What a gogol he is. Gogol's mysticism

The life of Nikolai Vasilievich 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 last name to prove his 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 dark kingdom” and helped to distract 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.

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.

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, in addition to a craving for literature, Vasily Afanasyevich also inherited a fatal fate - a 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 care waiting for death. The doctors who diagnosed him inflammatory diseases intestines, probable typhus and indigestion, as a result, the writer was diagnosed 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."

• 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)

This article will discuss the life of Gogol. This writer created many immortal works that rightfully occupy a worthy place in the annals of world literature. Many rumors and legends are associated with his name, some of which Nikolai Vasilievich spread about himself. He was a great inventor and hoaxer, which, of course, was reflected in his work.

Parents

Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich, whose biography is discussed in this article, was born in 1809, on March 20, in the settlement of Velikie Sorochintsy in the Poltava province. On the paternal side, the family of the future writer included church ministers, but the boy's grandfather, Afanasy Demyanovich, left his spiritual career and began working in the hetman's office. It was he who subsequently added to the surname Yanovsky received at birth another, more famous - Gogol. So the ancestor of Nikolai Vasilyevich sought to emphasize his kinship with Colonel Ostap Gogol, well-known in Ukrainian history, who lived in the 17th century.

The father of the future writer - Gogol-Yanovsky Vasily Afanasyevich - was an exalted and dreamy man. This can be judged from the history of his marriage to the daughter of a local landowner, Kosyarovskaya Maria Ivanovna. As a thirteen-year-old teenager, Vasily Afanasyevich saw in a dream the Mother of God, pointing out to him a little unfamiliar girl as a future wife. After some time, the boy recognized the heroine of his dream in the seven-month-old daughter of the Kosyarovsky neighbors. From an early age, he anxiously looked after his chosen one and married Maria Ivanovna, as soon as she was 14 years old. Gogol's family lived in great love and harmony. The biography of the writer began in 1809, when the couple finally had their first child, Nikolai. Parents were kind to the baby, tried their best to protect him from any troubles and upheavals.

Childhood

Gogol's biography, a summary of which will be useful for everyone to know, began in truly greenhouse conditions. Dad and mom adored the baby and did not refuse him anything. In addition to him, the family had eleven more children, but most of them died in middle age. However, Nikolai, of course, enjoyed the greatest love.

The writer spent his childhood years in Vasilievka, the parental estate. The town of Kibintsy was considered the cultural center of this region. It was the fiefdom of D.T. Troshchinsky, a former minister and a distant relative of the Yanovsky-Gogols. He held the post of district marshal (that is, he was the district marshal of the nobility), and Vasily Afanasyevich was listed as his secretary. Theatrical performances were often held in Kibitsy, in which the father of the future writer took an active part. Nikolai often attended rehearsals, was very proud of it, and at home, inspired by the work of the pope, he wrote good poetry. However, Gogol's first literary experiments have not been preserved. And as a child, he drew well and even organized an exhibition of his paintings in his parental estate.

Education

Together with his younger brother Ivan in 1818 he was sent to the Poltava district school and Nikolai Gogol. The biography of a home boy, accustomed to greenhouse conditions, went according to a completely different scenario. His cozy childhood was rapidly coming to an end. At the school, he was taught a very strict discipline, but Nikolai did not show much zeal for the sciences. The very first holidays ended in a terrible tragedy - brother Ivan died of an unknown illness. After his death, all the hopes of the parents were placed on Nikolai. He needed to get a better education, for which he was sent to study at the Nizhyn Classical Gymnasium. The conditions here were very harsh: children were raised daily at 5.30 am, and classes lasted from 9.00 to 17.00. In the remaining time, the students were supposed to study their lessons and pray diligently.

However, the future writer managed to get used to the local order. Soon he made friends, well-known and respected people in the future: Nestor Kukolnik, Nikolai Prokopovich, Konstantin Bazili, Alexander Danilevsky. All of them, having matured, became famous writers. And this is not surprising! While still high school students, they founded several handwritten magazines: "Meteor of Literature", "Dawn of the North", "Star" and others. In addition, teenagers were passionately fond of the theater. Moreover, Gogol's creative biography could well have been different - many predicted for him the fate of a famous actor. However, the young man dreamed of public service and, after graduating from high school, resolutely went to St. Petersburg to make a career.

Official

Together with his friend from the gymnasium Danilevsky in 1828, Gogol went to the capital. Petersburg met young people unfriendly, they were constantly in need of money and unsuccessfully tried to find a decent job. At this time, Nikolai Vasilyevich was trying to earn a living through literary experiments. However, his first poem "Hanz Kühelgarten" was not successful. In 1829, the writer began to serve in the Department of State Economy and Public Buildings of the Ministry of the Interior, then worked for almost a year in the department of destinies under the supervision of the famous poet V.I. Panaev. Staying in the offices of various departments helped Nikolai Vasilyevich to collect the richest material for future works. However, the public service forever disappointed the writer. Fortunately, he was soon in for a truly dizzying success in the literary field.

Fame

In 1831 Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka were published. "Here is real gaiety, sincere, unconstrained ..." - Pushkin said about this work. Now the personality and biography of Gogol have become interesting to the most famous people in Russia. His talent was readily recognized by all. Nikolai Vasilyevich was beside himself with joy and constantly wrote letters to his mother and sisters asking them to send him more material about Little Russian folk customs.

In 1836, the famous "Petersburg story" of the writer - "The Nose" - was published. In this extremely daring work for its time, worship of rank is ridiculed in its smallest and sometimes disgusting manifestations. At the same time, Gogol created the work "Taras Bulba". The biography and work of the writer are inextricably linked with his dear homeland - Ukraine. In "Taras Bulba" Nikolai Vasilyevich tells about the heroic past of his country, about how the representatives of the people (Cossacks) fearlessly defended their independence from the Polish invaders.

"Inspector"

How much trouble this play gave the author! Being a brilliant writer and playwright who far anticipated his time, Nikolai Vasilyevich was never able to convey to his contemporaries the meaning of his immortal work. The plot of The Inspector General was presented to Gogol by Pushkin. Inspired by the great poet, the author wrote it in just a few months. In the autumn of 1835, the first drafts appeared, and in 1836, on January 18, the first hearing of the play took place at the evening at Zhukovsky's. On April 19, the premiere of The Government Inspector took place on the stage of the Alexandria Theatre. Nicholas the First himself came to it together with the heir. They say that after watching the emperor said: “Well, a play! Everyone got it, but I - more than anyone! However, Nikolai Vasilievich was not laughing. He, a convinced monarchist, was accused of revolutionary sentiments, undermining the foundations of society, and God knows what else. But he was simply trying to ridicule the abuse of local officials, his goal was morality, and not politics at all. The upset writer left the country and went on a long trip abroad.

Abroad

An interesting biography of Gogol abroad deserves special attention. In total, the writer spent twelve years on "saving" journeys. In 1936, Nikolai Vasilievich did not limit himself to anything: at the beginning of the summer he settled in Germany, spent the autumn in Switzerland, and came to Paris for the winter. During this time, he made great progress in writing the novel Dead Souls. The plot of the work was suggested to the author by the same Pushkin. He highly appreciated the first chapters of the novel, recognizing that Russia, in essence, is a very sad country.

In February 1837, Gogol, whose biography is interesting and instructive, moved to Rome. Here he learned about the death of Alexander Sergeevich. In desperation, Nikolai Vasilyevich decided that "Dead Souls" was the poet's "sacred testament", which must necessarily see the light of day. Zhukovsky arrived in Rome in 1838. Gogol enjoyed walking along the streets of the city with the poet, painting local landscapes with him.

Return to Russia

In 1839, in September, the writer returned to Moscow. Now Gogol's creative biography is devoted to the publication of "Dead Souls". Summary works are already known to many friends of Nikolai Vasilyevich. He read individual chapters of the novel at the Aksakovs' house, at Prokopovich's and Zhukovsky's. His closest circle of friends became his listeners. All of them were delighted with the creation of Gogol. In 1842, in May, the first publication of "Dead Souls" was published. At first, the reviews about the work were mostly positive, then the ill-wishers of Nikolai Vasilyevich seized the initiative. They accused the writer of slander, caricature, farce. A truly devastating article was written by N. A. Polevoy. However, Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol did not take part in all this controversy. The biography of the writer continued abroad again.

Affairs of the Heart

Gogol never married. Very little is known about his serious relationships with women. His longtime and devoted friend was Alexandra Osipovna Smirnova. When she came to Rome, Nikolai Vasilyevich became her guide in the ancient city. In addition, a very lively correspondence was conducted between friends. However, the woman was married, so the relationship between her and the writer was only platonic. Gogol's biography is adorned with another heartfelt passion. A brief history of his personal relationships with women says: one day the writer nevertheless decided to marry. He became interested in the young Countess Anna Villegorskaya and proposed to her in the late 1940s. The girl's parents were against this marriage, and the writer was refused. Nikolai Vasilievich was greatly depressed by this story, and since then he has not tried to arrange his personal life.

Work on the second volume

Before leaving, the author of "Dead Souls" decided to publish the first collection of his own works. He, as always, needed money. However, he himself did not want to deal with this troublesome business and entrusted this matter to his friend - Prokopovich. In the summer of 1842, the writer was in Germany, and in the fall he moved to Rome. Here he worked on the second volume of Dead Souls. Almost the entire creative biography of Gogol is devoted to writing this novel. The most important thing he wanted to do at that moment was to show the image of an ideal Russian citizen: smart, strong and principled. However, the work is progressing with great difficulty, and at the beginning of 1845 the writer had the first signs of a large-scale spiritual crisis.

Last years

The writer continued to write his novel, but was increasingly distracted by other things. For example, he composed The Examiner's Denouement, which radically changed the entire previous interpretation of the play. Then, in 1847, "Selected passages from correspondence with friends" were printed in St. Petersburg. In this book, Nikolai Vasilyevich tried to explain why the second volume of "Dead Souls" had not yet been written, and expressed doubts about the educational role of fiction.

A whole storm of public indignation fell upon the writer. "Selected Places ..." is the most controversial moment that marked Gogol's creative biography. A brief history of the creation of this work suggests that it was written in a moment of spiritual confusion of the writer, his desire to move away from his former positions and start a new life.

Manuscript burning

In general, the writer burned his writings more than once. This, one might say, was his bad habit. In 1829, he did this with his poem Hans Küchelgarten, and in 1840 with the Little Russian tragedy Shaved Mustache, which Zhukovsky could not impress. At the beginning of 1845, the writer's health deteriorated sharply, he constantly consulted with various medical celebrities and went to water resorts for treatment. He visited Dresden, Berlin, Halle, but could not improve his health. The religious exaltation of the writer gradually increased. He often communicated with his confessor, Father Matthew. He believed that literary creativity distracts from inner life and demanded from the writer that he renounce his divine gift. As a result, on February 11, 1852, Gogol's biography was marked by a fateful event. The most important creation of his life - the second volume of "Dead Souls" - was ruthlessly burned by him.

Death

In April 1848 Gogol returned to Russia. He spent most of his time in Moscow, sometimes he came to St. Petersburg and to his homeland, to Ukraine. The writer read individual chapters from the second volume of "Dead Souls" to his friends, again bathed in the rays of universal love and worship. Nikolai Vasilyevich came to the production of "The Inspector General" at the Maly Theater and is satisfied with the performance. In January 1852, it became known that the novel was "completely finished." However, Gogol's biography was soon marked by a new spiritual crisis. The main business of his life - literary creativity - seemed to him useless. He burned the second volume of "Dead Souls" and a few days later (February 21, 1852) died in Moscow. He was buried in the cemetery of the St. Danilov Monastery, and in 1931 he was transferred to the Novodevichy cemetery.

Posthumous will

Such is the biography of Gogol. Interesting facts from his life are largely related to his posthumous will. It is well known that he asked not to erect a monument over his grave and not to bury him for several weeks, since sometimes the writer fell into a kind of lethargic sleep. Both wishes of the writer were violated. Gogol was buried a few days after his death, and in 1957 a marble bust of the work of Nikolai Tomsky was installed at the burial site of Nikolai Vasilyevich.

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Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol (1809 - 1852) - a classic of Russian literature, writer, playwright, essayist, critic. The most important works of Gogol are: the collection "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka", dedicated to the customs and traditions of the Ukrainian people, as well as the greatest poem "Dead Souls".

Among the biographies of great writers, the biography of Gogol stands in a separate row. After reading this article, you will understand why this is so.

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol is a universally recognized literary classic. He masterfully worked in a variety of genres. Both contemporaries and writers of subsequent generations spoke positively about his works.

Talk about his biography has not subsided to this day, because from among the intelligentsia of the 19th century he is one of the most mystical and enigmatic figures.

Childhood and youth

The belonging of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol to the Little Russian people from childhood had a significant impact on his worldview and writing activity. Psychological features of the Little Russian people were reflected in the content of his early works and in the artistic style of his speech.

Childhood years were spent in the estate of parents Vasilievka, Mirgorod district, not far from the village of Dikanka. 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 a garus, Gogol listened to Ukrainian folk songs on winter evenings. Grandmother told her grandson historical legends and legends about the heroic pages of history, about the Zaporizhzhya Cossack freemen.

The Gogol family stood out for its stable cultural demands. Gogol's father, 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 a home theater in his estate, where Vasily Afanasyevich became a director and actor. He composed his own comedies for this theater in Ukrainian, the plots of which he borrowed from folk tales. V. V. Kapnist, a venerable playwright, author of the famous Yabeda, took part in the preparation of the performances. On the stage in Kibintsy, his plays were performed, as well as "Undergrowth" by Fonvizin, "Podshchip" by Krylov. Vasily Afanasyevich was friendly with Kapnist, sometimes visiting with his whole family in Obukhovka. In July 1813, little Gogol saw G. R. Derzhavin here, visiting a friend of his youth. Gogol inherited his gift for 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 fearfully waited for the third. The couple prayed in the Dikan church before miraculous icon St. Nicholas. Having given the newborn the name of a saint revered by the people, the parents surrounded the boy with special caress 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 of the ladder that angels lower from heaven, offering their hand to the soul of the deceased. On this ladder are seven measurements; the last, the seventh, raises the immortal soul of man to the seventh heaven, to heavenly abodes, which are accessible to few. The souls of the righteous go there - people who spent their earthly life "in all piety and purity." The image of the stairs will pass later through all Gogol's reflections on the fate and calling of man to spiritual perfection.

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, always serious and so thoughtful that his mother was extremely worried." The boy's imagination was also influenced by the pagan beliefs of the people in brownies, witches, watermen and mermaids. Varied-voiced and colorful, sometimes comically cheerful, and sometimes leading to fear and awe, the mysterious world of folk demonology from childhood was absorbed by the impressionable Gogol's soul.

In 1821, after two years of study at the Poltava district school, the parents assigned the boy to the newly opened high school of higher sciences, Prince Bezborodko, in Nizhyn, Chernihiv province. It was often called a lyceum: like the Tsarskoye Selo lyceum, the gymnasium course in it was combined with university subjects, and the classes were taught by professors. Gogol studied for seven years in Nizhyn, coming to his parents only for the holidays.

At first, the teaching was slow: insufficient home preparation had an effect. The children of wealthy parents, classmates of Gogol, entered the gymnasium with knowledge of Latin, French and German. Gogol envied them, felt slighted, shied away from classmates, and in letters home he begged to be taken away from the gymnasium. The sons of wealthy parents, among whom was N.V. Kukolnik, did not spare his pride, ridiculed his weaknesses. On 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 "Overcoat", addressed to the scoffers: "Leave me! Why do you offend me?" Sickly, frail, suspicious, the boy was humiliated not only by his peers, but also by insensitive teachers. Rare patience, the ability to silently endure insults gave Gogol the first nickname received from high school students - "Dead Thought."

But soon Gogol discovered an outstanding talent in drawing, far ahead of the successes of his offenders, and then enviable literary abilities. Like-minded people appeared, with whom he began to publish a handwritten journal, placing his articles, stories, poems in it. Among them - the historical story "The Brothers Tverdislavichi", a satirical essay "Something about Nizhyn, or the law is not written for fools", in which he ridiculed the customs of the local inhabitants.

The beginning of the literary path

Already in 1825, he collaborated in the manuscript journal of the gymnasium, composing poetry. Theater was another hobby of Gogol the high school student. He took an active part in staging school plays, played comic roles, and painted scenery.

Gogol early awakened dissatisfaction with the musty and dull life of the Nezhin "existents", a dream of serving noble and lofty goals. The thought of the future, of "serving humanity," captured Gogol even then. These youthful - enthusiastic aspirations, this thirst for socially useful activity, a sharp denial of philistine complacency found their expression in his first poetic work, the poem "Hanz Kühelgarten", which has come down to us.

Dreams and plans for future activities attracted Gogol to the capital, to distant and alluring Petersburg. Here he thought to find an application for his abilities, to give his strength for the good of society. At the end of the gymnasium, in December 1828, Gogol leaves for St. Petersburg.

Petersburg unkindly met an enthusiastic young man who came from distant Ukraine, from a quiet provincial wilderness. On all sides, Gogol suffers setbacks. The bureaucratic and bureaucratic world reacted with indifferent indifference to the young provincial: there was no service, life in the capital for a young man who had very modest means turned out to be very difficult. Gogol was also bitterly disappointed in the literary field. His hopes for the poem "Hanz Kühelgarten", brought from Nizhyn, did not come true. Published in 1829 (under the pseudonym V. Alov), the poem was not successful.

An attempt to enter the stage also ended in failure: Gogol's genuine rhyolistic talent as an actor turned out to be alien to the then theater directorate.

Only at the end of 1829 did Gogol manage to get a job as a minor official in the department of state economy and public buildings. However, Gogol did not stay long in this position and already in April 1830 he entered the department of appanages as a scribe.

Gogol learned during these years of deprivation and need experienced in St. Petersburg by the majority of service, unsecured people. For a whole year Gogol served as an official in the department. However, the bureaucratic service did not attract him much. At the same time, he attended the Academy of Arts, painting there. His literary pursuits resumed. But now Gogol no longer writes dreamy-romantic poems like "Hanz Küchelgarten", but turns to Ukrainian life and folklore, which he knows well, starting work on a book of stories, which he entitled "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka".

In 1831, the long-awaited acquaintance with Pushkin took place, which soon turned into a close friendly closeness of both writers. Gogol found in Pushkin an older comrade, a literary director.

Gogol and theater

Gogol sharply condemns the main vice of this genre:

Lies in the most shameless way our melodrama

The melodrama does not reflect the life of society and does not produce the proper impact on it, arousing in the viewer not participation, but some kind of “anxious state”. Does not correspond to the tasks of the theater and vaudeville, "this light, colorless toy", in which laughter "is generated by light impressions, a quick wit, a pun."

The theater, according to Gogol, should teach, educate the audience:

From the theater we made a toy like those trinkets with which they lure children, forgetting that this is such a pulpit from which a live lesson is read at once to a whole crowd

In the draft version of the article, Gogol calls the theater a "great school". But the condition for this is the fidelity of the reflection of life. “Really, it’s time to know already, writes Gogol, that there is only one true depiction of characters, not in general outlined features, but in their nationally poured out form, striking us with liveliness, so that we say:“ Yes, this seems to be a familiar person, ”- only such an image brings significant benefit. Here and in other places, Gogol defends the principles of the realistic theater and attaches great social and educational significance to such a theater alone.

For God's sake, give us Russian characters, give us ourselves, our rogues, our eccentrics! on their stage, to the laughter of everyone!

Gogol reveals the importance of laughter as the strongest weapon in the fight against social vices. “Laughter, Gogol continues, is a great thing: it does not take away either life or property, but before him is guilty, like a tied hare ...” In the theater, “with the solemn glare of lighting, with the thunder of music, with unanimous laughter, an acquaintance is shown hiding vice". Man is afraid of laughter, Gogol repeatedly repeats, and refrains from that "from which no force would have kept him." But not every laughter has such power, but only "that electric, life-giving laughter" that has a deep ideological basis.

In December 1828, Gogol said goodbye to his native Ukrainian places and took his way north: to alien and tempting, distant and desirable Petersburg. Even before his departure, Gogol wrote: “Since the very past, from the very years of almost misunderstanding, I have been burning with unquenchable zeal to make my life necessary for the good of the state. I went over in my mind all the states, all the positions in the state and settled on one. On justice. “I saw that here only I can be a benefactor, here I will only be useful to mankind.”

So. Gogol arrived in Petersburg. The very first weeks of his stay in the capital brought Gogol the bitterness of disappointment. He failed to fulfill his dream. Unlike Piskarev, the hero of the story "Nevsky Prospekt", Gogol does not perceive the collapse of his dreams so tragically. Having changed many other activities, he still finds his calling in life. Gogol's vocation is to be a writer. “... I wanted,” wrote Gogol, “in my essay to expose mainly those higher properties of Russian nature that are not yet fairly valued by everyone, and mainly those low ones that are not yet ridiculed and amazed by everyone enough. I wanted to collect here some striking psychological phenomena, to place those observations that I have been making secretly over a person for a long time. Soon the poem was finished, which Gogol decided to make public. It was published in May 1829 under the title "Hanz Küchelgarten". Critical reviews soon appeared in the press. They were strongly negative. Gogol took his failure very painfully. He leaves Petersburg, but soon returns again.

Gogol was seized by a new dream: the theatre. But he did not pass the exam. His realistic manner of playing was clearly contrary to the tastes of the examiners. And here again failure. Gogol almost fell into despair.

A short time later, Gogol receives a new position in one of the departments of the Ministry of the Interior. After 3 months, he could not stand it here and wrote a letter of resignation. He moved to another department, where he then worked as a scribe. Gogol continued to look closely at the life and life of his fellow officials. These observations then formed the basis of the stories "The Nose", "The Overcoat". After serving for another year, Gogol leaves the departmental service forever.

Meanwhile, his interest in art not only did not fade away, but every day more and more overwhelmed him. The bitterness with "Hanz Kuchelgarten" was forgotten, and Gogol continued to write.

His new collections and works are coming out soon. 1831 - 1832 Gogol writes the collection "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka", 1835 - the collection "Mirgorod", in the same year begins to create "Dead Souls" and "Inspector", in 1836 - the story "The Nose" was published and the premiere of the comedy " Inspector" in the theaters of Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Only later, after his death, some of the stories depicting Petersburg "in all its glory", with officials, with bribe-takers, were combined into "Petersburg Tales". These are such stories as: "The Overcoat", "The Nose", "Nevsky Prospekt", "Notes of a Madman". St. Petersburg stories reflect both high and by no means the best properties of the Russian character, the way of life and customs of different strata of St. Petersburg society - officials, military men, artisans. Literary critic A. V. Lunacharsky wrote: “The vile faces of everyday life teased and called for a slap.” The story “Nevsky Prospekt” with its Pirogov, Hoffmann and Schiller, with ladies, generals and department officials, wandering along Nevsky Prospekt “from two to three in the afternoon ...” became such a slap in the face.

In St. Petersburg, Gogol had a difficult life, full of disappointments. He couldn't find his calling. And finally found. The vocation of N.V. Gogol is to be a writer depicting the vices of the human soul and the nature of Little Russia.

Gogol died at the age of 43. The doctors who treated him in recent years were completely at a loss about his illness. A version of depression was put forward.

It began with the fact that at the beginning of 1852 the sister of one of Gogol's close friends, Ekaterina Khomyakova, died, whom the writer respected to the depths of his soul. Her death provoked a severe depression, resulting in religious ecstasy. Gogol began to fast. His daily diet was 1-2 tablespoons cabbage pickle and oatmeal broth, occasionally prunes. Given that the body of Nikolai Vasilyevich was weakened after an illness - in 1839 he had malarial encephalitis, and in 1842 he suffered from cholera and miraculously survived - starvation was mortally dangerous for him.

On the night of February 24, he burned the second volume of Dead Souls. After 4 days, Gogol was visited by a young doctor, Alexei Terentiev. He described the state of the writer as follows:

He watched as a man for whom all tasks were solved, all feeling was silenced, all words were in vain ... His whole body became extremely thin, his eyes became dull and sunken, his face was completely haggard, his cheeks were sunken, his voice weakened ...

Doctors invited to the dying Gogol found severe gastrointestinal disorders in him. They talked about "gut catarrh", which turned into "typhus", about an unfavorable course of gastroenteritis. And, finally, about "indigestion", complicated by "inflammation".

As a result, the doctors diagnosed him with meningitis and prescribed bloodletting, hot baths and douches, which are deadly in this state.

The pitiful withered body of the writer was immersed in a bath, his head was watered cold water. They put leeches on him, and with a weak hand he convulsively tried to brush away the clusters of black worms that were clinging to his nostrils. But how could one think of a worse torture for a person who had felt disgust all his life in front of everything creeping and slimy? “Remove the leeches, lift the leeches from your mouth,” Gogol groaned and pleaded. In vain. He was not allowed to do so.

A few days later the writer was gone.

Gogol's ashes were buried at noon on February 24, 1852 by parish priest Alexei Sokolov and deacon John Pushkin. And after 79 years, he was secretly, thievishly removed from the grave: the Danilov Monastery was being transformed into a colony for juvenile delinquents, in connection with which its necropolis was subject to liquidation. It was decided to transfer only a few of the most dear to the Russian heart burials to the old cemetery of the Novodevichy Convent. Among these lucky ones, along with Yazykov, Aksakovs and Khomyakovs, was Gogol ...

On May 31, 1931, twenty to thirty people gathered at Gogol's grave, among whom were: historian M. Baranovskaya, writers Vs. Ivanov, V. Lugovskoy, Yu. Olesha, M. Svetlov, V. Lidin and others. It was Lidin who became almost the only source of information about the reburial of Gogol. With his light hand, terrible legends about Gogol began to walk around Moscow.

The coffin was not found right away, - he told the students of the Literary Institute, - for some reason it turned out not to be where they were digging, but somewhat at a distance, to the side. And when they pulled it out of the ground - flooded with lime, seemingly strong, from oak boards - and opened it, bewilderment was added to the heart trembling of those present. In the coffin lay a skeleton with a skull turned to one side. No one has found an explanation for this. Someone superstitious, probably, then thought: “Well, after all, the publican - during his lifetime, as if not alive, and after death not dead, this strange great man.”

Lidin's stories stirred up old rumors that Gogol was afraid of being buried alive in a state of lethargic sleep and seven years before his death he bequeathed:

Do not bury my body until there are clear signs of decomposition. I mention this because even during the illness itself, moments of vital numbness came over me, my heart and pulse stopped beating.

What the exhumers saw in 1931 seemed to indicate that Gogol's testament had not been fulfilled, that he was buried in a lethargic state, he woke up in a coffin and experienced nightmarish minutes of a new death...

In fairness, it must be said that Lidin's version did not inspire confidence. Sculptor N. Ramazanov, who took off Gogol's death mask, recalled: "I did not suddenly decide to take off the mask, but the prepared coffin ... finally, the incessantly arriving crowd of people who wanted to say goodbye to the dear deceased forced me and my old man, who pointed out the traces of destruction, to hurry ... "Found my own an explanation for the rotation of the skull: the side boards at the coffin were the first to rot, the lid falls under the weight of the soil, presses on the dead man’s head, and it turns to its side on the so-called “Atlantean vertebra”.

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol (1809-1852) is a great Russian writer, the author of the brilliant poem "Dead Souls", the story "Viy" and many other wonderful works. You can continue indefinitely. There are many interesting facts about Gogol. The whole life of a writer is one big mystery. Mysticism, something supernatural and inexplicable literally followed him on his heels. And even after his death left more questions than answers.

Facts from the life of Gogol

• On March 20, 1809, N.V. was born in the small village of Bolshiye Sorochintsy. Gogol. It is known that the family was large: only twelve children were born. The Russian writer was born third in a row.
• Since childhood, he was very fond of needlework. With the help of knitting needles, he knitted scarves, cut and sewed different outfits for his sisters, neckerchiefs, and wove belts on his own.
• In addition, he was a passionate admirer and connoisseur of miniature publications. It is precisely established that he, not understanding and not having a special love for the exact sciences, rewrote the mathematical encyclopedia only because the format of its publication was about ten centimeters long and seven wide.
• By nature, he was extremely timid and withdrawn. As soon as a stranger appeared on the threshold, he immediately disappeared. At the same time, he loved his friends and relatives very much. He constantly called them to visit and treated them to dishes of his own preparation - dumplings and dumplings. As a dessert, he offered his favorite delicacy - goat's milk with rum, which he jokingly called "mogul-mogul".
• Often there were bread balls on the writer's desk. He rolled them during work, and assured his friends that they are real helpers in solving impossible problems. For inspiration, he turned not only to them. Various sweets, and especially the sugar stored in his pocket, helped the author of the story "The Night Before Christmas" to catch the "muse".
• Interesting facts from the life of Gogol, brief but interesting stories about the mystical facts of the writer's biography that no one knows, as well as his detailed biography have been described in many monographs dedicated to the great Russian writer..
• In the thirty-fifth year of the century before last, an amazing collection "Mirgorod" was published. It is in this journal that the famous epic work "Taras Bulba" and the story "Viy" are published for the first time - one of the most terrible and at the same time extraordinary and mystical works of N.V. Gogol. Where did the story come from? The Russian writer answered this question directly: this is an ancient legend that he heard a long time ago, wrote down and retold word for word. On the one hand, it is impossible not to believe the genius. On the other hand, neither scientists nor linguists have found anything similar either in folk legends, or in fairy tales, or in folklore. It remains to be assumed that the main characters of the work are exclusively a figment of the imagination of the great mystic.
• Questions are raised not only by the writer's work, but also by Gogol's personality, shrouded in a gloomy mysterious halo. There are many incomprehensible and inexplicable things in the circumstances of his sudden illness and sudden death. Indeed, why did the comparatively young forty-two-year-old genius die?
• Literally a month before the death of Gogol himself, the wife of his close friend, Ekaterina Mikhailovna Khomyakova, dies. He, a perfectly healthy man in the prime of life, takes this tragedy to heart and from that time falls into a kind of nervous breakdown, which was in the nature of religious insanity. He eats little, prays a lot, now and then reproaching himself for gluttony. With each passing day, the strength leaves him. But this does not happen from a disease, and not from shit - the doctors have not established an exact diagnosis. He himself was sure of the inevitability of the imminent end. And what made him think so is unknown.
• A few days before his death, Gogol saw his lifeless body from the side and heard some otherworldly voices.
• On the night of February 11-12, he ordered his faithful servant Semyon to open the valves on the stove and bring a briefcase. From it he took out a bunch of notebooks, put them in the fireplace and set them on fire. So the second volume of the poem "Dead Souls" burned down - the main work of his life. The next morning, he repented of his deed, and blamed the evil one for everything, who forced him to commit a terrible “crime”.
• On February 21, 1852, Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol died. They said that there was neither torment nor torment on his face, on the contrary - it expressed calmness and some kind of clear understanding, inaccessible to the living.
• Seventy-nine years later, Gogol's body was removed from the grave without publicity and reburied in the old cemetery of the Novodevichy Convent. But the main thing is not this. When the heavy, oak lid of the coffin was opened, everyone present gasped in bewilderment: the skull of the skeleton was turned on its side. Fear and superstition began to multiply and multiply. Some said that this was some kind of fate: Gogol during his lifetime was as if inanimate, and after his death he turned out to be not so dead. Others spread the rumor that the author of The Inspector General always dreaded being buried alive in a state of lethargic sleep. But this version was exciting, mysterious, but not credible. There were many witnesses who saw with their own eyes "traces of imminent destruction" on the body of the writer.

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Gogol is the most mysterious and mystical figure in the pantheon of Russian classics.

Woven from contradictions, he amazed everyone with his genius in the field of literature and oddities in everyday life. The classic of Russian literature, Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol, was an incomprehensible person.

For example, he only slept sitting up, afraid of being mistaken for dead. He took long walks around ... the house, drinking a glass of water in each room. Periodically fell into a state of prolonged stupor. And the death of the great writer was mysterious: either he died of poisoning, or of cancer, or of mental illness.

Doctors have been unsuccessfully trying to make an accurate diagnosis for more than a century and a half.

strange child

The future author of "Dead Souls" was born in a disadvantaged family in terms of heredity. His grandfather and grandmother on his mother's side were superstitious, religious, believed in omens and predictions. One of the aunts was completely “weak in the head”: she could grease her head with a tallow candle for weeks to prevent graying of her hair, made faces while sitting at the dinner table, hid pieces of bread under the mattress.

When a baby was born in this family in 1809, everyone decided that the boy would not last long - he was so weak. But the child survived.

True, he grew up thin, frail and sickly - in a word, one of those “lucky ones” to whom all sores stick. First scrofula became attached, then scarlet fever, then purulent otitis media. All this against the backdrop of persistent colds.

But Gogol's main illness, which bothered him almost all his life, was manic-depressive psychosis.

It is not surprising that the boy grew up withdrawn and uncommunicative. According to the recollections of his classmates at the Nezhinsky Lyceum, he was a gloomy, stubborn and very secretive teenager. And only a brilliant game in the lyceum theater said that this person has a remarkable acting talent.

In 1828 Gogol came to St. Petersburg with the aim of making a career. Not wanting to work as a petty official, he decides to enter the stage. But unsuccessfully. I had to get a job as a clerk. However, Gogol did not stay long in one place - he flew from department to department.

The people with whom he was in close contact at that time complained about his capriciousness, insincerity, coldness, inattention to the owners and hard-to-explain oddities.

Despite the hardships of the job, this period of life was the happiest for the writer. He is young, full of ambitious plans, and his first book, Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka, is published. Gogol meets Pushkin, which he is terribly proud of. Rotates in secular circles. But already at that time in the St. Petersburg salons they began to notice some oddities in the behavior of the young man.

Where to put yourself?

Throughout his life, Gogol complained of stomach pains. However, this did not prevent him from eating dinner for four in one sitting, “polishing” it all with a jar of jam and a basket of cookies.

No wonder that from the age of 22 the writer suffered from chronic hemorrhoids with severe exacerbations. For this reason, he never worked while sitting. He wrote exclusively while standing, spending 10-12 hours a day on his feet.

As for relationships with the opposite sex, this is a secret behind seven seals.

Back in 1829, he sent his mother a letter in which he spoke of a terrible love for some lady. But already in the next message - not a word about the girl, only a boring description of a certain rash, which, according to him, is nothing more than a consequence of childhood scrofula. Having connected the girl with a sore, the mother concluded that her son had caught a shameful illness from some kind of metropolitan flirtatious.

In fact, Gogol invented both love and malaise in order to extort a certain amount of money from a parent.

Whether the writer had carnal contact with women is a big question. According to the doctor who observed Gogol, there were none. The reason for this is a certain castration complex - in other words, a weak attraction. And this despite the fact that Nikolai Vasilyevich loved obscene anecdotes and knew how to tell them, without omitting obscene words at all.

Whereas bouts of mental illness were undoubtedly evident.

The first clinically delineated bout of depression, which took the writer "almost a year of life", was noted in 1834.

Beginning in 1837, seizures, varying in duration and severity, began to be observed regularly. Gogol complained of anguish, "which has no description" and from which he did not know "what to do with himself." He complained that his "soul ... is languishing from a terrible blues", is "in some kind of insensible sleepy position." Because of this, Gogol could not only create, but also think. Hence the complaints about the "eclipse of memory" and "strange inactivity of the mind."

Attacks of religious enlightenment gave way to fear and despair. They encouraged Gogol to perform Christian deeds. One of them - exhaustion of the body - and led the writer to death.

Subtleties of the soul and body

Gogol died at the age of 43. The doctors who treated him in recent years were completely at a loss about his illness. A version of depression was put forward.

It began with the fact that at the beginning of 1852 the sister of one of Gogol's close friends, Ekaterina Khomyakova, died, whom the writer respected to the depths of his soul. Her death provoked a severe depression, resulting in religious ecstasy. Gogol began to fast. His daily diet consisted of 1-2 tablespoons of cabbage pickle and oatmeal, occasionally prunes. Considering that Nikolai Vasilyevich's body was weakened after an illness - in 1839 he had malarial encephalitis, and in 1842 he suffered from cholera and miraculously survived - starvation was mortally dangerous for him.

Gogol then lived in Moscow, on the first floor of the house of Count Tolstoy, his friend.

On the night of February 24, he burned the second volume of Dead Souls. After 4 days, Gogol was visited by a young doctor, Alexei Terentiev. He described the state of the writer as follows: “He looked like a man for whom all tasks were resolved, all feelings were silenced, all words were in vain ... His whole body had become extremely thin; the eyes became dull and sunken, the face was completely haggard, the cheeks were sunken, the voice weakened ... "

The house on Nikitsky Boulevard, where the second volume of "Dead Souls" was burned. Here Gogol died. Doctors invited to the dying Gogol found severe gastrointestinal disorders in him. They talked about "gut catarrh", which turned into "typhus", about an unfavorable course of gastroenteritis. And, finally, about "indigestion", complicated by "inflammation".

As a result, the doctors diagnosed him with meningitis and prescribed bloodletting, hot baths and douches, which are deadly in this state.

The writer's pitiful withered body was immersed in a bath, his head was poured with cold water. They put leeches on him, and with a weak hand he convulsively tried to brush away the clusters of black worms that were clinging to his nostrils. But how could one think of a worse torture for a person who had felt disgust all his life in front of everything creeping and slimy? “Remove the leeches, lift the leeches from your mouth,” Gogol groaned and pleaded. In vain. He was not allowed to do so.

A few days later the writer was gone.

Gogol's ashes were buried at noon on February 24, 1852 by parish priest Alexei Sokolov and deacon John Pushkin. And after 79 years, he was secretly, thievishly removed from the grave: the Danilov Monastery was being transformed into a colony for juvenile delinquents, in connection with which its necropolis was subject to liquidation. It was decided to transfer only a few of the most dear to the Russian heart burials to the old cemetery of the Novodevichy Convent. Among these lucky ones, along with Yazykov, Aksakovs and Khomyakovs, was Gogol ...

On May 31, 1931, twenty to thirty people gathered at Gogol's grave, among whom were: historian M. Baranovskaya, writers Vs. Ivanov, V. Lugovskoy, Yu. Olesha, M. Svetlov, V. Lidin and others. It was Lidin who became almost the only source of information about the reburial of Gogol. With his light hand, terrible legends about Gogol began to walk around Moscow.

The coffin was not found right away, - he told the students of the Literary Institute, - for some reason it turned out not to be where they were digging, but somewhat at a distance, to the side. And when they pulled it out of the ground - flooded with lime, seemingly strong, from oak boards - and opened it, bewilderment was added to the heart trembling of those present. In the coffin lay a skeleton with a skull turned to one side. No one has found an explanation for this. Someone superstitious, probably, then thought: “Well, after all, the publican - during his lifetime, as if not alive, and after death not dead, this strange great man.”

Lidin's stories stirred up old rumors that Gogol was afraid of being buried alive in a state of lethargic sleep and, seven years before his death, bequeathed:

“Do not bury my body until there are clear signs of decomposition. I mention this because even during the illness itself, moments of vital numbness came over me, my heart and pulse stopped beating.

What the exhumers saw in 1931 seemed to indicate that Gogol's testament had not been fulfilled, that he was buried in a lethargic state, he woke up in a coffin and experienced nightmarish minutes of a new death...

In fairness, it must be said that Lidin's version did not inspire confidence. Sculptor N. Ramazanov, who took off Gogol's death mask, recalled: "I did not suddenly decide to take off the mask, but the prepared coffin ... finally, the incessantly arriving crowd of people who wanted to say goodbye to the dear deceased forced me and my old man, who pointed out the traces of destruction, to hurry ... "Found my own an explanation for the rotation of the skull: the side boards at the coffin were the first to rot, the lid falls under the weight of the soil, presses on the dead man’s head, and it turns to its side on the so-called “Atlantean vertebra”.

Then Lidin launched a new version. In his written memoirs of the exhumation, he told a new story, even more terrible and mysterious than his oral stories. “This is what Gogol's ashes were like,” he wrote, “there was no skull in the coffin, and Gogol's remains began with the cervical vertebrae; the entire skeleton of the skeleton was enclosed in a well-preserved tobacco-colored frock coat ... When and under what circumstances Gogol's skull disappeared remains a mystery. At the beginning of the opening of the grave at a shallow depth, much higher than the crypt with a walled coffin, a skull was found, but archaeologists recognized it as belonging to a young man.

This new invention of Lidin required new hypotheses. When could Gogol's skull disappear from the coffin? Who could need it? And what kind of fuss is raised around the remains of the great writer?

They remembered that in 1908, when a heavy stone was installed on the grave, a brick crypt had to be erected over the coffin to strengthen the foundation. It was then that the mysterious intruders could steal the writer's skull. As for interested parties, it was not without reason that rumors circulated around Moscow that the skulls of Shchepkin and Gogol were secretly kept in the unique collection of A. A. Bakhrushin, a passionate collector of theatrical relics ...

And Lidin, inexhaustible in inventions, amazed the listeners with new sensational details: they say, when the ashes of the writer were taken from the Danilov Monastery to Novodevichy, some of those present at the reburial could not resist and took some relics for themselves as a keepsake. One allegedly pulled off Gogol's rib, the other - the tibia, the third - the boot. Lidin himself even showed the guests a volume of a lifetime edition of Gogol's works, in the binding of which he inserted a piece of fabric, torn off by him from the coat of Gogol, who was lying in the coffin.

In his will, Gogol shamed those who "will be attracted by some kind of attention to rotting dust, which is no longer mine." But the windy descendants were not ashamed, violated the writer's testament, with unclean hands began to stir up "rotting dust" for fun. They did not respect his covenant not to erect any monument on his grave.

The Aksakovs brought to Moscow from the Black Sea coast a stone shaped like Golgotha, the hill on which Jesus Christ was crucified. This stone became the basis for the cross on the grave of Gogol. Next to him, a black stone in the form of a truncated pyramid with inscriptions on the edges was installed on the grave.

The day before the opening of the Gogol burial, these stones and the cross were taken away somewhere and sunk into oblivion. It was not until the early 1950s that Mikhail Bulgakov's widow accidentally discovered Gogol's Golgotha ​​stone in a cutters' shed and managed to install it on the grave of her husband, the creator of The Master and Margarita.

No less mysterious and mystical is the fate of the Moscow monuments to Gogol. The idea of ​​the need for such a monument was born in 1880 during the celebrations for the opening of the monument to Pushkin on Tverskoy Boulevard. And 29 years later, on the centenary of the birth of Nikolai Vasilyevich on April 26, 1909, a monument created by the sculptor N. Andreev was opened on Prechistensky Boulevard. This sculpture, depicting a deeply dejected Gogol at the moment of his heavy thoughts, caused mixed reviews. Some enthusiastically praised her, others furiously condemned her. But everyone agreed: Andreev managed to create a work of the highest artistic merit.

Disputes around the original author's interpretation of the image of Gogol did not continue to subside even in Soviet times, which could not bear the spirit of decline and despondency even among the great writers of the past. Socialist Moscow needed a different Gogol - clear, bright, calm. Not Gogol of Selected Places from Correspondence with Friends, but Gogol of Taras Bulba, The Government Inspector, Dead Souls.

In 1935, the All-Union Committee for Arts under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR announced a competition for a new monument to Gogol in Moscow, which marked the beginning of developments interrupted by the Great Patriotic War. She slowed down, but did not stop these works, in which the largest masters of sculpture participated - M. Manizer, S. Merkurov, E. Vuchetich, N. Tomsky.

In 1952, on the centennial anniversary of Gogol's death, a new monument was erected on the site of the Andreevsky monument, created by the sculptor N. Tomsky and the architect S. Golubovsky. The Andreevsky monument was moved to the territory of the Donskoy Monastery, where it stood until 1959, when, at the request of the USSR Ministry of Culture, it was installed in front of Tolstoy's house on Nikitsky Boulevard, where Nikolai Vasilyevich lived and died. It took Andreev's creation seven years to cross the Arbat Square!

The controversy surrounding the Moscow monuments to Gogol continues even now. Some Muscovites are inclined to see the transfer of monuments as a manifestation of Soviet totalitarianism and party dictates. But everything that is done is done for the better, and Moscow today has not one, but two monuments to Gogol, equally precious for Russia in moments of both decline and enlightenment of the spirit.

IT LOOKS LIKE GOGOL WAS ACCIDENTALLY POISONED BY DOCTORS!

Although the gloomy mystical halo around Gogol's personality was largely generated by the blasphemous destruction of his grave and the absurd inventions of the irresponsible Lidin, much remains mysterious in the circumstances of his illness and death.

Indeed, from what could a relatively young 42-year-old writer die?

Khomyakov put forward the first version, according to which the root cause of death was a severe mental shock experienced by Gogol due to the fleeting death of Khomyakov's wife Ekaterina Mikhailovna. “Since then, he has been in some kind of nervous breakdown, which took on the character of religious insanity,” Khomyakov recalled. “He talked and began to starve himself, reproaching himself for gluttony.”

This version seems to be confirmed by the testimonies of people who saw what effect the accusatory conversations of Father Matthew Konstantinovsky had on Gogol. It was he who demanded that Nikolai Vasilievich observe a strict fast, demanded from him special zeal in fulfilling the harsh instructions of the church, reproached both Gogol himself and Pushkin, whom Gogol revered, for their sinfulness and paganism. The denunciations of the eloquent priest shocked Nikolai Vasilievich so much that one day, interrupting Father Matthew, he literally groaned: “Enough! Leave, I can’t listen any longer, it’s too scary!” Tertiy Filippov, a witness to these conversations, was convinced that Father Matthew's sermons set Gogol in a pessimistic mood, convinced him of the inevitability of imminent death.

And yet there is no reason to believe that Gogol has gone mad. An unwitting witness to the last hours of Nikolai Vasilyevich's life was the yard man of a Simbirsk landowner, paramedic Zaitsev, who in his memoirs noted that the day before his death Gogol was in a clear memory and sound mind. Having calmed down after the “therapeutic” tortures, he had a friendly conversation with Zaitsev, asked about his life, even made corrections in the poems written by Zaitsev on the death of his mother.

The version that Gogol died of starvation is not confirmed either. An adult healthy person can do without food for 30-40 days. Gogol, on the other hand, fasted for only 17 days, and even then he did not completely refuse food ...

But if not from madness and hunger, then could some infectious disease cause death? In Moscow in the winter of 1852, an epidemic of typhoid fever raged, from which, by the way, Khomyakova died. That is why Inozemtsev, at the first examination, suspected that the writer had typhus. But a week later, a council of doctors, convened by Count Tolstoy, announced that Gogol did not have typhus, but meningitis, and prescribed that strange course of treatment, which cannot be called anything other than "torture" ...

In 1902, Dr. N. Bazhenov published a small work, Gogol's Illness and Death. After carefully analyzing the symptoms described in the memoirs of the writer's acquaintances and the doctors who treated him, Bazhenov came to the conclusion that it was precisely this wrong, weakening treatment for meningitis that killed the writer, which in fact did not exist.

It seems that Bazhenov is only partly right. The treatment prescribed by the council, applied when Gogol was already hopeless, aggravated his suffering, but was not the cause of the disease itself, which began much earlier. In his notes, Dr. Tarasenkov, who first examined Gogol on February 16, described the symptoms of the disease as follows: “... the pulse was weakened, the tongue was clean, but dry; the skin had a natural warmth. For all reasons, it was clear that he did not have a feverish condition ... once he had a slight nosebleed, complained that his hands were cold, his urine was thick, dark-colored ... ".

One can only regret that Bazhenov, when writing his work, did not think of consulting a toxicologist. After all, the symptoms of Gogol's disease described by him are practically indistinguishable from the symptoms of chronic poisoning with mercury - the main component of the very calomel that everyone who started the treatment of Aesculapius stuffed Gogol with. In fact, in chronic calomel poisoning, thick dark urine and various kinds of bleeding are possible, more often gastric, but sometimes nasal. A weak pulse could be a consequence of both the weakening of the body from burnishing, and the result of the action of calomel. Many noted that throughout his illness, Gogol often asked for water: thirst is one of the characteristics and signs of chronic poisoning.

In all likelihood, the start of the fatal chain of events was an upset stomach and that "too strong effect of the medicine" about which Gogol complained to Shevyrev on February 5. Since gastric disorders were then treated with calomel, it is possible that the medicine prescribed for him was calomel and prescribed it by Inozemtsev, who, a few days later, fell ill himself and stopped observing the patient. The writer passed into the hands of Tarasenkov, who, not knowing that Gogol had already taken a dangerous medicine, could prescribe him calomel again. For the third time, Gogol received calomel from Klimenkov.

The peculiarity of calomel is that it does not cause harm only if it is relatively quickly excreted from the body through the intestines. If it lingers in the stomach, then after a while it begins to act as the strongest mercury poison of sublimate. This, apparently, happened to Gogol: significant doses of the calomel he took were not excreted from the stomach, since the writer was fasting at that time and there was simply no food in his stomach. The amount of calomel gradually increasing in his stomach caused chronic poisoning, and the weakening of the body from malnutrition, discouragement and Klimenkov's barbaric treatment only accelerated death ...

It would be easy to test this hypothesis by examining modern means analysis of the mercury content in the remains. But let us not be like the blasphemous exhumers of the year 1931, and for the sake of idle curiosity we will not disturb the ashes of the great writer a second time, we will not again throw off the tombstones from his grave and move his monuments from place to place. Everything connected with the memory of Gogol, let it be preserved forever and stand in one place!

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