Description of the video lesson

Nikolay Vasilievich born in Ukraine on March 20, 1809 in the village of Sorochintsy, Mirgorod district. Nikolai was named after him miraculous icon Saint Nicholas. Since the first two children were stillborn, the mother, Maria Ivanovna, who was married off at the age of 14, prayed to God for a healthy child. Nikolai was very weak since childhood. All his life he was afraid that he would be buried during a lethargic sleep. Since 1821, Nikolai studied at the Nizhyn Gymnasium of Higher Sciences. Mom, who wrote letters to him, often retold Ukrainian legends in them. Young Gogol copied them into the “Book of All sorts of things.” Later, in 1831, the writer published a collection of stories in St. Petersburg, “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka,” which made him famous.

But the path to fame was not easy. After graduating from the gymnasium in 1828, where Nikolai organized a theater, was the author of student plays and the main comedic hero, he and a friend set off to conquer St. Petersburg. All his dreams were shattered: Nicholas was expected to serve as a simple official - a scribe of papers. This is how the image of Akaki Akakievich Bashmachkin, the tragic little personality in the story “The Overcoat,” arose. It was published later, in 1841, in the collection “Nevsky Prospect”, and earlier, in 1835, the collection “Mirgorod” was published. The most amazing work was the story “Taras Bulba”. Gogol was always interested in the historical past. For some time he even taught history at the Patriotic Institute. Gifted with artistic talent since childhood, he wrote plays, played leading roles himself, and created historical images. But he was especially gifted, according to his contemporaries, with funny ones.

Here in front of us Taras Bulba, a historical image of an era of constant danger:

“This was one of those characters that could only arise in the difficult 15th century in a semi-nomadic corner of Europe, when all of southern primitive Russia, abandoned by its princes, was devastated, burned to the ground by the indomitable raids of Mongol predators; when, having lost his home and roof, a man became brave here.”

This is a patriot who selflessly loves his homeland, the Zaporozhye Sich for him is a protest against national oppression, an opportunity to manifest a freedom-loving spirit. Zaporozhye Sich is a military republic located beyond the Dnieper rapids, made up of free people who fled the oppression of serfdom and defended Russia from enemies for several centuries. Therefore, it was here that Taras Bulba went, where help was needed not only in defending the Fatherland, but also in establishing Orthodox faith.

The main character had to endure many trials: betrayal youngest son and the execution of the elder. Andria’s father kills with the words: “I gave birth to you, I will kill you.” He cannot forgive his beloved son for betraying his homeland for the sake of love for a Polish girl. The feeling of camaraderie is sacred to the hero:

“There were comrades in other lands, but there were no such comrades as in the Russian land. You haven't been the only one to disappear for a long time in a foreign land; you see - there are people there too! Also man of God, and you will talk to him as if you were your own; and when it comes to telling the heartfelt word, you see: no, smart people, but not those; the same people, but not the same!
No, brothers, to love like a Russian soul - to love not just with your mind or anything else, but with everything that God has given, whatever is in you...
“No, no one can love like that!”

As a father and comrade, Taras Bulba supports Ostap during the execution with approving words. Tied to a tree, devoured by fire, he thinks only of his comrades, trying to shout to them, to tell them the safe way.

In his story Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol presented bright characters embodying the strongest national traits. The writer did not strive to describe a plausible story; the main thing for him was to create a generalized image of the people's heroes of the liberation movement in Ukraine. The exponents of patriotism are Taras Bulba, Ostap and other Cossacks - free and courageous people who are united by love, loyalty to the Motherland and a sense of camaraderie.

IN last years Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol lived mostly abroad due to poor health, but returned to his homeland at the first opportunity. Sick and old, he died on February 17, 1852, the cause of death is still unknown. "I know, - said great writer, — that my name after me will be happier than me.”

What works of Gogol are dedicated to historical topics? Gogol himself carefully studied history and gave lectures on history. Tell us about one of the writer’s works that is thematically related to the history of Ukraine or Russia.

Answer

The story “Taras Bulba” is entirely devoted to the historical theme. In “Evenings...” there are historical motives - descriptions of Vakula’s flight to St. Petersburg during the time of Catherine II, but in general it would be wrong to call “Evenings...” a work on a historical theme.

“Taras Bulba” is included in the collection written by Gogol after “Evenings...”. — “Mirgorod” (1835).

IN early XIX centuries, European and Russian readers were amazed by the novels of Walter Scott. Russian society I doubted: is it possible to create such a work based on Russian history? Gogol proved that this was possible, but did not become another Walter Scott: he created a unique work based on historical material.

N.V. Gogol was seriously engaged in history while working on the story. read chronicles and historical acts. But in the story he did not describe specific historical events and fights. in which Cossacks participated in the 15th-17th centuries. Another thing was important to him: to convey the living spirit of that rebellious time, how this spirit was conveyed folk songs, performed by bandura players traveling around Ukraine. In the article “On Little Russian Songs” (published in “Arabesques”), Gogol wrote: “The historian should not look in them for indications of the day and date of the battle or an accurate explanation of the place, the correct relation: in this regard, few songs will help him. But when he wants to know the true way of life, the elements of character, all the twists and shades of feelings, worries, sufferings, joys of the depicted people, when he wants to experience the spirit last century... then he will be completely satisfied; the history of the people will be revealed before him in clear grandeur.”

One of the ancient meanings of the noun “cut” is a fence, a blockage of trees that served as a fortification. From the name of such a fortification came the name of the center of the organization of Ukrainian Cossacks: Zaporozhye Sich. The main fortification of the Cossacks was located beyond the Dnieper rapids, often on the island of Khortytsia, which is now located within the city of Zaporozhye. The island is large in area, its shores are rocky, steep, in some places about forty meters high. Khortytsia was the center of the Cossacks.

Zaporozhye Sich is an organization of Ukrainian Cossacks that arose in the 16th century. When the Tatars ravaged Kievan Rus, the northern territories began to unite under the rule of the Moscow princes. The Kyiv and Chernigov princes were killed in fierce battles, and the central lands of the former Kievan Rus were left without power. The Tatars continued to ravage the rich lands, later they were joined by the Ottoman Empire, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and then Poland. The inhabitants who inhabited these lands, unlike the Tatars, Muslim Turks and Catholic Poles, professed Orthodoxy. They sought to unite and protect their land from the attacks of predatory neighbors. In this struggle, the Ukrainian nation took shape in the central lands of the former Kievan Rus.

The Zaporizhian Sich was not a state organization. It was created for military purposes. Until 1654, that is, before the reunification of Ukraine with Russia, the Sich was a Cossack “republic”: the main issues were resolved by the Sich Rada. The Sich was headed by the Koshevoy Ataman and was divided into kuren (kuren - a military unit and its living quarters). IN different times there were up to thirty-eight kurens. The Sich waged war with the Crimean Khan, Ottoman Empire and the Polish-Ukrainian authorities.

The folk character of the story was manifested in the fact that its theme was the story of the Cossack Taras Bulba and his sons; many scenes of the story are close in content to Ukrainian folk historical songs; The heroes of the story are Cossacks who defend the independence of their native land from Polish rule.

When reading some episodes (descriptions of battles), one gets the impression that this is not a prosaic text, but a heroic song performed by folk storytellers.

Gogol creates the image of a narrator - a storyteller who seems to experience, together with the heroes, all the changes during the battle and on whose behalf regrets and exclamations are heard: “Cossacks, Cossacks! don’t give away the best color of your army!” It would be wrong to consider these lines as statements on behalf of the author.

Gogol gives the Cossack heroes a resemblance to epic heroes: the Cossacks fight for native land, for the Christian faith, and the author describes their exploits in an epic style: “As hail suddenly knocks out the entire field, where every ear of corn stood out like a full-sized piece of gold, so they were knocked out and laid down”; “Where the Nezamainovites passed, that’s where the street is, and where they turned, that’s where the alley is!” You can see how the ranks thinned and the Poles fell in sheaves!” “And that’s how they fought! Both the shoulder pads and the mirrors were bent from the blows.”

The scene of the second battle is given a folkloric character by the triple exclamation of Taras Bulba, the ataman of the punishment: “Is there still gunpowder in the flasks? Has the Cossack strength weakened? Are the Cossacks bending? The Cossacks answer him: “There is more, dad. gunpowder in the flasks."

“Be patient, Cossack, and you will become an ataman!” - Taras Bulba addresses these words to Andriy, who was “visibly bored” during the siege of the city of Dubna.

“What, son, did your Poles help you?” - Taras says to Andriy, who betrayed the Cossacks.

All these expressions have become aphorisms in our time. We say the first when we talk about the high moral spirit of people; second, when we encourage someone to endure a little in order to achieve a big goal; the third we will turn to the traitor who was not helped by his new patrons.

Taras Bulba - main character stories. The author describes Taras this way: “Bulba jumped on his Devil, who stepped back furiously, feeling a twenty-pound burden on himself, because Bulba was extremely heavy and fat.” He is a Cossack, but not a simple Cossack, but a colonel: “Taras was one of the indigenous, old colonels: he was all created for abusive alarm and was distinguished by the rough directness of his character. Then the influence of Poland was already beginning to exert itself on the Russian nobility. Many had already adopted Polish customs, had luxury, magnificent servants, falcons, hunters, dinners, courtyards. Taras did not like this. He loved the simple life of the Cossacks and quarreled with those of his comrades who were inclined to the Warsaw side, calling them slaves of the Polish lords. Restless forever; he considered himself the legitimate defender of Orthodoxy."

At the beginning we meet him on his own farm, where he lives in a house with his wife and servants. His house is simple, decorated “in the taste of that time.” However, Taras Bulba spends most of his life in the Sich or in military campaigns against the Turks and Poles. He calls his wife “old” and treats with contempt any manifestations of feelings other than courage and daring. He says to his sons: “Your tenderness is an open field and a good horse: here is your tenderness! See this saber! here is your mother!

Taras Bulba feels like a free Cossack and behaves as his ideas about a free life dictate: after getting drunk, he breaks dishes in the house; without thinking about his wife, he decides the very next day after his sons arrive to take them to the Sich; at will, he unnecessarily begins to incite the Cossacks to go on a campaign.

The main values ​​in his life are the struggle for the Christian faith and comradeship, the highest rating is “good Cossack.” He builds his attitude towards his sons on this basis: he admires the actions of Ostap, who was elected ataman, and kills Andria, who betrayed the Cossacks.

The Cossacks value Taras, respect him as a commander, and after the division of the Cossack army they choose him as “punishment chieftain.” The character and views of Taras are most clearly revealed when before the battle he gives a speech about comradeship, when he encourages the Cossacks to fight and rushes to the aid of his son Ostap. At the tragic moment of Ostap’s execution, he finds the opportunity to help him, to lift his spirit, answering him: “I hear!” And then, when the Poles decide to burn him, he tries to help his comrades who got out of the encirclement, shouting for them to take the canoes and escape from pursuit.

Talking about the life and death of Taras Bulba, the author reveals his main idea: it was these people who defended the independence of the Russian land, and their main strength was love for their land and faith in the camaraderie, the brotherhood of the Cossacks.

Ostap and Andrey are the two sons of Taras Bulba. With each episode, their characters are drawn more and more clearly, and we see a difference between the sons that we had not noticed before.

Antithesis is the main compositional device of Taras Bulba. First, the author contrasts the fate of an unhappy woman and the cruel age that shapes the rude characters of men, while the brothers are described almost identically, only the difference in their characters is slightly outlined. In the second chapter this difference becomes clearer greater strength when describing the life of the brothers in the bursa. Bursa is the name of a theological school or seminary. Bursa graduates usually became priests. Gogol does not emphasize this, but we remember that the main subject that was studied in the bursa was the Law of God.

The author tells us about the brothers from the point of view of Taras Bulba. The father is proud of his eldest son. “Ostap, it seemed, was destined for the path of battle and the difficult knowledge of carrying out military affairs.” Composure, confidence, prudence, the inclinations of a leader - these are the qualities that Taras rejoices in displaying. Ostap seems to merge with the mass of the Cossacks, standing out from it only high degree qualities respected by the Cossacks.

Andriy's insane courage is contrasted with the composure and reasonable actions of his brother. This is a man of the elements; for him, war is full of “the charming music of bullets and swords,” he is under the spell romantic halo fighting for a just cause and probably does not realize that he is sowing death.

It is very important to understand that the tendency to introspection, to reflect on one’s feelings, on the motives of one’s own actions, is in many ways an achievement of the 19th and 20th centuries. Nowadays, people spend a long time and consciously developing the ability to understand themselves and manage their feelings. At the time described in the story, people did not analyze their feelings: the ray of reason was directed outward, as, for example, with Ostap, and not inward. It was not the person who controlled his feeling, but the feeling that controlled the person and captured him completely. The person became like a slave to his impulse, not understanding what made him change his behavior.

Ostap was kept by his composure and tradition. Andriy was not cold-blooded: his emotionality, hot temper, explosive, choleric temperament, as psychologists would say, dictated a different line of behavior for him.

When the army surrounded the city and a long siege began, the Tatar woman conveyed the lady’s request for a piece of bread for her old mother: “... because I don’t want to see my mother die in my presence. It’s better that I come first and she comes after me.”

Compassion, sympathy, pity, love - those feelings that are blessed by the Gospel. Andriy swears on the holy cross that he will not reveal the secret of the existence of the underground passage.

What did the Cossacks fight for? - complex issue.

Let us remember the words of one of the Cossack messengers: “It’s such a time now that the holy churches are no longer ours.” The Cossacks went to Poland to “avenge all the evil and disgrace of faith and Cossack glory, to collect booty from the cities, to set fire to villages and grain crops and spread their fame far across the steppe.” The main commandment of Christ is “thou shalt not kill.” The Lord teaches mercy and compassion. The war turns towards Andriy not with a romantic, but with a cruel, predatory side.

Andriy sees the Cossacks carelessly sleeping, having eaten at one time such an amount of porridge that would be enough for “a good three times,” and people dying of starvation. And indignation, protest against this side of the war fills his heart. Just as before he was completely overwhelmed by the intoxication of battle, so now his soul is captured by compassion, pity and love. The picture of the world in the hero’s mind has completely changed. Andriy, as in a battle, cannot stop to understand what he is experiencing, and the entire flow of his experiences and sensations pours out into a ready-made, familiar form - the form of love passion.

When Taras kills Andriy, he stands in front of his father without moving. What is going on in his soul? Two opposing pictures of the world - with completely different, incompatible values ​​- stand before his eyes. He can no longer choose the first, choosing the second means raising his hand against his father, but Andriy cannot do this either and dies by his hand.

Interesting statement by V.G. Belinsky about Taras Bulba. The critic called Gogol's story "a poem about love for the motherland." This is certainly true, but we must understand that love for one’s homeland has different meanings. historical time takes on different forms.

Once it was war and battles, once it was peaceful construction, economic development, improvement government structure, development of the arts.

Gogol's interest in historical topics(from the life of the European Middle Ages the author had an already unfinished drama “Alfred”) in the story “Taras Bulba” (1835) - this is no longer a mythologization of the past, which was a priority phenomenon not only in folklore works, but mainly in the literature of romanticism. Actually, the historicism of “Taras Bulba” is only in the heroic and pathetic reproduction of the past, in the perception of that romanticism that did not mythologize the tragic past, did not contrast artistic truth with historical truth, approaching a realistic understanding of reality: myth as an aesthetic category was inferior to typification - both images and circumstances.

Main character story Taras Bulba (this figure embodies best features uncompromising people's leaders of national liberation competitions of the first half of the 17th century. - Taras Shaky, Ostryanitsy, Pavlyuk, etc.) - not just national hero, but a representative of national life in the corresponding era with a certain socio-political and spiritual orientation. Historical story Gogol, despite the brief condensation of events, the clear definition of the main storyline, an epic work, primarily due to the scale of the artistic understanding of human destinies or a specific personality against the backdrop of a clash between the individual and the national, ideological, peacemaking and spiritual-ethical conflicts in the choice of faith and socio-moral foundations.

The problem of feelings and duties is ambiguous in solution from the point of view of various moral and civil imperatives over many eras (it is in folklore, philosophical, religious treatises, in the works of world classics: V. Hugo, M. Lermontov, T. Shevchenko, G. Staritsky, F. Dostoevsky, revolutionary and post-revolutionary literature - Yu. Yanovsky, B. Lavrenev, G. Kulish, I. Dneprovsky, etc.). In Gogol’s “Taras Bulba” it is decided unambiguously and uncompromisingly: a world dominated by the spirit of the evil one, a world of union and apostasy from the original roots of the faith, brings spiritual and moral devastation and destruction to the Russian people. (“Russian” for the writer is his own Russian, which is associated in the minds of the author, characters, readers with the word “Orthodox”: the key reason for the national liberation movement is the defense of faith and social justice), and therefore betrayal even in the name of the highest manifestations human feelings has to be punished. The punishing right hand of the father regarding the apostate son in “Taras Bulba” is the awareness of the punishing right hand God's Judgment over trampling faith and the highest truth in the name of egocentrism, selfishness, selfish interests.

The entire reception ceremony at the Sich boiled down, first of all, to belonging to the faith, to the conscious defense of the Orthodox faith as a spiritual support, without which the existence of nations is not possible (today’s unprincipled and ideological democracy, which is actually implicated in alien, pseudo-spiritual concepts, is about this would know), people, families.

* "- Hello! What, do you believe in Christ?
* -I believe! - answered the parishioner.
* -And do you believe in the Holy Trinity?
* -I believe!
* -And do you go to church? I'm walking!
* -Come on, cross yourself! The newcomer was baptized.
* “Well, okay,” answered the Koschevoi.

* - go to the smoking room.

This ended the whole ceremony. And the entire Sich prayed in one church and was ready to defend it to the last drop of blood...” It is characteristic that the concepts of “Russian” and “Orthodox” in Gogol are identical (the word “Ukrainian” was not used even later in the work of T. Shevchenko), and Cossack Ukraine was associated with the region, which was a stronghold of faith and freedom, while the Cossacks themselves were nowhere in no way oppose the Moscow Movement - they fight against the Poles, Turks, Tatars as eternal enslavers (today’s efforts to make adjustments to history, to force it, work not just against the classics - Gogol or Shevchenko - but against the people themselves as the main bearer historical memory).

Orthodoxy itself, according to Gogol, is a faith that unites and shows solidarity, is a kind of alternative to individualism, greed, egocentrism, and thereby opposes alien (primarily Western) values ​​to the Russian soul.

Words of Colonel Taras about the brotherhood and solidarity of the Zaporozhye army. “I would like to tell you, gentlemen, what our comradeship is... There were comrades in other lands, but there were no such comrades as on the Russian land...” They express not only pride in those eternal moral foundations on which love rests , family, clan, Fatherland, but also pain for the future, since foreign values, worship of mammon, greed, debauchery, which will primarily contribute to enslavement, are instilled in the Christian population human souls and families in general: “I know, a vile thing has now begun on our land; They only think that they should have stacks of grain, stacks of grain, and horse herds of them, so that their honey would be sealed in the cellars.

They adopt God knows what infidel customs; they abhor their tongue; he doesn’t want his own with his own, he says; He sells his own, just as a soulless creature is sold at the trade market. The mercy of a foreign king, and not a king, but the vile mercy of a Polish magnate, who hits them in the face with his yellow shoe, is dearer to them than any brotherhood...”

As we see, the author’s thoughts, put into the mouth of the Cossack winner Taras (defender of sacred values), are aimed not only at his contemporaries, fixated on dubious earthly lures, on admiration for other people’s “mercies”. (Later, T.G. Shevchenko will brilliantly debunk his “fellow intellectuals” for preventing foreign temptations in the immortal “Message...”), and also to future generations: today’s, in its own way tragic, information war is an irrefutable confirmation of this.

I would like to point out that it was precisely those sacred values ​​that Gogol’s Taras Bulba proclaimed that saved our people in the bloody twentieth century, in particular during the Second World War, since, contrary to the foreign ideology imposed by Marxists, the people identified the basic postulates of communism with national Christian foundations. The anonymous authors of the famous modern best-selling book “Project Russia” rightly note that communism fulfilled the role of Orthodoxy without God, just as, say, today’s capitalism is Protestantism without God (at the heart of Protestant theories, luck in getting rich is considered God’s chosenness.)

The words of Colonel Taras that “there is no bond holier than comradeship” define the solidarity and spiritual foundations of the Russian people. Actually, that on which the state monolith of the once powerful Movement could rest. ("...What an honor our land was: it let the Greeks know about itself, and took chervonets from Constantinople, and took magnificent cities, and temples, and princes. Princes of the Russian family, their prince, and not Catholic “mistrusters,” and then fragmented and plundered by foreign expansions: “The Busurmans took everything, everything was lost.”

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol is a classic, known to each of us from school times. He is a brilliant writer and talented publicist, in whose work interest continues to this day. In this article we will turn to what Gogol managed to write during his short life. The list of the author’s works inspires respect, let’s consider it in more detail.

About creativity

The entire work of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol is a single inextricable whole, united by the same themes, motives and ideas. Lively, bright style, unique style, knowledge of the characters found among the Russian people - this is what Gogol is so famous for. The list of the author’s works is very diverse: there are sketches from the life of farmers, and descriptions of landowners with their vices, the characters of serfs are widely represented, the life of the capital and the county town is shown. Truly, Gogol describes the whole picture of Russian reality of his time, without making distinctions between classes and geographical location.

Gogol: list of works

Let us list the main works of the writer. For convenience, the stories are combined into cycles:

• the cycle “Mirgorod”, which includes the story “Taras Bulba”;
• "Petersburg Tales" includes the story "The Overcoat";
• the cycle “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka”, which includes one of Gogol’s most famous works - “The Night Before Christmas”;
• play "The Inspector General";
• the “Arabesques” cycle, which stands out strikingly from everything written by the author, as it combines journalism and artistry;
• poem "Dead Souls".

Now let’s take a closer look at the key works in the writer’s work.

Cycle “Evenings on a farm near Dikanka”

This cycle became Nikolai Vasilyevich and was published in two parts. The first was published in 1831, and the second only a year later.

The stories in this collection describe stories from the life of farmers that occurred in different time periods, for example, the action of “May Night” takes place in the 18th century, and “Terrible Vengeance” - in the 17th century. All works are united by the image of a storyteller - Uncle Foma Grigorievich, who retells stories he once heard.

The most famous story in this series is “The Night Before Christmas,” written in 1830. Its actions take place during the reign of Catherine II in Ukraine, in the village of Dikanka. The story is completely consistent with the romantic tradition with its mystical elements and extraordinary situations.

"Inspector"

This play is considered the most famous work Gogol. This is due to the fact that from the moment it was first staged in the theater (1836), it has not left the theater stage to this day, not only in our country, but also abroad. This work became a reflection of the vices, arbitrariness and limitations of county officials. This is exactly how Gogol saw provincial towns. It is impossible to compile a list of the author's works without mentioning this play.

Despite the social and moral implications and criticism of autocracy, which are clearly visible under the guise of humor, the play was not banned either during the author’s lifetime or later. And its success can be explained by the fact that Gogol managed to unusually accurately and accurately portray the vicious representatives of his time, who, unfortunately, are still encountered today.

"Petersburg Tales"

Gogol's stories included in this collection were written at different times - from about the 30s to the 40s of the 19th century. Unites them common place actions - St. Petersburg. The uniqueness of this collection lies in the fact that all the stories included in it are written in the spirit of fantastic realism. It was Gogol who managed to develop this method and so brilliantly implement it in his cycle.

What is it? This is a method that allows you to use the techniques of the grotesque and fantasy in depicting reality, while maintaining the topicality and recognition of the images. So, despite the absurdity of what is happening, the reader easily recognizes in the image of the fictional Petersburg the features of the real Northern Palmyra.

In addition, one way or another, the hero of each work in the cycle is the city itself. Petersburg, in Gogol’s view, acts as a force that destroys man. This destruction can occur on a physical or spiritual level. A person can die, lose his individuality and turn into a simple man in the street.

"Overcoat"

This work is included in the collection “Petersburg Tales”. At the center of the story this time is Akakiy Akakievich Bashmachkin, a minor official. About life and dreams " little man"N.V. Gogol tells in this work. The overcoat is the ultimate desire of the protagonist. But gradually this thing grows, becomes larger than the character himself and ultimately consumes him.

A certain mystical connection is formed between Bashmachkin and the overcoat. The hero seems to give part of his soul to this piece of clothing. That is why Akakiy Akakievich dies a few days after the disappearance of the overcoat. After all, along with her, he lost a part of himself.

The main problem of the story is the harmful dependence of people on things. The subject has become the determining factor in judging a person, and not his personality - this is the horror of the surrounding reality, according to Gogol.

Poem "Dead Souls"

Initially, according to the author's plan, the poem was supposed to be divided into three parts. The first describes a kind of “hell” of reality. In the second - “purgatory”, when the hero had to realize his sins and take the path of repentance. In the third - “paradise”, the rebirth of the character.

At the center of the story is the former customs official Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov. This gentleman dreamed of only one thing all his life - to earn a fortune. And now, in order to fulfill his dream, he embarked on an adventure. Its meaning was to buy up dead peasants who were listed as alive according to the last census. Having obtained a certain number of such souls, he could borrow a decent amount from the state and go with it somewhere to warmer climes.

The first and single volume"Dead Souls".

The story “Taras Bulba” is entirely devoted to the historical theme. In “Evenings...” there are historical motives - descriptions of Vakula’s flight to St. Petersburg during the time of Catherine II, but in general it would be wrong to call “Evenings...” a work on a historical theme.
“Taras Bulba” is included in the collection written by Gogol after “Evenings...”. - “Mirgorod” (1835).
At the beginning of the 19th century, European and Russian readers were amazed by the novels of Walter Scott. Russian society doubted: is it possible to create such a work based on the material of Russian history? Gogol proved that this was possible, but did not become the second Walter Scott: he created unique work based on historical material.
N.V. While working on the story, Gogol seriously studied history, read chronicles and historical acts. But in the story he did not describe specific historical events and battles in which the Cossacks participated in the XV-XV1I centuries. Another thing was important to him: to convey the living spirit of that rebellious time, as the folk songs performed by bandura players traveling around Ukraine conveyed this spirit. In the article “On Little Russian Songs” (published in “Arabesques”), Gogol wrote: “The historian should not look for in them indications of the day and date of the battle or an exact explanation of the place, the correct relation: in this regard, few songs will help him. But when he wants to know the true way of life, the elements of character, all the twists and shades of feelings, worries, sufferings, joys of the people depicted, when he wants to experience the spirit of the past century... then he will be completely satisfied; the history of the people will be revealed before him in clear grandeur.”
One of the ancient meanings of the noun “cut” is a fence, a blockage of trees that served as a fortification. From the name of such a fortification came the name of the center of the organization of Ukrainian Cossacks: Zaporozhye Sich. The main fortification of the Cossacks was located beyond the Dnieper rapids, often on the island of Khortytsia, which is now located within the city of Zaporozhye. The island is large in area, its shores are rocky, steep, in some places about forty meters high. Khortytsia was the center of the Cossacks.
Zaporozhye Sich is an organization of Ukrainian Cossacks that arose in the 16th century. When the Tatars ravaged Kievan Rus, the northern territories began to unite under the rule of the Moscow princes. The Kyiv and Chernigov princes were killed in fierce battles, and the central lands of the former Kievan Rus were left without power. The Tatars continued to ravage the rich lands, later they were joined by the Ottoman Empire, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and then Poland. The inhabitants who inhabited these lands, unlike the Tatars, Muslim Turks and Catholic Poles, professed Orthodoxy. They sought to unite and protect their land from the attacks of predatory neighbors. In this struggle, the Ukrainian nation took shape in the central lands of the former Kievan Rus.
The Zaporizhian Sich was not a state organization. It was created for military purposes. Until 1654, that is, before the reunification of Ukraine with Russia, the Sich was a Cossack “republic”: the main issues were resolved by the Sich Rada. The Sich was headed by the Koshevoy Ataman and was divided into kurens (kuren - a military unit and its living quarters). At different times there were up to thirty-eight kurens.
The Sich waged war with the Crimean Khan, the Ottoman Empire and the Polish-Ukrainian authorities.
The folk character of the story was manifested in the fact that its theme was the story of the Cossack Taras Bulba and his sons; many scenes of the story are close in content to Ukrainian folk historical songs; The heroes of the story are Cossacks who defend the independence of their native land from Polish rule.
When reading some episodes (descriptions of battles), one gets the impression that this is not a prosaic text, but a heroic song performed by folk storytellers.
Gogol creates the image of a narrator - a storyteller who seems to experience, together with the heroes, all the changes during the battle and on whose behalf regrets and exclamations are heard: “Cossacks, Cossacks! don’t give away the best color of your army!” It would be wrong to consider these lines as statements on behalf of the author.
Gogol gives the Cossack heroes a resemblance to epic heroes: Cossacks are fighting for their native land, for Christian faith, and the author describes their exploits in an epic style: “As hail suddenly knocks out the entire field, where every ear of corn stood out like a full-sized piece of gold, so they were knocked out and laid down”; “Where the Nezamainovites passed, there is a street; where they turned, there is an alley! You can see how the ranks thinned and the Poles fell in sheaves!” “And that’s how they fought! Both the shoulder pads and the mirrors were bent from the blows.”
The scene of the second battle is given a folkloric character by the triple exclamation of Taras Bulba, the ataman of the punishment: “Is there still gunpowder in the flasks? Has the Cossack strength weakened? Aren’t the Cossacks bending?” The Cossacks answer him: “There is still gunpowder in the flasks, dad.”
“Be patient, Cossack, you will become an ataman!” - Taras Bulba addresses these words to Andriy, who was “visibly bored” during the siege of the city of Dubno.
“What, son, did your Poles help you?” says Taras to Andriy, who betrayed the Cossacks.
All these expressions have become aphorisms in our time. We say the first when we talk about the high moral spirit of people; second - when we encourage someone to endure a little in order to achieve a big goal; the third we will turn to the traitor who was not helped by his new patrons.
Taras Bulba is the main character of the story. The author describes Taras this way: “Bulba jumped on his Devil, who stepped back furiously, feeling a twenty-pound burden on himself, because Bulba was extremely heavy and fat.” He is a Cossack, but not a simple Cossack, but a colonel: “Taras was one of the indigenous, old colonels: he was all created for abusive alarm and was distinguished by the rough directness of his character. Then the influence of Poland was already beginning to exert itself on the Russian nobility. Many had already adopted Polish customs, had luxury, magnificent servants, falcons, hunters, dinners, courtyards. Taras did not like this. He loved simple life Kozakov quarreled with those of his comrades who were inclined to the Warsaw side, calling them slaves of the Polish lords. Restless forever, he considered himself the legitimate defender of Orthodoxy.
At the beginning we meet him on his own farm, where he lives in a house with his wife and servants. His house is simple, decorated “in the taste of that time.” However, Taras Bulba spends most of his life in the Sich or in military campaigns against the Turks and Poles. He calls his wife “old” and treats with contempt any manifestations of feelings other than courage and daring. He says to his sons: “Your tenderness is an open field and a good horse: here is your tenderness! See this saber! here is your mother!
Taras Bulba feels like a free Cossack and behaves as his ideas about a free life dictate: after getting drunk, he breaks dishes in the house; without thinking about his wife, he decides the very next day after his sons arrive to take them to the Sich; at will, he unnecessarily begins to incite the Cossacks to go on a campaign