What and why do the landowners eat in the poem by N.V. Gogol's "Dead Souls" The gastronomic tastes and inclinations of Gogol's landowners from "Dead Souls" are important characteristic, a means of revealing characters, one of the methods of author’s assessment and a tool of symbolization

A few words about Gogol’s poem: “The Adventures of Chichikov, or Dead Souls” We do not at all take upon ourselves the important work of giving an account of this new great work of Gogol, who has already become highly respected by previous creations; we consider it necessary to say a few words to indicate

Dead souls Oh, you, my Rus'! My wild, riotous, wonderful, kiss, God love you, holy land... I tremble and feel with tears in my eyes, I hear broad strength and manner when I look at these steppes that have lost their end. Gogol Peering into the continent of Russian prose, already hidden from us

“Laughter through tears” in N.V. Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls” I. “Dead Souls” is “a medical history written by a masterful hand” (A.I. Herzen). II. “Dead Souls” is a brilliant satire on bureaucratic-serf Russia.1. Depict “everything bad that exists in Russia...”2. Who are they -

Krupchanov L. M. N. V. Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls” Gogol’s “Dead Souls” is a creation so deep in content and great in creative concept and artistic perfection of form that it alone would fill the lack of books for ten years and would appear alone

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol worked on the main work of his life, the poem “Dead Souls,” for seventeen years, from October 1835 to February 1852.

An interesting and unusual plot was offered to a promising to a young writer Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. Pushkin himself took the plot from real life during his stay in exile in Chisinau.

He was amazed amazing story that for a number of years in one of the towns on the Dniester, according to official data, no one died. The solution turned out to be simple: fugitive peasants were hiding under the names of the dead.

The history of writing Dead Souls is interesting because in 1831 Pushkin told this story to Gogol, slightly modifying it, and in 1835 he received news from Nikolai Vasilyevich that the writer had begun writing a long and very funny novel based on the plot given to him. In the new plot, the main character is an enterprising figure who buys dead peasants from landowners, who are still alive in revision tales, and pawns their “souls” in the Guardian Council to obtain a loan.

Start working on the future brilliant novel was started in St. Petersburg, but basically the history of writing Dead Souls developed abroad, where Gogol went in the summer of 1836. Before leaving, he read several chapters to his inspiration, Alexander Pushkin, who a few months later was mortally wounded in a duel. After this tragic event Gogol simply had to complete the work he started, thereby paying tribute to the memory of the deceased poet.

In 1841, the six-year work of writing the first volume of Dead Souls was completed. But in Moscow, problems arose with passing censorship, and then the manuscript, with the help famous critic Belinsky was transported to St. Petersburg.

In the capital, on March 9, 1842, the censor A. Nikitenko finally signed the censorship permit, and freshly printed copies of the book called “The Adventures of Chichikov, or Dead Souls” were released on May 21. Original title was changed at the request of the censorship committee.

The history of writing Dead Souls is interesting because in 1831 Pushkin told this story to Gogol, slightly modifying it, and in 1835 he received news from Nikolai Vasilyevich that the writer had already begun writing it.

The last decade of Nikolai Gogol's work

Last decade The writer's life was devoted to writing the second volume of the poem "Dead Souls", and in the future there should have been a third part (like Dante Alighieri in his poem "The Divine Comedy", which includes three components). In 1845, Gogol considered that the content of the second volume was not elevated and enlightened enough, and in an emotional outburst he burned the manuscript.

It was completed in 1852 new option volumes of the poem, but he suffered the same fate: the great creation was thrown into the fire on the night of February 12. Perhaps the reason was that the writer’s confessor, Matvey Konstantinovsky, who had read the manuscript, spoke unflatteringly about some chapters of the poem. After the archpriest left Moscow, Nikolai Gogol practically stopped eating and destroyed the manuscript.

A few days later, on February 21, 1852, the great Russian writer passed away - he went into eternity following his creation. But part of the second volume still reached posterity thanks to the draft manuscripts preserved after Gogol’s death. A contemporary of Nikolai Gogol and his great admirer, Fyodor Dostoevsky, believed that the brilliant book “Dead Souls” should become a reference book for every enlightened person.

"Dead Souls" is Gogol's greatest work. He began writing it as a young man, almost a youth; entered with him into the time of maturity; approached the last line of life. " Dead souls“Gogol gave everything - his artistic genius, frenzy of thought, and passion of hope. “Dead Souls” is Gogol’s life, his immortality and his death.”

To work on " Dead souls» Gogol started in 1835. At this time, the writer dreamed of creating a big epic work, dedicated to Russia. A.S. Pushkin, who was one of the first to appreciate the uniqueness of Nikolai Vasilyevich’s talent, advised him to take up a serious essay and suggested interesting story. He told Gogol about one clever swindler who tried to get rich by pawning the dead souls he bought as living souls on the board of guardians. At that time, many stories were known about real buyers of dead souls. One of Gogol’s relatives was also named among such buyers. Gogol anxiously read the first chapters of his new work to Pushkin, expecting that they would make him laugh. But, having finished reading, Gogol discovered that the poet became gloomy and said: “God, how sad our Russia is!” This exclamation forced Gogol to take a different look at his plan and rework the material. In further work, he tried to soften the painful impression that “Dead Souls” could have made - he mixed funny phenomena with sad ones.

Most of The works were created abroad, mainly in Rome, where Gogol tried to get rid of the impression made by the attacks of critics after the production of The Inspector General. Being far from his homeland, the writer felt unbreakable connection with her, and only love for Russia was the source of his creativity. At the beginning of his work, Gogol defined his novel as comic and humorous, but gradually his plan became more complicated. After the death of Pushkin, which was a heavy blow for Gogol, the writer considered the work on “Dead Souls” a spiritual covenant, the fulfillment of the will of the great poet

In the fall of 1839, Gogol returned to Russia and read several chapters in Moscow from S.T. Aksakov, whose family he became friends with at that time. Friends liked what they heard, they gave the writer some advice, and he made the necessary amendments and changes to the manuscript. In 1840 in Italy, Gogol repeatedly rewrote the text of the poem, continuing to work hard on the composition and images of the characters, lyrical digressions. In the fall of 1841, the writer returned to Moscow again and read the remaining five chapters of the first book to his friends. This time they noticed that the poem showed only the negative sides of Russian life. Having listened to their opinion, Gogol made important insertions into the already rewritten volume.

In December 1841, the manuscript was ready for publication, but censorship prohibited its release. Gogol was depressed and looked for a way out of this situation. Unknown to his Moscow friends, he turned to Belinsky for help, who arrived in Moscow at that time. The critic promised to help Gogol, and a few days later he left for St. Petersburg. St. Petersburg censors gave permission to publish “Dead Souls,” but demanded that the title of the work be changed to “The Adventures of Chichikov, or Dead Souls.” In this way they sought to divert the reader's attention from social problems and switch it to the adventures of Chichikov. In May 1842, the book went on sale and, according to the recollections of contemporaries, was sold out in great demand. Readers were immediately divided into two camps - supporters of the writer’s views and those who recognized themselves in the characters of the poem. The latter, mainly landowners and officials, immediately attacked the writer, and the poem itself found itself at the center of the journal-critical struggle of the 40s.

After the release of the first volume, Gogol devoted himself entirely to work on the second (begun back in 1840). Each page was created tensely and painfully; everything written seemed to the writer to be far from perfect. In the summer of 1845, during a worsening illness, Gogol burned the manuscript of this volume. Later, he explained his action by the fact that the “paths and roads” to the ideal, the revival of the human spirit, did not receive sufficiently truthful and convincing expression. Gogol dreamed of regenerating people through direct instruction, but he could not - he never saw the ideal “resurrected” people. However, his literary endeavor was later continued by Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, who were able to show the rebirth of man, his resurrection from the reality that Gogol so vividly depicted.

MANILOV. Manilov is a sentimental landowner, the first “seller” of dead souls. He is kind by nature, polite, courteous, but all this took on ugly forms in him. Manilov is beautiful-hearted and sentimental to the point of cloying. Relations between people seem to him idyllic and festive. Manilov did not know life at all; reality was replaced by empty fantasy. He loved to think and dream, sometimes even about things useful to the peasants. But his projecting was far from the demands of life. He did not know and never thought about the real needs of the peasants.

Manilov considers himself a bearer of spiritual culture. Once in the army he was considered the most educated man. The author speaks ironically about the atmosphere of Manilov’s house, in which “something was always missing,” and about his sugary relationship with his wife. Meanwhile, in his office there is a book that has been pawned on page fourteen for two years. Manilov is a parody of the hero sentimental novels, and his groundless dreams give Gogol a reason to compare the landowner with a “too smart minister.” Such a comparison means that another minister may not be too different from the dreamy and inactive Manilov, but is a typical phenomenon of this vulgar life. Gogol's irony invades forbidden areas. When talking about dead souls, Manilov is compared to an overly smart minister. Here Gogol’s irony, as if accidentally, intrudes into the forbidden area. Comparing Manilov with the minister means that the latter is not so different from this landowner, and “Manilovism” is a typical phenomenon of this vulgar world.

One of the most famous works Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls” is considered to be. The author worked meticulously on this work about the adventures of a middle-aged adventurer for 17 long years. The history of the creation of Gogol’s “Dead Souls” is truly interesting. Work on the poem began in 1835. Dead Souls was originally conceived as comic work, but the plot kept getting more complicated. Gogol wanted to depict the entire Russian soul with its inherent vices and virtues, and the conceived three-part structure was supposed to refer readers to Dante’s “Divine Comedy”.

It is known that the plot of the poem was suggested to Gogol by Pushkin. Alexander Sergeevich briefly outlined the story of enterprising person, who sold dead souls to the guardianship council, for which he received a lot of money. Gogol wrote in his diary: “Pushkin found that such a plot of Dead Souls was good for me because it gave me complete freedom to travel all over Russia with the hero and bring out many different characters.” By the way, in those days this story was not the only one. Heroes like Chichikov were constantly talked about, so we can say that Gogol reflected reality in his work. Gogol considered Pushkin to be his mentor in matters of writing, so he read the first chapters of the work to him, expecting that the plot would make Pushkin laugh. However great poet was darker than a cloud - Russia was too hopeless.

The creative story of Gogol’s “Dead Souls” could have ended at this point, but the writer enthusiastically made edits, trying to remove the painful impression and adding comical moments. Subsequently, Gogol read the work in the Askakov family, the head of which was the famous theater critic and public figure. The poem was highly appreciated. Zhukovsky was also familiar with the work, and Gogol made changes several times in accordance with Vasily Andreevich’s suggestions. At the end of 1836, Gogol wrote to Zhukovsky: “I redid everything I started again, thought over the entire plan and now I am writing it calmly, like a chronicle... If I complete this creation the way it needs to be done, then... what a huge, what an original plot! .. All Rus' will appear in it!” Nikolai Vasilyevich tried in every possible way to show all sides of Russian life, and not just the negative, as was the case in the first editions.

Nikolai Vasilyevich wrote the first chapters in Russia. But in 1837 Gogol left for Italy, where he continued to work on the text. The manuscript went through several revisions, many scenes were deleted and redone, and the author had to make concessions in order for the work to be published. Censorship could not allow “The Tale of Captain Kopeikin” to be published, since it satirically depicted the life of the capital: high prices, the arbitrariness of the tsar and the ruling elite, abuse of power. Gogol did not want to remove the story of Captain Kopeikin, so he had to “extinguish” the satirical motives. The author considered this part to be one of the best in the poem, which was easier to redo than to remove altogether.

Who would have thought that the history of the creation of the poem “Dead Souls” is full of intrigue! In 1841, the manuscript was ready for printing, but censorship in last moment changed her mind. Gogol was depressed. In upset feelings, he writes to Belinsky, who agrees to help with the publication of the book. After a while, the decision was made in Gogol’s favor, but he was given a new condition: to change the title from “Dead Souls” to “The Adventures of Chichikov, or Dead Souls.” This was done in order to distract potential readers from current social problems, focusing on the adventures of the main character.

In the spring of 1842, the poem was published; this event caused fierce controversy in the literary community. Gogol was accused of slander and hatred of Russia, but Belinsky came to the writer’s defense, highly appreciating the work.

Gogol again leaves abroad, where he continues to work on the second volume of Dead Souls. The work was even more difficult. The story of writing the second part is full of mental suffering and personal drama of the writer. By that time, Gogol felt an internal discord that he could not cope with. Reality did not coincide with the Christian ideals on which Nikolai Vasilyevich was raised, and this gap grew larger every day. In the second volume, the author wanted to portray heroes different from the characters in the first part - positive ones. And Chichikov had to undergo a certain rite of purification, taking the true path. Many drafts of the poem were destroyed by order of the author, but some parts were still preserved. Gogol believed that the second volume was completely devoid of life and truth; he doubted himself as an artist, hating the continuation of the poem.

Unfortunately, Gogol did not realize his original plan, but Dead Souls rightfully plays its very own role. important role in the history of Russian literature.

Work test

February 24, 1852 Nikolay Gogol burned the second, final edition of the second volume of “Dead Souls” - the main work in his life (he also destroyed the first edition seven years earlier). It was Lent, the writer ate practically nothing, and the only person he gave to read his manuscript called the novel “harmful” and advised him to destroy a number of chapters from it. The author threw the entire manuscript into the fire at once. And the next morning, realizing what he had done, he regretted his impulse, but it was too late.

But the first few chapters of the second volume are still familiar to readers. A couple of months after Gogol’s death, his draft manuscripts were discovered, including four chapters for the second book of Dead Souls. AiF.ru tells the story of both volumes of one of the most famous Russian books.

Title page of the first edition of 1842 and title page the second edition of Dead Souls, 1846, based on a sketch by Nikolai Gogol. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

Thanks to Alexander Sergeevich!

In fact, the plot of “Dead Souls” does not belong to Gogol at all: interesting idea suggested to my “colleague in writing” Alexander Pushkin. During his exile in Chisinau, the poet heard an “outlandish” story: it turned out that in one place on the Dniester, judging by official documents, no one had died for several years. There was no mysticism in this: the names of the dead were simply assigned to runaway peasants who, in search of better life ended up on the Dniester. So it turned out that the city received an influx of new labor force, the peasants had a chance to new life(and the police could not even identify the fugitives), and statistics showed no deaths.

Having slightly modified this plot, Pushkin told it to Gogol - this most likely happened in the fall of 1831. And four years later, on October 7, 1835, Nikolai Vasilyevich sent Alexander Sergeevich a letter with the following words: “I started writing Dead Souls.” The plot stretches out into a long novel and, it seems, will be very funny.” Gogol's main character is an adventurer who pretends to be a landowner and buys up dead peasants who are still listed as living in the census. And he pawns the resulting “souls” in a pawnshop, trying to get rich.

Three circles of Chichikov

Gogol decided to make his poem (and this is how the author designated the genre of “Dead Souls”) three-part - in this the work is reminiscent of “The Divine Comedy” Dante Alighieri. In Dante's medieval poem, the hero travels through the afterlife: goes through all the circles of hell, bypasses purgatory and in the end, having become enlightened, goes to heaven. Gogol's plot and structure are conceived in a similar way: main character, Chichikov, travels around Russia, observing the vices of the landowners, and gradually changes himself. If in the first volume Chichikov appears as a clever schemer who is able to gain the trust of any person, then in the second he is caught in a scam with someone else's inheritance and almost goes to prison. Most likely, the author assumed that in the final part his hero would end up in Siberia along with several other characters, and, having gone through a series of tests, they would all become honest people, role models.

But Gogol never began writing the third volume, and the contents of the second can only be guessed from the four surviving chapters. Moreover, these records are working and incomplete, and the characters have “different” names and ages.

"Sacred Testament" of Pushkin

In total, Gogol wrote the first volume of Dead Souls (the same one that we now know so well) for six years. The work began in his homeland, then continued abroad (the writer “went there” in the summer of 1836) - by the way, the writer read the first chapters to his “inspiration” Pushkin just before leaving. The author worked on the poem in Switzerland, France and Italy. Then he returned to Russia in short “forays,” read excerpts from the manuscript at social evenings in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and then went abroad again. In 1837, Gogol received news that shocked him: Pushkin was killed in a duel. The writer considered that it was now his duty to finish “Dead Souls”: thereby he would fulfill “ sacred testament"poet, and set to work even more diligently.

By the summer of 1841, the book was completed. The author came to Moscow planning to publish the work, but encountered serious difficulties. Moscow censorship did not want to let “Dead Souls” through and was going to ban the poem from publication. Apparently, the censor who “got” the manuscript helped Gogol and warned him about the problem, so that the writer managed to transport “Dead Souls” through Vissarion Belinsky (literary critic and publicist) from Moscow to the capital - St. Petersburg. At the same time, the author asked Belinsky and several of his influential friends from the capital to help pass censorship. And the plan was a success: the book was allowed. In 1842, the work was finally published - then it was called “The Adventures of Chichikov, or Dead Souls, a poem by N. Gogol.”

Illustration by Pyotr Sokolov for Nikolai Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls”. "Chichikov's arrival to Plyushkin." 1952 Reproduction. Photo: RIA Novosti / Ozersky

First edition of the second volume

According to the author himself, after burning the manuscript of the second volume, insight came to him. He realized what the content of the book should really be: more sublime and “enlightened.” And inspired Gogol began the second edition.

Character illustrations that have become classics
Works by Alexander Agin for the first volume
Nozdryov	Sobakevich	Plyushkin	Ladies
Works by Peter Boklevsky for the first volume
Nozdryov	Sobakevich	Plyushkin	Manilov
Works by Peter Boklevsky and I. Mankovsky for the second volume
Peter Rooster	Tentetnikov	General Betrishchev	Alexander Petrovich

"Now it's all gone." Second edition of the second volume

When the next, already second, manuscript of the second volume was ready, the writer persuaded his spiritual teacher, Rzhevsky Archpriest Matthew Konstantinovsky read it - the priest was just visiting Moscow at that time, in the house of a friend of Gogol. Matthew initially refused, but after reading the edition, he advised that several chapters be destroyed from the book and never published. A few days later, the archpriest left, and the writer practically stopped eating - and this happened 5 days before the start of Lent.

Portrait of Nikolai Gogol for his mother, painted by Fyodor Moller in 1841, in Rome.

According to legend, on the night of February 23-24, Gogol woke up his Semyon's servant, ordered him to open the stove valves and bring the briefcase in which the manuscripts were kept. To the pleas of the frightened servant, the writer replied: “It’s none of your business! Pray!” - and set fire to his notebooks in the fireplace. No one living today can know what motivated the author then: dissatisfaction with the second volume, disappointment or psychological stress. As the writer himself later explained, he destroyed the book by mistake: “I wanted to burn some things that had been prepared for a long time, but I burned everything. How strong the evil one is - that’s what he brought me to! And I understood and presented a lot of useful things there... I thought I would send out a notebook to my friends as a souvenir: let them do what they wanted. Now everything is gone."

After that fateful night, the classic lived for nine days. He died in a state of severe exhaustion and without strength, but until the last he refused to take food. While sorting through his archives, a couple of Gogol's friends, in the presence of the Moscow civil governor, found the draft chapters of the second volume a couple of months later. He didn’t even have time to start the third... Now, 162 years later, “Dead Souls” is still read, and the work is considered a classic not only of Russian, but of all world literature.

"Dead Souls" in ten quotes

“Rus, where are you going? Give an answer. Doesn't give an answer."

“And what Russian doesn’t like driving fast?”

"There's only one there honest man: prosecutor; and even that one, to tell the truth, is a pig.”

“Love us black, and everyone will love us white.”

“Oh, Russian people! He doesn’t like to die his own death!”

“There are people who have a passion to spoil their neighbors, sometimes for no reason at all.”

"Often through visible to the world laughter flows tears invisible to the world.”

“Nozdryov was in some respects historical person. Not a single meeting where he attended was complete without a story.”

“It is very dangerous to look deeper into women’s hearts.”

“Fear is stickier than the plague.”

Illustration by Pyotr Sokolov for Nikolai Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls”. "Chichikov at Plyushkin's." 1952 Reproduction. Photo: RIA Novosti / Ozersky