Isn't it true that you too, Rus, that a brisk, unbeatable troika are rushing about? Gogol's lyrical digression in the poem “Dead Souls Rus Troika where are you rushing.

Selifan only waved and shouted: “Eh! eh! eh!” - smoothly jumping on the goats, as the troika either took off up the hillock, then rushed in spirit from the hillock, with which the entire high road was strewn, striving with a slightly noticeable roll down. Chichikov only smiled, slightly flying up on his leather cushion, for he liked fast driving. And what Russian does not like to drive fast? Is it his soul, seeking to spin, take a walk, sometimes say: “Damn it all!” Is it possible for his soul not to love her? Is it possible not to love her when something strangely wonderful is heard in her? It seems that an unknown force has taken you on a wing to itself, and you yourself are flying, and everything is flying: miles are flying, merchants are flying towards them on the framing of their wagons, a forest is flying on both sides with dark formations of firs and pines, with a clumsy knock and a crow's cry, flying the whole road, God knows where, into the vanishing distance, and something terrible is contained in this quick flickering, where the vanishing object does not have time to appear - only the sky above the head, and light clouds, and the moon trudging through, alone seem to be motionless. Eh, trio! bird troika, who invented you? to know that you could only be born among a lively people, in that land that does not like to joke, but spread out halfway around the world, and go and count miles until it fills your eyes. And not a cunning, it seems, road projectile, not captured by an iron screw, but hastily, alive with one ax and a chisel, an efficient Yaroslavl peasant equipped and assembled you. The coachman is not in German boots: a beard and mittens, and the devil knows what he sits on; but he got up, and swung, and sang a song - the horses whirlwind, the spokes in the wheels mixed into one smooth circle, only the road trembled, and the pedestrian who stopped screamed in fright - and there she rushed, rushed, rushed! .. And you can already see in the distance, as something dusts and drills the air.

Isn't it true that you too, Rus, that a brisk, unbeatable troika are rushing about? The road smokes under you, the bridges rumble, everything lags behind and is left behind. The contemplative, amazed by God's miracle, stopped: is it not lightning thrown from the sky? what does this terrifying movement mean? and what kind of unknown power lies in these horses unknown to the light? Oh, horses, horses, what horses! Are whirlwinds sitting in your manes? Does a sensitive ear burn in every vein of yours? They heard a familiar song from above, together and at once strained their copper breasts and, almost without touching the ground with their hooves, turned into only elongated lines flying through the air, and all inspired by God rushes! .. Rus', where are you rushing to? Give an answer. Doesn't give an answer. A bell is filled with a wonderful ringing; the air torn to pieces rumbles and becomes the wind; everything that is on earth flies by, and, looking sideways, step aside and give it way to other peoples and states.

"Rus, Rus! I see you from my wonderful
beautiful far away I see you"
"Dead Souls" is an encyclopedic work in terms of the breadth of coverage of vital material. This is an artistic study of the fundamental problems of contemporary public life for the writer. In compositional terms, the main place in the poem is occupied by the image of the landlord and bureaucratic world. But its ideological core is the thought of the tragic fate of the people. This topic is boundless, just as the theme of knowing all of Russia is boundless.

Starting to work on the second volume, Gogol (who was then living abroad) turns to friends with tireless requests to send him materials and books on the history, geography, folklore, ethnography, statistics of Russia, Russian chronicles, and in particular "memories of those characters and faces, with whom someone happened to meet for a lifetime, images of those cases where it smells of Russia.
But the main way to comprehend Russia is the knowledge of the nature of the Russian people.
What, according to Gogol, is the path of this knowledge?
This path is impossible without self-knowledge. As Gogol wrote to Count Alexander Petrovich Tolstoy, “only first find the key to your own soul, when you find it, then with the same key you will unlock the souls of everyone.”
Gogol went through this path in the course of realizing his plan: the knowledge of Russia through the Russian national character, the human soul in general and his own in particular. Russia itself is conceived by Gogol also in development, as well as the national character. The motive of movement, road, path permeates the entire poem. The action develops as Chichikov travels.

“Pushkin found that the plot of Dead Souls was good for me because,” Gogol recalled, “it gives me complete freedom to travel all over Russia with the hero and bring out a wide variety of characters.”
The road in the poem appears, first of all, in its direct, real meaning - these are country roads along which the Chichikovskaya britzka travels - sometimes potholes, sometimes dust, sometimes impassable dirt.

In the famous lyrical digression of the 11th chapter, this road with a rushing chaise inconspicuously turns into a fantastic path along which Rus' flies among other peoples and states. the inscrutable paths of Russian history ("Rus, where are you rushing to, give me an answer? Doesn't give an answer") intersect with the paths of world development. It seems that these are the very roads along which Chichikov wanders. It is symbolic that the illiterate girl Pelageya, who does not know where the right is, where the left, takes Chichikov out of the backwoods of Korobochka, onto the road. So the end of the road, and its goal are unknown to Russia itself, moving no one knows where on some kind of intuition (“it rushes, all inspired by God!”)
So, not only Russia is in motion, development, but also the author himself. His fate is inextricably linked with the fate of the poem and the fate of the country. "Dead Souls" was supposed to solve the riddle of the historical destiny of Russia and the riddle of the life of their author. Hence Gogol's pathetic appeal to Russia: “Rus! What do you want from me? What incomprehensible bond lurks between us? Why do you look like that, and why does everything that is in you turn eyes full of expectation on me?
Rus', the people, their fate... "Living souls" - this must be understood broadly. We are talking about "low-class people" depicted in the poem not close-up in the general panorama of events. But the significance of those few episodes in which people's life is directly depicted is extremely great in the overall system of the work.
The type representing Russia is very diverse. From the young girl Pelageya to the nameless, deceased or fugitive workers of Sobakevich and Plyushkin, who do not act, but are only mentioned in passing, we have before us an extensive gallery of characters, a multi-colored image of folk Russia.
The wide scope of the soul, natural intelligence, craftsmanship, heroic prowess, sensitivity to the word, striking, apt - in this and in many other ways, the true soul of the people is manifested in Gogol. The strength and sharpness of the people's mind was reflected, according to Gogol, in the briskness and accuracy of the Russian word (chapter five); the depth and integrity of the people's feeling is in the sincerity of the Russian song (Chapter Eleven); breadth and generosity of the soul in the brightness, unrestrained fun of folk holidays (chapter seven).

Plastinina N.V. Bird-troika Rus

**********************************************8

Drawing a noisy revelry on the grain pier, Gogol rises to a poetic chanting of folk life: “The gang of barbers is having fun, saying goodbye to mistresses and wives, tall, slender, in monks and ribbons, round dances, songs, the whole square is in full swing.”
The vital force of the people is also emphasized in the unwillingness of the peasants to endure oppression. The murder of the assessor Drobyakin, the exodus from the landowners, the ironic mockery of the "orders" - all these manifestations of popular protest are briefly but persistently mentioned in the poem.
Singing the people and the national character, the writer does not descend to vanity, blindness. And in this precision, the honesty of his gaze lies an active attitude towards Russian life, an energetic, and not contemplative patriotism. Gogol sees how high and good qualities are distorted in the realm of dead souls, how the peasants, driven to despair, perish. The fate of one peasant makes the author exclaim: “Oh, the Russian people! He does not like to die a natural death! The destruction of good inclinations in a person emphasizes how modern life for Gogol, still not abolished serfdom, destroys the people. Against the backdrop of the majestic, boundless expanses of Russia, the lyrical landscapes that permeate the poem, real pictures of life seem especially bitter. “Is it not here, in you, that an infinite thought is born, when you yourself are without end? Is there not a hero to be here when there is a place where to turn around and walk for him? - exclaims Gogol, thinking about the possibilities of the Motherland.
Reflecting on the image of Russia in the poem "Dead Souls", I would draw the following conclusion: discarding all "lyrical moments", this work is an excellent guide to studying Russia at the beginning of the 19th century from the point of view of civil, political, religious, philosophical and economic. No need for thick volumes of historical encyclopedias. All you have to do is read Dead Souls.

UNIVERSITY – FLAERTIANA

Perm State Agricultural Academy

PROGRAM

Rus', where are you going?

Isn't it true that you too, Rus, that a brisk, unbeatable troika are rushing about? The road smokes under you, the bridges rumble, everything lags behind and is left behind. The contemplator, struck by God's miracle, stopped: is it not lightning thrown from the sky? what does this terrifying movement mean? and what kind of unknown power lies in these horses unknown to the light? Oh, horses, horses, what horses! Are whirlwinds sitting in your manes? Does a sensitive ear burn in every vein of yours? They heard a familiar song from above, together and at once strained their copper breasts and, almost without touching the ground with their hooves, turned into only elongated lines flying through the air, and all inspired by God rushes! .. Rus', where are you rushing to? Give an answer. Doesn't give an answer. A bell is filled with a wonderful ringing; the air torn to pieces rumbles and becomes the wind; everything that is on the ground flies past, and, looking askance, step aside and give it way other peoples and states.

N.V. Gogol. Dead Souls

For almost 20 years, there has been no state called the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Infrequently this happens in life: to be born in one country, and come in handy in another. Our generation has experienced such “happiness”. But there is a paradox: there is no such country on the map anymore, but the “Soviet” one remains. Any social system bears the "birthmarks" of past eras. Someday only specialists will be able to detect them: historians, sociologists, economists. Today in Russia, the "Soviet" is experiencing a kind of renaissance. “My address is not a house or a street, My address is the Soviet Union” rushes from the stage, words about the “largest modernization project”, which was the USSR, are heard from the high stands. Films are being made about Soviet leaders, monographs are being published, and monuments to them are being restored in some places. Young people dance to the "hot eighties", and the national anthem itself is half Soviet. How to explain such a return to the USSR? How can the Soviet experience help us today? We seek answers to these questions with you and our experts.

During the post-film discussion, it is proposed to discuss the following questions:

1. What are the reasons for the actualization of historical issues in modern Russia?

2. How should one relate to one's own history?

3. “The less we know the hard truth about our past, the better” (director V. Khotinenko)?

4. Can history help in understanding the present and in foreseeing the future?

5. What inheritance are we giving up?

6. “Russia's past was amazing, its present is more than magnificent, but as for its future, it is higher than anything that the wildest imagination can imagine” (Count A.Kh. Benkendorf)?

7. What roads do we choose?

"Train Arrival"

Russia, 1995, b/w, 35 mm 9 min.

Directed by Andrey Zheleznyakov

Cameraman Yuri Ermolin

Composer Andrey Shonov

The sound of Valentin Starokozhev

Editing by S.Bobrov

A montage about the metaphysical "train of Russian history", which set off from the tsarist era, passed through revolutionary cataclysms, three wars, the times of Stalinism and the "thaw", and finally arrived on the platform of our time. This is a platform of wild primary capitalism, and its geographical position is the Russian-Chinese border.

"USSR - Russia - Transit"

Russia, Yekaterinburg, 2005, color, Beta SP, 52 min.

Directed by Andrey Titov

Cinematographer Egeniy Tsigel

Composer Sergei Sidelnikov

Three provincial men in search of the meaning of life. One sees his spiritual calling in collecting the rarities of a collapsed empire,

the other - in the creation of a landowner's estate, the third - in anticipation of space assistance to earthlings. Everyone wanders in their own way….

Alexander Chernyshev, Senior Lecturer

Department of History and Sociology, PSAA

Preview:

EXAMPLE PROGRAM SCENARIO

FILM “ARRIVAL OF THE TRAIN”

Issues for discussion:

1. Is this a movie about the present or about the past?
2. Does the author give his concept of national history?
3. What is the overall idea of ​​the film?
4. Do the selected frames of the chronicle convey the spirit and character of the time?
5. Are you a passenger on the train of time, where would you like to stop?

“The past of Russia was amazing, its present is more than magnificent, as for its future, it is higher than anything that the wildest imagination can imagine; here, my friend, is the point of view from which Russian history should be considered and written” (Count A.Kh. Benkendorf).

Issues for discussion:

1. How do you feel about our story?
2. What eras in the history of Russia are of particular interest to you?
3. What achievements in the history of Russia, in your opinion, can be proud of?
4. What events in the history of Russia cause you bitterness and shame?
5. "People-winner" or a nation of losers?

“In the population of the Tomsk region, patriotism is mainly manifested in the form of shame for the current state of the country. Less than 10% of the respondents are proud of their people and the past of their country... Most of the population speaks with equal dislike both of the period of perestroika and the Yeltsin era, and of the revolution, the civil war and the era of Stalin. As for the periods of history that cause pride among the people, the era of Peter the Great came to the fore, which cannot be called a period of revival of traditions. In second place is the Great Patriotic War and the post-war years. It is clear that this is nostalgia not so much for traditions as for a strong state capable of building and winning” // Power. 19.03. 2002. S.52-53.

“When we ask our respondents what is the subject of national pride for them, for which you can love your fatherland and its history, all the first places are occupied by facts related to the Soviet period. Victory in the Great Patriotic War, Gagarin's flight into space, achievements in science and technology, great Soviet athletes, artists. Only in the 15th-17th place of achieving perestroika - they are talked about by one and a half - two percent of people. Let's look at age groups. Such pride is shared by 65 percent of the youth to 90 percent of the older generation. That is, we can talk about "general opinion". So when my son puts on a T-shirt that says "USSR", I'm not surprised that he likes it. He knows more about that country than about today's Russia. He knows how strong she was - and this consciousness is not enough for people now. He knows how huge it was - and the citizens want their homeland to be big. He knows that no one has ever allowed himself to offend her on a public level and reproach our veterans with "a piece of roach on a newspaper." When young people hear such statements now, they are offended.”

M. Gorshkov, Director of the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences

According to VTsIOM, almost half of Russians (47%) believe that Russia should not regain the superpower status that the USSR had, but remain among the 10-15 economically developed and politically influential countries in the world. At the same time, 46% are confident that Russia is likely to become a great power in the next 15-20 years. The main conditions for this are: a developed modern economy (55%) and a high level of welfare of citizens (36%). 34% would like to return the status of a superpower, which was the USSR.

1. The question "Who are we?" in film.

Anatoly Shikman, history teacher // Novaya Gazeta. 2006. No. 60. P. 17:

“Even an intelligent schoolboy knows that history is valuable precisely because it allows us to understand how we became what we are, and not as fantasies based on supposedly historical material, the value of which lies only in the fact that they can neither be confirmed nor refuted.

12) Should we be ashamed or proud of our history?

“I think that at the moment we, Russians, need cliotherapy – a sober knowledge of our strengths and weaknesses… Historians can become social doctors. Just as a psychoanalyst saves patients from various complexes that prevent them from living by analyzing their personal history, so historians can save their people from complexes that have formed in the course of national history ... "(B.N. Mironov. "Social History of Russia" ).

13) On what history should the younger generation be educated?

“The less we know the hard truth about our past, the better” (V. Khotinenko)

“Michelangelo called his age shameful, Shakespeare says through the mouth of Hamlet: “The age has been shaken.” The most important thing I learned from my reading of history is that there are no good times in history. There is a myth about a bright past or an illusory hope for a bright future. And the process itself is often a nasty and dirty thing. And you don’t think about it, if you can’t bear it, think better about how to behave in these circumstances, and then you have a chance to maintain dignity regardless of the times that we don’t choose.

V. Kantor, philosopher // Novaya Gazeta. 2006.№2. pp.14-15.

14) Is the Beijing-Moscow train a temporary stop or the "end of history"?

15) Where is the train of Russian history going today?

FILM "USSR - RUSSIA - TRANSIT"

The discussion of the film revolves around the main question:

"What is the story in the life of the characters in the film?"

Konovalov, entrepreneur. Man of the new age?

1. How did the country make money on history and how does Konovalov make money on it? History as part of the interior.
2. “Members of the Central Committee ate from Romanov porcelain. They weren't sick." A story for consumption, buffoonery and sarcasm.
3. The past looks out of the empty eye sockets of the Board of Honor of the socialist competition. The kingdom of heaven to him or is it historical vandalism? History suitable only for scrap metal.
4. The local palace of culture is like a defeated Reichstag. Longing for officialdom and pomposity as symbols of the greatness of the state, which is feared. Again the historical inferiority complex of the nation that lost the Cold War?
5. Konovalov's workers. What is history for them? Reason for freebies to drink and eat.
6. Scene in the museum. Nostalgia against the backdrop of rejection of reality.
7. The privatization of history. History as PR for opening a new bar.

M. Rvachev, in his own words, "landowner". Return from the past?

1) An attempt to really return the past: the estate, the "cherry garden", the church. The model is not modern farming, but a serf landlord economy?

2) Correspondence of the image to the original. Is it close? (Reasoning about the impossibility of re-electing him, as if he himself came to earth, about the key to life, which he supposedly has with him and opens any doors). Russian landowner: who was he in Russian history?

3) The collapse and ruin of the "landowner": the past has remained in the past. "Mikhail Ivanovich repeats the path of the country." Is this path ruins and crows above it?

4) Is the image of the Temple a mirage or is there a road? What else needed to be connected, besides desires?

5) Modern Lopakhins on foreign cars will put an end to modern landlordism?

6) Who is he, Rvachev - an unsuccessful landowner, a farmer or a simple Russian peasant who did not fit into the new Russia?

AFTERWORD TO THE FILMS

“Let's not forget that we live on the legacy that we inherited from the Soviet Union, that we have not done much ourselves yet. Our railways, our pipelines, our housing and communal services, our factories, our nuclear forces are all the legacy of the Soviet Union.”

Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of Russia V. Surkov

It seems to me that the last statement of the assistant to the president of Russia is the key to understanding why we are doomed to constantly return to the Soviet experience, and even to a more distant past. The problem is that today's capitalist Russia does not yet have its own glorious history. Didn't work out! Regarding her absence, V. Surkov laments: “It seems to me that the problem of our generation is that we have not yet made a serious contribution. We are only moving from a policy of stabilization to a policy of development. There is not a single major economic or social achievement that our generation would have made. This must be remembered. The aplomb has already appeared, and the billionaire is already sitting on the billionaire and driving the billionaire and saying: “We are the smartest and understand everything.” Millionaires generally have nowhere to go. People are so proud, as if gunpowder was invented. But they didn't invent anything." A bitter but sincere confession! Until Russia achieves something comparable to the Soviet achievements, such as space flight, we are doomed to nostalgic for the USSR, and even for the Russia that we once lost.

Slides captions:

PROGRAM Rus, where are you rushing to?.. Isn't it true that you, Rus, are rushing about as a brisk, unbeatable trio? The road smokes under you, the bridges rumble, everything lags behind and is left behind. The contemplator, struck by God's miracle, stopped: is it not lightning thrown from the sky? what does this terrifying movement mean? and what kind of unknown power lies in these horses unknown to the light? Oh, horses, horses, what horses! Are whirlwinds sitting in your manes? Does a sensitive ear burn in every vein of yours? They heard a familiar song from above, together and at once strained their copper breasts and, almost without touching the ground with their hooves, turned into only elongated lines flying through the air, and all inspired by God rushes! .. Rus', where are you rushing to? Give an answer. Doesn't give an answer. A bell is filled with a wonderful ringing; the air torn to pieces rumbles and becomes the wind; everything that is on the earth flies past, and, looking askance, step aside and give it way to other peoples and states. N.V. Gogol. Dead Souls

Isn't it true that you too, Rus, that a brisk, unbeatable troika are rushing about? The road smokes under you, the bridges rumble, everything lags behind and is left behind. The contemplative, amazed by God's miracle, stopped: is it not lightning thrown from the sky? what does this terrifying movement mean? and what kind of unknown power lies in these horses unknown to the light? Oh, horses, horses, what horses! Are whirlwinds sitting in your manes? Does a sensitive ear burn in every vein of yours? They heard a familiar song from above, together and at once strained their copper breasts and, almost without touching the ground with their hooves, turned into only elongated lines flying through the air, and all inspired by God rushes! .. Rus', where are you rushing to? Give an answer. Doesn't give an answer. A bell is filled with a wonderful ringing; the air torn to pieces rumbles and becomes the wind; everything that is on earth flies past, and, looking askance, step aside and give it the way other peoples and states ...

Take a glass.
- Got it!
"Now make him fall and see what happens to him."
- Well, he crashed, so what?
- Now ask for forgiveness and see if he becomes whole again ..?

What is behind us and what is ahead of us means so little compared to what is inside of us.

When it becomes very difficult for you, and everything turns against you, and it seems that you have no strength to endure a single minute more, do not retreat for anything: it is at such moments that a turning point in the struggle occurs.

Victory does not give strength. Fight gives strength. If you fight and don't give up, that's strength.

Remember - you, and only you, are responsible for your actions, and it depends only on you whether you can change your life!

You are near, and everything is fine:
And rain and cold wind.
Thank you my clear
For the fact that you are in the world.

Thanks for those lips
Thank you for these hands.
Thank you my love
For the fact that you are in the world.

You are near, but you could
Don't meet each other at all.
My only one, thank you
For the fact that you are in the world!

Fall in love with your wife again
Yes, so that everyone would be envious.
Take the blame
For all the wrinkles and insults.
For the fact that life has passed with you
And never changed.
Raised children, raised
And you have always forgiven your sins.
For a sad look, for gray hair
And for the sad fatigue.
Fall in love with your wife again
As in the one that remained in her youth ...

One brisk journalist, holding a notebook and a pencil, asked Einstein:
- Do you have a notepad or notebook where you write down your great thoughts?
Einstein looked at him and said:
- Young man! Truly great thoughts come to mind so rarely that it is not difficult to remember them.

You got used to her, she loved you.
I didn’t give her gifts and flowers,
Didn't tell her how beautiful she was
And that he is ready for anything for her.

You were busy all the time. Annoyed
When she cared, loving.
And you never even tried
Find out what her soul screams about.

She wanted to be unique
Become the most important thing in life for you,
But again, falling asleep, he sees his back,
And she wants to look into your eyes.

And she so wants warmth and understanding,
A little affection and simple care,
To give her some attention
At least on Sunday and Saturday.

She's behind you, even into the abyss,
And he will not betray in trouble, and will be there.
She wants to be useful to you
Meet from work with dinner and tea.

You don't appreciate her, you don't appreciate her at all.
And you are not afraid to lose at all.
Ah, if you knew how many refused,
To fall asleep next to you ...

You scold children for tricks,
For spilled coffee in the hallway.
...And your childless neighbor,
From relatives - only Siamese cats.

You lecture your husband
What comes so late from work
That the long-cooked dinner has cooled down.
And trying to live until Saturday...

Blockage at work, and of course,
Little pay, do not appreciate, tired.
... And your girlfriend is unsuccessful,
Looking for a place that pays a lot...

You were upset - rain on the weekend,
Or the sun that blinds with rays.
... And in the apartment opposite the blind,
The world is not seen not only at night.

You are dieting every day
Fitting yourself to patterns.
...And your friend, with diabetes
Icons pray for health.

And you cry with your hands
You think the world is worthless.
... It's a pity that wisdom comes with age,
Too bad we don't appreciate it...

An excerpt from the book of the great Ukrainian and Russian writer Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol "Dead Souls":

And what Russian does not like to drive fast? Is it his soul, seeking to spin, take a walk, sometimes say: “Damn everything!” - Is it possible for his soul not to love her? Is it not to love her when something enthusiastic and wonderful is heard in her? It seems that an unknown force has taken you on a wing to itself, and you yourself are flying, and everything is flying: miles are flying, merchants are flying towards them on the wings of their wagons, a forest is flying on both sides with dark formations of firs and pines, with a clumsy knock and a crow's cry, flying the whole road goes nowhere into the vanishing distance, and something terrible is contained in this quick flickering, where the vanishing object does not have time to appear - only the sky above the head, and light clouds, and the trudging moon alone seem to be motionless. Eh, trio! bird troika, who invented you? to know that you could only be born to a lively people, in that land that does not like to joke, but spread out half the world as evenly as possible, and go and count miles until it fills your eyes. And not a cunning, it seems, road projectile, not captured by an iron screw, but hastily, alive with one ax and a hammer, an efficient Yaroslavl peasant equipped and assembled you. The coachman is not in German boots: a beard and mittens, and the devil knows what he sits on; but he got up, and swung, and dragged on the song - the horses whirlwind, the spokes in the wheels mixed into one smooth circle, only the road trembled, and the pedestrian who stopped screamed in fright - and there she rushed, rushed, rushed! .. And you can already see in the distance, as something dusts and drills the air.

Isn't that how you, Rus', that brisk, unbeatable troika, are rushing about? The road smokes under you, the bridges rumble, everything lags behind and is left behind. The contemplator, struck by God's miracle, stopped: is it not lightning thrown from the sky? what does this terrifying movement mean? and what kind of unknown power lies in these horses unknown to the light? Oh, horses, horses, what horses! Are whirlwinds sitting in your manes? Does a sensitive ear burn in every vein of yours? They heard a familiar song from above, unanimously and at once strained their copper breasts and, almost without touching the ground with their hooves, turned into only elongated lines flying through the air, and all inspired by God rushes! .. Rus', where are you rushing to? Give an answer. Doesn't give an answer. A bell is filled with a wonderful ringing; the air torn to pieces rumbles and becomes the wind; everything that is on the earth flies past, and, looking askance, step aside and give it the way other peoples and states.

“For a long time there has not been a writer in the world who would be as important for his people as Gogol is important for Russia.”

(N.G. Chernyshevsky).

“The beautiful soul of the author is visible in the work, his endless longing for the ideal, the sad charm of memories of a past life, a sense of the greatness of Russia.”

(A.I. Herzen).

“Gogol was born in Ukraine, Gogol loved Ukraine, but Gogol was a great Russian writer. He himself spoke about this more than once: “We must think and write in Russian”……

Gogol was a man of genius, a sensitive man. He felt and understood what we cannot understand and feel under the same circumstances.

We often find it strange the definitions that come from the pen of a genius, or his behavior. I can say with full confidence, answering for my words, that Gogol was mentally healthy. Yes, he had serious conditions when, like all people, he fell ill. Of course, he was afraid of death, and this fear of death dictated his will, which is printed in his book. Gogol had, of course, moments when he fell into despondency. But, as a rule, the road saved him from such “diseases”. After all, if a person has some organic damage to the psyche, then he cannot save himself on the road, get into a stagecoach, go - and become healthy, right? But this happened with Gogol. These facts prove once again that he was a healthy person. And these spiritual deviations: deviations of mood, deviations of some feeling that suddenly surging over him, which happen to each of us - this is not a disease, these are the experiences of a living brilliant person who, I repeat, feels and sees stronger than us and further than us.

chairman of the Gogol Foundation).