Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol
Yuri Aramovich Avakyan
DEAD SOULS
Poem
To the reader
Dear friend!
The book you are holding in your hands now is the book of extraordinary Destiny. On the night of Tuesday from February 11 to 12, 1852, the fire destroyed the pages of the manuscript of the second volume of "Dead Souls", turning the paper on which it was written into ashes, and the contents of the manuscript into a secret that has occupied more than one generation of readers for more than 140 years. and researchers of the work of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol.
Only the first chapter of the manuscript, part of the second chapter, the third chapter, and fragments of the fourth and final chapters, of which there should have been eleven, survived in the fire. Of course, the remaining parts of the ingenious text made it possible to speculate about what exactly should have happened on the pages of the second volume of the poem, as well as the memoirs of contemporaries who were lucky enough to be present when Nikolai Vasilyevich read individual chapters of the volume he was preparing for publication, but nevertheless less it was a Loss, irreparable and bitter. Loss equal to tragedy, equal to catastrophe, for the world art culture lost in that distant winter night one of its outstanding monuments.
Therefore, we faced an unusually difficult task - to recreate the text of the second volume of "Dead Souls", carefully preserving both the style and language of the author. immortal work; making the most of fragments original text, those that Providence has preserved for us and relying, as far as possible, on the memoirs of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol's friends.
Today we can say that the book has been recreated. Seven of its chapters have been rewritten, those that fire did not spare at one time, the missing fragments of the second, fourth and final eleventh chapter have been completed, and Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov is again ready to meet you, dear reader. We hope that this meeting will bring you joy, as it brought joy to us, because this book is a tribute to our immense admiration for the work of a great Man, admiration for his memory and our dream come true.
Yuri Avakyan
CHAPTER FIRST
Why, then, portray poverty, yes poverty, and the imperfection of our life, digging people out of the wilderness, from the remote nooks and crannies of the state? What to do if the writer is already of such a nature, and, having fallen ill with his own imperfection, he can no longer depict anything else but poverty, and poverty, and the imperfection of our life, digging people out of the wilderness, from the remote back streets of the state. And here again we got into the wilderness, again we stumbled upon a nook and cranny.
But what a wilderness and what a nook!
Like a gigantic rampart of some endless fortress, with corners and loopholes, the mountain elevations meandered for more than a thousand versts. They rose magnificently over the endless expanses of the plains, now broken, in the form of sheer walls, of a calcareous-clay property, striated with grooves and ruts, then pretty round green bulges, covered, like lambs, with young shrubs rising from cut down trees, then, finally, dark thick forests, miraculously still surviving from the ax. The river, true to its banks, gave knees and turns along with them, then went away into the meadows, then, twisting there in several twists, flash like fire before the sun, hide in the groves of birches, aspens and alders and run out from there. in triumph, accompanied by bridges, mills and dams, as if chasing her at every turn.
In one place the steep side of the hills retracted thicker into the green curls of the trees. By artificial plantation, due to the unevenness of the mountainous ravine, the north and south of the vegetable kingdom came together here. Oak, spruce, wood pear, maple, cherry and blackthorn, chiliga and mountain ash, entangled in hops, then helping a friend<другу>in growth, then drowning each other, climbed all over the mountain, from bottom to top. At the top, at its very crown, the red covers of the master's buildings, the ridges and ridges behind the hidden huts, the upper superstructure were mixed with their green tops. master's house with a carved balcony and a large semicircular window. And above all this collection of trees and roofs, the old village church towered above all with its five gilded, playful tops. On all its heads stood gold cut crosses, approved by gold cut chains, so that from afar it seemed that gold was hanging in the air, unsupported by anything, sparkling with hot gold coins. And all this, in an overturned form, tops, covers, crosses down, was nicely reflected in the river, where ugly hollow willows, some standing near the banks, others completely in the water, lowering their branches and leaves there, just as they looked at this wonderful image, where only their slimy bodyaga with floating bright green of yellow jugs did not interfere.
The view was very good, but the top down view from the top of the house in the distance was even better. No guest or visitor could stand indifferently on the balcony. He was breathless with amazement, and he only cried out: “Lord, how spacious it is here!” Spaces opened without end, without limits. Behind the meadows, dotted with groves and watermills, forests grew green in several green belts; behind the forests, through the air, which was already beginning to become hazy, the sands turned yellow - and again the forests, already blue, like seas or fog that spread far; and again the sands, even paler, but still turning yellow. In the distant sky, chalk mountains lay like a crest, shining white even in rainy times, as if illuminated by the eternal sun. On their dazzling whiteness, at the soles, in places flashed, as it were, smoking misty gray spots. These were remote villages; but I couldn't see them human eye. Only the spark of the golden church dome flaring up in the sunlight made it clear that it was a crowded place. big village. All this was clothed in unperturbed silence, which was not awakened even by the echoes of aerial singers that were barely reaching the ear, disappearing in the spaces. The guest, who was standing on the balcony, and after some two hours of contemplation, could not utter anything else, as soon as: “Lord, how spacious it is here!”
Who was the tenant and owner of this village, to which, as to an impregnable fortress, it was impossible to drive up from here, but it was necessary to drive up from the other side, where scattered oaks greeted the approaching guest affably, placing wide open branches, like a friendly embrace, and seeing off it to the face of that very house, whose top we saw from behind and which now stood all there, having on one side a row of huts, showing skates and carved combs, and on the other, a church, shining with gold crosses and gold cut designs of chains hanging in the air? Which lucky man belonged to this nook?
To the landowner of the Tremalakhani district, Andrey Ivanovich Tentetnikov, a young thirty-three-year-old lucky man and, moreover, an unmarried man.
Who is he, what is he, what qualities, what properties is a person? Neighbors, readers, neighbors should be asked. The neighbor, who belonged to the surname of the dexterous, now completely disappearing, retired staff officers of the firewalls, spoke of him with the expression: "The most natural cattle!" The general, who lived ten miles away, said: “The young man is not stupid, but he took a lot into his head. I could be useful to him, because I have connections in St. Petersburg, and even with ... ”- the general did not finish his speech. The police captain gave such a turn to the answer: “[But the chink on it is rubbish] - but I’m going to him tomorrow for arrears!” The peasant of his village did not answer the question about what kind of master they had. Therefore, the opinion about him was unfavorable.
It is fair to say that he was not bad man, he's just a smoker of the sky. Since there are already quite a few people in the world who smoke the sky, why shouldn't Tentetnikov also smoke it? However, here is a day from his life, completely similar to all others, and let the reader judge for himself what character he had and how his life corresponded to the beauties that surrounded him.
The last four years of his life Gogol lived in Moscow, in a house on Nikitsky Boulevard. It was there, according to legend, that he burned the second volume of Dead Souls. The house belonged to Count A....
The last four years of his life Gogol lived in Moscow, in a house on Nikitsky Boulevard. It was there, according to legend, that he burned the second volume of Dead Souls. The house belonged to Count A.P. Tolstoy, who sheltered the eternally unsettled and lonely writer and did everything to make him feel free and comfortable.
Gogol was taken care of like a child: lunches, breakfasts and dinners were served wherever and whenever he pleased, clothes were washed and even the laundry was laid out on chests of drawers. With him, except domestic servants, was a young Little Russian Semyon, quick and devoted. In the wing where the writer lived, there was always an unusual silence. He walked from corner to corner, sat, wrote or rolled bread balls, which, as he said, helped him focus and solve complex problems. But, despite the favorable conditions for life and creativity, the last, strange drama in Gogol's life broke out in the house on Nikitsky Boulevard.
Many of those who personally knew Nikolai Vasilyevich considered him a secretive and mysterious person. Even friends and admirers of his talent noted that he was prone to slyness, deceit and hoaxes. And at the request of Gogol himself to speak about him as a person, his devoted friend Pletnev replied: “A secretive, selfish, arrogant, distrustful creature and sacrifices everything for glory ...”
Gogol lived by his creativity, for the sake of it he doomed himself to poverty. All his possessions were limited to "the smallest suitcase." The second volume of Dead Souls, main work the life of the writer, the result of his religious quest, was to be completed soon. It was a work in which he put the whole truth about Russia, all his love for her. “My work is great, my feat is saving!” Gogol said to his friends. However, a turning point came in the life of the writer ...
It all started in January 1852, when E. Khomyakova, the wife of Gogol's friend, died. He considered her worthy woman. And after her death, he confessed to his confessor, Archpriest Matthew (Konstantinovsky): “The fear of death came upon me.” From that moment on, Nikolai Vasilievich constantly thought about death, complained of a breakdown. All the same Father Matthew demanded that he leave literary works and finally think about your spiritual state, moderate your appetite and start fasting. Nikolai Vasilyevich, listening to the advice of his confessor, began to fast, although he did not lose his usual appetite, therefore he suffered from a lack of food, prayed at night, and slept little.
From the point of view of modern psychiatry, it can be assumed that Gogol had a psychoneurosis. Whether the death of Khomyakova had such a strong effect on him, or whether there was some other reason for the development of a neurosis in the writer, is unknown. But it is known that in childhood Gogol had seizures, which were accompanied by melancholy and depression, so strong that he once said: “To hang myself or drown seemed to me like some kind of medicine and relief.” And in 1845, in a letter to N. M. Yazykov, Gogol wrote: “My health has become rather poor ... Nervous anxious anxiety and different signs perfect unsticking all over the body frighten me myself.
It is possible that exactly the same “sticking up” prompted Nikolai Vasilyevich to commit the strangest act in his biography. On the night of February 11-12, 1852, he called Semyon to him and ordered to bring a briefcase in which notebooks with the continuation of Dead Souls were kept. Under the pleas of the servant not to destroy the manuscript, Gogol put the notebooks in the fireplace and set fire to them with a candle, and Semyon said: “None of your business! Pray!
In the morning, Gogol, apparently himself struck by his impulse, said to Count Tolstoy: “That's what I did! I wanted to burn some things that had been prepared for a long time, but I burned everything. How strong the evil one is - that's what he moved me to! And I understood and explained a lot of useful things there ... I thought to send it to my friends as a keepsake from a notebook: let them do what they wanted. Now it's all gone."
Mystery classic
According to Bak, Gogol's legacy has been studied for the most part, and in this, the professor noted, a great contribution scientists XIX century, for example, Nikolai Tikhonravov, who commented on all the main works of the writer. But, the interlocutor of the agency emphasized, there are still many secrets connected with the life and work of Gogol, for example, the secret of the second volume of Dead Souls.
“It is known that before his death, Gogol burned the manuscript of the second volume of Dead Souls, with the exception of a few initial chapters. But this work has such a powerful energy, it is so clear what intention it carried in itself, that one can say that it exists,” Bak said. "This volume, unlike the first one, should be devoted to the bright sides of life in Russia. It is possible that someday we will find other fragments of it that may lie in the archives."
But main secret Gogol, not even the burnt manuscript of the second volume. The most significant thing, according to Buck, is that the writer's works are inexhaustible, they are "multi-interpreted", therefore each new generation reads them in its own way, discovering unexpected meanings.
For example, for obvious reasons, Soviet time insufficient attention was paid to the religiosity of Gogol himself and the doctrinal problems in his work. And there is still a lot of work to be done, - said Buck.
He also said that, in addition to the writer's gift, Gogol had the talent of a comic actor, and was famous for his acting. Also created special labor about church services - "Meditation on the Divine Liturgy".
Gogol always looked very intently into the world. "He strove for a thorough knowledge of everything that was mentioned in his books, whether it was the events of the historical past or the Little Russian folk legends. In letters to his relatives, he always asked them to inform him folk omens, songs, details of everyday life," the professor added.
According to Bak, the accuracy and concreteness of details in Gogol's works is simply amazing. "Everything is important for him - what is the name of the grass growing at the threshold, the names of clothes, utensils, and so on. A small dictionary is attached to "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka", where Gogol explains some Little Russian concepts," the professor emphasized.
Appearance of Christ
Dmitry Bak emphasized a little-known, but important detail: on famous painting Alexandra Ivanova "The Appearance of the Messiah" (or "The Appearance of Christ to the People") - Gogol is depicted in the guise of one of the characters. "Among those who hopefully fixed their eyes on the approaching Christ, there is a man standing half-turned to the Messiah, in a scarlet robe, he stands out from the crowd with his prophetic burning gaze. The portrait resemblance to Gogol is obvious, "said the professor.
According to him, Gogol met Alexander Ivanov in Italy, where the writer lived long years. The artist subtly felt and depicted in the picture Gogol's "chosenness", which the writer himself was keenly worried about.
“Contemporaries often reproached Gogol for pride, especially after the publication of the book “Selected passages from correspondence with friends” in 1847. The writer was convinced that all of Russia should hear his voice and be transformed from his books. He saw the point in this of his life and work, perceived his writing as a kind of messianism," said Buck.
In fact, Gogol bequeathed to bury him only after clear signs smoldering, because sometimes he fell into a lethargic state. But all the talk about whether Gogol turned over in his grave, or not, is just idle gossip of the townsfolk.
"The writer has experienced a terrible emotional tragedy which led him to his death. Contrary to their own call for moral preaching, for the image eternal values, the bright sides of life, he could not from satirical image Russia in the first volume of his great poem move to the positive image. The second volume of "Dead Souls" was burned, and with it the life of Pushkin's great heir was burned," Bak added.
Most of the people whose profession is the study of literature, in particular, Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol, agree that on the night of about February 11-12, a hundred and fifty years ago, the great Ukrainian classic burned the second volume of his work under the slightly creepy title " Dead Souls". Why did he do this and why did Gogol burn the second volume?
A wide variety of opinions and conjectures - why Gogol burned the "dead souls"
There are several points of view on what happened that winter night. The first says that there was no second volume initially, something else was burned, some drafts, manuscripts, possibly left after the first volume. The second was originally a fiction.
Others believe that the second volume of the novel really burned in the fireplace, but this was nothing more than an unfortunate accident. And although another classic, Bulgakov, said that manuscripts do not burn, in reality it turned out differently. Nikolai Vasilievich had no choice but to reconcile himself and accept this as a fate. Creative people are known to be superstitious.
There are also such literary scholars who believe that the idea of the second and subsequent, third volume was so grandiose that it was simply impossible to realize it, as a result, the writer burned all his attempts in his hearts. But there was no finished second volume. He could not positively regenerate the main character - Chichikov.
Now the opinion is becoming more and more widespread that already at the time of writing the second volume, Gogol simply stopped admiring Ukraine, which was then called Little Russia, as well as the Cossacks. Consequently, the source of inspiration for the second volume disappeared, and the writer destroyed the miserable attempts, realizing that he would not write anything of the road. But such an assumption is not based on anything concrete, there is not a single fact indicating that Nikolai Gogol did not love his homeland literally to the last breath.
Mystics generally consider the work itself to be a satanic book, therefore, they say, the writer paid for such a name, what is the second volume, when dark forces intervened. But this fiction is as far from the truth as the previous assumption. The fact is that according to the plot there was nothing magical, just like there was nothing mystical, it was about the most ordinary hack-work of officials. They passed off the dead as the living.
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On May 21, 1842, the first volume of Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol was published. The mystery of the second part of the great work, destroyed by the writer, still worries the minds of literary critics and ordinary readers. Why did Gogol burn the manuscript? And did she exist at all? TV channel "Moscow Trust" prepared a special report.
That night he again could not sleep, he again and again paced his office in a cozy outbuilding of an old city estate on Nikitsky Boulevard. He tried to pray, lay down again, but could not close his eyes for a second. A chilly February dawn was already dawning outside the windows, when he took a battered briefcase out of the closet, pulled out a plump manuscript tied with twine, held it in his hands for a few seconds, and then resolutely threw the papers into the fireplace.
What happened on the night of February 11-12, 1852 in the mansion of Count Alexander Tolstoy? Why did Gogol, who gained fame as a great writer during his lifetime, decide to destroy, perhaps, the main work of his life? And how is it related tragic event in Russian literature with death, which doctors will fix 10 days later here, next to the fireplace, the flame of which consumed the second volume of the poem "Dead Souls"?
Count Alexander Tolstoy acquired this mansion after the death of its former owner, Major General Alexander Talyzin, a veteran of the war against Napoleon. Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol ended up here in 1847, when he returned to Russia from long-distance wanderings. "He was a traveler: stations, changing horses, he pondered many of his stories on the road. And always, as a creative person, he is looking for communication, in particular with his friends. And regularly one of his friends invited him to his place, to live in Moscow invited Tolstoy, with whom he had been in correspondence until that time, "- says the director of the House N.V. Gogol Vera Vikulova.
The second volume of Dead Souls may have been nearly completed by this point, with only the last few chapters to be edited.
House number 7 on Suvorovsky (Nikitsky) Boulevard, where the great Russian writer N.V. Gogol lived and died. Photo: ITAR-TASS
From the windows of the estate, Nikolai Vasilievich watched his beloved Moscow. Since then, of course, Moscow has changed a lot. The city was completely rural. There was a crane-well in the courtyard of the house, frogs croaked under the windows.
In the estate, the writer was a welcome and honored guest, he was given a whole wing, the main room of which was the office.
As the chief custodian of the House N.V. Gogol, here he lived on everything ready: tea was served to him at any moment, fresh linen, lunch, dinner - there were no worries, all conditions were created for him to work here on the second volume of Dead Souls.
So what happened at dawn on February 12, 1852? What secret does this office keep in house number 7A on Nikitsky Boulevard? Researchers to this day put forward the most different versions: from Gogol's madness to the crisis he is experiencing.
Gogol treated everyday life and comfort without special interest just like everything material. A small couch, a mirror, a bed behind a screen, a desk where he worked. Gogol always wrote standing up, worked carefully over each phrase and sometimes painfully long. Of course, this sacrament required a fair amount of paper. The manuscripts show that Gogol was very demanding of himself and said that "my business is not literature, my business is the soul."
Gogol was a merciless critic, and he made the highest, uncompromising demands, first of all, on himself. “Up to seven times he rewrote each chapter, he filigree cleaned up the text so that it would fit well on the ear and at the same time his idea would be interesting to the reader,” says the art manager of the House N.V. Gogol Larisa Kosareva.
The final edition of the second volume of Dead Souls is by no means Gogol's first work to die in a fire. The first he burned while still in the gymnasium. Arriving in St. Petersburg because of criticism of the poem "Hanz Kühelgarten", he buys and burns all copies. He also burns the second volume of Dead Souls, for the first time in 1845.
Reproduction of the painting "N.V. Gogol listening to a folk musician-kobza player near his house", 1949
This is the first version - perfectionism. Gogol also destroyed the next edition of the second volume of Dead Souls, because he simply did not like it.
The writer Vladislav Otroshenko believes that one can get closer to unraveling the mystery of the fireplace in the mansion on Nikitsky Boulevard only by thoroughly studying the character traits of the great writer, including those that even contemporaries were at least perplexed, especially in last years Gogol's life. In the middle of a conversation, he could suddenly say: "Okay, that's it, we'll talk later," lie down on the sofa and turn to the wall. The manner of his communication irritated many of his friends and relatives.
One of Gogol's most inexplicable habits is his penchant for hoaxes. Even in the most innocent situations, he often did not finish speaking, misled the interlocutor, or even lied at all. Vladislav Otroshenko wrote: “Gogol said: “You should never tell the truth. If you're going to Rome, say you're going to Kaluga, if you're going to Kaluga, say you're going to Rome." This nature of Gogol's deceit remains incomprehensible both for literary critics and for those who study Gogol's biography."
Nikolai Vasilyevich also had a special relationship with his own passport: every time he crossed the border of a state, he categorically refused to show the document to the border service. For example, they stopped a stagecoach, they said: "You must show your passport." Gogol turns away and pretends not to understand what he is being told. And friends are at a loss, they say: "They won't let us through." Then, in the end, he starts rummaging, as if looking for a passport, but everyone knows who is traveling with him, that the passport is in his pocket.
"He wrote letters, for example, to his mother, who is now in Trieste, sees beautiful waves mediterranean sea, enjoys the views, describes Trieste in detail to her. He not only wrote her a letter signed "Trieste" (written, in fact, in the estate of his friend, historian Mikhail Pogodin, in Moscow on the Maiden's Field), he also drew a stamp of Trieste on the letter. He carefully deduced it in such a way that it was impossible to distinguish it," says Vladislav Otroshenko, who has been writing a book about Gogol for five years.
So, version two: the burning of the second volume of "Dead Souls" was another eccentric trick of a genius who did so much for Russian literature that he could afford almost everything. He knew very well that he was popular among his contemporaries and that he was the No. 1 writer.
Etching "Gogol reads The Government Inspector" to the writers and artists of the Maly Theatre, 1959. Photo: ITAR-TASS
It is also surprising that even before the advent of the era of photography, Gogol was known by sight. An ordinary walk along your favorite Moscow boulevards turned almost into a spy detective. The students of Moscow University, knowing that Gogol likes to walk along Nikitsky and Tverskoy boulevards in the afternoon, left the lectures with the words: "We are going to look at Gogol." According to the memoirs, the writer was not tall, about 1.65 meters, he often wrapped himself in an overcoat, maybe from the cold, or maybe to be less recognized.
Gogol had a great many admirers, they not only took for granted any oddities of their idol, but were also ready to indulge him in everything. Bread balls, which the writer had a habit of rolling, thinking about something, became the object of desire for collectors, fans constantly followed Gogol and picked up balls, kept them as relics.
Director Kirill Serebrennikov has his own view of Gogol's work. He is ready to pose the question even more radically: did the second volume of "Dead Souls" exist at all? Maybe the brilliant hoaxer tricked everyone here?
Specialists who thoroughly study the life and work of Gogol partly agree with the version of the radical director. great writer was ready to mystify anything.
Once, when Gogol was visiting Sergei Aksakov, he was visited by close friend, actor Mikhail Shchepkin. The writer enthusiastically told the guest that he had finished the second volume of Dead Souls. One can only guess how delighted Shchepkin was: he was the first to be lucky enough to find out that the grandiose plan was completed. Final of this strange story did not take long to wait: the orderly Moscow company, which usually gathered at Aksakov's, had just sat down at the dinner table. Shchepkin gets up with a glass of wine and says: “Gentlemen, congratulate Nikolai Vasilyevich, he finished the second volume of Dead Souls.” And then Gogol jumps up and says: “Who did you hear this from?” Shchepkin replies: “Yes, from you, today in the morning you told me. " To which Gogol reacted: "You overate henbane, or you dreamed." The guests laughed: indeed, Shchepkin came up with something there.
Acting attracted Gogol with an almost irresistible force: before writing down something, Gogol played it out in their faces. And surprisingly, there were no guests, Gogol was alone, but they sounded completely different voices, male, female, Gogol was a brilliant actor.
Once, already being quite famous writer, he even tried to get a job in Alexandrinsky Theater. At the audition, Gogol received an offer only to call the audience and arrange chairs. It is interesting that already a couple of months after this interview, the head of the troupe was instructed to prepare Gogol's "Inspector General".
Gogol's wanderlust became one of the topics interactive tour, which takes place every day in the house-museum on Nikitsky Boulevard. Visitors are greeted by an old travel chest, the impression is enhanced by the sounds of the road coming from its bowels.
As you know, Gogol was more often in Europe than in Russia. Actually, he wrote the first volume of "Dead Souls" in Italy, in which he spent total 12 years old and which he called his second home. It was from Rome that a letter once arrived that made Gogol's friends seriously alert. One gets the feeling that Gogol in his life begins to play out the story with the nose of Major Kovalev. As the nose separated from Major Kovalev and began to walk on its own, so it is here. Gogol wrote in his letters that it was necessary to find some other Gogol in St. Petersburg, that some fraudulent stories might happen, some works might be published under his name.
It was then that the idea crept in that Gogol's endless hoaxes were not just an eccentricity of a genius, but a symptom of a deeply mental illness.
One of the researchers at the House N.V. Gogol says: “I once led a tour of psychiatrists. I didn’t know that they were psychiatrists, so I told them my opinion. But they told me: “Yes, we have already diagnosed Gogol a long time ago. Well, even look at the handwriting, "- in the museum on the desk there are samples of Gogol's handwriting. They began to say directly what kind of disorder it was. But it seems to me that not every doctor would risk making a diagnosis in absentia, but here 200 years ago."
Maybe the burning of the second volume of "Dead Souls" was indeed an insane act in the clinical sense of the word? So, attempts to understand and explain it from the point of view of common sense- occupation empty and useless?
But this version is by no means the last one. It is known that the author of the mystical "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka" and the completely infernal "Viya" at the end of his life denied any devilry. At this time, Gogol was often seen in the church of Nicholas the Wonderworker (Gogol's spiritual patron) in Starovagankovsky Lane.
Drawing by Boris Lebedev "Meeting Gogol with Belinsky", 1948. Photo: ITAR-TASS
Some researchers believe that it was truly fatal (both for the second volume of Dead Souls and for their creator) to meet Archpriest Matvey Konstantinovsky, the spiritual mentor of Count Alexander Tolstoy. The priest, who was distinguished by extreme sharpness of judgment, eventually became Gogol's confessor. He showed his manuscript, on which he had been working for nine years, to Father Matvey, and received negative reviews. It is possible that these cruel words of the priest were the last straw. On the night of February 11-12, 1852, the guest of the house on Nikitsky Boulevard did what later artist Ilya Repin will call Gogol's self-immolation. It is believed that Gogol burned it in a state of passion and later regretted it immensely, but he was consoled by the owner of the house, Alexander Petrovich Tolstoy. He came up and said quietly: "But you have everything here, in your head, you can restore it."
But the restoration of the second volume was out of the question. The next day, Gogol announced that he was beginning to fast, and soon refused food altogether. He fasted with such zeal, with which, probably, no one of the believers fasted. And at some point, when it was clear that Gogol was already weakening, Count Tolstoy called for doctors, they did not find any illness in Gogol.
10 days later Gogol died of physical exhaustion. The death of the great writer shocked Moscow, in the church of the Holy Martyr Tatyana at Moscow University, it seemed, the whole city said goodbye to him. All adjacent streets were filled with people, farewell went on for a very long time.
It was decided to erect a monument to Gogol in Moscow 30 years later, in the early 80s 19th century. The collection of donations was delayed, the required amount was collected only by 1896. Several competitions were held, for which more than fifty projects were submitted. As a result, the monument was entrusted to the young sculptor Nikolai Andreev. He took up the task with his characteristic thoroughness. Andreev was always looking for nature for his works. He studied every possible portrait of Gogol that he could find. He painted, portrayed Gogol, using the services of his brother, who posed for him for sculpture.
The sculptor visited the writer's homeland, met with his younger sister. The result of it fundamental research became, without exaggeration, a revolutionary monument for that time. In 1909, the monument on Arbat Square was opened in front of a crowd of thousands.
Even the laying of the monument was very solemn and celebrated in the restaurant "Prague". The organizers came up with a very original approach to the gala dinner, because they prepared all the dishes that somehow appeared in Gogol's works: this is "soup in a saucepan from Paris", and "shaneshki with salt" from Korobochka, and various pickles, jams from the bins Pulcheria Ivanovna.
However sad, thoughtful, tragic Gogol not everyone liked it. They say that, in the end, the monument was moved from Arbat Square to the courtyard of the estate of Count Tolstoy on the orders of Stalin himself. And in 1952, at the beginning of Gogolevsky Boulevard, a poster appeared, full of health, Nikolai Vasilevich, equipped with a pathos inscription: “To Gogol from the Government Soviet Union". The new, retouched image gave rise to many ridicule: "Gogol's humor is dear to us, Gogol's tears are a hindrance. He made me sad while sitting, let this one stand for laughter."
However, over time, Muscovites fell in love with this image. In the late 70s of the last century around the monument on Gogol Boulevard got into the habit of gathering Moscow hippies. The era of flower children is long gone, but every year on April 1, the aged Moscow "khipari", putting on their favorite bell-bottoms, gather again on the "gogols" to remember their cheerful youth. Hippies have their own answer to every question, their own truth and their own mythology. And Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol in their pantheon occupies a special, but undoubtedly a very honorable place. The artist Alexander Iosifov remarked: “Firstly, Gogol himself already has a hippie look. Secondly, he is to some extent mystically predisposed to the perception of life, to which those young people are also predisposed. It is such an inadequate perception of life.”
And, of course, every hippie has his own version of what happened in the house on Nikitsky Boulevard: “He was disappointed in life. Plus, they say he was very sick, and according to legend, when the coffin was opened, his lid was scratched. Maybe He must have been buried alive."
The halo of mystery that surrounded Gogol during his lifetime only deepened after his death. Vladislav Otroshenko believes that this is natural: “Before Gogol, we never had a writer who would make literature his life. Here is Pushkin - yes, he had a lot of things in life: he had a family, a wife, children, duels, cards ", friends, court intrigues. Gogol had nothing in his life but literature. Here he was such a monk of literature."
A monk, an ascetic, an eccentric hermit, a hypocrite and a lone traveler, a writer who left the greatest legacy and did not have even elementary signs of life during his lifetime. After the death of the writer, an inventory was compiled, mainly books were his property, 234 volumes - this is both in Russian and in foreign languages. The clothes listed in this inventory were in a deplorable state. Of all the valuable things, only a gold watch can be named. "The watch, however, disappeared. And what has survived has come down to us thanks to friends, relatives or simply admirers of writing talent. The main pride of the House of N.V. Gogol is a glass purchased from descendants on the line of sister Elizabeth, which Nikolai Vasilyevich gave her for her wedding. Also in the museum there is a needle case made of bone, which passed to him from his mother. Nikolai Vasilyevich, it turns out, sewed and embroidered very well, he straightened his ties, scarves, and also sewed sister dresses.
Admirers of Gogol's melodious style still come to this house on Nikitsky Boulevard today. Every year in March, the writer's memorial day is celebrated here, and every time "Prayer" is heard - the only poem by Gogol. In this house during the life of Gogol, Gogol's Ukrainian Wednesdays were held. Gogol was very fond of Ukrainian song, and although he himself did not possess such a pronounced ear for music, but he collected Ukrainian songs, recorded them and loved to sing along and even lightly stamp his foot.
Painting by Pyotr Geller "Gogol, Pushkin and Zhukovsky in the summer of 1831 in Tsarskoe Selo", 1952. Photo: ITAR-TASS
Everyone can come to the house on Nikitsky Boulevard, but not everyone can stay. Vera Nikulina (Director of the House of N.V. Gogol) says: "I had cases when people came, worked for three days, their temperature rose, did not fall, and they left. It is believed that the house accepts or does not accept a person." Some clarify: this is not a house, but Gogol himself tests people for strength, greets the faithful and resolutely brushes aside the casual ones. The following saying appeared in the Gogol House: "this is Gogol." How something happens - "it's Gogol's fault."
So what happened to Gogol on the night of February 11-12, 1852? Writer Vladislav Otroshenko is sure that these pages of a plump manuscript rapidly turning into ashes are only the last act of the tragedy that began ten years earlier, at the very moment when the first volume of the poem "Dead Souls" saw the light of day: "All Russia is waiting for him to souls "when the first volume makes a revolution in Russian literature and in the minds of readers. All of Russia looks at him, and he soars above the world. And suddenly a crash. He writes to the maid of honor of the court Alexandra Osipovna Smirnova, she was one of his close friends, in 1845 He writes to her: "God took away from me the ability to create."
This version does not deny all the previous ones, rather, it combines them together, and therefore seems to be the most probable. Vladislav Otroshenko: “Gogol died from literature, died from Dead Souls, because it was such a thing that it either is written and elevates the creator simply to heaven, or it kills him if it is not written. After all, Gogol intended to write a third volume , and from this grand design there were only two ways to get out - either commit it or die."
Gogol for a century and a half remains one of the most mystery writers. Sometimes bright and ironic, more often - gloomy, half-mad, and always - magical and elusive. And therefore, everyone who opens his books every time finds something of their own in them.
Larisa Kosareva (art manager of the House of N.V. Gogol): "Mystery, mysticism, mystery, humor - what is missing in modern prose. Still, he is very ironic, and this joke, humor, fantasy is a blockbuster of the 19th century, Gogol.
One Byron (actor): "Very similar to our poet Edgar Allan Poe. Here is a common dark side, I think. Man with difficult fate, both of these poets had complex life plots. They both love the moment of the absurd. I love the absurd."
Vladislav Otroshenko (writer): "We always say that literature is generally the most important wealth that Russia had, wealth that does not dry out. Because the attitude, which, by the way, was set by Gogol, the attitude to literature as to what something that swallows you whole."
Collected works of N.V. Gogol, 1975. Photo: ITAR-TASS
And therefore, probably, every thoughtful reader has his own version of what actually happened on a February night in a house on Nikitsky Boulevard.
Museum researcher Oleg Robinov believes that shortly before his death, Nikolai Vasilyevich came and buried the second volume of "Dead Souls" in his yard. Moreover, he made an embankment, a small mound, and told the peasants, bequeathed that if there was a poor harvest hard year, dig, sell, and be happy.
