November 03, 2021

Gogol in the Middle


Gogol in the Middle
Gogol isn't taking well to this dispute | Alexey Komarov on Flickr

Ex-deputy Irina Farion of the Verkhovna Rada, or Supreme Council, of Ukraine claimed on October 30 that celebrated Ukrainian-born writer Nikolai Gogol lost his mind because of the Russian language.

Gogol is known for his absurdist writing, portraying the contradictions and hypocrisies of subjects ranging from bureaucrats and the aristocracy to the Russian middle class and serfdom. “This is a very tragic person in our culture. That's why he lost his mind, that's why he turned over in his grave. Because there was a contradiction between form and content. He thought in Ukrainian, but wrote in Russian,” Irina said in a YouTube video on the Island channel. She stated that Gogol irritates her “at the genetic level” because she could not comprehend why he wrote in Russian.

The dispute over Gogol's identity hearkens back to at least 2009, the 200th anniversary of Gogol’s birth. The disagreement between Russia and Ukraine centered on his nationality, as Ukraine was a part of Tsarist Russia at the time of his birth. Gogol spent his younger years in Ukraine and moved to St. Petersburg at age 19.

In 2009, Russia opened its first Gogol Museum, and Ukraine responded with a festival in Poltava, the writer’s home region. Russian Gogol scholar Igor Zolotussky said at the time that Gogol was assuredly one hundred percent Russian, undisputed because “there is no such thing as a separate Ukrainian national identity" (!).

Ukrainian novelist and MP Vladimir Yavorivsky, on the other hand, refused to “divide” Gogol, which is like “trying to divide air, eternity, or the sky.” The language he used may have been Russian, he said, but “his writing was full of the imagery and thinking of Ukrainian songs and folklore.”

Imagery like large dancing noses, of course. Check it out!

 

You Might Also Like

A Gogol for the 20th Century
  • March 01, 2003

A Gogol for the 20th Century

Nikolai Zabolotsky is one of the greatest Russian poets of modern times. Yet few outside Russia know his name.
Gogol
  • April 01, 1999

Gogol

Nikolai Vassiliyevich Gogol was born, appropriately for a satirist, on April 1, 1809, in the Poltava Gubernia of Maloros (“Little Russia,” later officially named Ukraine).
Gogol on the Rocks
  • January 01, 2016

Gogol on the Rocks

Nikolai Gogol was born in Ukraine and is revered in his homeland. So why is the house where he lived in Odessa in such disrepair, and will anything ever be done about it?
Nabokov on Gogol
  • April 01, 1999

Nabokov on Gogol

Comparing the two authors, who stand as literary bookends for the 20th century.
Happy Birthday, Gogol and Olesha!
  • March 19, 2016

Happy Birthday, Gogol and Olesha!

Two writers, two different centuries, one number in common. Actually, Yuri Olesha and Nikolai Gogol have more in common than you think!
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Survival Russian

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.
Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

This astonishingly gripping autobiography by the founder of the Russian Women’s Death Battallion in World War I is an eye-opening documentary of life before, during and after the Bolshevik Revolution.
Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.
Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.
The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

This exciting new trilogy by a Russian author – who has been compared to Orhan Pamuk and Umberto Eco – vividly recreates a lost world, yet its passions and characters are entirely relevant to the present day. Full of mystery, memorable characters, and non-stop adventure, The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas is a must read for lovers of historical fiction and international thrillers.  
Driving Down Russia's Spine

Driving Down Russia's Spine

The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 
Fearful Majesty

Fearful Majesty

This acclaimed biography of one of Russia’s most important and tyrannical rulers is not only a rich, readable biography, it is also surprisingly timely, revealing how many of the issues Russia faces today have their roots in Ivan’s reign.
Murder at the Dacha

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.
Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Bilingual series of short, lesser known, but highly significant works that show the traditional view of Dostoyevsky as a dour, intense, philosophical writer to be unnecessarily one-sided. 
Jews in Service to the Tsar

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.
The Samovar Murders

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955