Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol Никола́й Васи́льевич Го́голь Микола Васильович Гоголь
Nikolai Gogol by Alexander Ivanov
Born	31 March [O.S. 19 March] 1809 Sorochyntsi, Poltava guberniya, Russian Empire (now in Ukraine)
Died	4 March [O.S. 21 February] 1852 (aged 42) Moscow, Russian Empire
Occupation	Playwright, short story writer and novelist
Nationality	Russian/Ukrainian
Writing period	1840-1851
Influenced Fyodor Dostoevsky, Ivan Turgenev, Leo Tolstoy, Vladimir Nabokov

Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol (Russian: Никола́й Васи́льевич Го́голь, Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol; Russian pronunciation: [nʲɪkɐˈlaj vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈgogəlʲ]; Ukrainian: Микола Васильович Гоголь, Mykola Vasylovych Hohol) (31 March [O.S. 19 March] 1809,^[1] – 4 March [O.S. 21 February] 1852) was a Ukrainian-born Russian writer. Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov ( Russian: Алекса́ндр Андре́евич Ива́нов; July 28 ( July 16 [OS]) 1806 &ndash Events 307 - After divorcing his wife Minervina, Constantine marries Fausta, the daughter of the retired Roman Emperor Old Style (or OS) and New Style (or NS) are used in English language historical studies either to indicate that the start of the Julian year Year 1809 ( MDCCCIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Velyki Sorochyntsi (Великі Сорочинці Великие Сорочинцы or Большие Сорочинцы tranlit The Russian Empire ( Pre-reform Russian: Pоссійская Имперія Modern Russian: Российская Империя translit: Rossiyskaya Ukraine (Україна Ukrayina, /ukrɑˈjinɑ/ is a country in Eastern Europe. Events 51 - Nero, later to become Roman Emperor, is given the title Princeps iuventutis (head of the youth Old Style (or OS) and New Style (or NS) are used in English language historical studies either to indicate that the start of the Julian year Year 1852 ( MDCCCLII) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year Moscow (Москва́ romanised: Moskvá, IPA: see also other names) is the Capital and the largest city of The Russian Empire ( Pre-reform Russian: Pоссійская Имперія Modern Russian: Российская Империя translit: Rossiyskaya Employment is a Contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. Nationality is a relationship between a Person and their State of Origin, Culture, association Affiliation and/or Loyalty Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (Фёдор Миха́йлович Достое́вский, sometimes transliterated Dostoyevsky, Dostoievsky, Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev ( ɪˈvan sʲɪrˈgʲeɪvʲɪtɕ turˈgʲenʲɪf ( &ndash) was a Russian novelist and playwright Leo Tolstoy, or Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy ( –) (Лев Никола́евич Толсто́й, was a Russian Writer widely regarded This page is about the novelist For his father the politician see Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov. Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages Ukrainian (in Ukrainian украї́нська мо́ва ukrayins'ka mova,) is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. Events 307 - After divorcing his wife Minervina, Constantine marries Fausta, the daughter of the retired Roman Emperor Old Style (or OS) and New Style (or NS) are used in English language historical studies either to indicate that the start of the Julian year Year 1809 ( MDCCCIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Events 51 - Nero, later to become Roman Emperor, is given the title Princeps iuventutis (head of the youth Old Style (or OS) and New Style (or NS) are used in English language historical studies either to indicate that the start of the Julian year Year 1852 ( MDCCCLII) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year ^[1] Although his early works were heavily influenced by his Ukrainian upbringing and identity, he wrote in Russian and his works belong to the tradition of Russian literature; often called the "father of modern Russian realism," he was one of the first Russian authors to criticize his country's way of life. Ukrainians (Українці Ukrayintsi,) are an East Slavic Ethnic group primarily living in Ukraine, or more broadly— Citizens Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages This article is about literature from Russia For the song by Maxïmo Park, see Our Earthly Pleasures. ^[2] The novels Taras Bul'ba (1835; 1842 [revised edition]), Dead Souls (1842), the play The Inspector-General (1836, 1842), and the short story The Overcoat (1842) are among his masterpieces. Taras Bulba is a romanticized short historical novel by Nikolai Gogol. Dead Souls ( Russian language: Мёртвые души by Nikolai Gogol was first published in 1842 and is one of the most prominent works of 19th For the television drama of the same name see The Government Inspector (television drama. " The Overcoat " (Шинель Shinel; sometimes translated as " The Cloak " is the title of a short story by Ukrainian -born Russian

Provenance and early life

Gogol was born in the Ukrainian Cossack village of Sorochyntsi, in the Poltava Governorate of the Russian Empire. The Cossacks (Каза́ки́ Kazaki; Козаки́ Kozaki; Kozacy are a group of martial people living in the southern Steppe regions of Eastern Velyki Sorochyntsi (Великі Сорочинці Великие Сорочинцы or Большие Сорочинцы tranlit The Poltava Governorate (Полтавская губернiя translit (The village is now in Ukraine. Ukraine (Україна Ukrayina, /ukrɑˈjinɑ/ is a country in Eastern Europe. ) His father was Vasily Gogol-Yanovsky, a small squire and an amateur Ukrainian playwright who died when the boy was 15 years old. Some of his ancestors culturally associated themselves with Polish szlachta. The Polish people, or Poles, (Polacy) are a Western Slavic Ethnic group of Central Europe, living predominantly in Poland. Szlachta ( refers to the noble class in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (since 1569 semi-federal semi-confederal

In 1820 Gogol went to a school of higher art in Nizhyn and remained there until 1828. Nizhyn (Ніжин Нежин Nezhin) is a city located in the Chernihiv Oblast of northern Ukraine, along the Oster River, 150 km north-east The year 1828 ( MDCCCXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap It was there that he began writing. He was not very popular among his school-fellows who called him their "mysterious dwarf", but with two or three of them he formed lasting friendships. Very early he developed a dark and secretive disposition, mingled of painful self-consciousness and boundless ambition. Equally early he developed an extraordinary mimic talent which later on made him a matchless reader of his own works and induced him to toy with the idea of becoming an actor.

In 1828, on leaving school, Gogol came to Petersburg, full of vague but glowingly ambitious hopes. He had hoped for literary fame and brought with him a Romantic poem of German idyllic life — Hanz Küchelgarten. He had it published, at his own expense, under the name of "V. Alov". Unfortunately it was met by the magazines with deserved derision. He bought all the copies and destroyed them, swearing never to write poetry again.

Gogol was one of the first masters of short prose, alongside Pushkin, Mérimée, Hoffmann, and Hawthorne. Prosper Mérimée ( September 28, 1803 &ndash September 23, 1870) was a French dramatist historian, archaeologist Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann ( January 24, 1776 &ndash June 25, 1822) better known by his Pen name E Nathaniel Hawthorne (born Nathaniel Hathorne; July 4 1804 – May 19 1864 was an American novelist and Short story writer He was in touch with the "literary aristocracy", had a story published in Delvig's Northern Flowers, was taken up by Vasily Zhukovsky and Pyotr Pletnyov, and (in 1831) was introduced to Pushkin. Baron Anton Antonovich Delvig (Анто́н Анто́нович Де́львиг ( Moscow -, St Vasily Andreyevich Zhukovsky (Василий Андреевич Жуковский ( – April 1852 was the foremost Russian poet of the 1810s Pyotr Alexandrovich Pletnyov (Пётр Александрович Плетнёв ( &mdash) was a minor Russian Poet and literary critic, who rose to become

Literary development

Cover of the first edition of The Government Inspector (1836). For the television drama of the same name see The Government Inspector (television drama.

In 1831, he brought out the first volume of his Ukrainian stories (Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka), which met immediate success. Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka (Вечера на хуторе близ Диканьки Vechera na khutore bliz Dikan'ki) is a collection of short stories by Nikolai It was followed in 1832 by a second volume, and in 1835 by two volumes of stories entitled Mirgorod, as well as by two volumes of miscellaneous prose entitled Arabesques. Year 1832 ( MDCCCXXXII) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Year 1835 ( MDCCCXXXV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common Mirgorod (1835 is a collection of short stories by Nikolai Gogol meant to be a sequel of sorts to his two volumes of Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka. The arabesque is an elaborative application of repeating geometric forms that often echo the forms of plants and animals At this time, Gogol developed a passion for Ukrainian history and tried to obtain an appointment to the history department at Kiev University. Kiev University or officially the National Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv (Київський національний університет ім Despite the support of Alexander Pushkin and the Russian minister of education Sergey Uvarov, his appointment was blocked by a Kievan bureaucrat on the grounds that he was unqualified. Count Sergey Semionovich Uvarov (Серге́й Семёнович Ува́ров (August 25 ( September 5) 1786 Moscow &ndashSeptember 4 (16 1855 Moscow ^[3] His fictional story Taras Bulba, based on the history of Ukrainian cossacks, was the result of this phase in his interests. Taras Bulba is a romanticized short historical novel by Nikolai Gogol. The Zaporozhian Cossacks (Запорожці Zaporozhtsi,were Cossacks who lived in Zaporizhia, in Central Ukraine During this time he also developed a close and life-long friendship with another Ukrainian then living in Russia, the historian and naturalist Mykhaylo Maksymovych. Mykhaylo Olexandrovich Maksymovych (also spelled Mykhailo Михайло Олександрович Максимович 1804-1873 was a famous Ukrainian naturalist Indeed, throughout his life Gogol maintained close contact with his fellow countrymen. According to the poet Nikolai Berg, in his interactions with fellow Ukrainians Gogol demonstrated a joyfullness and passion that contrasted with usual morose and quiet demeanor. ^[4]

In 1834 Gogol was made Professor of Medieval History at the University of St. Petersburg, a job for which "he had no qualifications. Saint Petersburg State University ( Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет) is a Russian federal state-owned higher He turned in a performance ludicrous enough to warrant satiric treatment in one of his own stories. After an introductory lecture made up of brilliant generalizations which the 'historian' had prudently prepared and memorized, he gave up all pretense at erudition and teaching, missed two lectures out of three, and when he did appear, muttered unintelligibly through his teeth. At the final examination, he sat in utter silence with a black handkerchief wrapped around his head, simulating a toothache, while another professor interrogated the students. "^[5] This academic venture proved a failure and he resigned his chair in 1835.

Between 1832 and 1836 Gogol worked at his imaginative creations with great energy, and though almost all his work has in one way or another its sources in these four years of contact with Pushkin, he had not yet decided that his ambitions were to be fulfilled by success in literature. It was only after the presentation, on April 19, 1836, of his comedy The Government Inspector (Revizor) that he finally came to believe in his literary vocation. Events 1012 - Martyrdom of Alphege in Greenwich London. 1529 - At the Second Diet of Speyer Year 1836 ( MDCCCXXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap For the television drama of the same name see The Government Inspector (television drama. The comedy, a violent satire of Russian provincial bureaucracy, was able to be staged thanks only to the personal intervention of Nicholas I.

Commemorative plaque in his house in Rome

From 1836 to 1848 he lived abroad, travelling throughout Germany and Switzerland. Gogol spent the winter of 1836-1837 in Paris, where he spent time among Russian expatriates and Polish exiles, frequently meeting with the Polish poets Adam Mickiewicz and Bohdan Zaleski. Adam Bernard Mickiewicz (pronounced ] in Belarusian, Адам Міцкевіч; in Lithuanian, Adomas Bernardas Mickevičius; December After having chosen Rome for his headquarters, he became enamoured with the Eternal City, which answered to his highly developed sense of the magnificent, and where even the visions that always obsessed him of vulgar and animal humanity assumed picturesque and poetical appearances that fitted harmoniously into the beautiful whole. Rome ( Roma ˈroma Roma is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city with more than 2

The death of Pushkin produced a strong impression on Gogol. His principal work during years following poet's death was the great satirical epic (poema, or an epic poem, as the Russian subheading goes) — Dead Souls. Dead Souls ( Russian language: Мёртвые души by Nikolai Gogol was first published in 1842 and is one of the most prominent works of 19th Concurrently, he worked at other tasks — recast Taras Bulba and The Portrait, completed his second comedy, Marriage (Zhenitba), wrote the fragment Rome and his greatest short story, The Overcoat. Taras Bulba is a romanticized short historical novel by Nikolai Gogol. The Portrait is a Short story by Russian author Nikolai Gogol. Marriage ( Russian: Женитьба, Zhenitba or Zhenit'ba) is a play by the Russian writer Nikolai Gogol " The Overcoat " (Шинель Shinel; sometimes translated as " The Cloak " is the title of a short story by Ukrainian -born Russian

In 1841 the first part of Dead Souls was ready, and Gogol took it to Russia to supervise its printing. For the game see 1841 (board game. Year 1841 ( MDCCCXLI) was a Common year starting on Friday (link It appeared in Moscow in 1842, under the title, imposed by the censorship, of The Adventures of Chichikov. The book instantly established his reputation as the greatest prose writer in the language. Nobody could have expected that it would be the last work of fiction published during his lifetime.

Creative decline and death

After the triumph of Dead Souls, Gogol came to be regarded by his contemporaries as a great satirist who lampooned the unseemly sides of Imperial Russia. Little did they know that the 33-year-old author viewed himself primarily as a prophet and preacher, for whom Dead Souls was but the first part of a modern-day counterpart to The Divine Comedy. The Divine Comedy The first part represented the Inferno; the second part was to depict the gradual purification and transformation of the rogue Chichikov under the influence of virtuous publicans and governors — Purgatory. See also Intermediate state Limbo|Heaven|Sheol|Hades in Christianity|Hell in Christianity Purgatory, in the original sense is the condition or process of purification ^[6]

Gogol in the 1840s.

From Palestine he returned to Russia and passed his last years in restless movement throughout the country. While visiting the capitals, he stayed with various friends such as Mikhail Pogodin and Sergei Aksakov. Mikhail Petrovich Pogodin (Михаил Петрович Погодин 1800-1875 was a Russian historian and journalist who dominated the national historiography between the Sergei Timofeevich Aksakov (Russian Сергей Тимофеевич Аксаков ( September 20, 1791 &mdash April 30, 1859 (OS During this period of his life he also spent much time with his old Ukrainian friends, Maksymovych and Osyp Bodiansky. More importantly, he intensified his relationship with a church elder, Matvey Konstantinovsky, whom he had known for several years. A starets (стáрец fem стáреца is an elder of a Russian Orthodox monastery who functions as venerated adviser and teacher Konstantinovsky seems to have strengthened in Gogol the fear of perdition by insisting on the sinfulness of all his imaginative work. His health was undermined by exaggerated ascetic practices and he fell into a state of black melancholy. On the night of February 24, 1852, he burnt some of his manuscripts, which contained most of the second part of Dead Souls. Events 303 - Galerius, Roman Emperor, publishes his edict that begins the persecution of Christians in his portion of the Year 1852 ( MDCCCLII) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year He explained this as a mistake — a practical joke played on him by the Devil. Soon thereafter he took to bed, refused all food, and died in great pain nine days later.

A church on New Arbat in Moscow, in which the great writer was mourned before his burial. New Arbat Street ( Но́вый Арба́т is Moscow 's major Avenue running west from Arbat Square on the Boulevard Ring to

Gogol was buried at the Danilov Monastery, close to his fellow Slavophile Aleksey Khomyakov. Danilov Monastery, in full Svyato-Danilov Monastery or Holy Danilov Monastery (Данилов монастырь, Свято-Данилов монастырь in A Slavophile is an intellectual movement originating from 19th century that wanted the Russian Empire to be developed upon values and institutions derived from its early history Aleksey Stepanovich Khomyakov ( Алексей Степанович Хомяков) ( May 1, 1804 – September 23/25 1860 was a Russian religious In 1931, when Moscow authorities decided to demolish the monastery, his remains were transferred to the Novodevichy Cemetery. Moscow (Москва́ romanised: Moskvá, IPA: see also other names) is the Capital and the largest city of Novodevichy Cemetery (Новоде́вичье кла́дбище Novodevichye kladbishche is the most famous cemetery in Moscow, Russia, situated next to the

Gogol's grave at the Novodevichy Convent

His body was discovered lying face down, which gave rise to the story that Gogol had been buried alive. A Soviet critic even cut a part of his jacket to use as a binding for his copy of Dead Souls. A piece of rock which used to stand on his grave at the Danilov was reused for the tomb of Gogol's admirer Mikhail Bulgakov. Mikhail Afanasievich Bulgakov (Михаил Афанасьевич Булгаков, Kiev &ndash March 10, 1940, Moscow) was a Russian

The first Gogol monument in Moscow was a striking Symbolist statue on Arbat Square, which represented the sculptor Nikolai Andreyev's idea of Gogol, rather than the real man (picture). "Arbat" redirects here For other uses see Arbat (disambiguation. Unveiled in 1909, the statue was praised by Ilya Repin and Leo Tolstoy as an outstanding projection of Gogol's tortured personality. Year 1909 ( MCMIX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting Ilya Yefimovich Repin (Илья́ Ефи́мович Ре́пин Ілля Юхимович Рєпін ( Chuhuiv, Russian Empire (now in Ukraine Leo Tolstoy, or Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy ( –) (Лев Никола́евич Толсто́й, was a Russian Writer widely regarded Stalin did not like it, however; and the statue was replaced by a more orthodox Socialist Realism monument in 1952. Joseph Stalin ( ნამდვილი გვარი ჯუღაშვილი|Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili; March 5 1953 was General Secretary of the Communist Party Socialist realism is a teleologically -oriented style of realistic art which has as its purpose the furtherance of the goals of Socialism and Communism Year 1952 ( MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. It took enormous efforts to save Andreyev's original work from destruction; it now stands in front of the house where Gogol died. ^[7]

Style

Among the illustrators of Dead Souls were Pyotr Sokolov and Marc Chagall. Marc Chagall (מאַרק שאַגאַל&lrm Belarusian: Мойша Захаравіч Шагалаў Mojša Zaharavič Šagałaŭ; Russian: Марк

D.S. Mirsky characterized Gogol's universe as "one of the most marvellous, unexpected — in the strictest sense, original^[8] — worlds ever created by an artist of words"^[9]. DS Mirsky is the English pen-name of Dmitry Petrovich Svyatopolk-Mirsky (Дми́трий Петро́вич Святопо́лк-Ми́рский (&ndash June 6 The enormous potency of his imagination stands at a strange contrast (or complement) to his physical sterility. He seems to have never had a sexual contact with a woman (or a man). ^[10] Woman was to him a terrible, fascinating, but unapproachable obsession, and he is known never to have loved. This makes the women of his imagination either strange, inhuman visions of form and color that are redeemed from melodramatic banality only by the force of the rhetoric they are enshrined in, or entirely unsexed, even dehumanized, caricatures.

The main and most persistent characteristic of Gogol's style is its verbal expressiveness. He wrote with a view not so much to the acoustic effect on the ears of the listener as to the sensuous effect on the vocal apparatus of the reciter. This makes his prose ornate and agitated. It is all alive with the vibration of actual speech. This makes it hopelessly untranslatable — more untranslatable than any other Russian prose of the 19th century.

The other main characteristic of Gogol's genius is the extraordinary intensity and vividness of impressionist vision, sometimes skirting expressionism. Expressionism is the tendency of an artist to distort reality for an Emotional effect it is a subjective art form He saw the outer world romantically metamorphosed, a singular gift particularly evident from the fantastic spatial transformations in his Gothic stories, A Terrible Vengeance and A Bewitched Place. A Terrible Vengeance (Russian Страшная месть is a Gothic Horror story by Nikolai Gogol. A Bewitched Place is the last story in the second volume of Nikolai Gogol 's first collection of short stories Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka His pictures of nature are strange mounds of detail heaped on detail, resulting in an unconnected chaos of things. His people are caricatures, drawn with the method of the caricaturist — which is to exaggerate salient features and to reduce them to geometrical pattern. But these cartoons have a convincingness, a truthfulness, and inevitability — attained as a rule by slight but definitive strokes of unexpected reality — that seems to beggar the visible world itself.

The aspect under which the mature Gogol sees reality is expressed by the untranslatable Russian word poshlost', which is perhaps best rendered as "self-satisfied inferiority", moral and spiritual. Poshlost is an Untranslatable Russian word (пошлость defined as a kind of "petty evil or self-satisfied Vulgarity " (Alexandrov Like Sterne before him, Gogol was a great destroyer of prohibitions and romantic illusions. It was he who undermined Russian Romanticism by making vulgarity reign where only the sublime and the beautiful had reigned. ^[11] "Characteristic of Gogol is a sense of boundless superfluity that is soon revealed as utter emptiness and a rich comedy that suddenly turns into metaphysical horror". ^[12] His stories often interweave pathos and mockery, while the most comic of them all begins as a merry farce and ends with the famous dictum: It is dull in this world, gentlemen!

Influence and interpretations

Statue of Gogol at the Villa Borghese, Rome

Even before the publication of Dead Souls, Belinsky recognized Gogol as the first realist writer in the language and the head of the Natural School, to which he also assigned such younger or lesser authors as Goncharov, Turgenev, Dmitry Grigorovich, Vladimir Dahl, and Vladimir Sollogub. "The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich" (1835 also known in English as The Squabble, is the final tale in the Mirgorod Rome ( Roma ˈroma Roma is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city with more than 2 Ivan Aleksandrovich Goncharov (Ива́н Алекса́ндрович Гончаро́в (– was a Russian novelist best known as the author of Oblomov Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev ( ɪˈvan sʲɪrˈgʲeɪvʲɪtɕ turˈgʲenʲɪf ( &ndash) was a Russian novelist and playwright Dmitry Vasilyevich Grigorovich (Дмитрий Васильевич Григорович ( March 19 ( N Vladimir Ivanovich Dal (also Dahl, Владимир Иванович Даль ( November 10, 1801 &ndash September 22 1872 Gogol himself seemed to be skeptical about the existence of such a literary movement. Although he recognized "several young writers" who "have shown a particular desire to observe real life", he upbraided the deficient composition and style of their works. ^[13] Nevertheless, subsequent generations of radical critics celebrated Gogol (the author in whose world a nose roams the streets of the Russian capital) as a great realist, a reputation decried by the Encyclopaedia Britannica as "the triumph of Gogolesque irony". The Encyclopædia Britannica is a general English-language encyclopaedia published by Encyclopædia Britannica Inc ^[14]

The period of modernism saw a revival of interest in and a change of attitude towards Gogol's work. Modernism describes an array of Cultural movements rooted in the changes in Western society in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century One of the pioneering works of Russian formalism was Eichenbaum's reappraisal of The Overcoat. Russian formalism was an influential school of literary criticism in Russia from the 1910s to the 1930s Boris Michailovich Eichenbaum, or Boris Mikhailovich Eikhenbaum, Борис Михайлович Эйхенбаум Boris Michajlovič Ėjchenbaum (October In the 1920s, a group of Russian short story writers, known as the Serapion Brothers, placed Gogol among their precursors and consciously sought to imitate his techniques. The Serapion Brothers (or Serapion Fraternity, Серапионовы Братья was a group of writers formed in St The leading novelists of the period — notably Yevgeny Zamyatin and Mikhail Bulgakov — also admired Gogol and followed in his footsteps. Yevgeny Ivanovich Zamyatin (Евге́ний Ива́нович Замя́тин) ( February 1, 1884 – March 10, 1937) was a Russian Mikhail Afanasievich Bulgakov (Михаил Афанасьевич Булгаков, Kiev &ndash March 10, 1940, Moscow) was a Russian In 1926, Vsevolod Meyerhold staged The Government Inspector as a "comedy of the absurd situation", revealing to his fascinated spectators a corrupt world of endless self-deception. Year 1926 ( MCMXXVI) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Vsevolod Emilevich Meyerhold (Всеволод Эмильевич Мейерхольд born Karl Kasimir Theodor Meyerhold ( &mdash 2 February 1940 ? was a For the television drama of the same name see The Government Inspector (television drama. In 1934, Andrei Bely published the most meticulous study of Gogol's literary techniques up to that date, in which he analyzed the colours prevalent in Gogol's work depending on the period, his impressionistic use of verbs, expressive discontinuity of his syntax, complicated rhythmical patterns of his sentences, and many other secrets of his craft. Year 1934 ( MCMXXXIV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display full 1934 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Andrei Bely (Андрей Белый was the pseudonym of Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev ( &ndash January 8, 1934) a Russian novelist poet Based on this work, Vladimir Nabokov published a summary account of Gogol's masterpieces in 1944. This page is about the novelist For his father the politician see Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov. Year 1944 ( MCMXLIV) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.

Gogol had a huge and enduring impact on Russian literature, but his works were appreciated differently depending on the background of the reader. Belinsky, for instance, berated his horror stories as "moribund, monstrous works", while Andrei Bely counted them among his most stylistically daring creations. Andrei Bely (Андрей Белый was the pseudonym of Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev ( &ndash January 8, 1934) a Russian novelist poet Nabokov singled out Dead Souls, The Government Inspector, and The Overcoat as the works of genius and dismissed the remainder as puerile essays. The latter story has been traditionally interpreted as a masterpiece of "humanitarian realism", but Nabokov and some other attentive readers argued that "holes in the language" make the story susceptible to another interpretation, as a supernatural tale about a ghostly double of a "small man". ^[15] Of all Gogol's stories, The Nose has stubbornly defied all abstruse interpretations: D.S. Mirsky declared it "a piece of sheer play, almost sheer nonsense". " The Nose " is a satirical Short story by Nikolai Gogol, subsequently made into an opera by Dmitri Shostakovich. DS Mirsky is the English pen-name of Dmitry Petrovich Svyatopolk-Mirsky (Дми́трий Петро́вич Святопо́лк-Ми́рский (&ndash June 6

Gogol's oeuvre has also had a large impact on Russia's non-literary culture, and his stories have been adapted numerous times into opera and film. This is a list of the works by Nikolai Gogol (1809-52 a list of adaptations of those works is at the bottom Ode to Italy (1829 poem Russian Composer Alfred Schnittke wrote the eight part Gogol Suite as incidental music to the The Government Inspector performed as a play, and composer Dmitri Shostakovich set The Nose as his first opera in 1930, despite the peculiar choice of subject for what was meant to initiate the great tradition of Soviet opera. Alfred Garyevich Schnittke (Альфре́д Га́рриевич Шни́тке November 24, 1934 Engels - August 3, 1998 Hamburg Incidental music is Music in a play, Television program Radio program Video game, film or some other form not primarily musical For the television drama of the same name see The Government Inspector (television drama. A play, or stageplay, is a form of Literature written by a Playwright, almost always consisting of Dialogue between Fictional characters Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich ( Russian: ru Дмитрий Дмитриевич Шостакович ( &ndash 9 August 1975 was a Russian Composer " The Nose " is a satirical Short story by Nikolai Gogol, subsequently made into an opera by Dmitri Shostakovich. ^[16]

In Marathi, P. L. Deshpande adapted his play "The Government Inspector" as "Ammaldar" (literally 'the Government Inspector') in late 1950s, skillfully cladding it with all indigenous politico-cultural robe of Maharashtra, while maintaining the comic satire of the original. Marathi (mr मराठी Marāṭhī) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of what is considered western India. Purushottam Laxman Deshpande (पुरुषोत्तम लक्ष्मण देशपांडे (8 November 1918 &ndash 12 June 2000 was a Marathi writer Maharashtra ( Marathi: mahārāṣṭra, IPA) is a state located on the western coast of India.

Gogol in popular culture

• Gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello is named after Gogol. Gogol Bordello is a Multi-ethnic Gypsy punk band from the Lower East Side of New York City that formed in 1999 and is known for its Lead singer Eugene Hütz is Ukrainian; he sees himself as another Ukrainian infiltrating western artistic culture. Ukrainian (in Ukrainian украї́нська мо́ва ukrayins'ka mova,) is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages.
• In the book The Namesake (also adapted into a 2007 film of the same name), the protagonist's name is Gogol. The Namesake (2003 is the second book by author Jhumpa Lahiri. The Namesake is a 2007 film which received a limited release in the United States on March 9, 2007. Gogol's 'namesake' is explained in the book.
• In the episode 'Charlie' from the 1st series of the comedy series The Mighty Boosh, Howard Moon uses Gogol's Dead Souls to spy on his fellow zoo-keeper, Mrs Gideon, through eye-holes inside the two 'O's in the author's name, on the book's front cover. The Mighty Boosh, colloquially referred to as The Boosh, is the collective name for the creators of the British television situation comedy written by and starring Dead Souls ( Russian language: Мёртвые души by Nikolai Gogol was first published in 1842 and is one of the most prominent works of 19th
• His satirical work The Nose inspired the song Detachable Penis by King Missile. " The Nose " is a satirical Short story by Nikolai Gogol, subsequently made into an opera by Dmitri Shostakovich. " Detachable Penis " is a Song by avant-garde band King Missile. King Missile is an avant-garde band that has been led in various disparate incarnations by Poet / Singer John S
• In the anime movie Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, Batou quotes Gogol early on saying "It is no use to blame the looking glass if your face is awry. is the 2004 sequel to the Anime Film Ghost in the Shell. Released in Japan on March 6, 2004, with a U " (Note: this epigraph to Gogol's The Government Inspector (Revizor) is actually a Russian folk saying. For the television drama of the same name see The Government Inspector (television drama. For the television drama of the same name see The Government Inspector (television drama. )
• Seattle based indie-noise rock band Ivan the Wheel derived their name from a character in Dead Souls. Ivan the Wheel is currently a Seattle based band formed in late 2004 that is originally from the sleepy hills of western Pennsylvania
• His novel Dead Souls gave its name to the Joy Division song. Dead Souls ( Russian language: Мёртвые души by Nikolai Gogol was first published in 1842 and is one of the most prominent works of 19th

See also

• Bibliography of Nikolai Gogol
• Ukrainians in Russia
• The Namesake

Notes and references

This article incorporates text from D.S. Mirsky's "A History of Russian Literature" (1926-27), a publication now in the public domain. DS Mirsky is the English pen-name of Dmitry Petrovich Svyatopolk-Mirsky (Дми́трий Петро́вич Святопо́лк-Ми́рский (&ndash June 6 The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone

External links

• Works by Nikolai Gogol at Project Gutenberg
• Full collection of Nikolai Gogol works
• Some works by Nikolai Gogol in the original Russian
• A nonmainstream, Ukrainian Perspective on Gogol's national identity and its impact on his works
• Some photos of places and statues that are reminiscent of Gogol and his work
• Bio
• Nikolay Gogol in Encyclopedia Britannica
• Gogol, Nikolai Vasilyevich in The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Project Gutenberg, abbreviated as PG, is a volunteer effort to Digitize, archive and distribute Cultural works The Encyclopædia Britannica is a general English-language encyclopaedia published by Encyclopædia Britannica Inc The Columbia Encyclopedia is a highly regarded one-volume Encyclopedia produced by Columbia University Press and sold by the Gale Group. 2001-05.
• GOGOL, NIKOLAI VASILIEVICH (1809—1852) in 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica. The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911 is a 29-volume reference work that marked the beginning of the Encyclopædia Britannica
• Works by or about Nikolai Gogol in libraries (WorldCat catalog)