Nikolai Gogol

Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol ({{lang-ru|???????? ??????????? ???????}}) (March 31, 1809 - March 4, 1852) was a Ukrainian-born Russian writer. Although many of his works were influenced by his Ukrainian heritage and upbringing, he wrote in Russian and his works belong to the tradition of Russian literature. Perhaps his best known work is Dead Souls, seen by many as the first "modern" Russian novel.

Related Topics:
March 31 - 1809 - March 4 - 1852 - Ukrainian - Russian writer - Ukrainian - Russian - Russian literature - Dead Souls - Modern

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Gogol was born in Sorochintsi of Poltava Guberniya (now Ukraine) to the family of Ukrainian (or rather Ruthenian) small-time nobility (dvoryanstvo). Some of his ancestors associated themselves with Polish Szlachta (probably not by ethnicity but culturally, due to the continued polonization of Ruthenian upper class) and his grand-father Afanasiy Gogol wrote in census papers that "his ancestors, of the family-name Gogol, are of the Polish nation". However, his great-grandfather, Jan Gogol, after studying in Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, a deeply Ukrainian, or Ruthenian, and Orthodox Christian educational institution, moved to the Muscovy leaning Left-bank Ukraine (Malorossia) and settled in Poltava region, originating the Gogol-Janovsky family line. Gogol himself did not use the second part of his name considering it an "artificial Polish addition". Gogol's father died when the boy was 15 years old. The deep religiosity of his mother have likely influenced Gogol's world view as well as the time he spent in the mixed surrounding of local small-time nobility and everyday village life.

Related Topics:
Sorochintsi - Poltava - Guberniya - Ukraine - Ruthenia - Dvoryanstvo - Polish - Szlachta - Polonization - Great-grandfather - Kyiv-Mohyla Academy - Orthodox Christian - Muscovy - Left-bank Ukraine - Malorossia

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He moved to Saint Petersburg in 1828. In 1831, he met Aleksandr Pushkin, who supported him as a writer and became his friend. He later taught history at Saint Petersburg University from 1834 to 1835. He went on to write a number of short stories set in Saint Petersburg, including "Nevsky Prospekt", the Diary of a Madman, "The Overcoat", and "The Nose" (which was later turned into an opera by Dmitri Shostakovich). However, it was his farce The Inspector General, produced in 1836, which first drew him to the public attention as a writer. Its satirical tone, which it shares with much of his other work, caused some controversy, and Gogol fled to Rome.

Related Topics:
Saint Petersburg - Aleksandr Pushkin - History - Saint Petersburg University - Short stories - Nevsky Prospekt - Diary of a Madman - The Overcoat - The Nose - Opera - Dmitri Shostakovich - Farce - The Inspector General - Satirical - Rome

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Gogol spent almost 5 years living abroad in Germany and Italy. It was in this period that he wrote Dead Souls, with the first part published in 1842. (Gogol asked Pushkin for ideas about essential Russian stories; in response, Pushkin suggested the basic idea of Dead Souls.) In 1848 Gogol who became deeply influenced by Orthodox Christianity made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. After his return, under the influence of the priest, Father Konstantinovskii, he renounced literature in favour of religion. He burnt what he had written of the second part of Dead Souls ten days before he died on March 4, 1852 in Moscow. Some fragments of the work survived and have been published.

Related Topics:
Dead Souls - 1842 - Orthodox Christianity - Jerusalem - Priest - Literature

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He was buried at the Donskoy Monastery, close to his fellow Slavophile Aleksey Khomyakov. In 1931, when Moscow authorities decided to demolish the monastery, his remains were transferred to the Novodevichy Cemetery. His body was discovered lying face down, which gave rise to the story that Gogol had been buried alive. One of Soviet critics even cut a part of his jacket to use as a binding for his copy of the Dead Souls. A piece of rock which used to stand on his grave at the Donskoy was reused for the tomb of Gogol's admirer Mikhail Bulgakov.

Related Topics:
Donskoy Monastery - Slavophile - Aleksey Khomyakov - 1931 - Moscow - Novodevichy Cemetery - Mikhail Bulgakov

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