A message on the topic Nizhyn Gymnasium of Higher Sciences. At the Nizhyn “Gymnasium of Higher Sciences”

At the Nizhyn gymnasium

According to the recollections of his fellow students, Gogol appears to us as a beautiful blond boy, in the dense greenery of the garden of the Nizhyn gymnasium, near the waters of a river overgrown with reeds, over which seagulls fly, arousing in him dreams of his homeland. He is the favorite of his comrades, who were attracted to him by his inexhaustible playfulness, but among them only a few, and the best in morality and ability, he chooses as companions for his childish adventures, walks and favorite conversations, and these few only enjoyed him to some extent. trust. He hid a lot from them, apparently for no reason, or clothed them in a mysterious veil of jokes. His speech was distinguished by words of little use, ancient and mocking; but in his mouth everything took on such original forms that one could not help but admire it. He processed everything in the crucible of humor. His words were so apt that his comrades were afraid to enter into a sarcastic competition with him. Gogol loved his comrades in general, and to such an extent the companions of his first years were closely connected with that time, about which he later exclaimed from the depths of his soul: “Oh, my youth! Oh, my freshness!” that even his school enemies, if only he had them, were dear to him until the end of his life. He does not speak of any of them with coldness or hostility, and the fate of each interested him to the highest degree.

He treated his comrades sarcastically, loved to laugh and gave nicknames. For a long time he himself seemed like an ordinary boy.<…>But before the end of the course, Professor Belousov noticed and began to distinguish him, whom he, in turn, greatly respected and loved.

Panteleimon Alexandrovich Kulish:

Gogol's former mentors certified him as a modest and “good-natured” boy; but this applies only to the nobility of his nature, which shunned everything base and insidious. He, indeed, did no harm to anyone, did not bristle against anyone with the cruel side of his soul; there were no traces of him bad habits. But one should not imagine him as what is called a “quiet little lamb.” Small, evil, childish pranks were in his spirit, and what he tells in “Dead Souls” about the hussar was copied from life.

Alexander Semenovich Danilevsky:

In Nizhyn his comrades loved him, but they called him the mysterious dwarf.

Gogol constantly looked askance at us, kept aloof, always looked with a frown. Our ridicule of Gogol was even worse because he behaved like some kind of democrat among us, the children of aristocrats, rarely washed his face and hands in the morning of every day, and always walked around in dirty linen and soiled clothes. In his trouser pockets he always had a significant supply of all kinds of sweets - sweets and gingerbread. And from time to time, taking it out from there, he chewed without ceasing, even in the classrooms, during classes. To do this, he usually hid somewhere in a corner, away from everyone, and there he would eat his delicacy. In order to occupy a place in the class where no one would see him, he came into the classroom first or last and, sitting in the back rows, also left the class so as not to be ridiculed.

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol.From a letter from M.P. Balabina on November 7, 1838, from Rome:

When I was at school and a young man, I was very proud; I desperately wanted to know what others were saying and thinking about me. It seemed to me that everything that was said to me was not what they thought about me. I deliberately tried to start a quarrel with my friend, and he, naturally, in his hearts expressed to me everything that was bad in me. That was all I needed; I was already completely satisfied when I learned everything about myself.

Alexander Semenovich Danilevsky:

In everyday life, the pupils amused themselves with pranks invented by Gogol and other playful boys. So, for example, one day Gogol, imitating the physics teacher Shapalinsky, caught his eye, for which the latter, very angry, grabbed him and shook him by the shoulders for a long time. Sevryugin, the singing teacher, noticing that Gogol was sometimes out of tune and was not able to sing in time with his comrades, put the violin to his very ear, calling him a wood grouse, which, of course, aroused general merriment.<…>

Gogol did not have any favorite games.

Vasily Ignatievich Lyubich-Romanovich:

Among Gogol's oddities were many of his original views on everything that society recognized as law for itself. Gogol ignored this, calling it an unworthy task, from which it was necessary to flee and rid oneself as an enemy with the sword of thought. In church, for example, Gogol never was baptized in front of the images of St. our fathers and did not bow before the altar, but listened to the prayers with attention, sometimes even repeating them in a chant, as if serving a separate liturgy for himself. He condemned the sextons for their nasal singing, slurred reading of the psalter, and for the patter of the Lenten service. He also did not approve of degrees and gradations in the church and pushed the peasant forward, saying: “You need God more than others, go closer to him!” Often he turned to a man in church with the question: “Do you have money for a candle?” - He immediately took a coin out of his pocket and gave it to the peasant, saying: “Go ahead, light a candle for whoever you want, and light it yourself; it’s better than anyone else will bet for you.” Gogol triumphed that his goal had been achieved, and the man approached the altar, ahead of all the uniforms standing in front of the pulpit. All he needed was for the man to rub his zipun against the shiny uniforms and stain them with his pollen.

One day, Gogol, dissatisfied with the singing of the sextons, went into the choir and began to sing along with mass, clearly pronouncing the words of the prayers, but the priest, who heard a voice unfamiliar to him, looked out from the altar and, seeing Gogol, ordered him to leave. This offended Gogol terribly, and he stopped going to church. Noticing his absence at mass, the priest lectured him and said that if he continued to not attend the temple of God, he would impose penance on him. But Gogol was not afraid of this and still did not go to mass. He also did not want to perform penance in church in the presence of all those praying and constantly called himself sick. For this, he was given a one in his “behavior”, and he laughed at it in the following words: “It’s good that it’s not a two; A one can at least be mistaken for an ace, but a two will remain a two.”

In general, Gogol was distinguished by all sorts of oddities, even in words. In fact, he sometimes outdid himself. Often forgetting that he was a man, Gogol would sometimes scream like a goat while walking around his room, sometimes crow like a rooster in the middle of the night, sometimes grunt like a pig, hiding somewhere in a dark corner. And when they asked him why he imitated the cries of animals, he answered that “I prefer to be alone in the company of pigs than among people.” He had such a denial of the exchange of thoughts between people. So, he did not like us, the children of aristocrats, being himself a democrat.<… >

The torture at school for Gogol lasted throughout the entire time he remained in Nezhin. Thanks to his sloppiness, we were all disdainful to shake hands with him when we met in class. And he himself, noticing this, did not seek a kind greeting from us, always trying not to notice any of us. He was always alone. In the end, we even stopped picking up those books in the library that he held in his hands, for fear of becoming infected with some kind of evil spirits.<…>

Thus, Gogol's life at school was, in essence, hell for him. On the one hand, he was burdened by his “farm origins” as a man of the same palace, on the other hand, by his physical ugliness. And we laughed at everything, and denied in him any talent and desire for education, for science. Gogol understood our attitude towards him as a sign of the metropolitan arrogance of the children of aristocrats, and therefore he himself did not want to know us. He sought rapprochement only with people equal to himself, for example: with his “uncle”, servants in general and with market traders in the Nezhin market in particular. This rapprochement with ordinary people obviously gave him a kind of pleasure in life and evoked a poetic mood. So, at least, we noticed this by the fact that, after each such new acquaintance, he locked himself in his room for a long time and wrote down his impressions on paper.

If only you would send me some money, because my treasury is completely depleted. One of my friends bought a knife for eight rubles; I asked him to let me look; and I forgot to give it to him now, but put it in my box; but a minute later he looked in the box, and he was no longer there. Now he says that I should give him eight rubles now, otherwise he will take all my things and complain to the tutors, and they will punish me with all severity. Forgive me for this. I will never take other people’s things in advance, and when I ask in advance, I will give them back now and with all caution. And I ask you, please send me money, even ten rubles; then I will give him eight rubles, and leave two rubles for letters. I also ask you to send me a sheepskin coat, because they don’t give me a government-issued sheepskin coat or an overcoat, but only in uniforms, despite the cold. And if you had sent at least two vests. Here we are given one vest each.

N. Yu. Artynov

At the gymnasium, Gogol was remarkable only because he had a very pointed beard, and perhaps also because he constantly went to Magerki. Magerki is a suburb of Nezhin. Gogol had many peasant acquaintances there. When one of them had a wedding or something else, or when there was simply a weather-related holiday, Gogol was certainly there. Gogol’s studies were not at all remarkable. From the professor of Russian literature Nikolsky I constantly received a C grade. His writings on literature were full of grammatical errors. Gogol was especially bad at languages. At that time, our language classes comprised three special departments, independent from other classes, which students of all courses took as they progressed. Gogol completed the gymnasium course, but did not reach the third department in languages. In general, Gogol was the most ordinary mediocrity, and it never occurred to any of us that he could subsequently become famous in the field of Russian literature.

Nestor Vasilievich Kukolnik(1809–1868), writer, Gogol’s schoolmate:

At Iv. Semenovich Orlay (the director of the gymnasium) had a tiny estate in the Poltava province, in the Mirgorod district, with only six souls. This estate was located in the vicinity of the village of Gogol-Yanovsky’s mother. By the way, I note that in the gymnasium Gogol, both between comrades and official lists, – He was not called Gogol, but simply Yanovsky. Once, already in St. Petersburg, one of my comrades asked Gogol in front of me: “Why did you change your last name?” - “I didn’t think so.” - “But you are Yanovsky.” - “And Gogol too.” - “What does gogol mean?” “Drake,” Gogol answered dryly and turned the conversation to another matter. I remembered both Gogol and Ivan Semenovich’s tiny estate for a funny circumstance. Ivan Semyonovich did not complain if students left classes during lectures and walked along the corridors, and Gogol loved these walks, and therefore it is no wonder that he often bumped into the director, but he always got out of trouble dry and always with the same trick. Seeing Ivan Semenovich from afar, Gogol did not hide, walked straight towards him, bowed and reported: “Your Excellency! I just received a letter from my mother. She instructed me to pay your Excellency my most zealous bow and convey that everything is going very well on your estate.” - “Thank you sincerely! If you write to mother, don’t forget to bow and thank me for me.” This was Ivan Semenovich’s usual answer, and Gogol continued his walk through the corridors with impunity.

Grigory Petrovich Danilevsky:

A passionate admirer of everything lofty and graceful, he carefully copied for himself on the school bench better paper, with drawings of his own invention, poems that were published at that time: “Gypsies”, “Poltava”, “Robber Brothers” and chapters of “Eugene Onegin”.

Maria Ivanovna Gogol:

When a new book comes out, promising by title, Nikosha is ready to order it from foreign lands - which is what he did, while in Nizhyn, from the money he begged from me for a dress: then he admitted to me that when he reads about the new book, he trembles , how to discharge her as soon as possible - and for this he received a reprimand from me. I call this hunt a passion; although it is not shameful, like a card game, it can also ruin... The man who was with him in Nezhin (the uncle’s family) told me in confidence that his master does not know how to save money and offends himself, saying that when I give he gives him money on holidays for candy, which he is a big hunter for, then when he doesn’t have time to buy yet and he meets a poor person, he tries to evade me and give him his money, thinking that I haven’t seen it, but I always I keep an eye on him, and when other children eat treats, I ask him: why doesn’t he eat? – then he answers me that he has already eaten; but he deceives me, an old man, and concludes; Don’t give him money, it will be lost for nothing.

Alexander Semenovich Danilevsky:

At school, Gogol showed little prominence, except towards the end, when he was our editor of the Lyceum magazine. At first he wrote poetry and thought that poetry was his calling. We subscribed to magazines and almanacs with him and Prokopovich. He always took care of sending money on time. The three of us got together and read Pushkin’s Onegin, which was then published in chapters. Gogol already admired Pushkin then. It was still smuggling at that time; for our literature professor Nikolsky, even Derzhavin was new person. Gogol copied Nikolsky perfectly.

Konstantin Mikhailovich Basili(1809–1884), Gogol’s schoolmate, 1844–1853. – Consul General of the Russian Embassy in Syria and Palestine:

Literature professor Nikolsky had no idea about ancient or Western literatures. In Russian literature he admired Kheraskov and Sumarokov; I found Ozerov, Batyushkov and Zhukovsky not quite classical, and Pushkin’s language and thoughts trivial, recognizing, however, a certain harmony in his poems. Naughty comrades in the fifth and sixth grades, obliged to pay a weekly tribute to poems, used to copy small poems from magazines and almanacs by Pushkin, Yazykov, Prince. Vyazemsky was introduced to the professor as one of their own, knowing well that he was not involved in modern literature at all. The professor solemnly subjected these poems to strict criticism, expressed regret that the verse was smooth and of little use: “An ode is not an ode,” he said, “an elegy is not an elegy, but the devil knows what”; then he began to correct it. I remember that Pushkin’s “Demon” was translated and remade in our professor’s style, to the indescribable joy of the whole class. Nikolsky’s contempt for new literature and the resulting ignorance in this area extended to the point that one day he got into a very funny mess, having signed, after many blots, on what Comb gave him, subsequently famous writer, instead of his own - Kozlov’s poem “Evening Bells”: “Pretty much.” Another time, similarly deceived, he approved the description of spring from Eugene Onegin, not suspecting that the poem was written by Pushkin, whom he deeply despised.

Vasily Ignatievich Lyubich-Romanovich:

Prof. N.P. Nikolsky forced his students to compose: this was his weakness - and not only to compose something in prose, but even in poetry. During one lesson, Gogol gives him a poem by Pushkin - it seems, “The Prophet”. Nikolsky read it, winced and, as was his habit, began to redo it. When the professor completely mutilated Pushkin’s verse and returned it to the imaginary author with the suggestion that it was a shame to write so poorly, Gogol could not stand it and said: “But these are not my poems.” - “And whose?” - “Pushkin. I slipped them to you on purpose, because there’s no way I could please you with anything, and you even remade it.” - “Well, what do you understand! - the professor exclaimed. – But can’t Pushkin write illiterately? Here's clear proof for you. Take a look at who did it better.”

Panteleimon Alexandrovich Kulish:

A fellow student and friend of Gogol’s childhood and early youth, N. Ya. Prokopovich, retained the memory of how Gogol, while still in one of the first classes of the gymnasium, read to him by heart his poetic ballad “Two Fishes.” In it, under two fish, he depicted the fate of himself and his (deceased) brother - very touchingly, as Prokopovich remembers his impression at that time.

Finally, a legend has been preserved about another of Gogol’s student works, the tragedy “The Robbers,” written in iambic pentameter.

Gerasim Ivanovich Vysotsky, Gogol’s schoolmate:

Gogol first expressed the desire to write poetry on the occasion of his attacks on comrade Borozdin, whom he persecuted with ridicule for cutting his hair low and nicknamed Rasstriga Spiridon. In the evening, on Borozdin’s name day, December 12, Gogol displayed in the gymnasium a banner of his own creation with the image of a devil shearing a dervish, and with the following acrostic:

This is a wicked way of life,

The scarecrow of all dervishes.

Monk of the Shrew Monastery,

Undressed, who committed sin.

And for this crime

He got this title.

Oh, reader! Have patience

Seal the initial words in your mouth.

Following this, Gogol wrote a satire on the inhabitants of the city of Nezhin under the title: “Something about Nezhin, or the law is not written for fools” and depicted in it typical faces of different classes. To do this, he took several solemn occasions in which one or another class most showed its characteristic features, and on these occasions he divided his work into the following sections: “1) Consecration of a church in a Greek cemetery; 2) Election to the Greek magistrate; 3) All-Eating Fair; 4) Lunch with the leader (nobility) P***; 5) Dissolution and congress of students." I had an autographed copy of this rather extensive work; but Gogol, while still in the gymnasium, wrote it out of me from St. Petersburg under the pretext that he had lost the original and never returned it.

My first experiments, my first essay exercises, for which I acquired the skill in Lately My stay at school was almost all of a lyrical and serious nature. Neither I myself, nor my comrades, who also practiced writing with me, thought that I would have to be a comic and satirical writer, although, despite my naturally melancholic character, I often found myself wanting to joke and even bother others with my jokes , although in my earliest judgments about people I found the ability to notice those features that escape the attention of other people, both large and small and funny. They said that I can not only imitate, but guess a person, that is, guess what he should say in such and such cases, retaining the very nature and manner of his thoughts and speeches. But all this was not transferred to paper, and I did not even think about what I would eventually do with it.

Panteleimon Alexandrovich Kulish:

Not limiting himself to his first successes in poetry, Gogol wanted to be a journalist, and this title cost him a lot of work. It was necessary to write articles myself in almost all departments, then rewrite them and, most importantly, make a wrapper like a printed one. Gogol worked hard to give his publication the appearance printed book, and spent nights painting the title page, on which was the name of the magazine: “Star”. All this was done on the sly from his comrades, who should not have known the contents of the book until after it left the editorial office. Finally, on the first of the month, the book was published. The publisher sometimes took the trouble to read his own and other people's articles aloud. Everyone listened and admired. By the way, “Zvezda” contained Gogol’s story “The Tverdislavich Brothers” (imitation of stories that appeared in almanacs of that time) and various of his poems. All this was written in the so-called “high style”, because of which all the editor’s employees fought. Gogol was a comedian during his apprenticeship only in practice: in literature he considered the comic element too low. But his journal has a comic origin. There was one student in the gymnasium with an extraordinary passion for poetry and the absence of any talent - in a word, little Tredyakovsky. Gogol collected his poems, gave them the title “Almanac” and published them under the title: “Parnassian Manure”. From this joke he went on to seriously imitate magazines and worked very diligently on the wrappers for six months or more.

Vasily Ignatievich Lyubich-Romanovich:

Our comrade P.G. Redkin had a room with prof. Belousova. On Saturday evenings, some of his friends would gather and write poems. Regular visitors were Gogol, Kukolnik, Konstantin Basili, Prokopovich, Grebenka, myself and others. There was a reading of our works, a critical analysis of them and decisions as to whether they were suitable for publication in the handwritten journal “Dung of Parnassus” that we published, or whether, for the benefit of the author, they should be solemnly destroyed. Some of Gogol's poems, in a friendly adaptation by Prokopovich, were published in this magazine, which Gogol always enjoyed immensely. Gogol's first prose work was written in the gymnasium and read publicly at Redkin's evening. It was called “The Tverdoslavich Brothers, a Slavic Tale.” Our circle destroyed it mercilessly and decided to immediately destroy it. Gogol did not resist or object. He quite calmly tore his manuscript into small pieces and threw it into the heated oven. “Practice in poetry,” Basili then advised him in a friendly manner, “but don’t write in prose: it turns out very stupid for you.” You’re not going to be a fiction writer, that’s obvious now.” But without Prokopovich’s friendly support, Gogol’s poems would have been unusable, since he could never cope with meter, with harmony, and chasing rhymes, he always disfigured the meaning of his creations so much that even the always reserved Prokopovich was horrified.

In 1825, 26, 27 our literary circle began publishing his own magazines and almanacs, handwritten of course. Together with Gogol, my best friend, although things were not without quarrels and fights, because both were passionate, we published a monthly magazine of fifty and sixty pages in yellow wrapper with vignettes of our product, with all the claims of a sensible literary review. It had departments of fiction, analyzes of the best contemporary works of Russian literature, and local criticism, in which Gogol mainly ridiculed our teachers under fictitious names. Nestor Kukolnik also published his own magazine, in which he published the first experiments of his dramatic works. On Sundays, our circle of 15–20 older people would gather, and our works would be read, and there would be talk and debate.

Vasily Ignatievich Lyubich-Romanovich:

Gogol may have worked on other things at school along with us, but he gave up on his colloquial speech. And it would happen that he would say such a word that the whole class would laugh out loud at him. One day this was pointed out to him by one of our teachers, but Gogol answered him: “How will you prove that I speak incorrectly in my own way?”

Alexander Semenovich Danilevsky:

Life in the boarding house was comfortable: the children enjoyed good accommodations, great freedom and they could even organize pleasures together, of which, of course, the theater was in the foreground. In spring and autumn, they had at their disposal an extensive lyceum garden, in which they spent most of their extracurricular time. Given the limited demands from students at that time, they had to spend a lot of idle hours, and the actual preparation for classes often took place in their garden, under the charming sky of Ukraine. Some of the students even managed to take with them the necessary written material, in the form of pencils and paper, to think about and partially sketch out their compositions somewhere in the garden on a tree.

Panteleimon Alexandrovich Kulish:

Returning one day after the holidays to the gymnasium, Gogol brought a comedy in the Little Russian language, which was played at Troshchinsky’s home theater, and became a theater director and actor. Blackboards served as backstage, and the lack of costumes was supplemented by the imagination of the artists and the audience. From that time on, theater became the passion of Gogol and his comrades, so that, after preliminary experiments, the students formed and arranged backstage and costumes for themselves, copying, of course, at Gogol’s direction, the theater in which his father worked: no one had seen another. Gogol not only directed the carpenters, but also painted the scenery himself.

Panteleimon Alexandrovich Kulish:

Students donated whatever they could for the theater wardrobe. By the way, someone donated a pair of rusty and broken pistols, remarkable for the following occasion.

Send me canvases and other materials for the theater. Our first play will be “Oedipus in Athens,” a tragedy by Ozerov.<…>So, if you can send and make as many costumes as possible, even just one, it would be better if there were more; also at least some money. Just do me a favor and do not refuse me this request. Each of us has already donated what we could, but I have yet to do so. I will let you know how I play my role.

I inform you that I study well, at least as much as my strength allows.<…>I think, dearest father, if they saw me, they would definitely say that I have changed, both in morality and success.

Konstantin Mikhailovich Basili:

Theatrical performances were given during holidays. Gogol and Romanovich and I painted the scenery ourselves. One of the recreational halls (we called them museums) provided all the amenities for setting up a theater. The spectators, in addition to our mentors, were neighboring landowners and military personnel of the division located in Nizhyn. Among them I remember the generals: Dibich (field marshal’s brother), Stolypin, Emmanuel. Everyone was delighted with our performances, which enlivened the deathly provincial town and provided some entertainment to its casual society. We played Ozerov’s tragedies “Oedipus” and “Fingal”, vaudeville, some Little Russian play composed at the same time by Gogol, from which the audience burst out laughing. But the most successful thing for us was von Wisin’s comedy “The Minor.” I saw this play both in Moscow and St. Petersburg, but I always retained the conviction that not a single actress succeeded in the role of Prostakova as well as the then sixteen-year-old Gogol played this role. No less successfully, then fifteen-year-old Nestor Kukolnik, thin and long, played Minor, and Danilevsky played Sophia. Thanks to my extraordinary memory at that time, I got the longest roles - Starodum, Oedipa and others.

Panteleimon Alexandrovich Kulish:

Once, just before the performance of “The Minor,” Gogol somehow offended one of his comrades, Basili, with his joke. He flared up and refused to play; and he played the role of Starodum. Well, how can we start the show without Starodum? Gogol pretended to lose his temper; in terrible revenge, he challenged his comrade to a duel and handed him theater pistols without triggers. Basili laughed and began to play. The administration of the gymnasium took advantage of this passion to encourage students to study the French language, and introduced French plays into the repertoire of the Gogol Theater. It was then that Gogol had to become acquainted with the French language. Russian plays, however, were not produced, and legend says that Gogol was especially distinguished in the role of old women. The theater, founded by Gogol in the gymnasium, finally flourished to the point that city residents also came to its performances.

Nestor Vasilievich Kukolnik:

We were given the duty, every time we had performances, to perform a French or German play without fail and first of all. Gogol was also supposed to participate in one of the foreign plays. He chose German. I offered him a role of twenty verses, which began with the words: “O mein Vater!”, Then there was an account of some incident. The whole story ended with the words: “nach Prag!” Gogol suffered, studied the role diligently, mastered it, learned it, knew it at three rehearsals, during the performance itself he came out cheerfully and said: “Oh mein Vater!” - he faltered, blushed, but immediately gathered his strength, raised his voice, and said with special pathos: “nach Prag!” – He waved his hand and left. And the listeners, most of whom knew neither the play nor German language, were completely satisfied with the performance of the role. But in Russian plays Gogol was truly inimitable, especially in Fonvizin’s comedy “The Minor”, ​​in the role of Mrs. Prostakova; I played Mitrofanushka. Of the Russian plays, I also remember the performance of “Eccentrics”, Knyazhnin’s comedy, “Hlopotun” by Pisarev ( main role- Gogol); from French - “Medecin malgre lui” and “Avare” by Moliere. We were going to play "Fingal"; the roles were handed out; Even rehearsals began in parts. The role of Starn was assigned to Gogol, Fingal to me, Moina to Gintovt, but now I don’t remember what upset this performance and our entire home theater.

Timofey Grigorievich Pashchenko:

On the small stage of the second lyceum museum, lyceum students sometimes liked to perform comic and dramatic plays on holidays. Gogol and Prokopovich - close friends with each other - took special care of this and organized performances. The lyceum students themselves played ready-made plays and composed them. Gogol and Prokopovich were the main authors and performers of the plays. Gogol loved mainly comic plays and took the roles of old people, and Prokopovich - tragic ones. One day they composed a play about Little Russian life, in which Gogol undertook to play the silent role of a decrepit old Little Russian man. We learned the roles and did several rehearsals. The evening of the performance arrived, to which many relatives of the lyceum students and strangers gathered. The play consisted of two acts; the first act went well, but Gogol did not appear in it, but should have appeared in the second. The public did not yet know Gogol, but we knew him well and were looking forward to his appearance on stage. In the second act, a simple Little Russian hut and several naked trees are presented on stage; in the distance there is a river and yellowed reeds. There is a bench near the hut; there is no one on stage.

Here comes a decrepit old man in a simple jacket, a sheepskin cap and greased boots. Leaning on a stick, he can barely move, cacklingly reaches the bench and sits down. Sits shaking, cackling, giggling and coughing; and finally he giggled and coughed with such a suffocating and hoarse old man’s cough, with an unexpected addition, that the entire audience roared and burst into uncontrollable laughter... And the old man calmly rose from the bench and trudged off the stage, killing everyone with laughter...

From that evening on, the public recognized and became interested in Gogol as a wonderful comedian. Another time, Gogol took on the role of an old uncle - a terrible miser. Gogol practiced in this role for more than a month, and the main task for him, it was to make the nose meet the chin... He sat for hours in front of the mirror and pressed his nose to his chin, until he finally achieved what he wanted... He played the satirical role of the miser uncle excellently, filled the audience with laughter and gave them great pleasure. We all thought then that Gogol would go on stage, because he had enormous stage talent and all the data for acting on stage: facial expressions, make-up, variable voice and complete transformation in the roles he played. It seems that Gogol would have eclipsed even the famous comedians if he had appeared on stage.

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol.From a letter to G.I. Vysotsky on March 19, 1827, from Nezhin:

We're having fun at the boarding house now. All kinds of pleasures, amusements, and activities are provided to us, and this is what we do to our inspector. I don’t know if it’s possible to adequately praise this rare person. He treats us all just like his friends, and stands up for us against the claims of our conference and the school professors. And I admit, if not for him, I would not have had the patience to complete the course here - now, at least, I can firmly withstand this cruel torture, these fourteen months. We had a great time at Maslenaya. We had a theater for four days in a row; Everyone played superbly. All the former visitors, experienced people, said that not a single provincial theater had been able to see such a wonderful performance. The scenery (four changes) was made masterfully and even magnificently. The beautiful landscape on the curtain completed the charm. The lighting of the hall was brilliant. The music also stood out; There were ten of us, but they pleasantly replaced a large orchestra and were arranged on the weekend, in a loud place. We played four overtures by Rossini, two by Mozart, one by Weber, one by Sevryugin (lyceum singing teacher - comp.) and others. The plays we presented were the following: “The Minor,” op. Fonvizin, “The Unsuccessful Conciliator,” a comedy by Y. Knyazhnin, “Coastal Law” by Kotzebue and in addition another French one, Op. Florian, and we haven’t had enough yet: we are preparing a few more plays for the Bright Holiday. These activities, however, entertained me a lot, and I almost forgot everything sad. But for how long? Lent came, and with it a murderous melancholy. There was absolutely no news, nothing interesting happened at all.

Panteleimon Alexandrovich Kulish:

We also know Gogol as the custodian of books that he subscribed to as a general fund. The savings were small, but it was not difficult to buy all the magazines and books of that time with little money, no matter how many of them came out. The most important role was played by “Northern Flowers”, published by Baron Delvig; then came the separately published works of Pushkin and Zhukovsky, followed by some magazines. Books were given out by the librarian to be read one by one. The person who received a book to read had to, in the presence of the librarian, sit decorously on a bench in the classroom, in the place indicated to him, and not get up from his seat until he returned the books. This is not enough: the librarian personally wrapped a large and index fingers to each reader and then only entrusted him with the book. Gogol treasured books like jewels and especially loved miniature editions. A passion for them developed in him so much that, not loving and not knowing mathematics, he subscribed to Perevoshchikov’s “Mathematical Encyclopedia” with his own money, just for the fact that it was published in sixteenths of a page.

N. Yu. Artynov:

Gogol loved reading books and especially loved the books themselves. I can’t remember one oddity of Gogol’s librarianship without laughing. We had our own student library, we copied out works by Pushkin, “Moscow Telegraph” and so on. So we elected Gogol as a librarian: he was a boarder, lived in a building, it was more convenient for him, no one else agreed, but he expressed full readiness; so they agreed that he should look after the books. He really loved the cleanliness of books and came up with such an intricate means to preserve it. He makes a bunch of bundles out of paper, in the form of thimbles, and invites students to put these tips on their fingers so that when reading and leafing through books they do not get their fingers dirty. The students, of course, did not follow this advice; they laughed, and that was all. Such was this Gogol.

Course completion certificate

Nikolai Gogol-Yanovsky, the son of collegiate assessor Vasily Afanasyevich, who entered the gymnasium of higher sciences on May 1, 1821. Bezborodko, completed a full course of study there in June 1828, with very good behavior, with the following successes in science:

in the law of God with very good,

in moral philosophy with very good,

in logic with very good,

in Russian literature with very good,

in rights:

Roman with very good,

in Russian civil s very good,

in criminal case very good,

in the state economy with very good,

in pure mathematics with affordable,

in physics and the beginnings of chemistry with good,

in natural history with excellent,

in technology, in military sciences with very good,

in general and Russian geography good,

in universal history very good,

in languages:

Latin with good,

in German with excellent,

in French with very good,

in Greek ( no mark), –

and after the final test by the conference of the gymnasium, he was awarded the title of student and the Minister approved the right to the rank of 14th grade, upon entry into civil service, with its release from testing for production in senior officials, and upon joining military service six months later, in the lower ranks, to the rank of officer, at least in the regiment in which he would be accepted, at that time there was no vacancy. As evidence of this, this certificate was given to him, Gogol-Yanovsky, from the conference of the gymnasium of higher sciences, Prince. Bezborodko, duly signed and accompanied by an official seal. Nezhin. 1829 January 25 days.

Apart from inexperienced teachers of science, apart from great negligence, etc., languages ​​are not taught here at all.<…>. If I know anything, I owe it entirely to myself.<…>. I had no other guides than myself; Is it possible to improve yourself, without the help of others? But there is still a lot of time ahead for me, I have strength and effort. My labors, although I have now doubled them, are not at all burdensome to me; on the contrary, they serve me nothing other than entertainment<…>. I have experienced more grief and need than you think. I always deliberately tried, when I was at home, to show absent-mindedness, willfulness, etc., so that you would think that I had not wiped myself enough, that I had not been pressed down enough by evil. But hardly anyone has endured so much ingratitude, stupid injustices, ridiculous claims, cold contempt, and so on. I endured everything without reproaches, without grumbling, no one heard my complaints, I even always praised those responsible for my grief. True, I am considered a mystery to everyone; no one has completely solved me. You consider me capricious, some kind of obnoxious pedant who thinks that he is smarter than everyone else, that he was created in a different way from people. Would you believe that I internally laughed at myself along with you. Here I am called the humble one, the ideal of meekness and patience. In one place I am the most quiet, modest, courteous, in another - gloomy, thoughtful, uncouth, etc., in a third - talkative and extremely annoying. Some are smart, others are stupid... Only from my real career will you learn my real character...