can rightfully be considered one of the best books Russian literature. Gogol's language is so mesmerizing that one literally cannot tear oneself away from the book. The magnificent speech of the writer makes literary critics to this day regret the impossibility of ever seeing the second volume of this work.
Many generations of researchers of the work of the Russian writer are wondering: why did Gogol burn the second volume? dead souls"? There are several answers to this question.
Option one: the second volume did not exist
This version is based on the fact that no one has seen the handwritten version of the second volume. The only witness to her burning is Semyon, Gogol's servant. According to him, the writer told him to bring the manuscript and, throwing it into the fireplace, set fire to the paper. Semyon allegedly asked him not to burn the book, to which Nikolai Vasilievich replied that it was none of his business.
Illiteracy and the young age of the servant cause frivolous attitude to this version. However, the testimonies of contemporaries and studies of draft materials lead us to believe that the second volume existed. Consequently, the version that Gogol burned the second volume is quite realistic.
Option two: the writer destroyed the draft version of the second volume, and the manuscript came to Count A.P. Tolstoy
This option, like the first one, is also unlikely and is based on the data of the same Semyon, Gogol's servant. Even if we assume that Tolstoy decided to hide the existence of the manuscript, for such for a long time it would certainly fall into the hands of researchers of the writer's work. However, this version quite simply explains why Gogol burned the second volume of Dead Souls: he got rid of unnecessary paper.
Option three: the writer burned the second volume of the book, being in a not quite sane state
It must be said that the writer early age was prone to depression, quite often he had seizures. It is known that in the winter of 1852 on his state of mind negatively affected by the death of his friend's wife. The writer was very afraid of death. Perhaps he burned his work in an excited emotional state, considering, for example, that his creation was not good enough. This version is more plausible and explains why Gogol burned the second volume of Dead Souls, but at present it is not the most popular.
Option four: Gogol burned the manuscript by mistake, confusing it with drafts
As mentioned above, the information received from Gogol's servant, although not entirely accurate, is close to the truth. It is known that one morning the writer shared with Count Tolstoy, with whom he lived, that, intending to burn some of the things he had prepared for this, he burned everything. He also shared that the destroyed notebooks contained a lot of useful information.
According to this version, Nikolai Vasilyevich was pleased with his work. Of course, he had moments of despair, but this is typical of every person, especially creative ones. In this case, the answer to the question why Gogol burned the second volume of Dead Souls sounds unusually simple: he made a mistake and destroyed not what he wanted.
A little about the genre of the work and its title
Having considered the versions of why the author destroyed his work, let's try to figure it out. genre features. So why did Gogol call " Dead Souls"a poem. At first glance, such a definition of the genre seems strange. When we hear the word "poem", we remember the Iliad and the Odyssey. At first glance, it seems to us that there is nothing in common between " Dead souls” and the creation of Homer is not. However, researchers of Gogol's work find evidence that these works really belong to the same genre. In particular, Korobochka is a kind of personification of the nymph Calypso, whose remote estate resembles an abandoned island. In the image of Sobakevich, you can recognize the Cyclops Polyphemus - a giant living in lairs. Odysseus and Chichikov begin to travel at the behest of the elements that control them. The first is powerless before the forces of nature, the second - before the nature of man.
Gogol's author's confession
It is known that the idea of this poem belonged to A.S. Pushkin, who admired Gogol's talent for describing portraits of people and presented his idea to Nikolai Vasilyevich. The author of "Dead Souls" was so carried away by the work that he decided to write three whole volumes. According to the author's intention, the second and third parts were supposed to present us positive characters and show the moral growth of the main character - Chichikov.
The author originally planned to write a novel, but due to a large number lyrical turns, Gogol came to understand the need to call "Dead Souls" nothing more than a poem. Such a definition of the genre of the work by the writer himself once again suggests that he could not destroy it of his own free will, as he valued his offspring too much. Most likely, it really was a mistake.
So, we examined the versions of why the author destroyed his offspring. However, drafts remained. The most popular are the first five chapters of the destroyed volume. They were supposed to be published in 2010, but this did not happen. I would like to express the hope that sooner or later the draft version of the second volume will see the light of day.
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 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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Poem (such a genre of his work was designated by the author) N.V. Gogol's Dead Souls is one of classical works Russian literature. And the story that happened with the second volume of this work is known even to those who have never opened the first volume. Literary scholars (despite disagreements about the “strength” or “weakness” of the second volume) agree on one thing - the destruction by Gogol of the second volume of Dead Souls that he had already written is one of the most serious losses in our literature. Question: Why did the gogol burn the second tome of the dead souls?", - arose immediately after the incident, and there is still no single and unequivocal answer to it. And with the burning itself, not everything is clear. As they say, was there a boy?
Version one: Gogol did not burn anything, since the second volume of Dead Souls did not exist
This version relies on the fact that no one has seen the finished manuscript of the second volume of the poem, and the only witness to the burning was Gogol's servant Semyon. It is from his words that we know what happened that night. Allegedly, the writer ordered Semyon to bring a briefcase in which notebooks with the continuation of Dead Souls were kept. Gogol put the notebooks in the fireplace and set fire to them with a candle, and to the servant’s pleas not to destroy the manuscript he said: “None of your business! Pray! Semyon, on the other hand, was quite young, illiterate and could well spin nonsense (if it is simple). This version is not taken seriously by most researchers. The surviving drafts of the work and the testimonies of contemporaries give grounds to assert that the "white" version did exist.
Version two: Gogol burned the drafts, and the manuscript of the second volume of Dead Souls came (after the death of the writer) to Count A.P. Tolstoy, with whom Gogol lived at that time.
This version is also based on the unreliability of the testimony of Semyon's servant and is also considered unlikely. A. Tolstoy had no reason to hide the manuscript, but even if he had done so, the manuscript would certainly have "surfaced" since then.
Version three: Gogol really burned the second volume of Dead Souls, as he was dissatisfied with it and was in a clouded state of mind.
This version seems to be more likely mental health the writer at that moment was far from brilliant. Gogol suffered from seizures from childhood, accompanied by melancholy and depression. In January 1852, E. Khomyakova, the wife of Gogol's friend, died, and this event had an extremely detrimental effect on the writer. The writer was tormented by the constant fear of death, and his confessor urged him to give up literary work, which Gogol himself considered his only vocation. Of course, it is difficult to make diagnoses now, but it is obvious that the writer's mind was, if not clouded, then on the verge of clouding. It is likely that in a fit of self-flagellation, he could consider his work insignificant and not deserving to be published. However, dominating this moment considered a different version.
Version four: Gogol wanted to burn the drafts, however, being in a state of complete mental exhaustion, he confused them with the white version.
It is believed that Semyon's story, if not absolutely accurate, is close to the truth, but the writer had no intention of burning the final version. Supporters of this version cite Gogol's words, which he said the next morning 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 crafty one is - that's what he pushed me to! And I was there I figured out and explained a lot of useful things ... I thought about sending them to my friends as a keepsake from a notebook: let them do what they wanted. Now everything is gone. " It is also believed that in general, with the exception of moments of depression, Gogol was pleased with what he wrote. Although when working on the second volume, the significance of the work in the writer's mind grew beyond the boundaries of the literary texts which made the idea practically unrealizable.
Despite the fact that Gogol burned the manuscript final version the second volume of the poem, rough notes remain. At present, the most complete manuscript of the first five chapters of the second volume belongs to an American businessman Russian origin Timur Abdullayev. She had to enter complete collection works and letters of the writer, published in 2010, but for unknown reasons this did not happen. Nevertheless, the question: "Why did Gogol burn the second volume of Dead Souls" is not completely resolved, although there is the most probable version.
"Dead Souls" - landmark work in the work of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. In it, he wanted to show Russia without embellishment, with its problems and shameful sins. Gogol himself valued his work very highly and assigned to it big hopes, hoping to convey their thoughts, sincere experiences to the people. However, only the first volume was published. The writer destroyed the second volume. Consider further why he burned the second volume of Dead Souls.
The fate of the second volume of "Dead Souls"
I would like to note right away that by the time of work on the second part of his main work, Gogol was in a very difficult state with psychological point vision. Nervous, very difficult in character, distrustful, secretive, Nikolai Vasilyevich lived hard, often was in a state of depression, nervousness.
After the death of one of his close acquaintances (and perhaps not only for this reason), the writer complained to his friends about the manic fear of death that had appeared in him. He felt exhausted, exhausted, began to sleep badly.
On one of these sleepless, tormenting nights from February 11 to 12, 1852, Gogol ordered the young servant Semyon to bring a suitcase with manuscripts to continue the work. After that, the writer threw all the notebooks into a burning fireplace and burned the 2nd volume of Dead Souls.
Later, with colossal bitterness, he will tell his friend, Count Tolstoy, that he destroyed the continuation of the story due to an unforgivable mistake, which the devil seemed to have pushed him into.
In addition, there are other versions of what happened:
- There was no real second part. Gogol never wrote it, and therefore he simply came up with the burning of manuscripts.
- Nikolai Vasilievich could not write such a second part that could compete in genius with the first. Therefore, he decided to destroy the book, not daring to present it to the public.
- Prone to mystification, religious, Gogol considered such an act of burning symbolic, bringing best work his life on the altar of God.
- The emperor ordered him to continue the work. In it, the writer had to show the already sensible, repentant officials. But such an idea contradicted the way the writer himself wanted to present the story, and therefore Gogol burned the second volume of Dead Souls.
- Glory lover, who knows how to attract attention, Nikolai Vasilievich, perhaps, decided to simply add hype to his book. After all, nothing disturbs so much as the unknown. And in this case, his idea was a success, since the treasured second volume is discussed today almost more often than the published work.
Also in some sources you can read that the story was stolen from the writer by ill-wishers, and the story about the burning was invented in order to hide the real truth.
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, main work own 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 Vasilievich, 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? The 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.
