1) His Biography:
In what is now the Ukrainian province of Poltava, Nikolay Vasilievich Gogol was born in the Ukrainian Cossack settlement of Sorochyntsi. His mother is of Polish heritage, while his father, a Ukrainian Cossack who authored poetry and plays in Ukrainian, belonged to the lower classes of gentry. Gogol later made the decision to pursue a literary career in Russian rather than Ukrainian. The family spoke both Ukrainian and Russian at home. He received his schooling at the Nezhyn Gymnasium of Higher Sciences, which was established as part of Alexander I’s reforms to the educational system.
He travelled to St. Petersburg after finishing school in 1828, with the goal of becoming a wellknown author. He carried Hans Küchelgarten, a lengthy Romantic poem on rural life in Germany that he had self-published and sent to prominent literary journals. Gogol bought up and burned every copy of the work when it was scorned and rejected by everyone, vowing never to create poetry again.
Instead, he switched to prose and wrote a number of stories, mainly humorous, emotional, and occasionally macabre, that were set in the Ukrainian countryside. These were immediately popular, and in 1831 and 1832 they were published in two volumes under the title ‘Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka’. Leading literary figures in St. Petersburg, such as Vasiliy Zhukovsky, Pyotr Pletnyov, and even Alexander Pushkin—whom he met in 1831 and developed a friendship with—strongly endorsed Gogol’s writing.
The two volumes of Mirgorod, which were released in 1835, continued his portrayal of a Ukrainian pastoralist, but the same year he also released the collection Arabesques, which featured tales set in St. Petersburg and featured the classics ‘Nevsky Prospekt’ and ‘Diary of a Madman’. These tales introduced themes of alienation and mental illness contrasted against the frivolities of fashionable life and the Byzantine inhumanity of the state’s bureaucracy that he would later deepen in his most well-known tales, The Nose (1836) and The Overcoat (1842).
His first comedy for the stage, Marriage, was likewise finished in 1835, though it wasn’t published or performed until 1842. His most well-known play, The Government Inspector, had its world premiere in 1836 following Nicholas I’s official sanction. Gogol was upset as he was actually an ultraconservative monarchist but his scathing satire on the inefficiency and corruption of regional government was seen by many as an attack on the entire Tsarist regime.
Even though Gogol obtained the literary success he had been seeking and was much acclaimed by readers and critics, he had not experienced much personal fulfilment. He tried to get a job at the University of Kyiv despite having no qualifications because he had developed a totally amateur interest for history. He was hired as a professor of mediaeval history at St. Petersburg University in 1834 thanks to his literary success, but his ignorance rendered him entirely unfit for the position. After just one year of laughably clumsy deception and failure, he quit.
Gogol emigrated from Russia in 1836 and spent the most of the following twelve years exploring countries including France, Germany, and Switzerland before settling in Rome. There he studied painting, developed a passion for opera, and allegedly fell in love with Count Joseph Vielhorskiy, a 23-year-old Russian official’s son who had travelled to Italy in an effort to get his TB treated.
The following year, he passed away there. Gogol never stopped writing Dead Souls, his satirical novel that many consider to be his best work. He finished it in 1841 and went back to oversee its publishing there. Gogol’s reputation as one of Russia’s most beloved authors was further cemented when it was published the following year and had immense popularity. Yet again, Gogol was astonished and indignant at how his writing was interpreted as a satirical attack on the entire Tsarist establishment. In truth, Gogol intended for Dead Souls to be the first book in a trilogy that would follow the gradual reformation and spiritual purification of his roguish protagonist Chichikov. In 1846–1847, he made a journey to Jerusalem as a result of his growing religiosity and his fear of demonic forces. In 1848, he returned to Russia to finish the second volume of his work.
He became further influenced by the spiritual authority Matvey Konstantinovsky, who attempted to persuade him that creating fiction was a demonic and evil hobby, as a result of his dissatisfaction with his writings. Gogol developed an increasing asceticism and experienced severe depressive episodes. He destroyed the majority of the second volume of Dead Souls’ manuscripts during one of them on February 24, 1852. Gogol took to his bed and refused all nourishment, believing himself to have been duped by the Devil himself out of anguish at what he had done. Nine days later, he passed away in misery.
At the Danilov Monastery in Moscow, he was laid to rest. It was discovered that he was lying face down in his coffin during the process of moving his grave to the Novodevichy Cemetery in the 1930s, which gave rise to the rumour that he had been buried alive. Gogol is honoured in St. Petersburg by a magnificent and melancholic statue on the busy Malay Konyushennaya Ulitsa, right off Nevsky Prospekt.
2) Main Works:
The Overcoat:
The best of Gogol’s short stories is without a doubt “The Overcoat,” which was published in 1842. The evolution of Russian fiction in the years since has been greatly influenced by it. An unimportant copy clerk saves money for an overcoat, which is taken from him on the first day of ownership, according to the plot. The clerk gets sick shortly after the heist and passes away.
The Inspector General:
Between October and December of 1835, Gogol penned his theatrical masterwork, The Inspector General; it is likely that Pushkin gave him the concept for the play. In order to hide the corruption and dishonesty of the public servants, the drama centres on a fake inspector general who is mistaken for the real one while being disguised.
The Nose:
In “The Nose,” a St. Petersburg official’s nose takes on a life of its own and leaves his face. Initially, “The Nose” was published in Alexander Pushkin’s literary periodical The Contemporary. It’s possible that Gogol’s own experience with an abnormally shaped nose, which was frequently the target of self-deprecating remarks in letters, led him to utilise a nose as the main point of tension in his novel.
Diary of a Madman:
The story focuses on a minor public servant’s life during Nicholas I’s reign. The narrative depicts Poprishchin, the protagonist, becoming insane. The only first-person work by Gogol, “Diary of a Madman,” is structured like a diary entry.
Nevsky Prospekt:
Strongly influenced by the sentimental movement, Nevsky Prospekt’s protagonist is a pitiful and unimportant romantic, the narrator is chatty and untrustworthy (similar to Tristram Shandy, the quintessential sentimental novel), and realism rules. The narrative is structured symmetrically; after a lengthy description of Nevsky Prospekt, the action separates into two acquaintances, each of whom is following a stunning woman he has seen on the street. The romantic hero is followed in the first story, whereas his realistic foil is in the second. The narration ends with the narrator discussing Nevsky Prospekt in general terms once more.
3) Main Themes in His Writings:
Rank and status:
The obsession with status and rank is one of “The Overcoat’s” most significant themes. The story makes reference to Akaky’s status right away by stating “or with us rank must be announced first of all,” even though the narrator’s sarcastic tone suggests that he does not support this obsession. People continually pay attention to their status and rank, which might corrode their ability to treat one another with humanity and even result in corruption. Notably, Akaky is completely unconcerned with rank or prestige, which sets him apart from everyone else. He tolerates everyone’s mistreatment, has no interest in promotion, and replicates things for others at work even if they don’t have the right to do so.
In contrast, “his young fellow clerk” is continually looking around, “his pert gaze so keen that he even notices when someone on the other side of the street has the footstrap of his trousers come undone,” the narrator claims. As a result, he frequently runs into people and horses in the street. The “important person,” on the other hand, is an illustration of a person who has become corrupted by the fixation with rank and status, despite having a nice disposition on the inside.
One of the most significant themes in Gogol’s “The Nose” is social standing. Russian bureaucracy at the time of writing was a much exaggerated mechanism for Russians to rise to nobility through service to the government. As a result, jobs in the bureaucracy were highly sought after and heavily reliant on status. The concern with social position, rank, and class that was so prominent at the time is sharply criticised in “The Nose.”
To illustrate the relative prestige of each character’s status, the narrator, for instance, painstakingly discusses the outfits and physical characteristics of various personalities. While the constable who apprehends Ivan Yakovlevitch has a “smart appearance, with long whiskers, a three-cornered hat, and complete with a sword”, Ivan Yakovlevitch’s jacket is “thickly studded with grayish, brownish-yellowish stains—and shiny at the collar, and adorned with three drooping tufts of thread instead of buttons”.
The power dynamic is represented by the discrepancy in status between the two guys that can be seen in their physical appearances. Major Kovalev’s nose is shown wearing “a gold-braided, high-collared uniform, buckskin breeches, and cockaded hat”. Thus, Major Kovalev speaks submissively and apologetically to the nose since it’s uniform outranks his appearance and creates a similar power dynamic.
Sublimated sexuality:
When it comes to certain crucial plot moments, “The Overcoat” makes oblique allusions to a sublimated sexuality; Simon Karlinsky, a critic, calls attention to this issue. This sexuality is one that appears along with Akaky’s new coat, indicating the potential ways in which the overcoat may alter Akaky. First, Akaky feels like he is married and has a wife when he is saving for the overcoat since the thought of it is so comforting and significant to him. Petrovich’s delivery of the coat awakens this potential, but the coat’s theft prematurely puts it out of commission.
The first time Akaky sees an advertising with a woman’s bare leg, he giggles out of the blue at it. This is the first time this suppressed sexuality is mentioned. The second occurrence is when Akaky inexplicably has the impulse to follow an intriguing woman down the street as she leaves the party. The narrative also appears to imply that sexuality can be harmful in a way that sends Akaky into peril. When Akaky’s coat is taken, the superintendent threatens him by making him feel uncomfortable by inquiring whether he had been out late at night visiting a prostitute. It nearly seems as though Akaky is being punished—possibly even by death—for his new insight.
Masculinity vs. Femininity:
In ‘The Nose’, Ivan Yakovlevitch, and Major Kovalev, the two protagonists in the story, are both male. By virtue of its attire and demeanour, Major Kovalev’s nose likewise appears to be male. In order to better clarify the characters’ male identity, the women in the novel are only shown in opposition to them. For instance, Ivan Yakovlevitch’s wife Prascovia Osipovna is loud and furious, in stark contrast to her husband’s perplexed and helpless response. To fix the nose issue, she pushes him to leave the house. The attractive women in high society with whom Major Kovalev maintains flirty but casual social connections serve as inspiration for him as well. The narrative thus puts the male identity front and centre and contrasts it with representations of femininity.
Absurdity vs. Reality:
The odd social situations stand in stark contrast to the narrator’s routine, even commonplace details. On one hand, it seems like something out of a crazy fairy tale when the nose suddenly vanishes and then reappears paying social visits while wearing a bureaucrat’s uniform. On the other hand, the narrator provides a tremendous deal of information when describing characters and locations, right down to a character’s whisker shape and the very day that the story’s events take place. These specifics give the impression that the narrative is rooted in reality. Gogol blurs the lines between reality and surrealism in this way, possibly to highlight how absurd daily life can often be.
Social Classes:
The rigid social classes in St. Petersburg, Russia, are examined in Diary of a Madman. Aksenty frequently contrasts his socioeconomic standing with that of those around him. Despite not getting along with his co-workers, Aksenty is proud of his job and regards himself as equal to the other titular councillors he works with. The director, Aksenty’s employer, is highly respected by Aksenty, who frequently addresses the director with titles such as “Your Excellency,” not in an attempt to kiss him up, but rather out of true reverence and respect.
The director is regarded by Aksenty as a “superior” guy, which suggests that status and value are mutually exclusive. Aksenty thinks the director is extremely smart and wants to talk to him, but he is intimidated to do so. Aksenty also has a crush on Sophie, the director’s daughter. When Aksenty pretends he is reading letters from Sophie’s dog, Medji, the dog scolds him, stating he is unattractive and has hair like straw. These show that Aksenty is uneasy because he understands that Sophie is superior to him because she comes from a higher social class.
Then Aksenty imagines that Teplov, a kammerjunker, is courting Sophie. (The reader is unsure whether the relationship between Sophie and Teplov is real because our narrator is on the verge of going insane, making him unreliable.) A royal family’s servant is known as a kammerjunker. It is an honourable job and unquestionably of a higher class than being a federal worker.
Aksenty’s realisation that he cannot match Teplov contributes to his spiralling into lunacy. He starts to pretend that he is the King of Spain, a position that not only puts him above a kammerjunker but also places Teplov under Aksenty’s authority. Of course, Aksenty is a lunatic, not a monarch. He is taken to a mental hospital where he is treated (more like battered) until he starts to understand that he is not a king. This refers to the inability of moving up the class ranks.
4) Dead Souls:
Fall 1835 saw Gogol start work on Dead Souls. He wrote it over the course of around six years, mostly while travelling. Although he had issues with the censors, the book was eventually released on May 21, 1842. The piece is incredibly innovative and depicts the story of Chichikov, a scam artist who travels over Russia purchasing serfs who have passed away but are still listed on the tax registers and using them as collateral for loans.
Chichikov’s voyage is also a plunge into the absurdity of Russian reality. The characters Chichikov encounters on his voyage embody the universal and common flaws of humanity. Chichikov is an embodiment of mediocrity and characterlessness. Gogol’s portrayal of rural Russia is one of suffocating boredom, foolishness, and corruption.
5) His influence in our times:
The pace with which international disasters enter the media narrative these days is dizzying. When the COVID-19 epidemic erupted, we had only begun to learn how to deal with the disasters brought on by Donald Trump’s presidency. Environmental disasters reached dreadful heights while the pandemic was still wreaking devastation across the globe. Then, all of a sudden, in 2021, we began to see more ominous headlines alerting us to Vladimir Putin’s impending invasion of Ukraine.
The only way to maintain inner sanity in today’s insane world may be to turn to art. The propaganda war between the United States and Russia has intensified over the first two weeks of the conflict in Ukraine. The right wing Trump supporter’s growing love for Putin has intensified the customary liberal Russophobia in the US.
We had to deal with both, liberal Russophobia and the conservative’s infatuation for a strongman that can help them restore white supremacy in the US, as Tucker Carlson of Fox News approached unprecedented levels of stupidity in his attempts to defend Putin’s invasion and as usual, The New York Times started advertising the onset of war. Condemning Russia’s brazen and offensive military aggression within Ukraine whilst avoiding falling prey to the pathological love-hate connection between Putin and the Anglo-American globe is essential to staying sane in today’s society.
Giorgi Lomsadze and Nikoloz Bezhanishvili gave us a look into the significance of Gogol in the Ukrainian-Russian frontiers of culture and identity in an essay they published in 2017, in which they stated that “Gogol, who was born in Ukraine and became popular in Russia, personifies both the similarities and the disparities between the two nations. The issue of Gogol’s nationality frequently showed up on a list of disagreements between Ukraine and Russia as their relations declined”.
Gogol effortlessly, gracefully, and with enduring good fortune moved away from his birthplace, Ukraine, and moved to his literary home Russia. He took the gift of his native country to a more literarily advanced country when he relocated from Ukraine to Russia. He elevated Russian literature to a pinnacle unmatched by anybody, and joined the likes of Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, and Turgenev.
Gogol, however, was not bound to Russia either; he went on to become a legendary literary giant who made fun of the monarchy. But still, no one in Russia took this to heart, whereas, a conservative American would go insane when someone called attention to the terror of white supremacy racism in their nation, by often saying ‘go back to your own country’. One of Gogol’s masterpieces is claimed to have inspired Fyodor Dostoyevsky to remark, “We all emerged out of Gogol’s Overcoat.”
However, while Russia and Ukraine fought for control of Gogol’s literary legacy, people from other parts of the world have an equal, if not a greater, admiration for the author. Primarily due to the essence of his brilliance, his knowledge, and his great sense of humour rather than his birthplace or the language in which he wrote.
The Soviet Union was born from the remains of the Russian empire, and Russia survived as one of the remnants. Russia’s perception of itself is currently plagued by the painful recollections of two great empires, one tsarist and the other communist. Putin’s military misjudgments in Ukraine are neither the start nor the finish of anything.
Under Putin’s command, Russia has intervened in Chechnya and then supported a violent tyrant, Assad, with wider global ambitions in Syria. The real problem here isn’t the fanaticism of Russian nationalism, the nonsense of American columnists who believe that this Russian invasion marks yet another turning point for “the end of civilization” or even the horrifying European racism that is once again on display today, giving Ukrainian refugees preference over millions of others.
The world would be much better off going to Gogol, a Ukrainian genius of Russian literature, and wondering where the actual frontiers between civilization and barbarism lie in that liminal area rather than following the propaganda involving Russia and the US.