actor, but I didn’t have the right voice.

Make a career in public service too Not succeeded: in the offices he had to rewrite countless business papers, and this was not Gogol’s nature. He brought the poem “Hanz Küchelgarten” to St. Petersburg, which he published with his own money under the pseudonym V. Alov. Too open imitation of Pushkin, Zhukovsky, and the German poet Voss did not, and could not, cause anything but ridicule among St. Petersburg writers.

A terribly annoyed Gogol decided to go to America, but only got as far as Lubeck. From here I returned back to St. Petersburg. The writer P. V. Annenkov described Gogol’s first visit to Pushkin: “He returned again to attack, boldly called and in response to his question: is the master at home?”, he heard the servant’s answer: “They are resting!” It was already late outside. Gogol asked with great sympathy: “Is it true that you worked all night?” “Well, I worked,” answered the servant, “and played cards.” Gogol admitted that this was the first blow dealt to the school’s idealization of him. He could not imagine Pushkin any other way until he was constantly surrounded by a cloud of inspiration.”

Prashkevich G.M., Red Sphinx. History of Russian science fiction from V.F. Odoevsky to Boris Stern, Novosibirsk, “Svinin and Sons”, 2009, p. 39-40.

Gogol and Orthodoxy

3.1 Childhood and adolescence

Nikolai Gogol's life from his first moment was directed towards God. His mother, Maria Ivanovna, made a vow before the Dikansky miraculous image of St. Nicholas, if she had a son, to name him Nicholas - and asked the priest to pray until they announced the birth of the child and asked to serve a thanksgiving prayer service. The baby was baptized in the Transfiguration Church in Sorochintsy. His mother was a pious woman, a zealous pilgrim.

N.V. was born. Gogol March 20 April 1, 1809 in the town of Velikiye Sorochintsy, Mirgorod district, Poltava province. He came from middle-income landowners. She belonged to the old Cossack families. The family was quite pious and patriarchal. Among Gogol's ancestors there were people of clergy: his paternal great-grandfather was a priest; my grandfather graduated from the Kyiv Theological Academy, and my father graduated from the Poltava Theological Seminary.

He spent his childhood years on his parents' estate Vasilyevka. The region itself was covered in legends, beliefs, and historical stories that excited the imagination. Next to Vasilyeka was Dikanka (to which Gogol dated the origin of his first stories).

According to the recollections of one of Gogol’s classmates, religiosity and a penchant for monastic life were noticeable in Gogol “even from childhood“When he was brought up in his native village in Mirgorod district and was surrounded by people “God-fearing and completely religious.” When the writer was subsequently ready to “replace his social life monastery,” he only returned to his original mood.

The concept of God sunk into Gogol's soul from early childhood. In a letter to his mother in 1833, he recalled: “I asked you to tell me about Last Judgment, and you told me, a child, so well, so clearly, so touchingly about the benefits that await people for a virtuous life, and so strikingly, so horribly described the eternal torment of sinners that it shocked and awakened sensitivity in me. This sown and subsequently produced in me the highest thoughts.”

The first strong test in life young Nicholas was the death of the father. He writes a letter to his mother, in which despair is humbled by deep submission to the will of God: “I endured this blow with firmness true Christian... I bless you, sacred faith! In you only I find a source of consolation and quenching of my sorrow!.. Take refuge, as I have resorted, to the Almighty.”

The future writer received his initial education at home, “from a hired seminarian.”

In 1818-19 the future writer studied with his brother at the Poltava district school, in the summer

In 1820 he was preparing to enter the Poltava gymnasium.

In 1821, he was admitted to the newly opened Gymnasium of Higher Sciences in Nizhyn (lyceum). Education here, in accordance with the task set by Emperor Alexander I of combating European freethinking, included an extensive program of religious education. House church, common confessor, common morning and evening prayers, prayers before and after classes, the law of God twice a week, every day for half an hour before class classes the priest reads the New Testament, daily memorization of 2-3 verses from Scripture, as well as strict discipline, such was the almost “monastic” life of its students, defined by the Charter of the gymnasium, many features of which Gogol later used when describing the Bursak way of life in “Taras Bulba” and “Viya”.

N.V. Gogol was born on March 20 (April 1, n.s.) 1809 in the town of Sorochintsy, Mirgorod district, Poltava province. The future writer spent his childhood on the small estate of his father Vasily Afanasyevich Gogol-Yanovsky - Vasilyevka. Impressive...

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