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Childhood and years of study
Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol was born on March 20 (April 1, new style) in 1809 in the town of Sorochintsy, Mirgorod district, Poltava province.The future writer spent his childhood in the estate of his parents-Vasilyevka.
The Gogol family belonged to the cultural landowning families of Ukraine.Gogol's father, Vasily Afanasyevich, was a gifted man.He wrote poems in Russian and comedies in Ukrainian,enjoyed fame in his district as a wonderful storyteller, participated as a director and actor in the home theater of the rich landowner Troshchinsky, his relative.
Troshchinsky's estate, where Gogols often visited, had a rich library, an art gallery, a home theater, and an orchestra.Little Gogol got acquainted with the theater here for the first time,listened to music,and saw a large and noisy society.
At home, in Vasilyevka,the future writer listened to wandering kobzars, who opened the world of folk songs and legends to the boy,and loved his grandmother's stories about the glorious Cossacks of the Zaporozhye Sich.
In 1818,after receiving his initial home education,Gogol went to study in Poltava.
In 1821, the Gymnasium of Higher Sciences was opened in Nizhyn.On the advice of friends, V. A. Gogol decided to send his son there. "Gymnasium of Higher Sciences" was one of the best schools in the Ukrainian province.It was a bit like the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, where Alexander Pushkin studied,but, of course, everything in it was much more modest and simpler.
The years of Gogol's study in Nizhyn (1821-1828) coincided with significant events in the social and political life of Russia.
This was the timewhen the Decembrist movement was unfolding in the north and south of the country, culminating in the uprising in St. Petersburg and, after it,the uprising of the Chernihiv regiment in Ukraine, not far from Nizhyn.
Kobzar (Ukrainian: kobzar) is a Ukrainian folk singer, a representative of the epic genre, who usually accompanies himself on one of three instruments-kobza, bandura or wheel lyre. Kobzars, first of all, were moral authorities among the people.
T his social movement also affected the Nizhyn school.Among its professors, two groups stood out:progressive (striving for movement, development) and conservative (supporting the old order, views).The group of progressive professors was headed by the inspector of the gymnasium N. G. Belousov. The schoolboys loved him.In his lectures, Belousov developed ideas close to those of the Decembrists.
Conservative professors looked suspiciously at the closeness between Belousov andо his students.In May 1827,one of them filed a denunciation againstBoris Yelousov, accusing him of educating high school students in the spirit of freethinking.A case began, in which high school students were also involved.Gogol, who was summoned on this issue, testified in favor of Belousov.
A strong influence on the mental development of students of the Nezhinsky gymnasium was exerted by the struggle that took place in literary circles.They followed the course of this struggle, subscribed to magazines: "Moscow Telegraph", "Moscow Messenger", almanacs "Polar Star", "Northern Flowers".They carefully read everything that A. S. Pushkin printed,and they also knew such works of his as the ode to Freedom.
Gogol was very fond of Pushkin and copied poems of his favorite and chapters of "Eugene Onegin"into his handwritten notebooks,illustrating them with drawings.
Literary circles sprang up in the gymnasium,handwritten magazines were published,and a student library was organized,which was constantly replenished with the best works of Russian and foreign literature.Gogol was in charge of this library.
In the last three years of his stay at the gymnasium, Gogol not only read a lot,but also wrote a lot.Of these youthful compositions, only two poems have survived, but the titles of his works that have not come down to us indicate that Gogol tried to write both poetry and prose.
Gogol was fond of theater and painting.According to the testimony of his classmates, he perfectly performed female roles.Gogol painted sets for the school theater,acted as a director.
It is important to note Gogol's early deep interest in the life of ordinary people and their work.One of his comrades wrote: "Getting close to ordinary people obviously gave him a kind of enjoyment in life and evoked a poetic mood."
During his high school years, Gogol felt the growth of extraordinary spiritual forces in himself,but at that time he did not yet know how they could manifest themselves in the future.Before graduating from high school, he wrote a fiery letter to his uncle (P. P. Kosyarovsky), in which he revealed his cherished dreams: "From the very times of the past, from the earliest years..., I was burning with an unquenchable zeal to make my life necessary for the good of the state,I was seething to bring at least the slightest benefit...I swore not a single minute. you can't lose your life without doing something good..."
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