Gogol's religious and moral quest. Moral and philosophical issues of N.V. Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls”
The idea of Gogol's three-volume poem was connected with the values of the Christian faith Dead Souls. The author, together with the reader and characters, had to follow the path spiritual rebirth from hell (volume one) to purgatory (volume two) and further to heaven (volume three). It was assumed that the word “dead” in the title of the poem would indicate the inevitable future rebirth of the soul; in fact, the soul cannot die and must be resurrected. Chapters Dead souls these are peculiar steps of the spiritual ladder along which the reader walks.
However, the concept of the poem Dead Souls turned out to be too grandiose even for brilliant writer. Gogol sought to write such an intelligible and convincing book that every Russian person would definitely read, and after reading it, he realized that it was impossible to live the way he lived before, and he would completely change his life. Hence spiritual crisis writer
No matter how good the second volume was, it still could not fully satisfy the artist because his goal, in essence, was to create something similar to a new Gospel (a book that changes the lives of peoples!) The Gospel of Nikolai Gogol.
In another work, Selected passages from correspondence with friends. Gogol tried to reveal his own “spiritual quest (the work was created during the period of work on the second volume of Dead Souls) and show the Russian people the path of personal self-improvement. At the same time, the writer sought to achieve the unity of the word-revelation (gospel) in the word-sermon explaining the revelation. In In the selected places, Gogol organically combined confession and sermon, the worldly word and the religious word.
The problems associated with the interpretation of “Dead Souls” required not only an expansion of the time frame of the study. Along with the analysis religious views writer, for the first time in connection with the idea of the poem with the subject close attention became Gogol's views as a historian. Gogol's historical views as a whole have not yet been sufficiently studied. Accordingly, in works about him artistic creativity little attention is paid to the fact that all his works, starting from the earliest, were written not only by a faithful observer of everyday life, a subtle connoisseur human soul, but also an original, deep historian. The seriousness of Gogol’s studies in history is evidenced by the fact that for a number of years he taught history in two educational institutions Petersburg - Patriotic Institute and Imperial University. The study of Gogol's historical views turns out to be very promising for understanding the meaning of his artistic creatures. Real work represents the first experience of such a syncretic approach to Gogol’s legacy.
The fundamental novelty in the approach to the interpretation of the images of “Dead Souls” is based on a thorough study author's intention poem, analysis of Gogol's statements related to his heroes. The interpretive part receives evidence from textual observations and from the study of Gogol’s biography. The work analyzes in detail the reviews of readers and critics on the publication of the first volume of “Dead Souls” (this issue is covered in the work with maximum completeness), as well as the influence exerted by the first listeners of the poem in the author’s reading on its content.
The problem of the second volume of “Dead Souls” from the point of view of the holistic concept of the work requires a careful study of the surviving “primary sources” that Gogol used when creating the remaining unfinished part of the poem. An analysis of the relationship between the chapters of the second volume that have come down to us and the problems of the first makes it necessary to turn to the key points of Gogol’s worldview. Understanding the meaning of a work in many cases is inseparable from textual analysis, which significantly clarifies creative history text and helps to avoid arbitrary subjective interpretations.
In the second and third volumes, Gogol wanted to show morally perfect Russian people, and moral perfection for Gogol was associated with Christianity, with divine commandments.
While working on Dead Souls, Gogol became convinced that the Higher Will was manifested in the events he experienced. After serious illness, which befell him when he left the poem for a while and began to write a long-planned play, and unexpected quick healing, he said: “... I am glad of everything, everything that happens to me in life and, as soon as I see, for what wonderful benefits and what is called failure in the world led me to good things, then my touched soul cannot find words to thank the invisible hand that guides me.”
Researcher of Gogol’s work, Yuri Vladimirovich Mann, said that Gogol’s plan was this: in the second volume to bring out significant characters in the poem, “to lift the curtain on the treasure trove that hides the “countless wealth of the Russian spirit.” But he wanted these characters to be vital, so that “wealth” would not look illusory and deceptive, but real. He wanted to convince “everyone” and, moreover, to convey the idea that any Russian can achieve the desired ideal, if only he wants to. But the planned program, Gogol believes, did not come true.”
Gogol believed that “Dead Souls” was being written slowly, because Gogol himself was an obstacle to this: “At every step and at every line, I feel such a need to grow wiser, and moreover, the very subject and matter is so connected with my own inner upbringing that I am in no way able to write past myself, but must wait for myself. I go forward and the composition comes along, I stopped and the composition doesn’t come along.”
This recognition means that Gogol connected the process of working on the second volume with self-education, with liberation from one’s own shortcomings and the acquisition of such moral virtues that would allow the writer to see further and deeper than anyone else. For failures, the author blamed only himself: since he didn’t see the best people, it means that he did not cultivate in himself the ability to see the best, did not reach the highest level of perfection.
Unlike Nozdryov, Sobakevich cannot be considered a person with his head in the clouds. This hero stands firmly on the ground, does not indulge himself with illusions, soberly evaluates people and life, knows how to act and achieve what he wants. Given the character of his life, Gogol is in everything...
Gogol, according to V. G. Belinsky, “was the first to look boldly and directly at Russian reality.” The writer's satire was directed against " general order things,” and not against individuals, bad executors of the law. Predatory money-grubber Chichikov, landowners...
In June 1836, after difficult experiences caused by the premiere of "The Inspector General", Gogol went abroad. And working on a new work becomes the main task of the writer. The plot of "Dead Souls", as well as the plot of "The Inspector General",...
The episode “Chichikov at Plyushkin’s” is interesting from an ideological and artistic point of view. The author managed to draw living, bright pictures Chichikov’s meeting with the most repulsive landowner, with “a hole in humanity.” Chichikov Pavel Ivanovich was the last to visit Plyushkin...
The poem “Dead Souls” (1842) is a deeply original, nationally original work. This is a work about the contrast and uncertainty of Russian reality, and the title of the poem is no coincidence. To Gogol's contemporaries such a name seemed surprising...
25. Spiritual quest and mysticism of Nikolai Gogol
Being in the full presence of memory and common sense, I express here my last will.
I. I bequeath my body not to be buried until obvious signs of decomposition appear. I mention this because even during the illness itself, moments of vital numbness came over me, my heart and pulse stopped beating.
II. I bequeath not to erect any monument over me and not to think about such a trifle, unworthy of a Christian.
III. I bequeath to no one at all to mourn me, and the one who begins to regard my death as some kind of significant or universal loss will take a sin on his soul.
V. I bequeath after my death not to rush into either praise or condemnation of my works in public sheets and magazines: everything will be just as biased as during life. In my writings there is much more that needs to be condemned than that that deserves praise. All attacks on them were more or less justified.
N.V. Gogol. “Selected passages from correspondence with friends
About the great Russian writer N.V. So much has been written about Gogol that there is no need to retell it all again. Let us dwell on only one feature of this universally recognized genius in order to show his contradictory nature - his spiritual quest and mysticism, which permeate not only many of his works, but even his entire life, and also, so to speak, the posthumous existence of the writer.
Gogol was born on March 20, 1809 in the family of a middle-class Little Russian landowner. It is believed that he received many of his character traits from his mother, a suspicious and superstitious woman, which were strengthened by her stories to little Kolya about witches, devils, mermaids and other evil spirits that filled the folklore of the then Ukraine. Subsequently, all this was reflected in the writer’s work. It is not difficult to notice that not only Gogol’s “Petersburg Tales”, but also his scary stories on a Little Russian theme are permeated with mysticism.
In fact, he was one of the first in Russia to write in the horror genre. They say that the now famous Stephen King, after reading Gogol’s Viy, said: “I’m still far from this guy...”
Let us add that even Gogol’s completely realistic works, which do not belong to the category of horror films, often ended with the death of the main characters or were kept in minor tones. It can be noted that the gloominess in his stories gradually increases over the time they were written. If in "The Missing Letter" or "The Night Before Christmas" devilry is shown in an absurd and funny way, then in “Terrible Revenge” or “Vie” humor gives way to horror. All this fully corresponded to the change in the character of the writer himself over the years, who in his youth was full of life aspirations and optimism, while in maturity pessimism and thoughts about death prevailed in him.
From birth, Gogol’s mother surrounded her son with adoration, which subsequently took root in him in the form of ideas about himself as a outstanding personality, towering above the rest. All this was most paradoxically combined with his fragile health and constant fears of death, doomsday and hellish torments experienced by sinners. Death younger brother Ivan, as well as the death of his father, also contributed to the negative state of mind future writer. And when he entered the Nizhyn gymnasium, at first he was afraid of everything, kept to himself, was absent-minded, sloppy, careless and sluggish in his studies and was not distinguished by diligence. No one then thought that this proud and reserved young man would someday become a great writer. The only teacher, teacher Latin language, left his memories of young Gogol, among which was this derogatory description: “He studied with me for three years and learned nothing...”.
Gogol really could not study well, since science did not interest him, and the education system of that time itself was based on ordinary cramming, for which he felt only disgust. At first, his comrades did not like him either, making fun of the unsociable student, giving him the nickname “mysterious dwarf”... He was unsociable, but surprisingly observant and sharp-tongued, amazingly imitating the speech and manner of teachers, which often infuriated them, but amused his comrades.
In his heart, Gogol compared himself with Childe Harold, the hero of Byron’s work, who was dissatisfied with life, considering himself an outstanding, but lonely and unappreciated person by society.
It is noteworthy that later, until the end of his days, Gogol did not like physical exercise, was not interested in women, did not play gambling, was not fond of alcohol and generally neglected the earthly joys characteristic of his circle, preferring spiritual life, which, however, did not always turn out to be pleasant for him.
In 1828, after graduating from high school, he and his friend, A.S. Danilevsky, goes to St. Petersburg to try to make a career there for the benefit of society, having the most vague and naive idea about all this. However, the northern capital does not live up to his expectations. He immediately senses its inhuman, mechanical character - everything that he will later reflect in his “Petersburg Tales”. Instead of seeing in others honest service for the good of society, he meets “little people” filled with servility and selfish thoughts. He literally lives in poverty, joining the crowd of “Akakiev Akakievichs” leading a semi-beggarly lifestyle. Young Gogol received another disappointment when he was not accepted as an actor, which he dreamed of while studying in Nizhyn, when he played in amateur performances. Publishing with my own money poem“Hans Küchelgarten,” which no one bought, he finally lost faith in success when he read just one cold note as a review that it was better to keep this writing under wraps and not show it to anyone. Desperate, Gogol buys all copies of his book and burns them in the same way as he would later do with the second volume of Dead Souls...
It is noteworthy that almost immediately upon his arrival in St. Petersburg, it was with this manuscript that he tried to visit Pushkin at his apartment. However, the poet’s servant, not letting him in further than the threshold, answered gloomily that the master would like to rest and could not receive him. Gogol timidly asked if the master had been working all night? To which he received an answer that confused him: of course, he had been playing cards all night. But if Pushkin had read his opus, then, without a doubt, he could have smashed the manuscript young writer to smithereens.
After some time, Gogol, realizing the futility of his advancement in the bureaucratic service, under the patronage of the poet Zhukovsky, first got a job at the Patriotic Institute, and then at St. Petersburg University, where he lectured on ancient history. However, in this field too he fails. His lectures are boring and not interesting not only to students, but also to himself, and therefore he soon quits and in search of life path travels abroad, traveling around different cities and countries.
Later, he explained his repeated voyages outside Russia by the fact that God himself showed him the way to a foreign land or even referred to unrequited love, which he had only in the form of infantile fantasies.
In essence, he was running away from himself, from what he believed was his unsettled life, despite the fact that he was already a recognized author of several works.
By this time, in St. Petersburg, he had written “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka”, “Petersburg Stories”, “The Inspector General” and “Mirgorod”, and, while abroad, he completed his famous poem"Dead Souls"…
In fact, Gogol was made entirely of paradoxes. Sigmund Freud would say that tall literary talent this writer is born solely of his unsatisfied sexuality. It is also known that even earlier, the Italian psychiatrist Cesare Lombroso in his book “Genius and Madness” mentioned the case of Gogol, as the clearest example that there is a causal connection between genius and disease.
Gogol was generally distinguished by various quirks. For example, he felt awkward in the presence strangers and was afraid of thunderstorms. His passion for cooking and handicrafts also turned out to be unusual. Gogol’s oddities also include his morbid suspiciousness, paradoxically combined with a sense of superiority over others, religiosity and belief in pagan dark forces, a mocking attitude towards reality, combined with despondency and frightening visions. He quite realistically felt the interference demonic forces into a person’s life, considered women the cause of sinfulness, was never married, burned the second volume of “Dead Souls” and did not have his own home...
It is known that even in his youth he began to be overcome by attacks of melancholy, combined with a sharp decrease in appetite, catastrophic weight loss and pain in the various parts bodies that alternated periods high mood, excessive gluttony and desire for vigorous activity. These were the moments when his depression and suspiciousness instantly disappeared. He began to feel healthy and youthful again.
Later, while in Italy, he apparently suffered from malaria, which resulted in encephalitis, complicating his already disastrous state of mind. It was after Italy that Gogol began to experience fainting spells, ending in a long, painful sleep. The writer began to fear that he would die, or, worse than that that during one such attack he would be mistaken for dead and buried. And therefore, for more than ten subsequent years, he did not go to bed, preferring to doze while sitting in a chair.
The worst thing is that over the years, periods of optimism, accompanied by a thirst for activity and a cult of food, became shorter and shorter, and then completely disappeared. IN last years Throughout his life, Gogol was in a constantly depressed mood, burdened by a painful suspicion that everything he had done previously was a serious mistake.
In an attempt to improve his mental state, Gogol visited monasteries, prayed for a long time, and fasted, but all in vain.
Being in Jerusalem at the Holy Sepulcher, Gogol did not feel any reverence, except for the coldness of his heart, ultimately deciding that he was such an inveterate sinner that nothing could correct him. He even decides to go to a monastery and become a monk, but monasticism did not take place. His situation was aggravated by many hours of conversations with Archpriest Matthew Konstantinovsky, a religious fanatic who was an absolute spiritual authority for Gogol, who now, a century and a half later, can be called evil genius writer. It was Matthew who constantly impressed upon Gogol not only his sinfulness, frightening him with death and the torments of hell, but also forced him to renounce Pushkin, whom Gogol valued very highly, to renounce literary creativity and destroy the already written second volume of Dead Souls. According to eyewitnesses, one of the conversations between the priest and the writer ended with Gogol shouting: “Enough!.. Leave it!.. I can’t listen any longer!.. It’s too scary!..”
Many hours of conversations with a clergyman, as well as the death of his friend’s wife Ekaterina Khomyatova from typhus, yielded negative results - Gogol abandoned literary creativity and read only books of spiritual content. Dejected and depressed by thoughts of his sinfulness, he prescribed severe asceticism for himself, starting to fast a week before Lent. Moreover, he tried to sleep less, although this in no way fit into Orthodox dogma. He completely weakened, and then fell ill and did not rise until his death...
One night it seemed to Gogol that he had already died and was in hell. He screamed wildly, woke up the servant and, making sure that he was still alive, sent him for the priest. But the priest, seeing the patient, although unsteady, but on his feet, persuaded him to wait with communion. Metropolitan Philaret also became interested in the case, and asked the writer to obey the doctors, saying that this was not sinful, but Gogol, who was in prostration, ignored the admonitions of the church hierarch. He sat in his chair for days on end, without washing or combing his hair, eating very little, and after a few days he announced that he was refusing to eat at all.
After some time, a council of medical luminaries gathered at the writer’s bedside. After the examination, treatment was prescribed. The patient was forcibly placed in a hot bath, and ice water was poured over his head. It was believed to help with the “meningitis” and “acute cerebral anemia” that he was found to have. After the procedure, Gogol felt chills for a long time, but the writer was forcibly kept without clothes. They then placed eight leeches on his nose, causing him to bleed. Gogol tried to resist the execution, but the forces were clearly unequal.
Nowadays, after conducting a retrospective analysis, doctors came to the conclusion that the writer suffered from nutritional dystrophy and a decline in cardiovascular activity against the background of a protracted depressive phase of manic-depressive psychosis. The doctors of that time were frankly mistaken when they prescribed treatment, which only caused unnecessary suffering to the writer and hastened his death.
It is noteworthy that back in 1845, seven years before his death, Gogol wrote his spiritual testament as the opening chapter of his book “Selected Passages from Correspondence with Friends,” where the very first paragraph is the following words: “I bequeath my body not to be buried until obvious signs of decomposition appear...” However, this was not done. The cause was cholera, which was rampant in those years, and Gogol was buried on the same day he died. In 1931, they decided to rebury Gogol’s remains; when they opened the coffin, they discovered that the corpse was lying on its side in a crooked position, and the silk lining inside the coffin was scratched, as if he wanted to get out...
Gogol did not know peace during his life; he did not know it after death either. On May 31, 1931, the writer’s ashes were transferred from the liquidated graveyard of the Danilov Monastery in Moscow to Novodevichy Cemetery. When opening the decayed house and moving the remains to a new coffin, it turned out that the writer... had no head. Where Gogol's skull went is still a mystery. Moreover, the writers Vladimir Lidin and Vsevolod Ivanov, who were present during the exhumation, “grabbed” a well-preserved piece of Gogol’s frock coat and his rib as souvenirs, and the Komsomol workers observing this took the writer’s tibia and shoes.
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1. What is general plan"Dead Souls"?
Gogol, thinking long and hard about the purpose of his creation, came to the conclusion that its goal was to show all of Rus' with its inherent contradictory features, the true Russian man in all his fullness, with versatility national characters and features. The writer wanted to reveal to us all the hidden corners of the Russian soul, the shortcomings and hidden advantages of a Russian person, surrounded by an everyday web of little things, deeds and events, that eat away from the inside. Gogol, thinking about his future work, even begins to feel missionary power within himself: he is burning with the desire to help his fatherland by awakening the “dead”, sleeping soul of the Russian person with the best medicine - cleansing laughter. The poem was intended as a revealing, saving remedy for the “dormant” Russia; Gogol believed that this was his duty, his opportunity to be as useful through his writing as any simple civil servant is useful to the fatherland. Nikolai Vasilyevich intended to create a grandiose, comprehensive work, consisting of three interconnected and flowing from one another parts. They symbolized Russia's unique path from " lethargic sleep"to awareness, awakening, purification and rapid moral self-development.
Thus, we can say that the concept of the poem “Dead Souls” was extremely broad in its coverage of characters, characters, ideas, events and phenomena of complex Russian life.
2. What contradictory principles of plot and composition formed the basis of the poem?
The poem “Dead Souls” seems contradictory even in the genre of work designated by the author. After all, as we know from the definition, a poem is a genre of literature that differs poetic form. It turns out that Gogol pushes the existing genre boundaries and creates, as we now call it, a prose poem. Why did this happen? The answer lies in another contradiction: reflecting on his creation, the writer firmly held on to the idea of creating an incredibly large-scale, universal work, wanted to liken it, equate it with an epic, drawing an analogy between such huge works, How " The Divine Comedy"Dante and Homer's poems. And the implementation of all these thoughts in prose was possible only thanks to numerous lyrical digressions throughout the narrative, reminding the reader of the grandeur of the plan, of its further development along an as yet unknown but great path.
And finally, one of the main plot and compositional contradictions is the possibility of the very realization of all Gogol’s ideas. The writer literally dreamed of creating a work that would have the strongest impact on all readers. In it, he wanted to clearly and accurately show the degradation, stagnation, awakening and formation on the true path of vicious Russian souls. However, he didn't want to just introduce the world artistic ideal, appeared in his head. On the contrary, with all his strength and genius, he tried to draw a living person, as if standing next to us, tangible and really existing. The writer wanted to literally embody a person, to breathe a living spirit into him. And this tragically contradicted the actual implementation: such a task turned out to be not only beyond Gogol’s strength, but also beyond the time allotted to the creator himself.
3. Is there a contradiction in the combination “dead souls”? What meanings does this combination hide?
The contradiction in this phrase is obvious: after all, this is a literary oxymoron (the same are, for example, “living corpse”, “sad joy”, etc.). But, turning to the poem itself, we discover other meanings.
Firstly, “dead souls” are simply dead serfs, the “hunt” for which amounts to main task Chichikov to achieve his personal well-being.
But here, and this is secondly, another meaning is revealed, more important for the ideological component of the work. “Dead souls” are the “rotten”, vicious souls of the landowner and bureaucratic circle in which Chichikov moves. These souls have forgotten what it is real life, full of pure, noble feelings and adherence to human duty. Purely outwardly, all these people seem to be alive, they talk, walk, eat, etc. But their inner content, their spiritual filling, is dead, it will either sink into oblivion forever, or with great effort and suffering it can be reborn.
Thirdly, there is another hidden meaning of the phrase. It represents a religious and philosophical idea. According to Christian teaching, a person’s soul cannot be dead by definition, it is always alive, only the body can die.
It turns out that Gogol strengthens the meaning of rebirth, renewal of the “dirty” soul, likening it to simple human flesh.
Thus, we can say that even such a short and succinct title of the poem helps the writer convey and reveal a huge variety of ideas and themes displayed in the work.
4. How is the concept of “Dead Souls” connected with Gogol’s religious and moral quests?
The writer’s religious and moral quest is directly related to the concept of “Dead Souls.” We can say that the entire work is built on religious, moral and philosophical ideas.
Nikolai Vasilyevich sought to show in the poem the rebirth of “sinners” into “righteous people.” He closely connected the moral re-education and self-education of the protagonist with Christian dogma. After all, living like a Christian means living according to the divine commandments, the observance of which reflects best features person. To believe in one God, to be respectful, not to envy, not to steal or steal, to be respectful and generally essentially righteous - this is the religious and moral ideal that Gogol wanted to embody in his work. He believed that transformation of a thoroughly vicious person is still possible through laughter at oneself, purifying suffering, and then acceptance of following the truth. Moreover, the writer believed that such an example of the reincarnation of a Russian person, and soon of all of Russia, could serve as a “beacon” for other nations and even for the whole world. It is quite possible that he dreamed of an unattainable ideal - a worldwide, universal revival from the abyss of sins and the establishment of righteousness.
Gogol closely connected his searches with the idea of the poem, literally weaving the entire “outline” of the work from these thoughts.
5. Why do some characters in the poem have biographies and others do not?
The poem shows the characters of many landowners, describes their life, passions, and morals. But only two people have a backstory, a story about their past. These are Plyushkin and Chichikov.
The fact is that such personalities as Korobochka, Manilov, Sobakevich, Nozdryov and others are shown vividly, “in all their glory” and very believably, we can fully formulate our impression of them and predict their future fate. These characters are representatives of the “stagnation” of human essence, they are who they are, with all their vices and imperfections, and they will no longer be different.
As for Chichikov and Plyushkin, here one of the facets of the writer’s great plan is revealed. These two heroes, according to the author, are still capable of developing and renewing their souls. Therefore, both Plyushkin and Chichikov have a biography. Gogol wanted to take the reader along the entire line of their lives, to show full picture the formation of their character, and then the transformation and new formation of characters in subsequent volumes. After all, in fact, you cannot understand the whole essence of a person until you get acquainted with his entire history, with all his life’s ups and downs, and Gogol was well aware of this.
Based on the foregoing, it is obvious that the writer built any detail of his narrative not by chance, but according to certain principles that help to realize his plan most fully.