Nikolai Gogol

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Lore & Background

Gogol was born in the Ukrainian Cossack town of Sorochyntsi, in the Poltava Governorate of the Russian Empire. His father Vasily Gogol-Yanovsky, who died when Gogol was 15, was a descendant of Ukrainian Cossacks and owned the village of Vasylivka. Gogol knew his paternal ancestor Ostap Hohol was a Cossack hetman in Polish service who received nobility from the Polish king. The family was trilingual, speaking Ukrainian and Russian, and using Polish mostly for reading. From 1820 to 1828, Gogol attended a school of higher art in Nezhin, where he began writing and was called a 'mysterious dwarf' by schoolmates. He developed a dark, secretive disposition and a talent for mimicry. After leaving school in 1828, he went to Saint Petersburg, published a Romantic poem *Hans Küchelgarten* at his own expense under the pseudonym 'V. Alov', but magazines derided it; he bought all copies and destroyed them, swearing never to write poetry again.

Reader's Guide

In 1831, the first volume of Gogol's Ukrainian stories *Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka* was published under the pen name 'Rudy Panko' and met with immediate success; a second volume followed in 1832. He then published *Mirgorod* (1835) and *Arabesques* (1835). Russian editors and critics like Nikolai Polevoy and Nikolai Nadezhdin initially saw Gogol as a regional Ukrainian writer. In 1834, Gogol was made Professor of Medieval History at the University of St. Petersburg, a job for which he had no qualifications; the venture proved a disaster — he missed lectures, muttered unintelligibly, and resigned in 1835. His comedy *The Government Inspector* premiered at the Alexandrinsky Theatre on 19 April 1836, staged thanks to the intervention of Tsar Nicholas I, who attended and said 'there is nothing sinister in the comedy, as it is only a cheerful mockery of bad provincial officials.' From 1836 to 1848, Gogol lived abroad, spending winters in Paris and eventually settling in Rome. After Pushkin's death, his principal work was the satirical epic *Dead Souls*, whose first part appeared in Moscow in 1842 under the censored title *The Adventures of Chichikov*, establishing his reputation as one of the greatest prose writers in the language.

Did You Know?

• Gogol's schoolmates called him their 'mysterious dwarf'.
• He destroyed all copies of his first published poem *Hans Küchelgarten* after it was derided by magazines.
• Gogol was made Professor of Medieval History at the University of St. Petersburg despite having no qualifications, and the venture was a disaster.
• Tsar Nicholas I personally attended the premiere of *The Government Inspector* and said it was 'only a cheerful mockery of bad provincial officials'.
• Eugène-Melchior de Vogüé said: 'We all came out from under Gogol's Overcoat.'