Так писал Гоголь в одном из последних своих сочинений — "Учебной книге словесности для русского юношества". Он имел в виду прежде всего свой собственный опыт по созданию динамичного и яркого литературного языка, объединяющего противоположные стили.
О чём не рассказала книга
Книга, которую вы прочитали, содержит самый общий и краткий очерк жизни и деятельности Гоголя. А это значит, что многие эпизоды творческой биографии писателя в неё не вошли — не могли войти.
Ничего не говорится о сохранившихся черновых главах второй части "Мёртвых душ", о том, как развивалось содержание поэмы в дальнейшем (вернее о том, как предположительно должно было раскрыться: ведь сведения, которыми мы располагаем на этот счёт, скупы и противоречивы).
Не смогли мы остановиться на разборе гоголевских повестей "Коляска", "Рим", пьес "Женитьба", "Игроки" и т. д.
Почти ничего не сказано о критических и библиографических статьях, составляющих важную часть творческого наследия Гоголя. Ведь он обладал ярким критическим талантом, который ценили и Пушкин, и Белинский.
Да и публицистика Гоголя, особенно в "Выбранных местах из переписки с друзьями" или в неопубликованной при его жизни статье "О сословиях в государстве", требует специального, обстоятельного разговора.
Специального и глубокого освещения заслуживают философские, этические, религиозные, эстетические взгляды Гоголя.
А сколько встаёт ещё более общих историко-литературных тем: "Гоголь и предшествующая русская литература", "Гоголь и натуральная школа", "Смех Гоголя", "Гоголь и русское общество", "Гоголь и мировая литература"… Некоторых из этих тем мы коснулись бегло, другие даже не затронули.
Словом, читателю, заинтересованному Гоголем, предстоит ещё многое изучить, многое узнать. И тогда перед ним более глубоко раскроется величие, оригинальность и непреходящая жизненность этого художника.
Notes
Abbreviations
arch., archaic
It., Italian
coll., colloquial
Lat., Latin
eccl., ecclesiastical
lit., literally
Fr., French
phras., phraseology
Ger., German
pop., popular
hist., historical
Ukr., Ukrainian
Пушкин, Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (1799–1837), Russian writer, founder of modern Russian literature. Author of long poems The Captive of the Caucasus, The Fountain of Bakhchisarai, The Gypsies. Poltava), the novel in verse Eugene Onegin, the drama Boris Godunov, the prose works The Tales of the Late Ivan Petrovich Belkin, The Queen of Spades, The Captain's Daughter, and countless lyric poems.
Лермонтов, Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov (1814–1841), Russian poet and novelist; author of the novel A Hero of Our Time, the drama Masquerade, the long poems Mtsyri and The Demon, and many lyric poems.
Chapter I
дьячок, sexton, a church custodian performing minor duties
Украина, the Ukraine, lying in the south-west of European Russia, was dominated from the 14th century by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland. As a result of the liberation war waged by its people under Bogdan Khmelnitsky in 1648–1654, the Ukraine was reunited with Russia. Today the Ukraine is a Union republic of the USSR.
запорожцы (hist.), Cossacks of the Zaporozhye Sech, the community of Ukrainian Cossacks who lived below the Dnieper rapids (16th-l8th cent.). The Russian for rapids is поро́ги, hence the name zaporozhtsy. These Cossacks were very prominent in the national-liberation struggle waged by the Ukrainians against foreign invaders.
секунд-майор (hist.), officer’s rank in the Russian army in the 18th century, which corresponds to the rank of captain.
десятина (arch.), dessiatine, a Russian unit of land area equal to 2.7 acres (1.45 hectares).
души крестьян (arch.). Under the serf system (abrogated in Russia in 1861) the peasants were attached to the land and fully subjugated to their landlords. A landlord's standing was gauged in terms of the number of his peasants, called "peasant souls".
натуральное хозяйство (hist.), subsistence economy.
Аксаков, Sergei Timofeyevich Aksakov (1791–1859), Russian writer, author of the autobiographical Chronicles of a Russian Family and The Years of Childhood of Bagrov-Grandson. He described his impressions of Gogol in his memoirs My Acquaintance with Gogol.
хутор, in the Ukraine, a settlement outside the boundaries of a village, which could comprise several farmsteads.
храмовой праздник, feast in honour of the patron saint of a given church.
Мазепа, Ivan Stepanovich Mazepa (1644–1709), Ukrainian hetman (Cossack leader). He favoured the secession from Russia, and so defected to the Swedes, who invaded the Ukraine during the Northern War waged by Russia and Sweden.
пасичник (correct form, па́сечник), bee-keeper, someone in charge of an apiary (па́сека).
движимое имущество, movables.
министр уделов (hist.), minister of land grants; he was in charge of the immovable property owned by the Russian imperial family.
Кулиш, Panteleimon Alexandrovich Kulish (1819–1897), Ukrainian author, historian and ethnographer. He wrote a two-volume work The Life of Nikolai Gogol.
разноблюдный, consisting of several dishes.
Безбородко, Alexander Andreyevich Bezborodko (1747–1799), Russian statesman, who held the post of chancellor.
находиться на пансионе, to board (to be provided with regular meals, services, lodgings).
Данилевский, Grigory Petrovich Danilevsky (182^-1890), Russian and Ukrainian writer, author of popular historical novels (Princess Tarakanova, Burnt-Out Moscow, etc.).
Фонвизин, Denis Ivanovich Fonvisin (1745–1792), Russian writer, author of the comedies The Dunce and The Brigadier.
Щепкин, Mikhail Semyonovich Shchepkin (1788–1863), Russian actor, one of the founders of Realism on the Russian stage. He played with great success in Gogol’s comedies and was on friendly terms with him.
инспектор, here hist.: schoolmaster in a public school. He supervised his pupils’ daily life, tuition, etc.
Chapter 2
форейтор (hist.; Ger. Vorreiter), postilion, one who rides as a guide on a horse attached to a coach.
плошка, a primitive lamp, a vessel with oil and a wick.
департамент (hist.), department of a ministry in pre-revolutionary Russia.
коллегии (hist.), here, a state institution. In the 18th and early 19th centuries the collegia were higher executive bodies in charge of different administrative branches. They were abolished in favour of ministries, but the Foreign Affairs Collegium continued to exist until 1832.
Полевой, Nikolai Alexeyevich Polevoi (1796–1846), Russian journalist, writer and historian, publisher of Moskovsky telegraf (Moscow Telegraph) — one of the finest Russian magazines. Polevoi is the author of the many-volumed History of the Russian People, several long stories, novels and plays.
Опекунский совет (hist.), Custody Board in charge of orphanages, which also engaged in savings-bank activities.
инспектор русской труппы (hist.), official who supervised the repertory of the Imperial Theatre’s Russian company of actors (along with a Russian company, St. Petersburg also had a French company).
без нарочитого педалирования, without special emphasis.
столоначальник (arch.), head of a department.
