Where was Gogol born? Where did Gogol spend his childhood?

The great Russian prose writer, playwright, critic, poet and publicist Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol made a huge contribution to Russian literature and journalism, enriching it with many immortal works, some of which are incredibly relevant today. However, as we know, we all come from childhood, so in order to understand the origins of his work, we first need to find out where Gogol was born, who his parents were and what early impressions influenced his worldview.

Where were the Yanovskys

Biographers of Gogol inform that the ancestors of the writer were hereditary priests and had nothing to do with the nobility. It is also known that his great-grandfather, Afanasy Demjanovich, settled not far from Poltava and took the name Yanovsky, after the name of the area where he built the house. A few years later, when he received a diploma from the nobility, he added one more Gogol to his family name, in order to confirm (or, as some researchers believe, to fabricate) his kinship with a well-known personality - Colonel Eustathius Gogol, who was in the service of King Jan III Sobessky. Thus, the writer's ancestors moved to Little Russia from Poland somewhere in the second half of the eighteenth century. For the sake of justice, it must be said that Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol himself mistakenly believed that the name of Janovsky was invented by the Poles. That is why in 1821 he simply rejected it. At that time his father was no longer alive, so there was no one to prevent such free treatment of the family name.

Where was Nikolai Gogol born?

The future great Russian writer was born on March 20, 1809 in the village Sorochintsy, which at that time was in the Poltava province of the Russian Empire. Today this settlement is called the Great Sorochintsy and is a part of Mirgorodsky district of Ukraine. At the time of Gogol's birth, it was known for its famous fair, which gathered almost from all corners of Little Russia and even from Poland and the central provinces of Russia. Thus, the small homeland of the future great writer was a pretty famous shopping center where life was boiling.

The house where Gogol was born

During the Great Patriotic War, many buildings in the Great Sorochintsy, as well as in the entire Poltava region, were destroyed. Unfortunately, such a fate befell the very place where Gogol was born - the house of Dr. M. Trokhimovsky, in which in 1929 a museum dedicated to his childhood was organized. In the post-war period, a lot of work was done to find things and documents related to the childhood of the great writer. It was crowned with success, and six years later, on the site of the destroyed house where Gogol was born, a new building was built, in which the literary-memorial museum was located. Today it is considered one of the main attractions of the Great Sorochintsy, and there visitors can see the personal belongings of the writer, his portrait of Repin's work and some rare first editions of books. After visiting the village where Gogol was born (photo below), one can also see the magnificent Transfiguration Church. This majestic temple, built in the early eighteenth century in the style of the Ukrainian Baroque, is notable for the fact that it was there that in 1809 the writer was baptized.

early years

Gogol's parents at the time of his birth lived in his own estate Vasilievka, or Janovschina, located near the village of Dikanka. In total, the collegiate assessor Vasily Gogol-Yanovsky and the noblewoman Maria Kosyarovskaya had twelve children, most of whom died in infancy. The future great writer himself was the third child and the eldest of those who survived to adulthood. The children of Gogol-Yanovsky grew in an atmosphere of village life on a par with peers from peasant families. However, at the same time, the writer's parents were frequent guests in the neighboring estates, and Vasily Gogol-Yanovsky even for a while led the home theater of his distant relative, D. P. Troshchinsky, a retired member of the State Council. Thus, his children were not deprived of cultural entertainment and from a young age adhered to art and literature.

Where did Gogol's adolescence go

When the boy was ten years old, he was sent to Poltava to one of the local teachers who was busy preparing the future writer to enter the Nezhinskaya Gymnasium. If the Great Sorochintsy - the village where Gogol was born, the city of Nizhyn is the place where his adolescent years passed. At the same time, he never forgot about the Great Sorochintsy, as he spent all the holidays there, carelessly indulging in fun in the company of the sisters and children of the peasants.

Studying at a gymnasium

The institution where Gogol's parents identified him for further education was opened in 1820. Its full name sounded like the Nezhin High School. The training there lasted nine years, and only the children of the Little Russian nobles could become pupils. Graduates of the Nezhinskaya Gymnasium, depending on the results of the exams, received the rank of the twelfth or thirteenth grade in the "Table of Ranks". This meant that the certificates issued by this institution were quoted on a par with university diplomas, and their holders were exempted from having to pass additional exams for production to higher ranks.

Judging by the surviving documents, the schoolgirl Nikolai Gogol-Yanovsky was not a diligent student, and he was able to pass the exams, only thanks to the excellent memory that became the talk of the town. In addition, the memories of some teachers and classmates of the future writer were preserved, which testified that he could hardly speak foreign languages, as well as Latin and Greek, but Russian literature and drawing were his favorite disciplines.

Circle of communication while studying at the gymnasium

The question of who influenced the formation of views on the life and character of the future writer is no less important than the information about where Gogol was born. In particular, already at a mature age, he recalled that while studying at the Nezhinskaya Gymnasium together with a group of comrades, he was engaged in self-education with enthusiasm. Among the schoolmates of the writer can be noted Gerasim Vysotsky, Alexander Danilevsky, with whom Gogol was friends for the rest of his life, as well as Nikolai Prokopovich and Nestor Kukolnik. Friends have become accustomed to writing literary almanacs in the fold, and once a month to publish their own gymnasium handwritten journal. And Gogol himself often published his first poems in it and even wrote a historical story and poem for him. In addition, the satyr about Nizhyn wrote a great popularity among the gymnasium students.

The last years of studying at the gymnasium

When Gogol was only fifteen years old, he lost his father, which became an irreparable loss for him. Thus, already at such a young age, he remained the only man in the family (four brothers died in infancy, and another - Ivan - in 1819). Despite this, the writer's mother continued to give away her meager means for her beloved son to graduate from high school, because she considered him genius and believed in his success. For the sake of justice, it must be said that Nicholas took care of her and his sisters until the end of his life, and even renounced the inheritance in order to give them a decent dowry.

As for the aspirations that the young man had in the last years of studying at the gymnasium, he dreamed of public service, and considered literature as a hobby. Meanwhile, in which place Gogol was born, played a very big role in his future career and contributed to a loud debut in the Northern capital.

Trip to St. Petersburg

After leaving the place where he was born, Gogol went to conquer St. Petersburg. There he was not accepted with open arms. At first, Nicholas wanted to try his hand at acting, but the artistic environment rejected the self-confident provincial. As for the civil service, she seemed boring and senseless to him. However, very soon the young man noticed that Little Russia and everything connected with it were extremely interested in St. Petersburg's beau monde, and they listened with pleasure to the works of Little Russian folklore. Thus, everything that came from the places where Gogol was born, the city on the Neva took, as they say, with a bang! Therefore, it is not surprising that the novice writer practically in every letter of the mother asked her to tell about some details of local life or send him old legends that the mother could hear from her peasants or pilgrims making pilgrimage to holy places.

Now you know what to say if you are asked: "Name the place where Gogol was born." Also you can give some details of his biography, relating to childhood and adolescence. And to plunge into the atmosphere of Little Russia, you should visit the village of Velikie Sorochintsy and the city of Mirgorod. Then you will see with your own eyes the famous fair and puddle, which the writer admired, calling her the only one of its kind. It exists even today and even got its own embankment!