“Devotee of the word”: the Presidential Library collections tell about Gogol

To mark the birthday anniversary of Nikolai Gogol, which is celebrated on April 1, the Presidential Library makes available the materials revealing an uneasy fate of today's classic.

Gogol's creative life was difficult and full of challenges and obstacles. During the writer's life his works were not appreciated at their true value. And at the premiere performances in theaters the audience showed their clear dissatisfaction and lack of understanding of the author's intention. Harsh criticisms fell on Gogol, after the first performance of "The Inspector" at the Alexandrinsky Theatre. The same fate fell to the lot of "Marriage." "The public of the time, brought up on melodramas of Kukolnik, Obodovsky and Kotzebue, was just shocked by the realism of the dialogue, many hearing some particularly real catchwords of the play energetically spat; even a brilliant acting of Martynov in the role of Podkolesin did not redeem the play," says Ivan Shcheglov in his "Devotee of the word."

Gogol’s literary gift was recognized only after his death, when he was unanimously inscribed on the list of the geniuses of mankind, and his "Inspector" and "Marriage" joined the category of classic comedies. In addition, his "Dead Souls" was highly appreciated. Writers and critics recognized its historical value. "…And if Gogol had lived a decade more, had brought to an end a grand building of "Dead Souls", who knows, perhaps, we would have had on hand a kind of literary cartogram of typical species of the Russian people, full qualification of classes and species of our indigenous national characteristics?!" says the author of "Devotee of the word."

Gogol's talent manifested itself not only in fiction. He was also interested in biology, history and ethnography. The latest keenness began with the study of native land, its nature, folk culture. It is told about in the book by Boris Sokolov, "Gogol-ethnographer", available on the website of the Presidential Library. It also describes the childhood of Gogol in a Ukrainian village, "Both by birth and upbringing Gogol belongs entirely to Little Russia. Therefore, it is natural to assume a priori that Little Russian public and mental movements had influenced his interest in studying folk life."

The 200th anniversary of the birth of the great Russian writer was celebrated worldwide in 2009. UNESCO officially dedicated that year to Gogol. Another interesting material also relates to this jubilee: on the Presidential Library website you can see the digitized Presidential decree on the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Nikolai Gogol. The document shows the important role of the great classic in Russian culture today.