Editing Nikolai Gogol (section)

==Literary development==
[[Image:Nikolai Gogol - Revizor cover (1836).jpg|upright|thumb|Cover of the first edition of ''[[The Government Inspector]]'' (1836)]]

His stay in St. Petersburg forced Gogol to make a certain decision regarding his self-identification. It was a period of turmoil; the [[November Uprising]] in the lands of the former [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth|Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth]] led to a rise of [[Russian nationalism]].{{Sfn|Bojanowska|2012|p=160}} Initially, Gogol used the surname Gogol-Ianovskii, but it soon became inconvenient. At first he tried to shorten it to the Russian-sounding "Ianov", but in the second half of 1830 he abandoned the Polish part of his surname altogether.{{Sfn|Bojanowska|2012|p=160}} He even admonished his mother in a letter to address him only as "Gogol", as Poles had become "suspect" in St. Petersburg.{{Sfn|Bojanowska|2012|p=160}} Tsarist authorities encouraged the Ukrainian intellectuals to sever ties with the Poles, promoting a limited, folkloric Ukrainian particularism as part of the heritage of the Russian empire.{{Sfn|Bojanowska|2012|p=160}}

In 1831, the first volume of Gogol's Ukrainian stories (''[[Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka]]'') was published under a pen name "Rudy Panko", was in line with this trend, and met with immediate success.<ref>Krys Svitlana, ''“Allusions to Hoffmann in Gogol’s Ukrainian Horror Stories from the Dikan'ka Collection.”'' Canadian Slavonic Papers: Special Issue, devoted to the 200th anniversary of Nikolai Gogol'’s birth (1809–1852) 51.2–3 (June–September 2009): 243–266.</ref> A second volume was published in 1832, followed by two volumes of stories entitled ''[[Mirgorod (Gogol)|Mirgorod]]'' in 1835, and two volumes of miscellaneous prose entitled ''Arabesques''. Although Gogol wrote in Russian, Russian editors and critics of that time such as [[Nikolai Polevoy]] and [[Nikolai Nadezhdin]] saw Gogol as a regional Ukrainian writer, and used his works to illustrate the specific of Ukrainian national characters.<ref name="Bojanowska-78" /> In 1981, literary scholar [[George Grabowicz]] argues that [[Ukrainian literature]] of Gogol's times was multilingual, with Ukrainian writers using Polish and Russian alongside Ukrainian. Therefore Gogol should be understood as both Russian and Ukrainian writer, especially in his early writings.<ref>{{Cite book |last=GRABOWICZ |first=GEORGE |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mTYMAQAAMAAJ&q=these+writings,+or+these+writers,+any+less+a+part+of+Ukrainian+literature.+At+the+same |title=Three Perspectives on the Cossack Past: Gogol', Sevcenko, Kulis - Harvard Ukrainian Studies, June 1981, Vol. 5, No. 2 (June 1981) |date=1981 |publisher=Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute |pages=172 |language=en}}</ref>

The themes and style of these early prose works by Gogol, as well as his later drama, were similar to the work of Ukrainian-language writers and dramatists who were his contemporaries and friends, including [[Hryhory Kvitka-Osnovyanenko]]. However, Gogol's satire was much more sophisticated and unconventional.<ref name="Peace2009">{{cite book|author=Richard Peace|title=The Enigma of Gogol: An Examination of the Writings of N.V. Gogol and Their Place in the Russian Literary Tradition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=thki88thwNgC&pg=PA152|access-date=15 April 2012|date=30 April 2009|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-11023-5|pages=151–152}}</ref> Although these works were written in Russian, they were nevertheless full of Ukrainianisms, which is why a glossary of Ukrainian words was included at the end of the volumes.{{Sfn|Bojanowska|2012|p=160-161}} 

At this time, Gogol developed a passion for Ukrainian Cossack history and tried to obtain an appointment to the history department at [[Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv|Saint Vladimir Imperial University of Kiev]].{{Sfn|Bojanowska|2012|p=161}} Despite the support of [[Alexander Pushkin]] and [[Sergey Uvarov]], the Russian minister of education, the appointment was blocked by a [[bureaucracy|bureaucrat]] on the grounds that Gogol was unqualified.<ref name="Luckyj">{{cite book| author=Luckyj, G. | title=The Anguish of Mykola Ghoghol, a.k.a. Nikolai Gogol| location= Toronto | publisher= Canadian Scholars' Press | year = 1998 | page = 67 | isbn = 1-55130-107-5 | author-link= George S. N. Luckyj}}</ref> His fictional story ''[[Taras Bulba]]'', based on the history of [[Zaporozhian Cossacks|Zaporozhian Сossacks]], was the result of this phase in his interests. During this time, he also developed a close and lifelong friendship with the historian and naturalist [[Mykhaylo Maksymovych]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wumag.kiev.ua/index2.php?param=pgs20033/52 |title=Welcome to Ukraine |publisher=Wumag.kiev.ua |access-date=22 July 2013}}</ref>

In 1834, Gogol was made Professor of Medieval History at the [[University of St. Petersburg]], a job for which he had no qualifications. The academic venture proved a disaster:<blockquote>He turned in a performance ludicrous enough to warrant satiric treatment in one of his own stories. After an introductory lecture made up of brilliant generalizations which the 'historian' had prudently prepared and memorized, he gave up all pretence at erudition and teaching, missed two lectures out of three, and when he did appear, muttered unintelligibly through his teeth. At the final examination, he sat in utter silence with a black handkerchief wrapped around his head, simulating a toothache, while another professor interrogated the students.<ref name="comic-grotesque">{{cite book| author=Lindstrom, T. | title=A Concise History of Russian Literature Volume I from the Beginnings to Checkhov| location= New York | publisher= [[New York University Press]] | year = 1966 | page = 131|lccn=66-22218}}</ref></blockquote> Gogol resigned his chair in 1835.

[[Image:Nicolas Gogol.jpg|upright|thumb|Commemorative plaque on his house in Rome]]

Between 1832 and 1836, Gogol worked with great energy, and had extensive contact with Pushkin, but he still had not yet decided that his ambitions were to be fulfilled by success in literature. During this time, the Russian critics [[Stepan Shevyryov|Stepan Shevyrev]] and [[Vissarion Belinsky]], contradicting the earlier critics, reclassified Gogol from a Ukrainian to a Russian writer.<ref name = "Bojanowska-78"/> It was only after the premiere of his comedy ''[[The Government Inspector]]'' (''Revizor'') at the [[Alexandrinsky Theatre]] in St. Petersburg, on 19 April 1836,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.act-sf.org/content/dam/act/education_department/words_on_plays/The%20Government%20Inspector%20Words%20on%20Plays%20(2008).pdf|title=The Government Inspector|date=2008|website=American Conservative Theater|access-date=31 August 2016|archive-date=24 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200924154423/https://www.act-sf.org/content/dam/act/education_department/words_on_plays/The%20Government%20Inspector%20Words%20on%20Plays%20(2008).pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> that he finally came to believe in his literary vocation. The comedy, a satire of Russian provincial bureaucracy, was staged thanks only to the intervention of the emperor, [[Nicholas I of Russia|Nicholas I]]. The Tsar was personally present at the play's premiere, concluding that "there is nothing sinister in the comedy, as it is only a cheerful mockery of bad provincial officials."<ref>{{cite web|title=Очень нервный вечер. Как Николай I и Гоголь постановку «Ревизора» смотрели|url=https://aif.ru/culture/theater/ochen_nervnyy_vecher_kak_nikolay_i_i_gogol_postanovku_revizora_smotreli|publisher=[[Argumenty i Fakty]]|date=1 May 2016|lang=ru}}</ref>

From 1836 to 1848, Gogol lived abroad, travelling through Germany and Switzerland. Gogol spent the winter of 1836–37 in [[Paris]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://fr.rbth.com/art/2013/06/24/le_nom_de_nikolai_gogol_est_immortalise_a_la_place_de_la_bourse_a_paris_24311|title=Le nom de Nikolaï Gogol est immortalisé à la place de la Bourse à Paris|last=RBTH|date=2013-06-24|language=fr-FR|access-date=2016-08-30}}</ref> among Russian [[expatriate]]s and Polish [[exile]]s, frequently meeting the Polish poets [[Adam Mickiewicz]] and [[Józef Bohdan Zaleski|Bohdan Zaleski]].{{Sfn|Bojanowska|2012|p=165}} He eventually settled in [[Rome]]. For much of the twelve years from 1836, Gogol was in Italy, where he developed an adoration for Rome. He studied art, read Italian literature and developed a passion for opera.

[[Alexander Pushkin|Pushkin]]'s death produced a strong impression on Gogol. His principal work during the years following Pushkin's death was the satirical epic ''Dead Souls''. Concurrently, he worked at other tasks – recast ''[[Taras Bulba]]'' (1842)<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ilnytzkyj |first1=Oleh S. |title=Is Gogol's 1842 Version of Taras Bul'ba really 'Russified'? |journal=Journal of Ukrainian Studies |date=2010–2011 |volume=35–36 |pages=51–68}}</ref> and ''[[The Portrait (short story)|The Portrait]]'', completed his second comedy, ''[[Marriage (play)|Marriage]]'' (''Zhenitba''), wrote the fragment ''[[Rome (Gogol)|Rome]]'' and his most famous short story, "[[The Overcoat]]".

In 1841, the first part of ''[[Dead Souls]]'' was ready, and Gogol took it to Russia to supervise its printing. It appeared in [[Moscow]] in 1842, under a new title imposed by the censorship, ''The Adventures of Chichikov''. The book established his reputation as one of the greatest prose writers in the language.