Where Gogol met Shchepkin. Correspondence N

House N.V. Gogol on Nikitsky Boulevard, preserving the memory of the last years of the writer’s life, is the only surviving house in Moscow where Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol lived for a long time: from 1848 to 1852. Now within these walls there is a museum of the great classic and a scientific library.
There are two Talyzin houses in Moscow, and they are not very far from each other. One - on Vozdvizhenka, owned by P.F. Talyzin, which, according to legend, Leo Tolstoy described as the house of Pierre Bezukhov. Nowadays there is a Museum of Architecture there. The other one, on Nikitsky Boulevard, belonged to the Saltykov boyars from the beginning of the 17th century. At the turn of the 18th - 19th centuries, the estate was owned by a distant relative of A.S. Pushkin, Maria Saltykova. The current stone house appeared before World War II - it was built new owner D.S. Boltin, relative of the famous historian. And in 1816, the house passed to General Alexander Ivanovich Talyzin, who participated in the conspiracy against Paul I (and his father, interestingly, sided with Catherine the Great in the conspiracy against Peter III). The general lived here for a long time and on a grand scale: he carefully rebuilt a house with a balcony on beautiful stone arcades.

After his death in August 1847, the estate passed to his relative, titular councilor Talyzina. That same year, Count Alexei Petrovich Tolstoy, who had just returned from Europe, rented an apartment here. A few months later he bought the property and registered it in the name of his wife Anna Georgievna.
Already in December 1848, the couple invited Gogol to their place. The Count met him in the late 1830s, when he was the military governor of Odessa, and since then they remained good friends. Apparently, it was him who Gogol portrayed as the Governor General in the second volume of Dead Souls, considering Tolstoy a man “who can do a lot of good for us,” for he judges things not “from the arrogant European heights, but directly from Russian common sense.” middle."
Gogol accepted the offer with pleasure. He was then going through his most difficult time. A year earlier, his famous book “Selected Passages from Correspondence with Friends” was published, correspondence in which he wanted to convey the Christian truth he had comprehended to people, and which aroused fierce criticism not only from the frantic Vissarion, who branded Gogol the “apostle of ignorance,” but also from those closest to him. , people almost related to Gogol. He was reproached for a religious tendency, protectiveness, “obscurantism” and arrogance of a preaching tone, which the author did not even think about. In addition to moral suffering, because of this conflict, Gogol actually lost his Moscow refuge. He never had his own housing or even a rented apartment in Moscow, he always stayed only with friends, and lived like a monk, having nothing personal except a traveling chest and clothes. Most often, he visited his longtime friend, historian M.P. Pogodin, near Plyushchikha, in his famous Pogodinskaya hut. A bright, cozy attic, full of sun and warmth, always awaited Gogol there.
That autumn of 1848, having returned from the Poltava region, he again stayed with Pogodin, but their relationship was already so cold that friends tried not to meet in the house. The owner soon started renovations, and under that pretext his guest, taking advantage of the Tolstoys’ invitation, moved into their house on Nikitsky Boulevard.

For the rejected Gogol, this was a corner of peace. The Tolstoy couple were very God-loving, pious and kind people (the count’s spiritual father was Archpriest Matthew Konstantinovsky, whom Gogol first met in this house). There was a religious atmosphere here. The owners themselves lived like monks in the world, strictly observed church rules, read spiritual literature, knew secular literature very well, adored Pushkin - all this was very close to Gogol. No wonder he lived here for more than three years - longer than the rest of his friends. The writer was given three cozy rooms on the ground floor with a separate entrance from the entryway: an entrance hall, a living room and an office combined with a bedroom, with windows onto the boulevard and the courtyard. This was Gogol's first such spacious refuge. Bowing to Gogol, the owners surrounded him with sincere care - he did not think about clean linen or food - completely freeing up time for creativity. There was also an extraordinary silence in the house.
He usually worked from morning until lunch. Sometimes dinner was served in his half, but more often it went up to the owners’ dining room. In warm weather we drank tea together on the balcony. During the day, he went for a walk, visited his favorite churches, including the parish church of Simeon the Stylite and his favorite Church of Saint Sava near the Pogodinskaya hut, which has not survived to this day, and the Tatyana Church of Moscow University, in which his funeral service later took place.
According to legend, students remembered how Gogol stood at the service, chillyly wrapped in an overcoat, as if he was cold (probably this was a consequence of malaria, which the writer suffered in Rome) - this is how the sculptor N. Andreev later portrayed him.
In the courtyard of the estate there is a monument to Gogol by N.A. Andreev, created by the sculptor for the 100th anniversary of the writer’s birth and has its own complicated, very interesting and dramatic history. The work of Nikolai Andreev is often called aesthetically perfect, a masterpiece, and is recognized as one of the best sculptures on the streets of the capital. Nikolai Andreev portrayed Gogol during his period of mental crisis, having lost faith in his work, devastated to the point of despair. The writer appears before the viewer, deeply immersed in mournful thoughts. The sculptor emphasized his depressed state with a bent posture, lowered shoulder line, tilt of the head, and folds of the cloak, which almost completely hides the chilled body. The pedestal of the monument is framed by bronze bas-reliefs of excellent workmanship, which depict heroes from Gogol’s most famous works: “The Inspector General,” “The Overcoat,” “Taras Bulba,” “Dead Souls” and others. But the most radical phenomenon for monumental art of that time was the very idea of the “mourning” Gogol. This idea caused a lot of controversy immediately after the opening of the monument.
And very close by on the Dog Playground lived A.S. Khomyakov, whose namesake son was baptized by Gogol in, alas, the also lost Arbat Church of St. Nicholas in Plotniki. His wife Ekaterina Mikhailovna was Gogol's closest friend - to her alone he told his true impressions of the trip to the Holy Land. And her death, which followed on January 26, 1852, was one of the reasons mystical death Gogol. Gogol intended to spend the winter of 1852 in Crimea. However, in September 1851, having visited Optina Pustyn for the last time, as it turned out, he unexpectedly returned to Moscow and never left it.
At first, the museum's management was faced with a severe shortage of memorial items of the writer. There was an inventory of things that was made after Gogol's death. He left behind 294 books, one gold watch, soft boots, which he always wore because his feet hurt... The entire list fit on one and a half sheets, subsequently a literally waterfall of donations fell on the museum and the collection is still being actively replenished.

Front room

The antechamber was an auxiliary room and was not described in detail by contemporaries. The poet and translator N.V. Berg, who visited this house several times, recalled:
“Here Gogol was looked after like a child, giving him complete freedom in everything. He didn't care about anything at all. Lunch, breakfast, tea, dinner were served wherever he ordered. His linen was washed and put in drawers by invisible spirits, unless it was also put on by invisible spirits. In addition to the numerous servants of the house, he was served in his rooms by his own man from Little Russia, named Semyon, a very young guy, meek and extremely devoted to his master. According to the custom of that time, Semyon was called “Cossack”. His duties included reporting on visitors and performing various tasks: meeting and seeing off Gogol’s friends, helping them take off and put on outerwear. There was a clothes hanger here and perhaps the writer's travel chest.

On the wall last portrait Gogol, executed in the year of his death in 1852. The travel “chest of wanderings” was transformed into a britzka as a symbol of Gogol’s wandering fate. The chest contains items that could be useful on the road.

Living room

The living room was recreated according to the memories of Gogol’s contemporaries: mahogany furniture upholstered in damask, a sofa table, a bell for calling a servant, a candlestick, papers, a stack of books. On the walls there is an icon, several watercolors and engravings - views of the Simonov Monastery, the Colosseum, Kozelskaya Vvedenskaya Optina Hermitage, Peter's Travel Palace, the Pantheon, Italian landscapes. The writer visited these places over the years.

The fireplace has been turned into a symbol of fiery purification and renewal. The faces of Gogol's contemporaries who had influence on the writer, especially in his last years, appear in the “fireplace room”: Count A.P. Tolstoy, E.M. Khomyakova, Fr. Matthew Konstantinovsky, Countess A.G. Tolstaya. The image of Dante is symbolic. In his work on Dead Souls, Gogol relied on the three-part structure of The Divine Comedy. In the living room, all attention is attracted by a gloomy-looking fireplace - the same one in the fire of which the second volume of “Dead Souls” burned on the night of February 11-12, 1852. Before this, Gogol summoned his devoted servant Semyon from the left half. “Is it warm in the living room?” - the writer asked, after which he asked to move the dampers on the second floor and light the stove. What follows has been a mystery to researchers of Gogol’s work for 150 years: the writer walks with a candle through a suite of rooms, sits down near the fireplace and begins to burn his notebooks, not paying attention to Semyon’s pleas not to do this. The notes do not burn well, and you have to untie the ropes to burn the paper faster. In memory of that night, the hands of the mantel clock froze at three - it was at this time that Russian literature lost a work that could have become one of its masterpieces.
To more accurately convey the atmosphere of that night, the fireplace cannot do without modern installations: under the crackling fire, the faces of all those whom Gogol saw shortly before his death float in it. In the Gogol House you can completely immerse yourself in the atmosphere of that era: the voices of domestic animals were heard, the cart creaked with its springs as it approached the porch, luggage was being unloaded on the street...

The office was the place where Gogol worked, communicated with friends, prayed, and rested. According to the recollections of contemporaries, there was a mahogany desk, a table, a sofa, and a bed separated by a screen. Only the closest people were invited here: M.S. Shchepkin, A.O. Smirnova-Rosset, A.S. Khomyakov, S.P. Shevyrev. The writer's library at that time consisted of 234 books. On the walls are portraits of Archimandrite Anthony (Medvedev) and the Optina elders with whom Gogol met during his visits to the Optina Hermitage and corresponded. The engravings recall the writer's journey to the Holy Land in 1848.

Gogol worked standing at a desk, which was transformed into an altar of creativity during the exhibition. On the desk is a portrait of A.S. Pushkin, who gave the writer the plots of “Dead Souls” and “The Inspector General”. Experiencing the shock associated with the death of the poet, Gogol wrote to P.A. Pletnev in March 1837: “I did nothing without his advice. Not a single line was written without me imagining him in front of me.” And a few days later Gogol wrote to M.P. Pogodin: “When I was creating, I saw only Pushkin in front of me.”

Below on the desk there is an inkstand from the house of the Troshchinskys, Poltava relatives of the writer, and a travel pincushion for Gogol’s mother.

Above the desk is an engraving from Raphael's painting "The Transfiguration".

Reception room of Count Tolstoy or “The Auditor's Hall”

In another part of the house there is a hall where Gogol received guests. The theatrical Gogol is presented here, and the hall is decorated in a theatrical style with velvet draperies, reminiscent of the decoration of the boxes of the Alexandria Theater, where The Government Inspector premiered.

“For God’s sake, give us Russian characters, give us ourselves, our rogues, our eccentrics! on stage, to everyone’s laughter!” - wrote N.V. Gogol in the article “Theatrical travel after the presentation of a new comedy.” The writer’s own plays were a practical response to this call, most notably the brilliant comedy “The Inspector General.” Having set his goal to reflect in “The Inspector General” “everything bad... all the injustices... and at one time laugh at everything,” Gogol gave this comedy a huge generalizing meaning.
In this play there is actually no goodies. The relief depiction of the images of the mayor and city officials constitutes the satirical meaning of the comedy, in which the tradition of bribery and deception of an official is completely natural and inevitable. Both petty officials and the top of this class of the city cannot imagine any other outcome than bribing the auditor with a bribe. A nameless district town, in which, under the threat of revision, the true character of the main characters is revealed, becomes a generalized image of all of Russia.

The Inspector General was first staged on the stage of the St. Petersburg Alexandrinsky Theater on April 19, 1836. The first performance of The Inspector General in Moscow took place on May 25, 1836 on the stage of the Maly Theater. Since then, the comedy has not left the stages of the country's theaters. Both in Soviet times and in our time, it is one of the most popular productions and enjoys constant success with the audience.

In October, Gogol saw a production of The Inspector General at the Maly Theater, but he did not like it, and he invited the artists to the house on Nikitsky to read the play himself. The author's reading took place on November 5 - the count provided his reception room for it.

Gogol sat on the sofa in front of the table, and listeners sat around on chairs and armchairs: M.S. Shchepkin, P.M. Sadovsky, Aksakovs, S.P. Shevyrev, I.S. Turgenev. The author read well, but at the end he was very tired.

Death room

On his last New Year's Eve, Gogol met with Dr. F.P. Gaz at Tolstoy's. He wished Gogol a “new year” that would grant him an “eternal year.” Gogol fell into despondency from this congratulation. The tragedy that took place in the winter of 1852 in a house on Nikitsky Boulevard and the cause of Gogol’s death remain a mystery to this day. There is no doubt that Gogol was crippled by the death of Ekaterina Mikhailovna Khomyakova. There is even a hypothesis that from her he contracted typhoid fever, which a month later brought him to the grave. He definitely had a presentiment of his death. At the funeral service, Gogol said to the widower: “It’s all over for me.” And I decided to start fasting ahead of schedule, during Maslenaya Week. Thus, a common version emerged, especially popular in Soviet times, and then spread by N.G. Chernyshevsky, that out of religious motives, “in a state of madness,” Gogol starved himself to death. Modern researchers have subjected it to justified criticism.

It is known that on February 5 he complained of an upset stomach and that the prescribed medication was too strong. Doctor F.I. Inozemtsev diagnosed “intestinal catarrh”, which can turn into typhus. This was the first and main reason refusing regular food, which probably caused him pain. Another diagnosis for Gogol was meningitis, which developed as a result of a cold. In those days, he went to the Preobrazhensk hospital to see the revered holy fool Ivan Yakovlevich Koreysha, (later depicted by Dostoevsky in “The Possessed”), but, not daring to go to him, he walked for a long time in a strong wind - and left. When Gogol's first ailments began, the Tolstoys moved him to the warmest room in the house on their half. That is why it turned out that Gogol lived in one part of the house and died in another. On the night of February 9, Gogol heard voices in his sleep saying that he would soon die. The next day, he asked Count Tolstoy to hand over all his manuscripts to Saint Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow, with whom he was personally acquainted. The Count deliberately did not accept the papers so that Gogol would not think about his imminent death. And then he cursed himself for not taking the manuscripts.
On the night of February 12, Gogol ordered his servant to light the stove in the living room and burned his papers. Father Matthew later said that Gogol destroyed his works not because he considered them sinful, but because he recognized them as weak. In the morning, the writer lamented that he wanted to burn only the manuscripts that had been taken away long ago, but he burned them all. Tolstoy tried to encourage him that it was still possible to reconstruct what he had written from memory. Gogol perked up at this thought, but not for long. On February 14, he firmly said: “You must leave me, I know that I must die,” and three days later he took unction and received communion.
Gogol died a martyr's death. On February 20, Tolstoy convened a council of the best doctors who considered that Gogol had meningitis and decided to treat him forcibly, as a person who did not control himself. All day, despite the dying man’s pleas not to disturb him and to leave him alone, they put him in a warm bath and poured water on his head. cold water, put leeches, flies, mustard plasters, covered the body with hot bread.

A church choir sounds in the key room of the museum. This is the memory room. A small room decorated in dark colors. Curtained windows, dark blue curtains, gray velvet. In the paintings - the Church of St. Tatiana, where Gogol was buried, and the St. Danilov Monastery, where he was buried. On a high table near the sofa is one of the most valuable exhibits of the museum - the ninth copy of N.V.’s death mask. Gogol by sculptor Ramazanov. It was here on a gray February morning, at nine o’clock, on February 21, 1852, M.P.’s mother-in-law. Pogodina discovered writer dead.

According to contemporaries, there was a guest room here. Gogol came to live here in January 1852. L.N. Arnoldi recalled: “Gogol apparently changed rooms recently or was moved there already sick, because before I visited him in the right half of the house. There was no one in the first room, but in the second, on the bed, with his eyes closed, thin, pale, Gogol lay; long hair it was tangled and fell in disarray on the face and eyes; he sometimes sighed heavily, whispered some kind of prayer, and from time to time cast a dull glance at the icon standing at his feet on the bed, directly opposite the patient. In the corner, in an armchair, his servant from Little Russia was probably sleeping, tired. Gogol wrote that his father died not from any specific illness, but only “from the fear of death.” Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol received this “fear of death” from his father as a fatal inheritance.
On the walls there is a portrait of Moscow Metropolitan Philaret, views of the Novodevichy and St. Danilov monasteries. In 1931, due to the closure of the cemetery, Gogol’s ashes were transferred from the Danilov Monastery to the Novodevichy Cemetery. Documents related to the reburials are located in the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art in Moscow.

On the table under the mirror is a copy of the death certificate from the metric book of records of the Church of Simeon the Stylite. The parishioners of this church were everyone who lived in Talyzin’s house. On the table next to the sofa is the Psalter, open to a penitential psalm. Light falls on Gogol's death mask, made by sculptor N.A. Romazanov. The mask was donated to the museum by M.N. Dombrovskaya, a relative of Romazanov.
In this room on February 21, 1852 (old style), at about eight o'clock in the morning, Gogol passed away. At night he shouted loudly: “Ladder, give me the ladder quickly.” His last breath was taken by the mother-in-law of Moscow University professor M.P. Pogodin E.F. Wagner.
In his last days, Gogol could no longer work; he and those caring for him read spiritual literature to him. Gogol said that his body should not be buried until signs of decomposition appeared in his body. I was afraid to fall into a lethargic sleep. During his lifetime, he suffered from taphephobia - the fear of being buried alive, since since 1839, after suffering from malarial encephalitis, he was prone to fainting followed by prolonged sleep. And he was pathologically afraid that during such a state he might be mistaken for dead. The pronounced exhaustion and dehydration of the body was striking. He was in a state of so-called depressive stupor. He was lying on the bed in his robe and boots. Turning his face to the wall, not talking to anyone, immersed in himself, silently waiting for death. With sunken cheeks, sunken eyes, dull gaze, weak, accelerated pulse. From the beginning of February 1852, Nikolai Vasilyevich almost completely deprived himself of food. Severely limited sleep. Refused to take medications. I burned the almost finished second volume of Dead Souls. He began to retire, wishing and at the same time fearfully expecting death. He firmly believed in the afterlife. Therefore, in order not to end up in hell, he exhausted himself all night long with prayers, kneeling in front of the images. Lent began 10 days earlier than expected church calendar. Essentially, it was not fasting, but complete hunger, which lasted three weeks until the writer’s death. This period is hardly unconditionally fair for healthy, strong people. Gogol was a physically weak, sick person. After previously suffering from malarial encephalitis, he suffered from bulimia - a pathologically increased appetite. I ate a lot, mostly hearty meat dishes, but due to metabolic disorders in the body I did not gain any weight. Until 1852, he practically did not observe fasts. And here, in addition to fasting, I sharply limited myself in liquids. Which, together with food deprivation, led to the development of severe nutritional dystrophy.

How was Gogol treated?

According to an incorrect diagnosis. Immediately after the end of the consultation, from 15:00 on February 20, Doctor Klimenkov began treating “meningitis” with those imperfect methods that were used in the 19th century. The patient was forcibly placed in a hot bath, and ice water was poured over his head. After this procedure, the writer felt chills, but he was kept without clothes. They performed bloodletting and placed 8 leeches on the patient’s nose to increase nosebleeds. The treatment of the patient was cruel. They shouted at him rudely. Gogol tried to resist the procedures, but his hands were wringed forcefully, causing pain. The patient's condition not only did not improve, but became critical. At night he fell into unconsciousness. And at 8 o’clock in the morning on February 21, in his sleep, the writer’s breathing and blood circulation stopped. There were no medical workers nearby. There was a nurse on duty.
The participants of the consultation that took place the day before began to gather at 10 o’clock and instead of the patient they found the body of the writer, from whose face the sculptor Ramazanov was removing the death mask. The doctors clearly did not expect death to occur so quickly.
What was the cause of death?

Acute cardiovascular failure caused by bloodletting and shock temperature effects on a patient suffering from severe nutritional dystrophy. Such patients tolerate bleeding very poorly, often not much at all. A sharp change in heat and cold also weakens cardiac activity. Dystrophy arose due to prolonged starvation. And it was caused by the depressive phase of manic-depressive psychosis. This creates a whole chain of factors. Did the doctors do any harm? They made a mistake in good faith, making an incorrect diagnosis and prescribing irrational treatment that weakened the patient. Could the writer be saved? Force-feeding highly nutritious foods, drinking plenty of fluids, and subcutaneous infusions of saline solutions. If this had been done, his life would certainly have been spared. By the way, the youngest participant in the consultation, Dr. A. T. Tarasenkov, was convinced of the need for force feeding. But for some reason he did not insist on this and only passively observed the incorrect actions. Klimenkov and Overa, later harshly condemned them in their memoirs. The tragedy of Nikolai Vasilyevich was that his mental illness was never recognized during his lifetime. There is a clock on the table, the time of the writer’s death is frozen on it.

The Tolstoys, shocked by the death of their guest, soon left this house. In 1856, Alexander II appointed A.P. Tolstoy chief prosecutor of the Holy Synod, and they left for St. Petersburg. The count survived Gogol by 21 years and died in 1873 in Geneva on his way from Jerusalem. The widow immediately sold the house on Nikitsky to Lermontov’s distant relative M.A. Stolypina, and she gave the property to her daughter N.A. Sheremeteva. In 1888, she carried out major reconstruction with a change of stoves; when possible, the original stove in which Gogol's manuscripts burned was lost.

Hall of Incarnations

Under Gogol, there were apparently office premises here. In the left half of the museum, little remains of the furnishings of the writer’s house. “This is Gogol’s special planet,” says artist and author of the museum’s exhibition Leonty Ozernikov. - The main thing we wanted to achieve in this hall was co-creation. With Gogol, with each other, at all times.”

In this bright, contrastingly decorated room, which the museum calls interactive, computers line the colorfully decorated wall with illustrations, where you can get information about the classics in a more familiar way for schoolchildren in electronic format. And Gogol himself becomes very school-like here, painfully familiar even to those who have completed only nine grades - such a Gogol fits very easily into virtual reality. So, here you can leaf through an on-screen book about the history of the creation of “The Inspector General”, look at Chichikov, Plyushkin and other Gogol characters by outstanding illustrators. Here is a multi-layered exhibition about the life and work of the writer in different periods, topics that interested him and were reflected in his works, for example, St. Petersburg, Christianity. All this was invented for a deeper reading of Gogol in the museum.

The Hall of Incarnations presents various periods of the writer's life. Original installations made by artist L. Ozernikov are combined with museum objects and modern technologies.

We cannot ignore the topic of relations between Russia and Ukraine. Both peoples were loved by the writer and inseparable in his mind. “I myself don’t know what kind of soul I have, Khokhlatsky or Russian,” wrote Nikolai Vasilyevich in 1844. - I only know that I would not give an advantage to either a Little Russian over a Russian, or a Russian over a Little Russian. Both natures are too generously endowed by God, and, as if on purpose, each of them separately contains something that is not in the other - a clear sign that they must replenish one another.” However, according to Dostoevsky, Gogol nevertheless devoted all his gigantic talent to Russia. But this does not take it away from Ukraine! Both then and now Gogol unites our two fraternal peoples.

Library

On the second floor is the residential half of the Tolstoys, where the reading rooms are now located. To the left is the theater living room of Countess Anna Georgievna Tolstoy. It houses a music and music reading room, but all library interiors are designed in the style of a classic city estate of the mid-19th century. There is a crystal fireplace with imitation fire, and portraits of the owners, and their noble coat of arms.

To the right used to be the owners' apartments, including the dining room, where Gogol often came to dine. Nowadays there is a humanities reading room here, designed in the style of a noble library. Currently, scientific conferences are held here.

When the second, neighboring wing of the estate is completely vacated (its tenant has a contract until 2012), the entire library will move there, and a full-fledged exhibition hall will be built here. The exhibition will tell about the history of this house, about the Tolstoys, about the wanderings around Moscow of the “old”, the first monument to Gogol, which found its final home in the courtyard.
You can supplement your knowledge on the second floor in the library, get acquainted with the writer’s works in different languages, as well as studies of his life and work. There is a music library in the theater lounge. One of the music albums, according to legend, belonged to Countess A.G. Tolstoy.
The museum's collection includes several thousand exhibits: books, items of noble life, engravings, lithographs of the first half of the 19th century.

House N.V. Gogol provides comprehensive museum, library and information services. The doors of the musical notation and reference and bibliographic departments, the subscription and reading room are always open for visitors, where you can not only order a book, but also find the necessary information on the Internet.

In the House of N.V. Gogol, various cultural events are held: the annual international conference "Gogol Readings", literary, musical and poetic evenings, concert programs, calendar holidays, creative meetings, the "Estate Theater" project is being implemented. The founder of the library was N.K. Krupskaya (1869 - 1939). The history of the house is interesting. It is known as the “Talyzin Estate” and is associated with the last years of the life of the great Russian writer Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. In 1959, a monument by sculptor N.A. Andreev appeared in the courtyard of the house for the 150th anniversary of Gogol’s birth.

Address: 119019, Moscow, Nikitsky Boulevard, 7a. Directions: St. m. "Arbatskaya"
Opening hours:* Every day, except Tuesday and the last day of each month, from 12.00 to 19.00, Sat., Sun. from 12.00 to 17.00. Ticket office until 18.00, Sat. and all until 16.00
Entrance fee: * Full - 80 rubles, children (up to 7 years), full-time students - free, reduced (pensioners, schoolchildren, evening students) - 30 rubles, for foreign tourists - 100 rubles.

Internet: www.museum.ru/M1622 - official page
House N.V. Gogol - memorial museum and scientific library - W1470, official website www.domgogolya.ru/
email mail: [email protected]

Moscow in Gogol's destiny is a very significant city. He declared himself as a writer in St. Petersburg, loved Rome, and was eager to communicate with young people in Kyiv. But Moscow, where, according to Gogol, “you go straight home, and not to visit,” attracted him to itself with bonds of friendship and camaraderie. Nikolai Vasilyevich visited and lived here many times. In Moscow, Gogol’s earthly journey ended, and the life of the eternal classic of world literature began. Worldwide, and not just Russian or Ukrainian! And it is no coincidence that UNESCO declared the current anniversary year of the 200th anniversary of the writer’s birth the Year of Gogol.

In June 1832, Gogol did not stay in Moscow for long - about two weeks: he was in a hurry to Little Russia, to his native Vasilyevka.

On this visit, when everyone had already read “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka” and many wanted to see the author, he met the writer Sergei Timofeevich Aksakov and his family, the poet Ivan Ivanovich Dmitriev, the historian Mikhail Petrovich Pogodin...

At the same time, we met the great Russian actor Mikhail Semyonovich Shchepkin. Gogol decided on his own, without any invitations, to simply go to him - to talk about the Russian theater and, perhaps, to talk about the comedy that he was planning to write. From that day began the friendship of two great people, faithful, strong - for life.

Friendship - with frequent meetings and highly interesting correspondence. Gogol and Shchepkin were enthusiastic admirers of each other. Gogol's plays helped the stage talent of the great actor to manifest itself with the greatest force. At the same time, it was Shchepkin, who, in Herzen’s words, created truth on the Russian stage, who first revealed on it the power and depth of Gogol’s dramatic genius.

On May 25, 1836, the first Moscow performance of Gogol's The Inspector General took place at the Maly Theater. Shchepkin played the role of Mayor. Mikhail Semyonovich was the soul of the production. About his graceful, natural and simple playing V.G. Belinsky wrote: “The actor understood the poet.” And here is another review from critics of that time: “It seems that Gogol copied his mayor from him (M.S. Shchepkina - N.G.), and he did not fulfill the role written by Gogol.”

Gogol refused to attend the performance. He was going abroad. And then the book itself appeared in Moscow. “Finally, twenty-five copies of the desired “The Inspector General” appeared in our good city of Moscow,” reported one of the Moscow magazines, “and they were snapped up, rebought, reread, read, learned, turned into proverbs, and went for a walk among people, turned into epigrams and they began to brand those whom they approached.”

In the fall of 1839, Gogol returned from abroad to Russia and came to Moscow with the historian Mikhail Petrovich Pogodin, whom he met in Vienna. He stayed at his house on Devichye Pole (now Pogodinskaya Street).

Gogol three times upon his arrival from abroad to Moscow stopped and lived with Pogodin (in 1839-1840, 1841-1842 and 1848), made use of the rich archive of ancient letters, manuscripts, books, which, along with a collection of popular prints, ancient weapons and Pogodin collected coins in his house. Here Gogol found handwritten materials about the history of the Zaporozhye Cossacks. They helped him work on the new edition of Taras Bulba.

The news of Gogol's return quickly spread throughout Moscow. Several times during this visit Gogol read to friends individual chapters"Dead Souls", which everyone was delighted with.

“You brought with you, as a gift to Russian literature,” wrote one of Pogodin’s acquaintances from St. Petersburg, “the fugitive Pasichnik... Now all we talk about is Gogol... We only hear quotes from “Evenings on the Farm”, from “Mirgorod”, from "Arabesques". They even decided to play “The Inspector General”. Lovers of St. Petersburg life and St. Petersburg society now envy Muscovites... This is what it means to spend some time abroad, having first aroused everyone's attention. St. Petersburg regrets that it has lost one of its most worthy writers and raises the price of Gogol’s works. You can barely get an auditor, and then for no less than fifteen rubles. Take the trouble to warn Gogol so that he does not delay in publishing his creations, if he does not want to arouse the rage of admirers of his talent against himself...”

On May 9, 1840, on St. Nicholas Day, on the day of his name day (according to the old style), Gogol decided to organize a dinner - to gather his friends and acquaintances to say goodbye to them before leaving. This was Gogol's first birthday dinner in Moscow. Later these dinners became a tradition for him. Every time Gogol was in Moscow on this day, he organized such a holiday.

The tables were taken out into the wide linden alley of the Pogodinsky Garden. About fifty guests arrived. Among them are Mikhail Semyonovich Shchepkin, Moscow and St. Petersburg writers...

Gogol was also waiting for Lermontov, who was transferred to the Tenginsky Infantry Regiment in the Caucasus for the duel and ended up in Moscow on the way to exile. Belinsky told Gogol about Lermontov. “A Hero of Our Time” had just been published, and there were a lot of Lermontov’s poems in the magazines. Nikolai Vasilyevich has already read all this.

Lermontov came to Gogol’s name day. He asked the poet to read something after the feast, and Mikhail Yuryevich read an excerpt from the poem “Mtsyri” he had just written.

“No one has ever written in our country in such correct, beautiful and fragrant prose,” Gogol remarked about Lermontov’s “Hero of Our Time” later, after the poet’s death. - Here you can see more depth into the reality of life; the future great painter of Russian life was preparing..."

At the end of 1841, Gogol was again in Moscow - he kept his promise and brought the finished manuscript of the poem “Dead Souls”. But it was not so easy to print it. Troubles began, conversations with censors, persuasion, evidence, humiliating and difficult days for Gogol. And only with the help of friends was it finally possible to obtain permission to print. At the end of May 1842, Dead Souls was published: the first volume was printed in the printing house of Moscow University.

When Gogol chose Moscow as his place of residence, his way of thinking changed greatly. The happiness of receiving Gogol, the joy of live communication with him, now went exclusively to the Mother See. Wherever he went - to Little Russia, Rome or on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land - he always returned here. From then on, Gogol rarely visited St. Petersburg.

The feelings that Gogol had for the ancient Russian capital are clearly revealed in Gogol’s passage “Moscow and St. Petersburg (from the notes of a traveler).” How many sparkling comparisons are there! “Moscow is an old homebody, bakes pancakes, looks from afar and listens to the story without rising from her chair; Petersburg is a broken little guy, he never sits at home, he’s always dressed and walks around the cordon, preening himself before Europe...” “In Moscow there are all brides, in St. Petersburg there are all grooms.” “Rus drags itself to Moscow with money in its pocket and returns light; people without money come to St. Petersburg and travel to all directions of the world with a fair amount of capital.” From these notes it is not difficult to discern that the author’s sympathies are on the side of Moscow.

The letters he sent to his prospective bride, Anna Mikhailovna Vielgorskaya, also speak about the writer’s love for Moscow. When she was getting ready to come to the Mother See, Nikolai Vasilyevich wrote to her: “With all my heart I wish that Moscow will leave the most gracious impression in your soul forever.” Another time he invites her to inspect Moscow shrines.

Gogol himself regularly visited Moscow churches. For example, behind Pashkov’s house, the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Old Vagankovo, built in the 16th century, has been preserved to this day. In the 40s of the 19th century, the Noble Institute was located in Pashkov’s house. His students testified that Nikolai Vasilyevich visited the temple more than once. Together with them, he listened to Easter Matins and stood at the choir next to Pogodin.

In the fall of 1848, Gogol finally moved to Moscow. Friends and acquaintances greeted him enthusiastically.

Gogol settled on Nikitsky Boulevard in two modest rooms on the first floor of the Talyzin-Tolstoy estate. He was preparing a collection of his works for publication. He often walked along Nikitsky Boulevard, and young people went to watch Gogol walking.

Nikolai Vasilyevich was dissatisfied with his work on the second volume of Dead Souls, which he burned here in the estate before his death. “My creativity is lazy. Trying not to miss a minute of time, I don’t leave the table, I don’t push the papers away, I don’t let go of the pen - but the lines are sluggishly formed, and time flies irrevocably ... "

One day Shchepkin informed Gogol about the arrival of Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev in Moscow and about his desire to meet him (Turgenev’s memoirs, where he recalls his meeting with Gogol, were written by him in the summer of 1869, published in the same year in the first volume of “Works of I. S. Turgenev").

“The late Mikhail Semenovich Shchepkin brought me to Gogol,” Turgenev recalled. - I remember the day of our visit: October 20, 1851 /…/. We arrived at one o'clock in the afternoon: he received us immediately. His room was located near the entryway, to the right. We entered it - and I saw Gogol standing in front of the desk with a pen in his hand. /…/ Seeing Shchepkin and me, he walked towards us with a cheerful look and, shaking my hand, said: “We should have known each other a long time ago” /…/

Mikhail Semyonovich warned me that I should not talk to him about the continuation of “Dead Souls”, about this second part, on which he worked so long and so hard and which he, as you know, burned before his death - that he does not like this conversation . /…/ However, I was not preparing for any conversation - but simply longed to see a man whose creations I almost knew by heart /…/.

Shchepkin told me in advance that Gogol was not talkative: in reality it turned out differently. Gogol spoke a lot, with animation, measuredly repelling and emphasizing each word - which not only did not seem unnatural, but, on the contrary, gave his speech some kind of pleasant weight and impressionability... Everything came out well, smoothly, tasty and aptly. The impression of fatigue, painful, nervous anxiety that he first made on me disappeared. He spoke about the meaning of literature, about the vocation of a writer, about how one should treat one’s own works; made several subtle and true observations about the very process of work, about the very, so to speak, physiology of writing, and all this in figurative, original language and, as far as I could notice, not in the least prepared in advance, as is often the case with “ celebrities" /…/".

On November 5 (old style), 1851, Gogol read at the estate of A.P. Tolstoy on Nikitsky Boulevard, where he lived, to the assembled friends and actors of the Maly Theater “The Inspector General”.

“He began to read and gradually perked up,” recalled I.S. Turgenev. - The cheeks were covered with a light blush; the eyes widened and brightened. Gogol read excellently... I listened to him then for the first and last time /.../ It seemed that Gogol was only concerned with how to delve into the subject, which was new to him, and how to more accurately convey his own impression. The effect was extraordinary - especially in comic, humorous places; it was impossible not to laugh - a good, healthy laugh; and the culprit of all this fun continued, not embarrassed by the general gaiety and, as if inwardly marveling at it, to immerse himself more and more in the matter itself - and only occasionally, on the lips and around the eyes, the master’s sly smile trembled slightly. With what bewilderment, with what amazement Gogol uttered the famous phrase of the Governor about two rats (at the very beginning of the play): “They came, sniffed and went away!” “He even looked around us slowly, as if asking for an explanation for such an amazing incident. It was only then that I realized how completely incorrect, superficial, and with what desire only to quickly make people laugh, “The Inspector General” is usually played out on stage. I sat immersed in joyful emotion: it was a real feast and celebration for me. /…/

Grigory Petrovich Danilevsky, a famous fiction writer in his time, was not one of the people close to Gogol. And although Danilevsky’s memoirs cover a very limited period of time, they cover in detail a number of significant episodes of Gogol’s biography in the last year of his life, some living traits of his character (“Acquaintance with Gogol”, magazine “Historical Bulletin”, 1886, No. 12).

“For the first time in my life I saw Gogol four months before his death,” recalled G.P. Danilevsky. - It happened in the fall of 1851 /.../ I received from an old friend of mine, the late Moscow professor O. M. Bodyansky, a note in which he informed me that one of our fellow Ukrainians, Mr. A-i, who was before because I saw him, I intended to sing Little Russian songs from Gogol and that Gogol, having learned that I also had a collection of Ukrainian folk songs, with notes, asked Bodyansky to invite me to his place /…/

At the appointed hour I went to O. M. Bodyansky to go with him to Gogol. Bodyansky then lived near the Old Ascension on Arbat, on the corner of Merzlyakovsky Lane, in the house now of E. S. Meshcherskaya, No. 243. He greeted me with the words: “Well, fellow countrymen, let's go; let us taste from the fragrant, sweet honeycomb of our native Ukrainian music.” We took a cab and drove next door to Nikitsky Boulevard, to Talyzin’s house, where, in the apartment of Mr. A.P. Tolstoy, Gogol lived at that time. /…/

Having driven through the stone gates of the high fence, to the right, to the balcony gallery of Talyzin’s house, we entered the entrance hall of the lower floor. The old servant of Count Tolstoy cordially showed us the door from the front to the right.

Are you late? - asked Bodyansky, walking through the door with his usual hobbling gait.

Please, they are waiting! - answered the servant.

Bodyansky passed through the reception room and stopped in front of the next closed door into a coal room, two of which looked out onto the courtyard and two onto the boulevard. I guessed that this was Gogol’s office. Bodyansky knocked on the door of this room.

Is it at home, brother Mikolo? - he asked in Little Russian.

And at home, at home! - Someone answered quietly from there.

My heart started beating fast. The door opened. Gogol stood at her threshold.

We entered the office/…/.

Where is our singer? - asked Bodyansky, looking around.

I cheated and went to Shchepkin’s for dumplings! - Gogol answered with visible displeasure. - I just sent an apologetic note, as if I forgot that I gave my word there earlier /…/.

In front of me was not only not a mentally ill or generally crazy person, but the same Gogol, the same powerful and attractive artist as I had become accustomed to imagining him from my youth /.../.

What kind of manuscripts do you have? - asked Bodyansky, pointing to a working, mahogany desk, standing to the left of the entrance doors, behind which Gogol, before our arrival, apparently worked while standing.

So-so, I get dirty from time to time! - Gogol answered casually.

Books and notebooks were placed on the top of the desk; on its sloping board, upholstered with green cloth, lay open, finely written and scribbled sheets.

Isn't this the second volume of Dead Souls? - asked Bodyansky, winking.

Yes... sometimes I take it,” Gogol said reluctantly, “but the work doesn’t progress; another word you pull out with pincers. /…/".

In his memoirs, G.P. Danilevsky writes about reading “The Inspector General”:

“The table around which the listeners sat on armchairs and chairs stood to the right of the door, near the sofa, opposite the windows into the courtyard. Gogol read while sitting on the sofa. Among the listeners were: S. T. and I. S. Aksakov, S. P. Shevyrev, I. S. Turgenev, N. V. Berg and other writers, as well as actors M. S. Shchepkin, P. M. Sadovsky and Shuisky. I will never forget reading Gogol. He especially inimitably read the monologues of Khlestakov and Lyapkin-Tyapkin and the scene between Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky. “Your tooth is whistling,” Gogol said seriously and impressively, threatening someone with his eyes and even whispering as if his tooth was whistling too. The uncontrollable laughter of the listeners occasionally involuntarily interrupted him. In the end, the highly artistic and lively reading really tired Gogol. His strength somehow didn’t last long at all. When he finished reading the final scene of the comedy, with a letter, and rose from the sofa, the enchanted listeners stood in groups for a long time, quietly conveying their impressions to each other. Shchepkin, wiping away tears, hugged the reader..."

But one of Gogol’s closest friends, M. S. Shchepkin, unfortunately, did not leave written memoirs about Nikolai Vasilyevich. But a number of his oral stories and memories of his beloved writer, which he shared in the family circle, have reached us. His grandson M.A. Shchepkin compiled memories of his great grandfather and his friendship with Gogol from the words of his parents and other close relatives.

“Gogol was very disposed towards Shchepkin,” recalls M.A. Shchepkin. - Both of them knew and loved Little Russia and willingly talked about it, sitting in the far corner of the living room in Mikhail Semyonovich’s house. They went through the customs and clothing of the Little Russians, and, finally, their cuisine. Listening to their conversation, one could hear at the end: dumplings, cabbage rolls, palenitsy - and their faces shone with smiles. From Shchepkin's stories, Gogol sometimes drew new features for the characters in his stories, and sometimes inserted his entire story into his story. This was done at the request of Mikhail Semyonovich, who wanted characteristic expressions or incidents not to disappear without a trace and to be preserved in Gogol’s stories. So, Mikhail Semyonovich told him a story about a mayor who found a place in a close crowd, and about comparing him with a tasty morsel falling into a full stomach. Thus, the words of the police officer: “love us black, and everyone will love us white (from the second chapter of the original edition of the second volume of “Dead Souls” - N.G.) - were conveyed to Gogol by Shchepkin...”

M.P. Pogodin noted that “...Gogol himself owed a lot to Shchepkin.” In particular, with many of its subjects. The writer borrowed characters and their features from the actor’s stories for his creations.

Shchepkin outlived Gogol by eleven years, but died with his name on his lips. The story of Shchepkin’s grandson has been preserved: “According to the servant Alexander who accompanied him, Mikhail Semyonovich, having fallen ill, lay unconscious for almost a day, and suddenly suddenly jumped out of bed... “Hurry, get dressed quickly,” he shouted. - “Where are you going, Mikhail Semyonovich? Why, God bless you, lie down,” Alexander held him back. - “How where? Go to Gogol." - “Which Gogol?” - “How to which one? To Nikolai Vasilyevich." - “What are you doing, dear, God bless you, calm down, lie down, Gogol died a long time ago.” - "Died? - asked Mikhail Semenovich. “He died... yes, that’s what...” He hung his head low, shook it, turned his face to the wall and fell asleep forever.” (“Historical Bulletin”, 1900, N8).

On February 7, 1852, shortly before his death, Gogol went to Devichye Pole to the Church of Saint Sava: here he partakes of the Holy Mysteries, and at his request a thanksgiving prayer service is served in the evening.

The funeral service for Gogol was held in the Church of the Holy Martyr Tatiana at Moscow University. The writer's coffin stood there day and night. Fans of his talent came in a continuous stream. Everything was strewn with flowers. At the head there is a laurel wreath.

On February 24, 1852, Nikolai Vasilyevich’s friend and associate M.S. Shchepkin closed the lid of the coffin, and he was carried in his arms eight miles through the newly fallen snow to the St. Danilov Monastery, where he was interred.

In 1931, when the monastery was closed by the new authorities, who launched a fight against the Church in the country, Gogol’s remains, by order of Stalin, were reburied at the Novodevichy cemetery.

Only in September of this anniversary year, at Gogol’s grave here, as at the previous burial, instead of a pompous monument, an Orthodox cross with a calvary will again be installed, with a short and piercing saying of the biblical prophet Jeremiah: “I will laugh at my bitter word...”

http://odnarodyna.ru/topics/1/177.html

Current page: 37 (book has 79 pages in total)

April 29, 1836 St. Petersburg [962
Kulish, vol. 1, p. 181–182 (with omissions); Acad., XI, no. 8.

1836. St. Petersburg. April 29.

]. Maybe you've already heard rumors about him. I wrote to the sloth of the 1st guild and the most dissolute man in the world, Pogodin, so that he would notify you. I even wanted to send it to you, but I changed my mind, wanting to bring it to you myself and read it in person, so that wrong ideas would not be formed about some people in advance, which, I know, are extremely difficult to eradicate later. But, having become acquainted with the local theater management, I became so disgusted with the theater[ 964
The premiere of The Inspector General took place at the St. Petersburg Alexandrinsky Theater on April 19, 1836. The performance attracted the attention of both the public and the press, but the level of acting, the reaction of the audience, and the responses of journalists left Gogol with a feeling of deep dissatisfaction.

], that one thought about the pleasures that are also being prepared for me at the Moscow theater has the power to deter both a trip to Moscow and an attempt to bother about something. Finally, to top off the most possible dirty tricks for me, the local management, that is, director Gedeonov, decided, as I hear, to give the main roles to other characters[ 965
Understudies were introduced into the performance already on April 28, 1836 (P. I. Grigoriev - mayor, A. M. Maksimov - Khlestakov, etc.).

] after four performances of it, being driven by some petty personal hatred towards some of the main actors in my play, such as Sosnitsky and Dur. No urine. Do what you want with my play, but I won't bother with it. I'm just as tired of her as I am of worrying about her. The action she produced was large and noisy. Everything is against me[ 966
See enter. article.

]. Elderly and respectable officials shout that nothing is sacred to me when I dared to speak like that about serving people. The police are against me, the merchants are against me, the writers are against me. They scold and go to the play; tickets cannot be obtained for the fourth performance. If not for the high intercession of the sovereign[ 967
Probably, even before the submission of “The Inspector General” to the censorship, V. A. Zhukovsky and M. Yu. Vielgorsky managed to convince Nicholas I of the harmlessness of the comedy (G. Mat. and research, vol. 1, p. 311). According to the memoirs of a contemporary, at the first performance the emperor “clapped and laughed a lot” (Nikitenko A.V. Diary. In 3 volumes, vol. 1. 1955, p. 182).

], my play would never have been on stage, and there were already people trying to ban it. Now I see what it means to be a comic writer. The slightest ghost of truth - and not just one person, but entire classes, rebel against you. I imagine what would happen if I took something from St. Petersburg life, which is now more and better familiar to me than provincial life. It is annoying to see people against you, who meanwhile loves them with brotherly love. My comedy, which I read to you in Moscow, under the title “Marriage,” I have now reworked and forwarded, and it is now somewhat similar to something worthwhile. I assign it in such a way that it will go to you and Sosnitsky at a benefit performance here and in Moscow, which, it seems, happens at the same time of year. Therefore, you can address Sosnitsky, to whom I will hand it over[ 968
The production of “Marriage” did not take place in 1836: Gogol soon took the comedy from Sosnitsky for reworking (see Sosnitsky’s letter to Shchepkin dated May 30, 1836 - LN, vol. 58, p. 552), which was finally completed only by 1842 .

]. I myself am going abroad in a month or a month and a half, if not earlier, and therefore I advise you, if you need me, not to delay your answer and to indulge less in our common friend laziness.

Farewell. I hug you from the bottom of my heart and ask you not to forget your old fellow countryman, who loves you a lot, a lot Gogol.

Distribute the enclosed copies[ 969
We are talking about copies of The Inspector General.

] by affiliation. Give the unsigned copy to whomever you decide.

Shchepkin M. S. - Gogol, May 7, 1836

May 7, 1836 Moscow [970
RS, 1886, No. 10, p. 147–148; Shchepkin, vol. 1, p. 168–169; verified with autograph (GBL).
Shchepkin attached this letter to his letter to I.I. Sosnitsky dated May 7, 1836 for transmission to Gogol.

Your Majesty! Nikolay Vasilievich! I received several copies of the letter and “The Inspector General” and distributed them all as intended, except for Kireevsky, who is in the village, and therefore I gave his copy to S.P. Shevyrev for delivery. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for The Inspector General, not as a book, but as a comedy, which, so to speak, fulfilled all my hopes, and I completely came to life. It has been a long time since I felt such joy, for, unfortunately, all my joys are concentrated in one scene. I know this is almost crazy, but what can I do? It's really not my fault. Decent people They laugh at me and consider me stupid, but I would give the rest of my life to improve this stupidity. Well, all this aside, and now just about “The Inspector General”; Is it not a sin for you to leave him to the mercy of fate, and where? in Moscow, which is waiting for you so cordially (laughs so heartily in “Woe from Wit”). And will you leave her behind some of the troubles that “The Inspector General” caused you? Firstly, there cannot be such troubles in the theater, because M.N. Zagoskin, thanking you for the copy, said that he would write to you, and also instructed me to notify you that it would be very pleasant for him if you come so that he can do everything that is necessary to deliver the piece, completely with your desire. On the part of the public, the more angry they are with you, the more I will rejoice, because this will mean that they share my opinion about comedy and you have achieved your goal. You yourself know better than anyone that your play, more than any other, requires that you read it to our superiors and those in action. You know this and don't want to come. God with you! You may be tired of her, but you have to do it for the comedy; you must do this in good conscience; you must do this for Moscow, for the people who love you and take an active part in “The Inspector General”. In a word, you know for sure that we need you, and you don’t want to come. Your will is selfishness. Forgive me for expressing myself so freely, but here we are talking about comedy, and therefore I cannot be cold-blooded. See, I'm not even lazy now. You probably don’t put it on here, just read it twice, and then... Well, that’s enough, you’re tired of me. Thank you for the gift of the piece for the benefit performance, believe that such a favor will never leave my old head, in which now there is only one desire to see you, to kiss you. To accomplish this, I would set all of Moscow in motion. Farewell. Forgive me for graduating without rank.

Your M. Shchepkin.

]. If you decide to come to us, then quickly, because in three weeks, and maybe earlier, she<постановка>will be ready, they are writing a new set for it[ 972
The first production of The Inspector General at the Moscow Maly Theater took place on May 25, 1836.

Gogol - Shchepkin M. S., May 10, 1836

May 10, 1836 St. Petersburg [973
Kulish, vol. 1, p. 183–184; Acad., XI, no. 10.

Tell Zagoskin that I entrusted everything to you. I will write to him that I have sent you the distribution of roles[ 974
This was done in a letter to Zagoskin dated May 10, 1836.

]. You write a note and give it to him as if it was written by me. Moreover: do not dress Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky in the suit in which they are printed[ 975
We are talking about Gogol’s explanations “Characters and Costumes. Notes for gentlemen actors”, printed in the first edition of “The Inspector General”.

]. It was Khrapovitsky who dressed them[ 976
Inspector of the drama troupe Khrapovitsky supervised the preparations for the premiere of “The Inspector General” in St. Petersburg.

]. I didn’t go into these details much and ordered it to be printed in a theatrical style. The one that has blonde hair, should be in a dark tailcoat, and the brunette, that is, Bobchinsky, should be in a light one. Both wear dark trousers. In general, so that there is no farce. But both must certainly have bellies, and, moreover, sharp ones, like those of pregnant women.

For now, goodbye. Write. You'll still have time. I’m going no earlier than May 30th or even maybe the first<дней>June[ 977
Gogol left St. Petersburg abroad on June 6, 1836.

N. Gogol.

Bow to all your branches at home, my fellow countrymen and countrywomen.

Gogol - Shchepkin M. S., May 15, 1836

May 15, 1836 St. Petersburg [978
Kulish, vol. 1, p. 184–185 (incomplete); Acad., XI, No. 15. Reply to Shchepkin’s letter dated May 7, 1836.

May 15th. St. Petersburg.

I know that you will understand everything in it as it should, and in the current circumstances you will put it even better than if I were there myself. I received a letter from Serg. Tim. Aksakova[ 979
The mentioned letter from S. T. Aksakov (the first of his letters to Gogol) is currently unknown; the contents of the letter are set out in “The History of My Acquaintance with Gogol” (Aksakov, p. 16).

] three days after I wrote to you, with a letter enclosed to Zagoskin. Aksakov is so kind that he himself offers to entrust him with staging the play. If this is definitely more beneficial for you in that, as an outsider, the management will be less likely to contradict him, then I am sorry that I have placed a painful burden on you. If you hope to get along with the management, then let it remain as agreed. In any case, I am very grateful to Sergei Timofeevich, and tell him that I can understand his hospitable disposition towards me.

Farewell. May God love you and help you in your orders, and on the way I will be thinking hard about a play I have in mind [ 980
What work we are talking about is not established.

]. I will write it in Switzerland in the winter, and in the spring I will take it straight to Moscow, and Moscow will be the first to hear it. Farewell again! I kiss you several times. Always love your Gogol too.

It seems to me that you would have done better if the play [ 981
"Inspector".

] left for autumn or winter.

During the remaining two weeks before my departure, I am immersed in the troubles of my departure, and this is one of the main reasons that I cannot fulfill your desire to go to Moscow.

Gogol - Shchepkin M. S., July 29 (August 10) 1840

July 29 (August 10), 1840 Vienna [982
“Moskovskie Vedomosti”, 1853, No. 2 (with omissions); Acad., XI, no. 177.

Well, Mikhail Semenovich, dearest to my heart! half of the bet won[ 983
During his stay in Moscow in 1839–1840. Gogol argued with Shchepkin that he would prepare two comedies for his benefit performance.

]: the comedy is ready[ 984
For the comedy by D. Giraud, see preamble, p. 445. It was first performed on January 9, 1853 at Shchepkin’s benefit performance.

]. Our Russian artists translated in a few days. And how conscientiously I acted! I corrected everything from beginning to end, scribbled and rewrote it with my own hand. In the poster you must put two titles: Russian and Italian. You can even add immediately after the author’s name: “the first Italian comedian of our time.” I am attaching the first action in your letter, the second will be in the letter to Sergei Timofeevich[ 985
Aksakov. The translation was actually attached by Gogol to a letter to O. S. Aksakova dated July 29 (August 10), 1840 (Acad., XI, No. 175).

], and for the third go to Pogodin. Have it rewritten at once properly, with the proper spaces, and you will see that it is quite thick. Yes, look, don’t lose the sheets before this: there is no other copy, the draft went to the back of the mind. Comedy must succeed; at least in Italian theaters and in France it was a brilliant success. You, as a person with a subtle instinct, will immediately comprehend the comic situation of your role. There is no need to tell you that your role is the guy himself, who is in a difficult situation; the role of agitation is strong. A man who has completely lost his head: there are so many comic and true sides to this! I saw in her an actor with great talent, who, by the way, is far below you. He was beautiful, and everything about him was so natural and true! What was heard was a man who was not born for intrigue, but who involuntarily found himself in it - and how much natural comedy! This tutor, whom I called uncle, because the first, it seems, is not entirely accurate, and not Russian, should be dressed, all in black, as all these people dress in Italy to this day: abbots, scientists, etc.: in a black tailcoat not quite in fashion, but like old people, in black knee-length trousers, black stockings and shoes, a black cloth vest buttoned tightly from top to bottom, and a black triangular down hat, -<не>how they wear it here, what they call dumplings, and in the one in which they are drawn prodigal son grazing herds, that is, with the fields slightly bent on three sides[ 986
This refers to the widespread at that time popular print.

]. The two young marquises should be dressed in the same way in black tailcoats, only more fashionable, and instead of triangular hats, round, black, down or silk, as we all, sinful people, wear; black stockings, shoes and short trousers. Here's everything you need to notice about the suits. Other people are dressed like the rest of the world.

But something needs to be said about the roles themselves. The role of Gilda is best given to one of your daughters. You can then more fully feel it in all its subtleties. If it’s for someone else, then, for God’s sake, it’s too good an actress. Gilda is smart, lively; she is not pretending; if she pretends, then this pretended thing already becomes true. She delivers her monologues, which she says she collected from novels, with true animation; and when the feeling of a mother really woke up in her, then she didn’t look at anything and was the whole woman. Her movements are simple and cheeky, and at the moment the picture becomes animated, she somehow suddenly becomes taller than an ordinary woman, which Italian women perform surprisingly well. The actress who played Gilda, whom I saw, was fresh, young, simple and charming in all her movements, forgettable and animated, like nature. A Frenchwoman would kill this role and never fulfill it. For this role, it seems as if you need someone brought up by the fresh air of the countryside and steppes.

The one playing the role of Pippeto does not need to be told that Pippeto is a little stupid: he will immediately fulfill his claims. He must perform it completely innocently, like the role of a young, rather inexperienced person, and stupidity will appear by itself, just like in many people whom no one calls stupid at all.

It seems that nothing more needs to be said... You yourself know that the more rehearsals you do, the better it will be and the actors will become clearer about their roles. However, there are few roles, and the production will not be expensive or troublesome. Yes! give the marquise to someone good actor. This role is energetic: a mad, eccentric old man who does not listen to any reason. I think, if there is no other option, give it to Mochalov; his name has a magical effect on the Moscow public. Don’t judge by first impressions and read this play several times—certainly several times. You will see that she is very sweet and will be a success.

So, you now have two plays. Your benefit is complete. If you give both plays a long rehearsal and read for everyone yourself and explain to yourself the roles of everyone, then the benefit performance will be brilliant, and you will show off to those who say that you are organizing a benefit performance for yourself somehow. More Shakespeare plays[ 987
It is not established which play we are talking about.

] I didn’t have time to correct it in a hurry. My sisters and some students translated it. Please re-read it and have all the monologues that are awkward to read written down on thin paper and send it to me as soon as possible; I’ll straighten everything out for you, maybe even the whole play. For the tail of the comedy, go now to Aksakov and Pogodin.

Shchepkin M. S. - Gogol, October 24, 1842

October 24, 1842 Moscow [988
RA, 1889, No. 4, p. 556–558; Shchepkin, vol. 1, p. 177–179; verified with autograph (GBL).

Your Majesty

Nikolay Vasilievich.

According to Sergei Timofeich, you are now in Rome, where I addressed this letter, and God grant that it finds you healthy and vigorous; But I’ll say about myself that I’m losing heart. My field even under the new management[ 989
Since 1842, Moscow theaters came under the control of the St. Petersburg directorate, headed by A. M. Gedeonov.

] without action, but the soul requires activity, because the repertoire has not changed at all, but everything is the same, abomination and abomination, and this is how, in my old age, I must feed my dramatic thirst. You know, this is such suffering that there are no words. They gave us everything, that is, Russian artists - money, rights, boarding houses, but they just didn’t give us the freedom to act, and from artists we became day laborers. No, it’s worse: the day laborer is free to choose his own work, but the artist can play, play whatever his wise superiors command. But I've bored you with talking about myself. But what can I do, someone needs to speak out, really, it’s somehow easier, but who am I going to speak out to if not you? Who will understand my suffering better than you, my good Nikolai Vasilyevich, and even, you know, I think no one will take as much part in it as you do. You have always loved me, always given me your attention, and I... But enough! Using your permission, I announced your comedy “Marriage” for my benefit performance; for your entire publication, as we know, will be published in December[ 990
This refers to Gogol's Works, which were under censorship at that time. The fourth volume of the publication, which included dramatic works, was delayed by censorship and was published only at the end of January 1843.

], and my benefit performance is on February 5th [ 991
At the benefit performance on February 5, 1843, Shchepkin staged “Marriage” and “The Players”, performing the roles of Podkolesin and Uteshelny in them.

]. But I asked Belinsky to give it to the theater censor in advance, in order to have more time to get acquainted with the acting, wearing human image. I asked, also with your permission, to submit some scenes to the censor, as well as the newly sent comedy “The Players,” which I would also ask you to play at the benefit. This would greatly reinforce it. And the benefit performances of Russian artists suffered greatly from the German opera, which Gedeonov transported from St. Petersburg to Moscow for the whole winter. But I don’t dare give it without your written permission; although you talked about other scenes, I don’t remember whether it was about her. So, I only asked in advance to submit it to the censor, and if you do not hesitate in your answer and allow it, then it would not be bad if you set out how you would like in discussing the costumes of the actors in the comedies “Marriage” and “The Players”. There is still more than three months of time, and your answer will have time to arrive in advance. If I don’t receive any answer from you at this time, then, of course, I won’t give “The Players” anymore, but only “Marriage” and some of the scenes. Here are the people: like a letter, it’s also a request, and Sbitenshchik said the truth: “All people are Stepana!”[ 992
Replica of the sbitenshchik Stepan from the comic opera by Ya. B. Knyazhnin (1740–1791) “The sbitenshchik” (act I, scene XI). Its meaning is that all people, like Stepan, are selfish.

] What else can I tell you? Yes! There is always talk and debate about “Dead Souls”. They woke up Rus'. She seems to be living now. There are countless rumors about them. I could fill volumes if I put them all on paper, and that makes me happy. This means: give us a good push, and we will move, and thereby prove that we are living beings, and in this awakening thoughts appear that clearly say that we, along with all peoples, are not devoid of human dignity. But the sad thing is that we certainly need to be pushed, and without that we ourselves are dead souls. Goodbye, hugs to you. I expect an answer soon and remain forever loving you and remaining your humble servant

Mikhailo Shchepkin.

Gogol - Shchepkin M. S., November 14(26), 1842

November 14 (26), 1842 Rome [993
Kulish, vol. 1, p. 317–318; Acad., XII, No. 94.

Mikhailo Semenovich! I am writing this letter to you on purpose so that it serves as a document that all my dramatic scenes and passages contained in the fourth volume of my works belong to you and you can give them at your discretion at your benefit performances[ 994
This refers to “Players”, “Morning of a Business Man”, “Litigation”, “Lackey”, “Excerpt”.

]. Regarding the comedy “Marriage,” you will arrange, by mutual agreement, with Sosnitsky in such a way that it will be shown on the same day at benefit performances for both of you, at the St. Petersburg and Moscow theaters.

N. Gogol.

Rome. November 26, 1842.

According to legend, Gogol made a vow to come to Moscow famous. And indeed, I visited it for the first time at the end of a cold, rainy June 1832, when all of Russia was reveling in “Evenings on a farm near Dikanka.” He happened to be passing through Moscow, heading from St. Petersburg to his homeland, the Poltava region, and stopped with his only Moscow acquaintance at that time, the historian M.P. Pogodin, who once conveyed to him the admiration of Muscovites in St. Petersburg. So Gogol’s first Moscow address was Myasnitskaya Street, where Pogodin then lived. Gogol never even had a rented apartment in the throne - until his death he only stayed with friends.

The real Moscow for Gogol began with Arbat. Pogodin, who took on the role of cicerone, immediately took him there - to show the soul of Moscow and introduce him to the “Muscovites”. The friends paid their first visit to S.T. Aksakov in Bolshoi Afanasyevsky Lane, and they appeared without warning, which greatly embarrassed the owner, who found himself without a frock coat. Gogol left quickly, but took his word that Aksakov would introduce him to the director of Moscow theaters M.N. Zagoskin.

Zagoskin had just used the royalties from the novel “Yuri Miloslavsky” to buy himself an estate in Denezhny Lane. He greeted the famous guest rather strangely: he clapped him on the shoulder, punched him in the back approvingly, called him a hamster and a gopher, and incessantly talked about himself with a large share of lies. They say he became the prototype of Khlestakov.

Gogol went alone to M.N. Shchepkin in Bolshoy Spassky Lane and to the poet I.I. Dmitriev on Spiridonovka, where he lived in a wooden house, built, as they said, according to the design of A. Vitberg himself, the author of the project for the Cathedral of Christ the Savior on the Sparrow Hills. Gogol stayed in Moscow for only a week and a half and parted with the Mother See with sadness. And in October I was in Moscow again and immediately went to 1st Meshchanskaya to see Professor M.A. Maksimovich, collector of folk songs. The Slavophile P.V. was also extremely passionate about the same thing. Kireevsky, whom Gogol visited in his house at the Red Gate.

Gogol really liked Moscow, but the next time he came only in 1835, from St. Petersburg, and arranged his visit with humor - according to the plot of “The Inspector General”. Gogol was traveling to Moscow with two friends: one galloped ahead with the news that an important person would soon arrive incognito. The “important person”, having arrived at the inn, immediately inquired from the caretakers about the horses, due to which the journey to Moscow was halved.

Gogol was eagerly awaited in Moscow. He was bringing with him a new play, “Grooms” (the future “Marriage”), and agreed to read it. The first author's reading took place at Pogodin's on Myasnitskaya, and then at Dmitriev's house, where M.N. was present. Shchepkin, who considered Gogol a most brilliant comedian and an incomparable actor. Gogol also visited the Bolshoi Theater, sitting in the Aksakov box, but was forced to flee before the end of the performance, because all the spectators were looking not at the stage, but at where the famous Gogol was sitting.

On that visit, he met Belinsky at Sturmer’s house at the Red Gate. I paid a visit to Denis Davydov at his Prechistensky Palace and E.A. Baratynsky in Voznesensky Lane. I also visited Pavel Nashchokin in Vorotnikovsky Lane, at Old Pimen - in the very house that would become the last Moscow address of Pushkin, who visited his friend on his farewell visit to Moscow.

In April 1835, in St. Petersburg, the premiere of “The Inspector General” took place on the stage of the Alexandria Theater, which was attended by Emperor Nicholas I, who later said that everyone got it, and he got it more than anyone else. According to the majority, the production was unsuccessful, and therefore the sovereign himself allegedly forbade the depiction of Gogol in the grandiose painting “Parade on the Champ de Mars,” where you can see almost all the literary celebrities of that time. One way or another, Gogol was upset and did not come to the Moscow premiere of “The Inspector General” at the Maly Theater, which took place on May 25 of the same year, no matter what his name was Shchepkin, who played the mayor. The next year, 1836, Gogol went abroad, perhaps because of the failure of the premiere in the capital, but the main thing was to work, anticipating, as he recalled in the “Author's Confession,” that he would learn the price of Russia only outside of Russia and would gain love for it far from it. Gogol's favorite city was Rome, where, in his words, man is “a mile closer to God.”

He returned to Moscow at the end of September 1839 and stayed with Pogodin, who had already moved to his famous Pogodinskaya hut - the former estate of the Shcherbatov princes on the Devichye Pole, which ended up on the pages of Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace”: it was in it that Pierre Bezukhov was interrogated by Marshal Davout . Nearby stood the Church of St. Savva the Sanctified, which became Gogol’s Moscow home church until the tragic end of his life. Gogol was given a cozy attic, where there was a lot of sun and warmth, which he was spoiled with in sultry Italy. Here he celebrated the name day of St. Nicholas the Veshny and invited all those whom he wanted to see. One day Lermontov came here and read the poem “Mtsyri” to Gogol.

Fame tired the writer: when people came to Pogodin to “look” at Gogol, he immediately “curled up like a snail” and fell silent. But he loved to walk a lot around Moscow. I visited Kolomenskoye, Izmailovo, Fili, Kuntsevo, Cherkizovo, Simonovo, Ostankino, Tsaritsyn, Nikola’s in Pillars on Maroseyka, Martin the Confessor on Taganka, Nikola’s on Starye Vaganki...

Gogol was persuaded to watch the Moscow production of The Inspector General. Zagoskin even moved the performance to the stage of the Bolshoi Theater from the Maly Theater to accommodate Muscovites who wanted to see the author. In the hall were Belinsky, Bakunin, Granovsky, Aksakovs, Ogarev, Panaev. Gogol himself sat secluded in A.D.’s box. Chertkov, the owner of the famous library, whom he met abroad. But he never managed to hide: the audience called out to the author so violently that he had to run again before the end of the performance. The Chertkovs, returning home from the theater to Myasnitskaya, found Gogol sleeping peacefully on the sofa in the living room.

In Europe, Gogol made many good acquaintances. In Rome, he became friends with Moscow University professor S.P. Shevyrev. This is how another Gogol address appeared in Moscow - Degtyarny Lane, 4, near Tverskaya: the writer stopped here to stay (the house was demolished in Soviet times). Gogol was glad to see Moscow, said that his heart could not withstand all the goodness and warmth that the old Russian capital had bestowed on him, and he was going to bestow it with his work - the novel “Dead Souls”. At the beginning of October 1841, he met with the censor I.M. Snegirev regarding the publication of the first volume. The publication was not easy: either the title was not liked, the manuscript was lost, or the story about Captain Kopeikin was banned. Belinsky undertook to help and resolve censorship issues, about which they met with Gogol in Petroverigsky Lane, in the house of the Botkins, who sheltered the disgraced critic. One of the brothers, Nikolai Botkin, saved Gogol abroad during his serious illness.

However, to philosophical debates, which were then going on in every Moscow living room, Gogol was indifferent. “It’s a strange thing: I hardly saw Russia among Russia,” he recalled in “Confession.” “Everyone loved to talk about Europe, and everyone had their own Russia in their heads,” which gave rise to endless fruitless disputes. Everyone wanted to consider Gogol “one of their own,” and he, listening, thought about his “idea.”

“Your monastery is Russia!”

Regarding how Gogol’s worldview was formed, there are two points of view expressed by the writer’s contemporaries: some, including the literary critic Pavel Annenkov, believed that the “late” Gogol was very different from the “early”, having experienced a strong spiritual turning point. Others, like S.T. Aksakov, argued that Gogol was always whole and throughout his life he strived only “to improve the spiritual person in himself.”

Gogol inherited from his devout mother devout religiosity and the desire to benefit his neighbor - at least kind words, at least advice, at least consolation. From his youth, he set out to devote his life and labors to the good of his Fatherland and early felt his great calling. “It always seemed to me that I would become a famous person... that I would even do something for the common good... that in my life I would have to make some kind of great self-sacrifice,” he recalled in “Confession.” He was looking for a field in which he was called to serve God, the Fatherland and people, trying first public service, then science, until he found himself in literature. Gogol attributed this to the influence of Pushkin, who convinced him with his ability guess a person and “suddenly make him look like he’s alive with a few features,” set to work big essay. An adventurous plot about a rogue landowner, suggested by Pushkin, led Gogol to the idea of creating a national epic in the image of Dante’s “Divine Comedy”. In it, he wanted to show not only all the circles of hell of Russian life and the bottom to which the human soul is capable of sinking, but also the path of salvation for Russia and fallen man.

Gogol was faced with a grandiose spiritual task that required both philosophical research and self-knowledge: “Until I clearly define for myself the high and low of our Russian nature, our advantages and disadvantages, I cannot begin; and in order to determine Russian nature for yourself, you should find out better nature man in general and the soul of man in general: without this you will not reach that point of view from which you can clearly see the shortcomings and merits of every people.”

Gogol began to study spiritual literature and patristic heritage. His favorite book was “The Ladder” by St. John Climacus. Path of knowledge human soul led him to Christ, who revealed the meaning of life. Seeing in the Savior “the key to the soul of man,” Gogol concluded that he needed to become the best himself before writing “about the highest feelings and movements of man,” and honestly walk that saving path in order to be able to embody his great artistic design. This is the spiritual phenomenon of Gogol the writer. “Why haven’t I until now presented the reader with comforting phenomena and chosen virtuous people as my heroes? You can't make them up in your head. Until you yourself begin to at least somewhat resemble them, until you achieve with your copper forehead and forcefully conquer several good qualities into your soul, everything that your pen writes will be dead, and, like earth from heaven, it will be far from the truth.” - he wrote.

Then Gogol turned to a comprehensive study of Russia, studying people of different classes, ranks, and positions. He decided to take for his work such characters, where truly Russian, indigenous properties would be fully expressed - from the highest, which are not yet fairly valued, to the lowest, which are not yet sufficiently ridiculed and defeated. In order to present in the epic a collective but truthful image of the Russian person and Russia itself with all the riches and natural gifts, with the advantages for which the same Russian person can kindle with love, and the shortcomings in front of other peoples, which he may hate, recognizing in this portrait himself themselves and succumbing to moral influence. This is how Gogol’s Russian idea appeared.

The first volume of Dead Souls, published in 1842, caused rejoicing among some, who called it a “new Iliad,” and curses on others, who considered it slander against Russia and humiliation national dignity. Gogol first set fire to the second volume in 1845 as a harmful work, because the paths and roads to revival were indicated artistically unconvincingly, for he himself, the author, was in a transitional state. This was one of the most difficult years in Gogol's life. In Rome, he contracted malaria, which left him with traces for the rest of his life in the form of periodic loss of spirit, fever, weakness, and fainting - hence his well-known fear of lethargy. There is a version that, in gratitude for saving his life, Gogol wanted to go to a monastery, but the priest dissuaded him. Those who knew Gogol closely believed that literary ministry did not allow him to choose monasticism, although it was his true calling. Gogol himself wrote about this to Count A.P. Tolstoy in 1845: “God helped me accumulate some intellectual and spiritual goods and gave me some abilities that are useful and necessary for others - therefore, I must distribute this property to those who do not have it, and then go to the monastery,” admitting that no higher destiny than monastic rank. He lived his last years almost as a monk, not taking only monastic vows.

Fearing that he would not have time to create the work of his life, Gogol decided to publish important fragments of letters to friends during his search, which would become an explanation of his ideas and would have a beneficial effect on readers. This is how the book “Selected Passages from Correspondence with Friends” appeared, recognized as one of the most significant in his work, but spiritually close only to a believer, which can explain the fiasco that befell it during Gogol’s lifetime.

Gogol revealed his innermost idea in it: the need to implement Christian law in modern life for the sake of saving the human soul and all of Russia, for the sake of the moral transformation of the people and every person, no matter what class he was born into, that is, he tried to comprehend Christianity in existing social relations. According to Gogol, the law of God cannot be “fulfilled in the air,” and the implementation of Christian teaching cannot be postponed until that wonderful time when society is ready for it. On the contrary, Christianity is capable of correcting society. Therefore, you should not wait until you occupy some more empowered position “to do good,” but should act in the position in which you are now, be it a governor, a landowner, an artist or a secular woman. If only this activity was directed “toward the heavenly goal” for the salvation of the soul and the service of God, Russia, and one’s neighbor, for “the purpose of man is to serve.” Faith must penetrate into all circles of life; faith is called upon to church Russia. The transformation of a people begins with moral revival human personality.

Hence Gogol’s specific advice, which in some ways was very reasonable and fresh, but in others turned out to be controversial - and he did not give up making mistakes! For example, the writer’s reasoning about the Russian landowner and serfs looks ridiculous, and even Belinsky was closer to the truth, believing that, according to Gogol’s thoughts, the landowner should recognize the peasants as equal brothers in Christ and understand the lie of serfdom. But if you read carefully, it is obvious that Gogol called on the landowner to act for the benefit of the peasants and implied that he himself would be guided by faith: to carry out Christian justice, not to beat the peasant, not to profit from the peasants’ ridges, to teach those who want to read and write so that they can read the “holy books” so that they can hear sermons from the works of John Chrysostom in the temple. There was no slavish sense in that teaching, which Gogol was accused of: “Explain to them the whole truth: that the soul of a person is more valuable than anything in the world and that, first of all, you will see to it that one of them does not destroy his soul and I would betray her to eternal torment.”

He was not an “apostle of ignorance,” as Belinsky branded him. Gogol considered art “an invisible step to Christianity,” and theater “a pulpit from which one can bring a lot of good to the world.” He urged us not to be like the saints who want to destroy everything, seeing only the demonic in everything. He welcomed Zhukovsky’s translation of the Odyssey, in which ordinary people can learn faith and morality, and saw A.A. in the great canvas. Ivanov’s “The Appearance of Christ to the People” is an image of a true conversion to Christ.

Gogol's thought moves from the particular, human to the general, national. The “Correspondence” brilliantly reveals the image of Russia as a God-chosen power with unique foundations of national existence. The first and main one is Orthodox Church, which “seems to have been blown straight from heaven for the Russian people,” and in isolation from it all untruths, all ugliness and disgrace are generated surrounding life. The Church is capable of not only giving Russia and the Russian people morality and enlightenment. It is capable of reconciling the entire Russian land and arranging life in Russia according to Christian law, for it “contains everything that is needed for a truly Russian life,” from statehood to family, without changing the image Russian state, but churching Russia. Gogol was not an opponent of reforms. On this occasion, he only wrote that the idea of introducing some kind of innovation in Russia without asking the Church for a blessing is insane, and it is absurd to instill any European ideas into our thoughts until the Church “baptizes them with the light of Christ.” The Church is capable of creating an unheard-of miracle before the eyes of Europe, “forcing every class, rank and position among us to enter their legal borders and limits and, without changing anything in the state, give Russia the power to amaze the whole world with the harmonious harmony of the same organism that she was frightening until now.” This organism is Russian government structure, which conceals enormous opportunities for a full-fledged beneficial national existence, for the second foundation of Russia is the monarchy.

The anointed one has the highest purpose “to be the image of Him on earth, Who Himself is love,” and to become the protector of loyal subjects from the cruel imperfections of civil law. Otherwise, “a state without a full-powered monarch is an automaton.” The monarchy creates a political system with its classes and bureaucracy, which can work successfully if everyone fulfills his office with faith, as a service, and remembers that the office should be carried out as Christ commanded, and not anyone else. Anyone who “wants to truly honestly serve Russia must have a lot of love for her, which would absorb all other feelings.”

Love for Russia is the main theme of Gogol's national sermon. Without love you cannot achieve good, and love will bring spiritual gifts. “Thank God, first of all, for the fact that you are Russian,” he writes, reflecting on the divine calling of Russia, which conceals within itself heroic forces for spiritual achievement in Christ. Why, Gogol asks, does neither France, nor England, nor Germany prophesy about themselves, but only Russia prophesies? Because “more than others, she hears God’s hand on everything that happens in her, and senses the approach of another Kingdom.” This calling lies in the spiritual qualities of the Russian character, nurtured by the Church: “Christ came to us without a sword, and the prepared earth of our hearts called upon His word of itself.” In Slavic nature, the “beginnings of the brotherhood of Christ” are revealed, which in our country is stronger than the “brotherhood of blood.” The Russian soul conceals within itself great moral possibilities for the implementation of the Christian law, for it is capable of love, faith, freedom and goodness, of all-reconciling people as children of God.

Gogol largely approved of Peter the Great, believing that Russia should not remain isolated from Europe and its achievements, that European enlightenment was a flint, “which should have struck our entire mass that was beginning to doze,” but for the sake of Russia’s identity: “The Russian people awakened then, so that, with the help of European light, we can examine ourselves more deeply, and not copy Europe” - otherwise there is no good in foreign knowledge. Separation from the Church and national roots gave rise to one of the most destructive evils in Rus' - a secular society that cannot speak its native language, does not know its land and corrupts souls with “insignificant fashion”, when, for the sake of the next ball gown, wives force their bureaucratic husbands to ruin the treasury and neighbor, instead of setting an example of honesty, simplicity and modesty. Hence Gogol’s love for patriarchal Russian antiquity: “Not a grain of what is truly Russian in it and what is sanctified by Christ Himself will die from our antiquity.”

Gogol defined his age as a time of general dissatisfaction, “coming, perhaps, from the desire to be the best,” disorder and awakening of society. Europe is engulfed in revolutions, but in Russia unity is preserved and there are still ways to salvation, there is a desire to converge on something common, on an internal structure; moral issues take precedence over political ones; there is no irreconcilable hatred between classes, no enmity between the nobility and the sovereign (Gogol called the Decembrists “tomboys”). Gogol had special hopes for Russian nobility, which, in his opinion, appeared in Russia not as in Europe - with warring vassals and overlords, but with personal service “before the tsar, the people and the whole earth” - service based on moral virtues, and therefore Russian nobles are filled with true , natural nobility. They are primarily called upon to help the Russian land and take up the most “unattractive” positions, as before they stood up to defend their Fatherland from the enemy. But it is important that every Russian person feels that such a great thing is possible for him too.

“Selected passages from correspondence with friends” is constructed symbolically. The book begins with Gogol’s personal testament, drawn up in anticipation of his imminent death, and ends with a chapter on the bright Resurrection of Christ, revealing the Russian idea: Russia can carry out a Christian feat in the world that will bring salvation and good. Bragging about national virtues for the sake of Europe is harmful: “Are we better than other nations? Are you closer to Christ in life than they are? We are no better than anyone, and life is even more unsettled and disordered than all of them. “We are worse than everyone else” - that’s what we should always say about ourselves.” But Russia has its own advantages of Christian revival, because it is still on the path of national creation and has not yet lost its youth: “We are still melted metal, not cast into our national form; It is still possible for us to throw away, to push away from ourselves what is indecent to us and to bring into ourselves everything that is no longer possible for other peoples who have received a form and have been tempered in it.” And this, coupled with the natural qualities of the Russian soul, conceals great internal possibilities for national transformation in Christ, the fulfillment of His law in life and the moral rebirth of man. “And if some task comes before us all that is absolutely impossible for any other people, even, for example, to suddenly and at once throw off all our shortcomings, everything that dishonors the high nature of man, then with the pain of our own body, without sparing ourselves ourselves... we rush to throw off everything that shames and stains us... and at such moments all quarrels, hatreds, enmities - everything is forgotten, brother will hang on his brother’s chest, and all of Russia is one person.” Two terrible dangers stand on this path: “pride in one’s purity” and the pride of the mind, which in fact moves forward only “when everyone moves forward.” moral forces in man." Many of Gogol's ideas were later developed by Dostoevsky.

The book has not lost its relevance even today. However, her high spiritual ideals were very different from real life. That is why the reproach of naivety was the most harmless of those that contemporaries expressed to Gogol. The “correspondence” was received with hostility even by his close friends for being “reactionary,” supporting the autocracy, “obscurantism,” and arrogant teaching, that is, for the excessive sincerity of personal confessions. According to the famous Gogol scholar V.A. Voropaev, “Gogol seemed to violate the laws of the genre and in a secular work spoke about such issues that were originally considered the privilege of spiritual prose.” Gogol himself admitted that he wrote the book under the influence of the fear of imminent death and therefore adopted “a tone indecent for someone still living.” And most importantly, he carelessly spoke in his journalistic work about what he intended to show in next volume“Dead Souls”, and the artistic depiction is more convincing and conclusive. Gogol was by no means servile to the reader, defending his book: “Everyone who already looks into his own soul will find a lot of useful things, and after reading it you come to the same conclusion that the supreme authority of everything is the Church, and the resolution of the issues of life in it " That is why “Correspondence” caused special fits of rage. Belinsky blasted her for assessing the Russian people as Christian and optimistically argued that they are a deeply atheistic people by nature, who have no religiosity, but there are remnants of superstition, and who do not need prayers, but need the awakening in themselves of a sense of human dignity. But Gogol also wrote about him: “A person must remember that he is not a material beast at all, but a high citizen of high heavenly citizenship.” Only the understanding of dignity was different. For mystical exaltation, according to Belinsky, the Russian people “have too much common sense, clarity and positivity in their minds: this, perhaps, lies in the enormity of their historical destinies in the future.” Belinsky's conflict with Gogol was a collision of two polar worlds, two options historical path countries. Belinsky may have been right in particulars, but not in general. Gogol, on the contrary, having guessed the whole, could be wrong in the details. And it was not Gogol’s views, but Belinsky’s, that led Russia to the national catastrophe of 1917. Not all Russian people could heed the Christian call and follow the ascetic path of Gogol.

After the publication of “Correspondence” in 1847, they began to say that something had “touched” in Gogol’s head. Only Vyazemsky, Zhukovsky, Pletnev, Vigel came to his defense. And Archimandrite Theodore (Bukharev) already saw in Gogol a “martyr of moral loneliness.”

The next year, Gogol went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and returning to Moscow in the fall, he first stayed with Shevyrev, and in November moved to Pogodin. However, their relationship turned out to be severely damaged due to the “Correspondence” - they even tried not to meet in the house. Soon the owner started renovations, and in December 1848 Gogol accepted the invitation of his longtime acquaintance Count Alexei Petrovich Tolstoy and moved to his Talyzin house on Nikitsky Boulevard. So Gogol became an inhabitant of Arbat, where he was destined to end his earthly days.

In the Talyzin house

As you know, there are two Talyzin houses in Moscow, and they stand close to each other. One, on Vozdvizhenka, which, according to legend, Leo Tolstoy described as the house of Pierre Bezukhov, belonged to P.F. Talyzin. Nowadays it houses the Museum of Architecture. The other, on Nikitsky Boulevard, in the parish of the Church of Simeon the Stylite, belonged to the Saltykov boyars from the beginning of the 17th century. At the turn of the 18th-19th centuries, the estate was owned by a distant relative of A.S. Pushkin, Maria Saltykova. The current stone house was built before World War II by D.S. Boltin, a relative of the famous historian. In 1816, it passed to General Alexander Ivanovich Talyzin, who participated in the conspiracy against Paul I. Under him, the house took on its modern appearance with a balcony on stone arcades. After Talyzin’s death in August 1847, the house passed to his relative, titular councilor Talyzina. In the same year, Count A.P. rented an apartment here. Tolstoy, and a few months later he bought this estate in his wife’s name. It was then that the couple invited Gogol to their place.

The Count met him in the late 1830s, when he was the military governor of Odessa, and they remained friends ever since. It is believed that Gogol portrayed him in the Governor General from the second volume of Dead Souls, considering Tolstoy a man “who can do a lot of good for us,” for he judges things not “from the arrogant European heights, but directly from the Russian common sense.” . The count's spiritual father was Archpriest Matthew Konstantinovsky, whom Gogol first met in this house in January 1849.

Gogol found a corner of peace here. Fat, God-loving and kind people lived ascetically, strictly observed church rules and fasts, read spiritual literature, knew secular literature very well, loved Pushkin - all this was close to Gogol. He was given three cozy rooms on the ground floor with a separate entrance from the entryway: an entrance hall, a living room and an office combined with a bedroom, with windows onto the boulevard and the courtyard. This was Gogol's first such spacious refuge. There was also an extraordinary silence in the house. And the fact that the writer lived here for three years more than a year- longer than anyone else, says a lot about his relationship with the owners. Bowing to Gogol, they surrounded him with sincere care, protecting him from everyday worries and completely freeing him for creativity.

On holidays the writer loved to go to the university church. The students remembered how chilly he was wrapped in his overcoat, as if he was cold all the time - this is how the sculptor N.A. depicted him. Andreev. I went to the parish church of Simeon the Stylite on Povarskaya. On weekdays, he worked until lunch, and then went for a walk, paid visits, and visited friends. Very close by, on the Dog Playground, lived A.S. Khomyakov, whose son Gogol baptized, his namesake; He was also very friendly with the owner of the house, Ekaterina Mikhailovna - he told her alone about his impressions of the pilgrimage to the Holy Land. On the way to the Khomyakovs, I always went to the Church of St. Nicholas the Revealed on Arbat, where a shrine was kept that was especially revered in Gogol’s family - a copy of the Akhtyrka Icon, from which a miracle was revealed to his parents (now the image is in the Church of the Apostle Philip). And the temple itself was dedicated to its heavenly guardian: according to legend, Gogol’s mother, having lost two children, begged her son in front of the miraculous icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Dikanka and vowed to name him in honor of the holy saint. A.I. lived on Povarskaya. Koshelev, considered the prototype of Kostanzhoglo. The Aksakovs, to whom Gogol read chapters from the second volume, admired Gogol’s talent “to show the high human side in a vulgar person.” The writer celebrated his anniversary at the Aksakovs’ in Filippovsky Lane in 1849, and in the winter they had “dumplings” - days for Gogol’s reception, named after his favorite dish.

On August 22, 1851, the coronation day of Nicholas I was celebrated. In honor of the celebration, illumination was arranged, and Gogol went up to see it on the belvedere of the Pashkov house. Admiring the delightful panorama of Moscow, he thoughtfully said: “How this spectacle reminds me of the eternal city...”.

Gogol intended to spend the fateful winter of 1852 in Crimea. However, having gone to the Poltava region in September 1851 for his sister’s wedding, Gogol visited Optina Pustyn for the last time on the way and unexpectedly returned to Moscow. In October, he again watched “The Inspector General” at the Maly Theater, but he did not like the production. Gogol found that the actors had “lost their tone” and invited them to the house on Nikitsky to read the play himself - he was rarely generous with such favors as an author’s reading. The reading took place on November 5, for which the count provided his reception room. Among the listeners were the Aksakovs, S.P. Shevyrev, I.S. Turgenev, actors M.S. Shchepkin and P.M. Sadovsky. Gogol was nervous, but he read well, although he was very tired towards the end.

And on his last New Year's Eve, Gogol accidentally met Dr. F.P. at Tolstoy's. Haaz. He wished Gogol a “new year” that would grant him an “eternal year.” Gogol became despondent.

“Stairs, give me the stairs quickly!”

The tragedy that took place in the winter of 1852 in a house on Nikitsky Boulevard and the cause of the writer’s death still leave many mysteries. There is no doubt that the impressionable, suspicious Gogol was crippled by the death of Ekaterina Mikhailovna Khomyakova, which happened on January 26. There is a hypothesis that from her he contracted typhoid fever, which a month later brought him to the grave. At the funeral service, Gogol said to the widower: “Everything is over for me,” and began fasting ahead of schedule, even during Shrovetide week. This is how a common version emerged, especially popular in Soviet times, and previously supported by N.G. Chernyshevsky that Gogol starved himself to death for religious reasons. Modern researchers, restoring the Christian image of Gogol’s majestic and martyrdom on the basis of eyewitness accounts, have subjected this version to justified criticism.

It is known that at the beginning of February Gogol complained of unusual weakness, an upset stomach and the overly strong effect of the prescribed medication. Doctor Inozemtsev diagnosed “intestinal catarrh”. This was the first reason for refusing ordinary food, which probably caused pain to the writer, and from treatment. It was then that he decided to start fasting early. Believing that bodily healing is possible only from God and remembering the dear deceased, Gogol began to spend his nights in prayer.

According to another version, Gogol had meningitis, which developed as a result of a cold. In those frosty days he went to the Preobrazhensk hospital to see the revered holy fool Ivan Yakovlevich Koreisha (whom Dostoevsky would later portray in the novel “Demons”), but walked for a long time in a strong wind, not daring to go to him, and without having decided, he left.

When the writer began to feel unwell, the owners moved him to a room in their half, the warmest in the house. That’s why it turned out that Gogol lived in one part of the house and died in another. On the night of February 9, after kneeling prayer, Gogol took a nap on the sofa and in his sleep heard voices saying that he would soon die. The next day he asked the count to hand over the manuscripts to St. Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow. The Count pointedly did not accept them, so that Gogol would not become convinced of his imminent death, and then cursed himself for not taking the manuscripts. On the night of February 12, Gogol ordered his servant to light the stove in the living room and burned his papers. Father Matthew, who had become acquainted with Gogol’s manuscripts a few days earlier, said that he did not at all encourage the writer to be burned, but only pointed out those places that he did not like: the unsuccessful image of a not entirely Orthodox priest and the image of a governor, which he did not like. it happens - for which, they say, they will ridicule more “Correspondence”. There is an assumption that Gogol parted with his work, remembering the failure that befell the Correspondence. In the morning he lamented that he wanted to burn only the manuscripts, which had been taken away long ago, but he burned them all. Tolstoy tried to encourage him by saying that it was still possible to reconstruct what he had written from memory. Gogol perked up at this thought, but not for long. On February 14, he firmly said: “You must leave me, I know that I must die.” Three days later, he received unction and received the holy mysteries from Father John Nikolsky, the priest of the Savvinsky Church, and after that he never got out of bed. Tolstoy, trying to save Gogol, went to Metropolitan Philaret for help. Bursting into tears, the saint ordered the patient to be told that the Church “commands that in case of illness one should surrender to the will of the doctor.” Gogol, dying in full consciousness, joyfully received only priests. They tried to use hypnosis on him to force him to receive treatment and eat, but he said a prayer, asked for wine and did not give in to any suggestion.

On February 20, Tolstoy convened a council of the best doctors who considered that Gogol had meningitis and decided to treat him forcibly as a person who did not control himself. All day, despite the dying man’s pleas not to disturb him for God’s sake and to leave him alone, they put him in a warm bath and doused his head with cold water, placed leeches, flies, mustard plasters, and covered his body with hot bread. The honor of “saving the life” of a genius clearly flattered the doctors, but to some extent Gogol took upon himself the sin of ordinary human disbelief. “God is great, and human nature is still such a mystery that in many ways eludes the eyes of doctors,” he wrote about this to Zhukovsky back in 1845. Doctor Tarasenkov, who did not take part in this, believed that the Aesculapian executioners only helped Gogol die. Doctor N.N. Bazhenov also stated a medical error, believing that in case of acute anemia of the brain, bloodletting was contraindicated. By evening Gogol fell into unconsciousness. At the 11th hour he shouted: “Ladder, give me the ladder quickly!” The night passed without suffering, and on the morning of February 21, Gogol quietly gave his soul to God.

It was officially announced that the great writer died of a cold, but he mysterious death gave rise to many rumors, such as that he fell asleep in a lethargic sleep. This rumor is refuted by the memoirs of the sculptor N.A. Ramazanov, who was removing the death mask from Gogol: his assistant hurried him because traces of decomposition appeared on the face of the late writer. Gogol died as a Christian, in his bed, having received church farewell.

At the suggestion of T.N. Granovsky, with Gogol, an honorary member of Moscow University, said goodbye in the house Tatianinsky church of the university, and in order to avoid unrest, traffic along Bolshaya Nikitskaya was blocked. The writer was buried in the only frock coat that he had in his wardrobe. Gogol’s grave at the Danilovskoye Cemetery was crowned with a black tombstone with an incised quotation from the prophet Jeremiah: “I will laugh at my bitter word.” And then a cross was installed at the head of the “Golgotha” - a large stone found by Aksakov in Crimea specifically for Gogol’s grave and so named because its shape resembled Mount Calvary in Jerusalem.

"Gogol's House"

Gogol's death shocked the Tolstoys. The count sent money to Optina Pustyn to commemorate the soul of the deceased and burned all his letters.

In 1856, Alexander II, having arrived in Moscow for the coronation, appointed A.P. Tolstoy as chief prosecutor of the Holy Synod, and the couple left for St. Petersburg. The count held this post for only six years, but left a grateful memory of himself. He outlived his great guest by 21 years and died in 1873 in Geneva, on his way from Jerusalem. The widow devoted herself to charity. In memory of her husband, she founded the Alexander Shelter for clergy on Sadovo-Kudrinskaya, and sold the house on Nikitsky Boulevard to a distant relative of Lermontov M.A. Stolypina. In 1888, it underwent reconstruction when, apparently, the original oven in which Gogol’s manuscripts burned was lost.

The first plans to properly honor this house emerged for the celebration of the 100th anniversary of Gogol's birth. The Moscow City Duma decided to commemorate the anniversary celebrations by building a monument to the writer and establishing a personal Gogol library. The location for the monument was determined in connection with the memorial house, but since Nikitsky Boulevard was cramped, the monument was installed on Prechistensky Boulevard. And the Moscow city government offered to buy the house itself from private owners in order to house a museum-reading room in it, but the plans did not come true.

After October revolution the house was given over to communal apartments, which remained there until 1964; then the house was assigned to the representation of the Kirghiz SSR. Only in 1971, by decision of the Moscow City Council, the mutilated building was transferred to city library No. 2, born from the mobile library of the People's Commissariat for Education. The history of the Gogol Museum in Moscow dates back to this time. (Now for some reason they say that it didn’t exist before.) Memorial rooms of N.V. Gogol - a living room and a bedroom-office - opened in 1974. That is why the library was named after N.V. Gogol. And in 2005, by decision of the Moscow Government, it was transformed into the Central City Library - the Gogol House memorial center, when it became clear that it was necessary to create a full-fledged Gogol museum in this building.

According to its director Vera Pavlovna Vikulova, the task of such a museum is not only to recreate the historical setting of the writer’s last refuge, but also to help to modern man understand Gogol more deeply. This is what the newest museum technologies, light guns, sound tracks, installations, for which opponents accuse the museum’s management of creating a “disco” and “Disney Land.” However, in a complex combination with “special effects”, the academic style of the memorial museum is completely preserved, which required very painstaking scientific work and a subtle sense of proportion. “Add pomp - and Gogol lived modestly, and we have maintained this modesty of decoration,” says Vera Pavlovna. - Go too far with special effects - Gogol will leave. Add modernity and there will be glamor. We are still just learning about such a museum. It is clear that we cannot remain at the level of the past and the centuries before, otherwise there will be no result from a museum designed for the widest range of visitors and schoolchildren - it simply will not be of interest to them.” And modern children, we add, are not friendly with classical books. Gone are the days of the guide's pointers and dry oral history. Now the halls are multifunctional. In addition to the exhibition corresponding to the hall for its intended purpose (hallway, reception area), in each of them you can get acquainted with the biography and work of Gogol using technologies designed for visual perception. All this serves the purpose of showing Gogol in the context of his era. And it's interesting to show.

At first glance, the visitor sees a classic museum - an office, a living room. A movement of the guide's hand - and the exhibition comes to life. The tour begins in the hallway (“Room of Wanderings”), where they tell about Gogol the Traveler. The clatter of wheels is heard along with the soundtrack, the light panel shows how the road “floats”, creating a vivid feeling of the traveler’s movement. In the living room there is a blazing fireplace, where Gogol's manuscripts were lost. There was a stove here under Gogol, but they didn’t change it for fear that the builders would completely destroy everything. Gogol’s contemporaries who visited him in this house appear on the plasma screen: Turgenev, Aivazovsky, Shchepkin. The chair casts the shadow of Gogol sitting, because there must be something mystical in his museum. On the windows there is a drapery depicting the street landscape that Gogol saw here every day. Cobblestone streets, cab drivers, carriages, passers-by. You can hear the sound of wheels, the noise of a cart being unloaded, a dog barking...

A new memorial exhibition is open on the left side of the building, where the library premises used to be. The first room is Count Tolstoy’s reception room, or the “Inspector General’s Hall”, since it was here that Gogol read his play to the actors of the Maly Theater. The hall is decorated in a theatrical style with the use of velvet draperies, reminiscent of the decoration of the boxes of the Alexandria Theater, where the comedy premiered. Next comes the “Memory Room” in which Gogol died. The museum management was accused of cutting a wall in the sacred room, but in reality this is only a recreation of the historical enfilade, since in Gogol’s time there was a door that was blocked in Soviet years. It was restored.

On the second floor, where the living half of the Tolstoys and the theater living room were located, there are currently two reading rooms, designed in the style of a classic city estate of the mid-19th century and a noble library. Scientific conferences are held here. When the neighboring wing of the estate is completely vacated (its tenant has a contract until 2012), the entire library will move there, and a full-fledged exhibition hall will be built here. There are still few authentic exhibits, but you can see real relics: a button from Gogol’s vest and a fragment of his burial.

Thus, “Gogol’s House” combines a memorial museum, scientific library and a research center dedicated to the study of Gogol’s legacy. According to V.A. Voropaev, a famous researcher of Gogol’s work, “Gogol’s House” could well become the Moscow brother of the St. Petersburg Pushkin House.

Materials from books were partially used: V.A. Voropaev. Nikolai Gogol: Experience of spiritual biography. M., 2008; Moleva N.M. Gogol in Moscow. M., 2008; articles:

"Correspondence of N.V. Gogol. In two volumes": Fiction; Moscow; 1988

Gogol and M. S. Shchepkin

Introductory article

Gogol's acquaintance with the great Russian actor, stage reformer Mikhail Semenovich Shchepkin (1788-1863) occurred in early July 1832 in Moscow. It is likely that shortly before this, during Shchepkin’s St. Petersburg tour, Gogol was able to see his performances. Shchepkin's son Pyotr Mikhailovich recalled the first visit to their house by Gogol, at that time already the famous author of "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka": "<...>Once twenty-five people gathered at my father’s for lunch<...> . In the middle of dinner, a new guest, completely unknown to us, entered the hall. While he slowly undressed, all of us, including my father, remained perplexed. The guest stopped at the threshold of the hall and, looking at everyone quickly, uttered the words of the well-known Little Russian song: “A watermelon walks around the city, Trying to keep its family: Oh, are you alive, are you healthy, Are all the relatives of Garbuzov?” The bewilderment was soon cleared up - our guest was N.V. Gogol, who learned that my father, like him, was also from the Little Russians" (Shchepkin, vol. 2, p. 267). Despite the large difference in age, the acquaintance of both artists soon turned into friendship. By the time of the meeting, Shchepkin - then already one of the most popular Russian actors - had more than twenty-five years of experience in theatrical activity. As part of a professional troupe, he made his debut back in 1805 at the Kursk theater of the Barsov brothers. With the provincial stage he was The entire initial period of Shchepkin's activity is also connected, during which he gained fame as a talented comedian.In 1823, Shchepkin moved to Moscow, where by the end of the 1820s he acquired a strong reputation as the first comic actor, performing mainly in the so-called secular comedies and vaudevilles. Despite his success, Shchepkin himself feels the limitations of the traditional repertoire, which constrains his creative searches.Shchepkin's acting style is characterized by a desire for simplicity and naturalness, psychological authenticity, and the vitality of the created images. In this sense, the meeting with the dramaturgy of Griboyedov (the role of Famusov in “Woe from Wit”) and especially Gogol was of great importance for him. Remembering these “two great comic writers” in 1853, Shchepkin admitted: “I owe them more than anyone; they, by the power of their mighty talent, so to speak, put me on a prominent level in art” (Shchepkin, vol. 2, p. 55). Shchepkin was famous as an excellent reader of Gogol's prose works, he successfully played in dramatizations of Gogol's "Evenings...", chapters of the second volume of "Dead Souls" and, of course, in the plays that form the basis of the writer's dramatic heritage - "The Government Inspector", "Marriage" ", "Players", "Litigation". Taking care of the formation of Shchepkin’s repertoire (Gogol’s notebook of 1845-1846 contains a note “About Shchepkin”: “They mixed him into the dirt, forced him to play small, insignificant roles, over which there is nothing to do. They force the masters to do what the students do. It’s all the same that the architect who erects a building of genius is forced to be a mason and make bricks" (Acad. , IX, p. " Sganarelle" Molière. Over the many years of his stage activity, Shchepkin knew many acting successes. However, the recognized pinnacle of his skill was the role of the mayor in The Inspector General. It was first played by the artist on May 25, 1836 - on the day of the Moscow premiere of the comedy. The beginning of correspondence between Gogol and Shchepkin is connected with its preparation. Attaching great importance to the production of the work that delighted him, Shchepkin tried to persuade the author to come to Moscow to personally participate in rehearsals. However, disappointed by the reception given to The Inspector General in St. Petersburg, Gogol resisted the persuasion of his Moscow friends. Having entrusted Shchepkin with the direction of the production, he limited his participation in its preparation to only written instructions. At first, not entirely satisfied with his performance (“... the lack of strength and language affected,” he writes to I. I. Sosnitsky the day after the premiere), Shchepkin continued to improve the image he created and as a result achieved maximum persuasiveness, the impression of complete compliance with the author's intention. “It seems that Gogol copied his mayor from him, and he did not fulfill the role written by Gogol,” noted in 1838 a reviewer of “Literary Additions to the Russian Invalid” (Shchepkin, vol. 2, p. 12). “Actor I understood the poet: both of them do not want to make caricatures, satires, or even epigrams; but they want to show a phenomenon of real life, a characteristic, typical phenomenon,” wrote V. G. Belinsky (Bel., vol. 2, pp. 396-397). Shchepkin’s work on the role of the mayor was not just a deep penetration into the author’s plan , but a kind of co-creation, identifying new facets in the image created by the writer. Shchepkin’s interpretation also influenced the subsequent evolution of Gogol’s own interpretation of Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky’s character (see: Alpers V. Mochalov and Shchepkin Theater. M., 1979, pp. 318-320 Probably, largely under the impression of Shchepkin's performances in The Government Inspector, Gogol's concept of the "actor-author" - a creator of a dramatic work equal in rights with the writer - was formed. This concept was reflected in one of original compositions Gogol of the 1840s - "The Denouement of The Inspector General." Depicted in it as the main character, Shchepkin was portrayed by the author as an example of a true artist; ideas that were dear to Gogol of those years were put into his mouth. However, the denouement contained in "The Denouement" is an attempt at interpretation " The Inspector General" in a moralistic spirit aroused sharp objections from Shchepkin himself, who valued above all else in Gogol's comedy its life-like authenticity and recognizable characters (see his letter to Gogol dated May 22, 1847). In terms of its subject matter, the correspondence between Gogol and Shchepkin is of a rather narrow nature ". Almost entirely it is connected with the issues of staging Gogol's works on the Moscow stage. However, the personalities of both artists are revealed in it quite fully, and sometimes unexpectedly. Thus, in his numerous production instructions and explanations, Gogol appears to us as a professionally minded director. At the same time time, the actor Shchepkin reveals in his letters to the writer an undoubted literary talent.Among his contemporaries, Shchepkin was known as an excellent storyteller. Human difficult fate(born into a serf family, he received freedom only in 1821), a deep connoisseur of Russian life, Shchepkin also possessed amazing powers of observation, the gift of apt characterization, and deep generalization. The stories he told formed the basis of “The Thieving Magpie” by A. I. Herzen, the works of V. A. Sollogub and M. P. Pogodin, and were used by N. A. Nekrasov and A. V. Sukhovo-Kobylin. They were also reflected in Gogol’s work (the episode with the cat in “Old World Landowners”, the story about the “little white” and “little dark” in the second volume of “Dead Souls”). One of the examples of Shchepkin’s stories is the anecdote he cited in a letter to Gogol about the Kursk police chief. Shchepkin's life was rich in colorful encounters. He was friends with Belinsky, Herzen, Shevchenko, S. T. Aksakov. However, relations with Gogol occupied a special place in the artist’s life. “After “The Inspector General,” recalls I. I. Panaev, “Shchepkin’s love for Gogol turned into a reverent feeling. When he talked about him or read excerpts from his letters to him, his face shone and tears appeared in his eyes<...>"(Panaev I.I. Literary Memoirs. 1950, p. 170). Shchepkin remained faithful to this affection until the end of his days. To Gogol, his servant testifies, the last thoughts of the dying actor were addressed (Shchepkin, vol. 2, p. 295) To this day, 11 letters from Gogol to Shchepkin and 3 letters from Shchepkin to Gogol have survived.With the exception of Gogol’s letter dated October 21 (November 2), 1846, all of them are published in this edition.

Finally, I am writing to you, most priceless Mikhail Semenovich. Hardly, it seems to me, this is not the first time this has happened. The phenomenon is certainly very remarkable: the two first sloths in the world finally decide to amaze each other with a letter. I am sending you “The Inspector General”[ 2 ]. Maybe you've already heard rumors about him. I wrote to the sloth of the 1st guild and the most dissolute man in the world, Pogodin, so that he would notify you. I even wanted to send it to you, but I changed my mind, wanting to bring it to you myself and read it in person, so that wrong ideas would not be formed about some people in advance, which, I know, are extremely difficult to eradicate later. But, having become acquainted with the local theater management, I became so disgusted with the theater [3] that the mere thought of the pleasures that are also being prepared for me at the Moscow theater could deter both a trip to Moscow and an attempt to bother about anything. . Finally, to top off the most possible dirty tricks for me, the local management, that is, director Gedeonov, decided, as I hear, to give the main roles to other characters [4] after four performances of it, being moved by some petty personal hatred of some of the main actors in my play , somehow: to Sosnitsky and Dur. No urine. Do what you want with my play, but I won't bother with it. I'm just as tired of her as I am of worrying about her. The action she produced was large and noisy. Everyone is against me[ 5 ]. Elderly and respectable officials shout that nothing is sacred to me when I dared to speak like that about serving people. The police are against me, the merchants are against me, the writers are against me. They scold and go to the play; tickets cannot be obtained for the fourth performance. If it were not for the high intercession of the sovereign [6], my play would never have been on stage, and there were already people who were trying to ban it. Now I see what it means to be a comic writer. The slightest specter of truth—and not just one person, but entire classes, rebel against you. I imagine what would happen if I took something from St. Petersburg life, which is now more and better familiar to me than provincial life. It is annoying to see people against you, who meanwhile loves them with brotherly love. My comedy, which I read to you in Moscow, under the title “Marriage,” I have now reworked and translated, and it is now somewhat similar to something worthwhile. I assign it in such a way that it will go to you and Sosnitsky at a benefit performance here and in Moscow, which, it seems, happens at the same time of year. Therefore, you can address Sosnitsky, to whom I will hand it over[ 7 ]. I myself am going abroad in a month or a month and a half, if not earlier, and therefore I advise you, if you need me, not to delay your answer and to indulge less in our common friend laziness. Farewell. I hug you from the bottom of my heart and ask you not to forget your old fellow countryman, who loves you a lot, a lot Gogol. Distribute the enclosed copies[ 8 ] as appropriate. Give the unsigned copy to whomever you decide. 1 Kulish, vol. 1, p. 181-182 (with omissions); Acad., XI, No. 8. 2 A copy of the first edition of the comedy (censorship permission dated March 13, 1836) with a dedicatory inscription: “To my good and demon<цен>to nom Mikhail Semenovich Shchepkin from Gogol." 3 The premiere of "The Inspector General" took place at the St. Petersburg Alexandrinsky Theater on April 19, 1836. The performance attracted the attention of both the public and the press, but the level of acting, the reaction of the audience, and the responses of journalists left Gogol with a feeling of deep dissatisfaction. 4 Understudies were introduced into the performance already on April 28, 1836 (P. I. Grigoriev - mayor, A. M. Maksimov - Khlestakov, etc.). 5 See introductory article. 6 Probably even before the performance of "The Inspector General" "to the censorship, V.A. Zhukovsky and M.Yu. Vielgorsky managed to convince Nicholas I of the harmlessness of comedy (G. Mat. and research, vol. 1, p. 311). According to the memoirs of a contemporary, at the first performance the emperor "clapped and laughed a lot" (Nikitenko A.V. Diary. In 3 volumes, vol. 1. 1955, p. 182). 7 The production of "Marriage" did not take place in 1836: Gogol soon took the comedy from Sosnitsky for reworking (see . letter from Sosnitsky to Shchepkin dated May 30, 1836 - LN, vol. 58, p. 552), finally completed only by 1842. 8 We are talking about copies of “The Inspector General”.

Your Majesty! Nikolay Vasilievich! I received several copies of the letter and “The Inspector General” and distributed them all as intended, except for Kireevsky, who is in the village, and therefore I gave his copy to S.P. Shevyrev for delivery. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for The Inspector General, not as a book, but as a comedy, which, so to speak, fulfilled all my hopes, and I completely came to life. It has been a long time since I felt such joy, for, unfortunately, all my joys are concentrated in one scene. I know this is almost crazy, but what can I do? It's really not my fault. Decent people laugh at me and consider me stupid, but I would give the rest of my life to improve this stupidity. Well, all this aside, and now just about “The Inspector General”; Is it not a sin for you to leave him to the mercy of fate, and where? in Moscow, which is waiting for you so cordially (laughs so heartily in “Woe from Wit”). And will you leave her behind some of the troubles that "The Inspector General" caused you? Firstly, there cannot be such troubles in the theater, because M.N. Zagoskin, thanking you for the copy, said that he would write to you, and also instructed me to notify you that it would be very pleasant for him if you come so that he can do everything that is necessary to deliver the piece, completely with your desire. On the part of the public, the more angry they are with you, the more I will rejoice, because this will mean that they share my opinion about comedy and you have achieved your goal. You yourself know better than anyone that your play, more than any other, requires that you read it to our superiors and those in action. You know this and don't want to come. God with you! You may be tired of her, but you have to do it for the comedy; you must do this in good conscience; you must do this for Moscow, for the people who love you and take an active part in “The Inspector General”. In a word, you know for sure that we need you, and you don’t want to come. Your will is selfishness. Forgive me for expressing myself so freely, but here we are talking about comedy, and therefore I cannot be cold-blooded. See, I'm not even lazy now. You probably don’t put it on here, just read it twice, and then... Well, that’s enough, you’re tired of me. Thank you for the gift of the piece for the benefit performance, believe that such a favor will never leave my old head, in which now there is only one desire to see you, to kiss you. To accomplish this, I would set all of Moscow in motion. Farewell. Forgive me for graduating without rank.

Your M. Shchepkin.

I am enclosing a letter from Pogodin [2]. If you decide to come to us, then quickly, because in three weeks, and maybe earlier, she<постановка>When it’s ready, they’re writing a new set for it[ 3 ]. 1 RS, 1886, No. 10, p. 147-148; Shchepkin, vol. 1, p. 168-169; verified with autograph (GBL). Shchepkin attached this letter to his letter to I.I. Sosnitsky dated May 7, 1836 for transmission to Gogol. 2 From May 6, 1836. 3 The first production of “The Inspector General” at the Moscow Maly Theater took place on May 25, 1836.

I forgot, dear Mikhail Semenovich, to tell you some preliminary remarks about “The Inspector General”. Firstly, you must certainly, out of friendship for me, take upon yourself the entire matter of staging it. I don’t know any of your actors, what kind and what each of them is good at. But you can know this better than anyone else. You yourself, without a doubt, must take on the role of mayor, otherwise it will disappear without you. There is an even more difficult role in the entire play - the role of Khlestakov. I don't know if you will choose an artist for it. God forbid,<если>it will be played with ordinary farces, as braggarts and theatrical hangers are played. He is simply stupid, he chatters only because he sees that they are willing to listen to him; he’s lying because he had a hearty breakfast and drank a fair amount of wine. He only fidgets when he approaches the ladies. The scene in which he cheats should pay special attention. Every word of it, that is, a phrase or utterance, is an impromptu completely unexpected and therefore must be expressed abruptly. It should not be overlooked that by the end of this scene he begins to disassemble little by little. But he should not at all sway in his chair; he should only blush and express himself even more unexpectedly, and the further, louder and louder. I am very afraid for this role. It was performed poorly here too, because it requires decisive talent. It's a pity, it's a pity that I couldn't be with you: many of the roles could have been completely understandable only if I had read them. But there is nothing to be done. I am now so little at peace in spirit that I could hardly be too useful. But upon returning from abroad, I intend to settle with you in Moscow... I am completely at odds with the local climate. I will stay abroad until spring, and come to you in the spring. Tell Zagoskin that I entrusted everything to you. I will write to him that I have sent you the distribution of roles [2]. You write a note and give it to him as if it was written by me. Moreover: do not dress Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky in the suit in which they are printed [3]. It was Khrapovitsky who dressed them[ 4 ]. I didn’t go into these details much and ordered it to be printed in a theatrical style. The one who has blond hair should be in a dark tailcoat, and the brunette, that is, Bobchinsky, should be in a light one. Both wear dark trousers. In general, so that there is no farce. But both must certainly have bellies, and, moreover, sharp ones, like those of pregnant women. For now, goodbye. Write. You'll still have time. I’m going no earlier than May 30th or even maybe the first<дней>June[ 5 ].

N. Gogol.

Bow to all your branches at home, my fellow countrymen and countrywomen. 1 Kulish, vol. 1, p. 183-184; Acad., XI, No. 10. 2 This was done in a letter to Zagoskin dated May 10, 1836. 3 We are talking about Gogol’s explanations “Characters and Costumes. Notes for Gentlemen Actors,” published in the first edition of The Inspector General. 4 Inspector of the drama troupe Khrapovitsky supervised the preparations for the premiere of “The Inspector General” in St. Petersburg. 5 Gogol left St. Petersburg abroad on June 6, 1836.

I can’t, my good and respectable fellow countryman, I can’t in any way be with you in Moscow. My departure has already been decided. I know that you would all receive me with love. My grateful heart feels it. But I, for my part, don’t want to seem boring to you and not sharing your precious participation. It would be better for me to proudly carry in my soul this enlightened gratitude to the old capital of my homeland and preserve it as a shrine in a foreign land. Moreover, even if I came, I could not be as useful to you as you think. I would read it to you badly, without the slightest concern for my faces. Firstly, because he lost interest in her; secondly, because I am dissatisfied with many things about it, although not at all with what my short-sighted and unreasonable critics accused me of. I know that you will understand everything in it as it should, and in the current circumstances you will put it even better than if I were there myself. I received a letter from Serg. Tim. Aksakov [2] three days after I wrote to you, with a letter enclosed to Zagoskin. Aksakov is so kind that he himself offers to entrust him with staging the play. If this is definitely more beneficial for you in that, as an outsider, the management will be less likely to contradict him, then I am sorry that I have placed a painful burden on you. If you hope to get along with the management, then let it remain as agreed. In any case, I am very grateful to Sergei Timofeevich, and tell him that I can understand his hospitable disposition towards me. Farewell. May God love you and help you in your orders, and on the way I will think hard about a play that I have in mind [3]. I will write it in Switzerland in the winter, and in the spring I will take it straight to Moscow, and Moscow will be the first to hear it. Farewell again! I kiss you several times. Always love your Gogol too. It seems to me that you would have done better if the play[4] had been left until autumn or winter. During the remaining two weeks before my departure, I am immersed in the troubles of my departure, and this is one of the main reasons that I cannot fulfill your desire to go to Moscow. 1 Kulish, vol. 1, p. 184-185 (incomplete); Acad., XI, No. 15. Reply to Shchepkin’s letter dated May 7, 1836. 2 The mentioned letter from S. T. Aksakov (the first of his letters to Gogol) is currently unknown, the contents of the letter are set out in “The History of My Acquaintance with Gogol” (Aksakov, p. 16). 3 What work we are talking about is not established. 4 "Inspector".

Well, Mikhail Semenovich, dearest to my heart! half the bet is won[ 2 ]: the comedy is ready[ 3 ]. Our Russian artists translated in a few days. And how conscientiously I acted! I corrected everything from beginning to end, scribbled and rewrote it with my own hand. In the poster you must put two titles: Russian and Italian. You can even add immediately after the author’s name: “the first Italian comedian of our time.” I am attaching the first action in your letter, the second will be in the letter to Sergei Timofeevich [4], and for the third, go to Pogodin. Have it rewritten at once properly, with the proper spaces, and you will see that it is quite thick. Yes, look, don’t lose the sheets before this: there is no other copy, the draft went to the back of the mind. Comedy must succeed; at least in Italian theaters and in France it was a brilliant success. You, as a person with a subtle instinct, will immediately comprehend the comic situation of your role. There is no need to tell you that your role is the guy himself, who is in a difficult situation; the role of agitation is strong. A man who has completely lost his head: there are so many comic and true sides to this! I saw in her an actor with great talent, who, by the way, is far below you. He was beautiful, and everything about him was so natural and true! You could hear a man who was not born for intrigue, but who involuntarily found himself in it - and how much naturally comic! This tutor, whom I called uncle, because the first, it seems, is not entirely accurate, and not Russian, should be dressed, all in black, as all these people dress in Italy to this day: abbots, scientists, etc.: in a black tailcoat not exactly in fashion, but like old people, in black trousers down to the knees, in black stockings and shoes, in a black cloth vest buttoned tightly from top to bottom, and in a black down hat, three-cornered, -<не> as they wear in our country, which is called dumplings, and in the one in which the prodigal son is depicted, herding flocks, that is, with the brim slightly bent on three sides [5]. The two young marquises should be dressed in the same way in black tailcoats, only more fashionable, and instead of triangular hats, round, black, down or silk, as we all, sinful people, wear; black stockings, shoes and short trousers. Here's everything you need to notice about the suits. Other people are dressed like the rest of the world. But something needs to be said about the roles themselves. The role of Gilda is best given to one of your daughters. You can then more fully feel it in all its subtleties. If it’s for someone else, then, for God’s sake, it’s too good an actress. Gilda is smart, lively; she is not pretending; if she pretends, then this pretended thing already becomes true. She delivers her monologues, which she says she collected from novels, with true animation; and when the feeling of a mother really woke up in her, then she didn’t look at anything and was the whole woman. Her movements are simple and cheeky, and at the moment the picture becomes animated, she somehow suddenly becomes taller than an ordinary woman, which Italian women perform surprisingly well. The actress who played Gilda, whom I saw, was fresh, young, simple and charming in all her movements, forgettable and animated, like nature. A Frenchwoman would kill this role and never fulfill it. For this role, it seems as if you need someone brought up by the fresh air of the countryside and steppes. The one playing the role of Pippeto does not need to be told that Pippeto is a little stupid: he will immediately fulfill his claims. He must perform it completely innocently, like the role of a young, rather inexperienced person, and stupidity will appear by itself, just like in many people whom no one calls stupid at all. It seems there is no need to say anything more... You yourself know that the more rehearsals you do, the better it will be and the actors will become clearer about their roles. However, there are few roles, and the production will not be expensive or troublesome. Yes! Give the marquise to some good actor. This role is energetic: a mad, eccentric old man who does not listen to any reason. I think, if there is no other option, give it to Mochalov; his name has a magical effect on the Moscow public. Don't judge by first impressions and read this play several times - certainly several times. You will see that she is very sweet and will be a success. So, you now have two plays. Your benefit is complete. If you give both plays a long rehearsal and read for everyone yourself and explain to yourself the roles of everyone, then the benefit performance will be brilliant, and you will show off to those who say that you are organizing a benefit performance for yourself somehow. I didn’t have time to correct Shakespeare’s play [6] in a hurry. My sisters and some students translated it. Please re-read it and have all the monologues that are awkward to read written down on thin paper and send it to me as soon as possible; I’ll straighten everything out for you, maybe even the whole play. For the tail of the comedy, go now to Aksakov and Pogodin. 1 "Moscow Gazette", 1853, No. 2 (with omissions); Acad., XI, No. 177. 2 During his stay in Moscow in 1839-1840. Gogol argued with Shchepkin that he would prepare two comedies for his benefit performance. 3 For the comedy by D. Giraud, see preamble, p. 445. It was first performed on January 9, 1853 at Shchepkin’s benefit performance. 4 Aksakov. The translation was actually attached by Gogol to a letter to O. S. Aksakova dated July 29 (August 10), 1840 (Acad., XI, No. 175). 5 This refers to the popular popular print picture at that time. 6 Which play we are talking about is not established.

Your Majesty
Nikolay Vasilievich.

According to Sergei Timofeich, you are now in Rome, where I addressed this letter, and God grant that it finds you healthy and vigorous; But I’ll say about myself that I’m losing heart. Even under the new management [2] my field is without action, but my soul requires activity, because the repertoire has not changed at all, but everything is the same, abomination and abomination, and this is what, in my old age, I must feed my dramatic thirst. You know, this is such suffering that there are no words. They gave us everything, that is, Russian artists - money, rights, boarding houses, and they just didn’t give us the freedom to act, and from artists we became day laborers. No, it’s worse: the day laborer is free to choose his own work, but the artist can play, play whatever his wise superiors command. But I've bored you with talking about myself. But what can I do, someone needs to speak out, really, it’s somehow easier, but who am I going to speak out to if not you? Who will understand my suffering better than you, my good Nikolai Vasilyevich, and even, you know, I think no one will take as much part in it as you do. You always loved me, always gave me your attention, and I... But enough! Using your permission, I announced your comedy “Marriage” for my benefit performance; for your entire publication, as you know, will be published in December[ 3 ], and my benefit is on February 5th[ 4 ]. But I asked Belinsky to submit it to the theater censor in advance, in order to have more time to get acquainted with the actors who wear a human image. I asked, also with your permission, to submit some scenes to the censor, as well as the newly sent comedy “The Players,” which I would also ask you to play at the benefit performance. This would greatly reinforce it. And the benefit performances of Russian artists suffered greatly from the German opera, which Gedeonov transported from St. Petersburg to Moscow for the whole winter. But I don’t dare give it without your written permission; although you talked about other scenes, I don’t remember whether it was about her. So, I only asked in advance to submit it to the censor, and if you do not hesitate with your answer and allow it, then it would not be bad if you set out how you would like in discussing the costumes of the actors in the comedies “Marriage” and “The Players”. There is still more than three months of time, and your answer will have time to arrive in advance. If I don’t receive any answer from you at this time, then, of course, I won’t give “The Players” anymore, but only “Marriage” and some of the scenes. Here are the people: like a letter, it’s also a request, and Sbitenshchik said the truth: “All people are Stepans!” [5] What else can I tell you? Yes! There is always talk and debate about “Dead Souls”. They woke up Rus'. She seems to be living now. There are countless rumors about them. I could fill volumes if I put them all on paper, and that makes me happy. This means: give us a good push, and we will move, and thereby prove that we are living beings, and in this awakening thoughts appear that clearly say that we, along with all peoples, are not devoid of human dignity. But the sad thing is that we certainly need to be pushed, and without that we ourselves are dead souls. Goodbye, hugs to you. I expect an answer soon and remain forever loving you and remaining your humble servant

Mikhailo Shchepkin.

P.S. My family, young and old, all bow to you. The Aksakov family, thank God, is all healthy, except for Sergei Timofeevich himself, who (between us) is deteriorating, although, of course, he hides it. The old illness echoed in him again. With all that, they are now having fun, because Sergei Timofeevich’s brothers are now in Moscow with their families and often together with him, and preference is in action. Yes! so as not to forget to tell you a joke. In Kursk, about three years ago, there was an earthquake, and the next day the police chief reports to the governor that yesterday, at so many hours, there was a strong earthquake, but the measures taken in advance by the police did not cause any misfortune in the city. I can’t accurately convey the phrases, but they are very cleverly expressed. The governor read it and said to him: “I am very pleased with you regarding the organization of the city, cleanliness, fire brigade, etc., but it is not good that you sign the papers without reading them.” To which the police chief swore that this was slander and that the villains were disparaging him from his superiors. “But,” says the governor, “they probably haven’t read this report.” - “For mercy, your Excellency, I composed it myself.” The governor shrugged his shoulders and everything went on as before. 1 RA, 1889, No. 4, p. 556-558; Shchepkin, vol. 1, p. 177-179; verified with autograph (GBL). 2 Since 1842, Moscow theaters came under the control of the St. Petersburg directorate, headed by A. M. Gedeonov. 3 This refers to Gogol’s “Works,” which were under censorship at that time. The fourth volume of the publication, which included dramatic works, was delayed by censorship and was published only at the end of January 1843. 4 At the benefit performance on February 5, 1843, Shchepkin staged “Marriage” and “The Players,” performing in them the roles of Podkolesin and Consoling. 5 Replica of the sbitenshchik Stepan from the comic opera by Ya. B. Knyazhnin (1740-1791) “The sbitenshchik” (act I, scene XI). Its meaning is that all people, like Stepan, are selfish.

Mikhailo Semenovich! I am writing this letter to you on purpose so that it serves as a document that all my dramatic scenes and passages contained in the fourth volume of my works belong to you and you can give them at your discretion at your benefit performances [2]. Regarding the comedy “Marriage,” you will arrange, by mutual agreement, with Sosnitsky in such a way that it will be shown on the same day at benefit performances for both of you, at the St. Petersburg and Moscow theaters.

N. Gogol.

Rome. November 26, 1842. 1 Kulish, vol. 1, p. 317-318; Acad., XII, No. 94. 2 This refers to “Players”, “Morning of a Business Man”, “Litigation”, “Lackey”, “Excerpt”.

Hello, Michal Semenovich!

After a proper kiss, we will make this speech. You already have "Marriage". Isn't that enough for one performance? I say this in the context that I want you to have something left for future times, but by the way, you can manage it as best for you. You are a complete master here. All the dramatic passages and scenes contained in the fourth volume of my writings (there are five in number) are all yours exclusively. I have already written about this to the publisher of my works, Prokopovich, and asked Pletnev to inform Gedeonov, and I am purposely enclosing a letter for you, which you could show to anyone who decides to challenge your right [2]. Only the last play, “Theatrical Travel,” remains inviolable, because it is indecent for it to appear on stage. You will write to Sosnitsky that, as a result of my previous desire, “Marriage” suits both of you, but only so that there will be a benefit performance for both of you on the same day. Meanwhile, get serious about staging The Inspector General. Larkspur may be given some of the dramatic pieces for commendable behavior. However, you will first discuss all this with Sergei Timofeevich and act as you find proper. To successfully perform the silent scene at the end of The Inspector General, one of the actors must give commands, invisible to the viewer. The gendarme must do this by uttering at the end of his speech the same sound that women make, naturally, without opening his mouth, simply hiccup. This will be a signal to everyone. “Marriage”, I think you already know how to tell it, because, thank God, you are not single. And Zhivokini, who will marry you, you can inspire everything that should be, especially since you heard me read this role. Well, correct one mistake in Kochkarev’s words, where he talks about spitting [3]. It looks as if someone spat in his face. This is a mistake that occurred due to the sluggishness of the scribe, who mixed up the lines and missed them. The monologue should begin like this: “But what’s the harm? After all, others were spat on several times, by God. I also know one: a most beautiful man, a blush all over his cheek. He was fidgety and bothered his boss until he took it out and spat in his very face,” etc. Write to Sosnitsky that I really asked him to find good groom, because this role, although apparently not as significant as Kochkareva, requires talent, and tell him that I would really like you to play together in this play: he is Kochkareva, and you are Podkolesina; then there will be a glorious performance. You, I believe, are correct, will be in St. Petersburg in the winter. Goodbye, hugs to you. Now, following this letter, I am sending a letter to Sergei Timofeevich [4]. You will probably receive them at the same time. It seems to me that I advised you to give “The Morning of a Business Man” together with “Marriage.” However, manage it in your own way. 1 Kulish, vol. 1, p. 318-319 (incomplete); Acad., XII, No. 96. 2 See letter dated November 14 (26), 1842 3 “Marriage”, act 2, yavl. 1. 4 The mentioned letter to S. T. Aksakov has not survived.

I have just received your letter, Michal Semenovich, written by you on October 24th. There is nothing for me to answer now, because<вы>you already know my orders; three days ago I sent you a letter, which you have no doubt already received. Aren’t you ashamed to be so unreasonable: you want to hang everything on one nail[2], asking for a new, as you call, comedy “The Players” to accompany “Marriage”. Firstly, it is not new, because it was written a long time ago [3], and secondly, it is not a comedy, but simply comic scene, and thirdly, there’s not even a role for you there. And who is pushing you to fill the benefit performance with my plays? How can you not think at least a little about the future, which is sitting almost right on your nose, for example, at least about your performance on the occasion of your twenty years of service? Don’t you feel that now all you have to do is give one scrap of me to your benefit performance and strap on two or three of the most worn-out pieces, and the theater will already be packed? Do you understand this, do you understand that my name is in fashion, that I have now become a fashionable person, until some Bosco, Taglioni, or perhaps a new German opera with cars drives me out of the fashionable field? and German singers? Remember well that you won’t expect anything more from me. I cannot and will not write anything for the theater. So, use it smarter. I highly recommend this! For the first time, take only “Marriage” and “Morning of a Business Man” from mine. And the next time you are left with this: “Litigation”, in which you must play the role of a litigant, “Players” and “Lackey”, where you have to play the Butler, a role, although small, but to which you can give higher value[ 4 ]. You can mix all this with other plays that God sends you. Just try to ensure that my plays do not follow directly one after another, but that the interval is occupied with something else. This is how I think and how, it seemed to me, I should have acted in accordance with prudence, but by the way, it’s your will. I still thank you a lot for your letter, because it is a letter from you. And don’t complain about the theater management, they do their job well: Moscow has already been treated to all sorts of good things, why not treat it to German singers? As for the fact that you don’t have a job, it’s a shame to tell you. Have you forgotten that there are old, overplayed, abandoned plays? Have you forgotten that for an actor there is no old role, that he is forever new? Now, precisely at the moment when the soul is bitter, now you must show the world in the face what an actor is. Go through the old repertoire in your memory and look with fresh and present eyes, gathering into your soul all the strength of offended dignity. It’s now easy for you to lure the public to old plays, you have bait, namely my scraps. It's funny to think that you could be in someone's power. The management is still ruled by the public, and the public is ruled by the actor. Do you remember that the public is almost the same as a shy and inexperienced cat, which, until you take it by the ears, push its face into the sauce and until this sauce smears its nose?<а> and lips, she will not eat sauce until then, no matter what instructions you give her. It’s funny to think that it would be impossible to finally force her to go deeper into the art of the comic actor, an art that is so strong and speaks so brightly to everyone’s eyes. You have a duty to force people to go to the theater not for the author of the play or for the play, but for the actor-author. You ask in your letter about costumes. But my scraps are not from the Middle Ages; dress them decently, appropriately, and so that there is nothing caricatured - that's all! But let's talk about that! Take care most of all of a good production of The Inspector General! Do you hear? I tell you this very seriously! With your permission, you don’t have a penny’s worth of instinct in anyone! Yes, if Zhivokini had been a little smarter, he would have begged me for a benefit performance of “The Inspector General” and would not have given anything else with it, but would only have announced that there would be “The Inspector General” in a new form, completely remade, with changes and additions , new scenes [5], and the role of Khlestakov will be played by the beneficiary himself - but he would have a crowd of people in the theater. Well, I’m telling you, and you will remember my words later, that the renewed “Inspector General” will be used much more than the old one. And take one more word from me, that this year, precisely this winter, they will be much more likely to sniff out and feel the importance of a true comic actor. Here’s another word for you: you are in vain to say in your letter that you are getting old, your talent is not of the kind that makes you grow old. On the contrary, your mature years have just taken away some of that heat of which you had too much, which blinded your eyes and prevented you from looking clearly at your role. Now you have become several times taller than Shchepkin, whom I saw before. You now have that high peace that you did not have before. You can now reign in your role, whereas before you were still kind of tossing around. If you don’t hear this and don’t notice it yourself, then trust me to some extent, agreeing that I can know some sense about this. And here’s another word for you: thank God for all obstacles. An extraordinary person needs them: here is a log under your feet - jump! Otherwise they’ll think you have a chicken stride and won’t be able to spread your legs at all! You will see that a time will come for you when people will go to the theater in order not to utter a single word you utter, and when this word will be weighed. So, God bless you! Farewell and be healthy! Hugging you. Pay close attention to the rehearsals and still write me something about what will be the first effect on your heart. 1 Kulish, vol. 1, p. 319-322; Acad., XII, No. 102. 2 At a benefit performance on February 5, 1843, Shchepkin staged “Marriage” and “The Players,” performing in them the roles of Podkolesin and Consoling. 3 Work on “The Players,” completed by Gogol in 1842, began even before leaving abroad (before June 1836). 4 In "Trial" Shchepkin successfully performed the role of Burdyukov (for the first time at a benefit performance during a St. Petersburg tour in September 1844), the artist never played in "Lakeyskaya". 5 For the publication of his “Works,” Gogol prepared a new edition of “The Inspector General” (vol. 4, St. Petersburg, 1842).

Michal Semenovich! Here’s the thing: you must take “The Inspector General” to your benefit performance in its complete form, that is, following the edition that was published in the complete collection of my works, with the addition of the tail [2] that I am sending now. To do this, you yourself must certainly go to St. Petersburg in order to speed up the acceleration of censorship permission with your personal presence. I don't know who the theater censor is. If it is the same Gedeonov who was in Rome with Count Vasiliev and whom I met there, then ask him firmly on my behalf. In any case, contact Pletnev and Count M. Yu. Vielgorsky about this matter, explain everything to them and whose participation may be necessary. Tell both them and yourself that this matter should not be disclosed until the very time of the performance and should remain a secret between you. Khlestakov should play Zhivokini. Be sure to give your own motive to the other actors, especially Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky. Try to play some roles in front of them. Pay special attention to the last scene. It is imperative that it comes out picturesque and even stunning. The mayor should be completely lost and not funny at all. The wife and daughter, in complete fear, must turn their eyes to him alone. The school superintendent's knees should be shaking violently, and so should Strawberry's. The judge, as is already known, has a crouch. The postmaster, as is already known, with a question mark to the audience. Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky must ask each other with their eyes for an explanation for all this. There is a poisonous grin on the faces of the ladies-guests, except for one of Lukanchik’s wife, who must be all frightened, pale as death, and her mouth is open. This silent scene must certainly continue for a minute or two, so that Korobkin, bored, has time to treat Rastakovsky with tobacco, and one of the guests even blows his nose quite loudly into his handkerchief. As for the accompanying “Denouement of the Inspector General,” which should follow the same hour after The Inspector General, then before you let the actors learn it, read it thoroughly yourself, enter into the meaning and strength of every word, every roles as if you had to play all these roles yourself, and when they all come into your head, gather the actors and read it to them, and read it more than once - read it three, four or even five times. the roles are small and have a few lines each. These lines must be said firmly, with complete conviction of their truth, because this is an argument, and a live argument, and not a moral lesson. No one should get excited, except perhaps Semyon Semench; but the words must be uttered everyone is a little louder, as in an ordinary conversation, because this is an argument. Nikolai Nikolaich should even be somewhat noisy; Petr Petrovich - with some bay. In general, it would be good if each of the actors behaved in addition to some other type known to him. The player playing Pyotr Petrovich needs to pronounce his words especially large, clearly, grainy. He must copy the one he knew who spoke Russian best. It would be good if he could somewhat adhere to the American Tolstoy [3]. Nikolai Nikolaevich should, for lack of anything else, stick to Nikolai Filippovich Pavlov, because he has the smoothest and most decent voice of all our writers, and besides, it is not difficult to get into him. Semyon Semenovich himself needs to be given a more noble manner, so that they don’t say that he was taken from Nikolai Mikhalovich Zagoskin [4]. Here's a note for you. Try to pronounce all your words as firmly and calmly as possible, as if you were talking about the simplest, but very the right thing. God forbid you get too emotional. You will burst into tears, and the devil knows what will come out of you. It’s better to try to pronounce the words closest to your own state of mind so that the viewer sees that you are trying to keep yourself from crying, and not actually crying. The impression will therefore be several times stronger. Try in advance, while reading your role, to firmly pronounce every word, in a simple but penetrating language - almost as the head of the artel says to his workers when he reprimands them or reproaches them for what they really were guilty of. Your great flaw is that you do not know how to pronounce every word firmly: this makes you an incomplete master of yourself in your role. As a mayor you are better than all your other roles precisely because<что>felt the need to speak more expressively. Be the same mayor here and in the “Inspector General’s Denouement.” Take care of yourself from sentimentality and watch over yourself. The feeling will appear to you by itself, don’t run after it; run to become the master of yourself. Don't tell all this to anyone in Moscow except Shevyrev until you return from St. Petersburg. Your tongue is a little long: you'll shorten it this time; if it starts to itch too much, then you'll come to Shevyrev next time and tell him again, as you would tell it to a fresh and completely different person. The “denouement" will need to be rewritten, because, in addition to the copy needed for theatrical censorship, another will be needed for signature by the censor Nikitenka, to whom Pletnev will give it, for “The Inspector General” must be published separately with "Dénouement" on the day of the performance and be sold for the benefit of the poor [ 5 ], which you, when you call upon the end of everything, must announce to the public: that for the sake of such a godly goal, would it not be good for them to buy "The Inspector General" this very hour upon leaving the theater? in a theater store, and whoever doesn’t want to give more than the stated price would buy it directly from your hands for greater fidelity. And then you send this money to Shevyrev. But this is still to be discussed. Enough of this for now. So, having been blessed, go with God to St. Petersburg. Your benefit will be brilliant. Don't look at the fact that the play is overplayed and old. By this time there will be such a circumstance that everyone will want to see “The Inspector General” [6] again, even in the form in which it was presented before. Your collection will be completely complete. Talk to Sosnitsky to see if the same thing can be done in St. Petersburg, as much as possible in the same way as in Moscow. Test him first: he is a little stubborn in his beliefs. Tell him it's embarrassing and not in Christian spirit to have such a proud opinion of his infallibility and that he is the first, if only he wanted to truly try to ensure that the last scene turned out the way it should be, it would become pure nature. The viewer would not have noticed any artificiality and would have taken it as a natural expression. Tell him that for a Russian man there is no task impossible, that there is not even a word in his language, if only he had first learned to say to all his own passions: no. Let Shevyrev read this letter, as well as the “Double of the Inspector General” itself, and notify me of the receipt of all this at the same hour, addressed to Naples, poste restante.

All yours G.

1 Kulish, vol. 2, p. 153-156 (incomplete); Acad., XIII, No. 64. 2 That is, “The denouement of “The Inspector General.” 3 We are talking about Count F. I. Tolstoy, famous for his adventures, nicknamed “The American.” 4 A typo: Zagoskin’s name is Mikhail Nikolaevich. 5 The production of “The Inspector General” "with "Dénouement" was banned by censorship on November 17, 1846 (even before receiving this news, Gogol himself asked to suspend the production); permission for joint publication was received, but Gogol himself later abandoned this plan. 6 Gogol was counting on the impression from those preparing for exit "Selected places from correspondence with friends".

You already, without a doubt, know, Michal Semenovich, that “The Inspector General” with “Dénouement” should be postponed until your benefit performance in the future, 1848 [ 2 ]. There are many reasons for this, some of which are probably your own. In any case, I'm glad about it. Besides the fact that the matter will not be understood by our public in the proper sense, it will turn out to be simply rubbish from the bad production of the play and the bad acting of our actors. “The Inspector General” will need to be given as it should be (somewhat in accordance with what at least its author requires), and this will take time. It is necessary that you replay all the roles in your mind, hear the whole play and read the play itself to the actors several times, so that they involuntarily learn the real meaning of any phrase, which, as you yourself know, can suddenly change from one emphasis shifted to another place or another word. To do this, it is necessary that first of all I read “The Inspector General” to you myself, and then you read it to the actors. Having been in Moscow, I could not read The Inspector General to you. I was not in the right frame of mind, and therefore could not even be able to let others feel how it should be played. Now, thank God, I can. Wait, maybe I can arrange it so that you can come to me in the summer. Under no circumstances can I look into Russia before finishing the work [3] that needs to be completed. Maybe then it will also be convenient for you to take with you some comrade who is more experienced in the matter than others. Until then, you still don’t waste your free time and introduce, albeit little by little, the secondary actors into the proper essence of their roles, into the noble, faithful tact of conversation - do you understand? - so that a false sound is not heard. Let none of them highlight their role and put color and color on it, but let them hear its universal human expression and maintain the universal nobility of speech. In a word, to banish caricature altogether and introduce them to the concept that it is necessary not to represent, but to convey. To convey thoughts first, forgetting the strangeness and peculiarity of a person. It’s not difficult to apply paint; You can give the color of the role later; for this it is enough to meet the first eccentric and be able to imitate him; but to feel the essence of the matter for which it is called actor, it’s difficult, and without you, none of them will feel it on their own. So, make your own feeling close to them, and you will accomplish a truly valiant feat in honor of art. In the meantime, write to me (if my book “Selected Passages from Correspondence” has already been published and is in your hands) your opinion about my article “On the theater and a one-sided view of the theater”, without hiding anything and without standing on ceremony in anything, as well as and about the whole book in general. Whatever you have in your soul, carry it all and unload it outside. Address to Naples, poste restante. 1 Kulish, vol. 2, p. 157-159; Acad., XIII, No. 91. 2 According to Gogol, Shchepkin should have started rehearsals for The Inspector General with Denouement only after meeting with the author in the summer of 1847. This plan did not come true. 3 We are talking about the second volume of Dead Souls.

Your Majesty
Nikolay Vasilievich.

I did not answer your first three letters [2], and, of course, there is no apology for this, and therefore I do not apologize, because this will be of no use, but I will explain some of the reasons that led me to this result. Your first two letters were received during my illness, and I could not act on the meaning of your letters in this case. The third letter stopped all action regarding “The Inspector General”; and the main thing is whether this is due to my painful state, or the dullness of the head, only from all three letters, with the exception of what concerned the stage and the art of dramatic art, which I generally took note of, the rest, forgive me, I did not understand at all or I misunderstood, and therefore I decided to remain silent and wait for an oral explanation, if only chance had been so kind to me. Upon recovery, after reading your ending to The Inspector General, I was furious with myself, with my myopic view, because until now I had studied all the heroes of The Inspector General as living people. I saw so many things that were familiar, so dear, I became so accustomed to the mayor, Dobchinsky and Bobchinsky during the ten years of our rapprochement that to take them away from me and everyone in general would be an unconscionable act. What will you replace them with? Leave them to me as they are, I love them, I love them with all their weaknesses, just like all people in general. Don’t give me any hints that these are not officials, but our passions; no, I don’t want this alteration: these are people, real, living people, among whom I grew up and almost grew old - you see, what a long-standing acquaintance. You have gathered several people from the whole world into one gathering place, into one group, with these people at the age of ten I became completely related, and you want to take them away from me. No, I won’t give them to you, I won’t give them away as long as I exist. After me, turn me into goats, but until then I won’t even give up Derzhimorda to you, because he is dear to me too. This is the main reason for my silence, and now, how all this has been expressed, I really don’t know, maybe it’s all nonsense, a lie, but all this has already been expressed, so be it! To the side is the past, to the side is the present. Your last letter completely revived me, and I was in such a poetic moment that I<бы>sat down and went to hug you, and Stepan Petrovich Shevyrev had already drafted a letter to the director about vacation abroad. Yes, I’m still young, although I’m barely sixty, I’m still very enthusiastic, I’m very carried away, even to the point of excess; but, having thought it all over, I found it all almost impossible to do, at least at the present time. The remedies you have come up with are good, but not true. Although there are a lot of Russians on the waters, all that can be done with your assistance is a thousand and even maybe one and a half, of course, on all evenings, and this money can definitely be enough for a voyage to Paris and London, although and this is not entirely accurate yet. But to get to Ostend[ 3 ] - this also requires all the money and money. And therefore I cannot move without the faithful five thousand five hundred rubles. This will surprise you, but I will explain it to you: I will have 17 people left at home, besides the servants; they need to live 1000<рублей>per month. But my trip cannot possibly be less than three months, therefore, they need three thousand, and I need 2500 for the voyage<р.>. You see, this amount is necessary - it is not there, and I must deprive myself of my ever-present dream. I need to see foreign theaters, I really need it, ignorance of the language does not scare me, I will understand the main thing, and I need it for my notes, at the end of which I want to outline my view of dramatic art in general and what is unique about each theater in Europe at the present time [ 4 ]. This will be my final job practical activities! So, you can see for yourself how useful this would be to me for the future. In the present, it will not bring me any benefit other than pleasure, because after forty years of training I can no longer remake myself, I don’t have enough strength, all the stage flaws have grown into me, grown deep, you can’t tear them out without damaging the whole. So, let’s leave the practice to last as it is. Of course, a lot would be gained by the idea, which would be very useful for me and for my goal; but 5500<р.>put an obstacle to this. I sold the house, paid off my debts, and I still have 1,500 for rent and rent for an annual apartment.<р.>- that's all my fortune! Yes, even if there were as much of it left as needed for the voyage, then even then I could not sacrifice it. I would have acted shamelessly in relation to my family. I have had two rulers in my life: performing arts and family. To the first I gave everything, I gave it conscientiously, impeccably; Art, in fact, cannot complain about me; I acted tirelessly and, in my best judgment, I was right in front of him. Regarding the latter, honestly, I cannot say this. Therefore, I must try to correct what has been missed for so long. So, with all my desire, I must conceal my desire and, perhaps, for a long time yet, deprive myself of your embrace, into which, whether you are happy or not, I throw myself in absentia and, hugging you from the bottom of my heart, I myself remain entirely yours, whatever you want - friend, servant, etc. and so on.

Mikhailo Shchepkin.

I wrote this letter myself, but I was so shabby that I had to read it myself, and therefore was forced to ask my brother to rewrite it. 1847. Maya is 22 days old. Art. Moscow. 1 Notes and letters of M. S. Shchepkin. M., 1864, p. 189-193; Shchepkin, vol. 1, p. 190-192; verified with autograph (GBL). Reply to Gogol's unsurvived letter, attached to the letter to S.P. Shevyrev dated April 15 (27), 1847. Written in the hand of the actor's brother - A. S. Shchepkin, signed and added by M. S. Shchepkin. 2 From October 12 (24), October 21 (November 2) (Acad., XIII, No. 67) and December 4 (16), 1846 3 In the mentioned letter to Shevyrev, Gogol reported that he would spend the summer and early autumn at sea swimming in Ostend. 4 “Notes of the Actor Shchepkin,” work on which began on Pushkin’s initiative, remained unfinished.

Your letter, kind Michal Semenovich, is so convincing and eloquent that even if I really wanted to take away from you the mayor, Bobchinsky and other heroes with whom, you say, you got along like blood relatives, then even then I would have returned it to you again all of them, maybe even with the addition of an extra friend. But the fact is that you seem to have misunderstood my last letter [2]. I precisely wanted to read The Inspector General so that Bobchinsky would become even more Bobchinsky, Khlestakov Khlestakov and - in a word - everyone what he should be. I meant the alteration only in relation to the play that concludes “The Inspector General”[ 3 ]. Do you understand this? I handled this play so awkwardly that the viewer must certainly draw the conclusion that I want to make an allegory out of The Inspector General. That's not what I mean. “The Inspector General” is “The Inspector General,” and applying it to oneself is an indispensable thing that every viewer must do from everything, even not the “Inspector General,” but which is more appropriate for him to do<по>about "The Inspector". This is what had to be proven regarding the words: “Is my face crooked?” [4] Now everything remains the same. And the sheep are safe, and the wolves are well-fed. Allegory allegor<ией>, and "Inspector" - "Inspector". It is strange, however, that our meeting was not a success. Once in my life I felt the urge to read The Inspector General properly, I felt that I would have read it really well, but I didn’t succeed. Apparently, God doesn’t tell me to do theater. Please take note of one remark about the mayor. The beginning of the first act is a little cold for you. Don’t forget also: the mayor has a certain ironic expression in moments of frustration, as, for example, in the words: “So, apparently, it’s necessary. Until now, we were approaching other cities; now it’s our turn.” In the second act, in the conversation with Khlestakov, much more facial acting follows. There are completely different expressions of sarcasm here. However, this is more noticeable in the latest edition, published in the Collected Works. I am very glad that you began to zealously write your notes [5]. To start writing notes at your age means to live again. You will certainly become younger in strength and spirit, and through this you will be able to live an extra ten years. Hugging you. Farewell.

1 Kulish, vol. 2, p. 159-160 (with omissions); Acad., XIII, No. 190. 2 Unpreserved letter. 3 That is, in relation to “The Inspector General’s Denouement.” 4 Question from Semyon Semench, one of the characters in “The Inspector General.” 5 In 1847, the first excerpt from Shchepkin’s notes was published in Sovremennik (No. 1).

List of abbreviations adopted in comments

Academician-- Gogol N.V. Complete. collection cit., vol. I-XIV. M., Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1937-1952. Aksakov-- Aksakov S. T. The story of my acquaintance with Gogol. M., Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1960. Annenkov-- Annenkov P.V. Materials for the biography of A.S. Pushkin. M., Sovremennik, 1984. Annenkov. Lit. playback-- Annenkov P.V. Literary memories. M., Fiction, 1983. Barsukov-- Barsukov N.P. Life and works of M.P. Pogodin, book. 1-22. St. Petersburg, 1888-1910. Bel.-- Belinsky V.G. Complete. collection cit., vol. 1-13. M., Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1953-1959. BdCh-- "Library for reading." BZ- "Bibliographical Notes". BE- "Bulletin of Europe". Temporary- Temporary worker of the Pushkin House. 1913-1914. St. Petersburg, 1913-1914. Herzen-- Herzen A.I. Collection. op. in 30 volumes, vol. 1-30. M., Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1954-1966. Gippius- Gippius Vasily. Literary communication between Gogol and Pushkin. - Scientist. zap. Perm University. Vol. 2. Perm, 1931. G. in play.-- Gogol in the memoirs of his contemporaries. Goslitizdat, 1952. G. in letters-- N.V. Gogol in letters and memoirs. Compiled by Vasily Gippius. M., 1931. G. Mat. and research-- N.V. Gogol. Materials and Research, vol. 1-2. M. - L., Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1936. GBL-- State Library named after. V.I. Lenin. Handwriting department. GPB-- State Public Library named after. M. E. Saltykova-Shchedrin. Handwriting department. ZHMNP- "Journal of the Ministry of Public Education." Buzzer-- Zummer V. M. Unpublished letters from Al. Ivanov to Gogol. - News of the Azerbaijan State. University named after V.I. Lenin. Social Sciences, vol. 4-5. Baku, 1925. Ivanov- Alexander Andreevich Ivanov. His life and correspondence. 1806-1858 Published by Mikhail Botkin. St. Petersburg, 1880. News of the Bezborodko Institute- News of the Historical and Philological Institute, book. Bezborodko in Nizhyn. Nizhyn, 1895. Izvestia ORYAS- News of the Department of Russian Language and Literature of the Academy of Sciences. IRLI-- Institute of Russian Literature ( Pushkin House) USSR Academy of Sciences. Kulish-- Kulish P.A. Notes on the life of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol, compiled from the memories of his friends and acquaintances and from his own letters, vol. 1-2. St. Petersburg, 1856. Lit. added to RIN-- Literary additions to "Russian Invalid". LN-- "Literary Heritage", vol. 58. M., Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1952. Makogonenko-- Makogonenko G.P. Gogol and Pushkin. L., Soviet writer, 1985. Mann-- Mann Y.V. In search of a living soul. "Dead Souls": writer - critic - reader. M., Book, 1984. Mashkovtsev-- Mashkovtsev N.G. Gogol in the circle of Russian artists. Essays. M., 1955. M- "Moskvitian." MN- "Moscow Observer". MT- "Moscow Telegraph". OZ- "Domestic Notes". Experience-- An attempt at a biography of N.V. Gogol, including forty of his letters. Essay by Nikolai M.<П. А. Кулиша>. St. Petersburg, 1854. Report... for...-- Imperial report Public library for 1892, for 1893. St. Petersburg, 1895-1896. Petrunina, Friedlander-- Petrunina N.N., Friedlander G.M. Pushkin and Gogol in 1831-1836. - Pushkin. Research and materials, vol. 6. L., Nauka, 1969. PZ-- "The North Star for 1855", book. I. London, 1858. Letters-- Letters from N.V. Gogol. Ed. V. I. Shenrok. T. 1-4. St. Petersburg, 1901. Pushkin-- Pushkin A.S. Complete. collection cit., vol. 1-17. M. - L., Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1937-1959. RA- "Russian Archive". RV- "Russian Messenger". RJ- "Russian life". RL-- "Russian literature". RM- "Russian Thought". RS- "Russian antiquity." RSl-- "Russian word". WITH- "Contemporary". Essays- Works by N.V. Gogol. Ed. 10th, vol. 1-5. M., 1889, t. 6. M. - St. Petersburg, 1896, t. 7. St. Petersburg, 1896. Writings and letters- Works and letters of N.V. Gogol. Published by P. A. Kulish, vol. 1-7. St. Petersburg, 1857. HRC- "Northern Bee". T- "Telescope". TsGALI-- Central State Archive of Literature and Art. Shenrok-- Shenrok V.I. Materials for the biography of Gogol, vol. 1-4. M., 1892-1897. Shchepkin- Mikhail Semenovich Shchepkin. Life and creativity, vol. 1-2. M., Art, 1984. Languages-- Yazykov N.M. Works. L., Fiction, 1982.