“Three Epochs” of the Creation of Nikolai Gogol’s Article on Russian Poetry. To the 175th Anniversary of “Selected Passages from Correspondence with Friends”

Abstract

The creative history of N. V. Gogol’s article “What is Finally the Essence of Russian Poetry and Its Peculiarity,” the most voluminous chapter of his book “Selected Passages from Correspondence with Friends” (1847), and its relation to the poem “Dead Souls” are studied. Three long stages of Gogol’s work on the article, which ended with the burning of manuscripts, and the fourth, which ended with its publication, reveal a close connection with the content of the poem. Evidence of simultaneous maturation of the ideas of the article and the poem in the 1830s is summarized. It is proved that the article was prepared by Gogol for P. A. Pletnev’s journal “Sovremennik.” Unknown data on the second stage of work on the article in 1841–1842 are introduced into scientific circulation, the expansion of concept of the article at the third stage in 1843–1845, which led to its inclusion in the book of letters to friends in 1846, is traced. It is emphasized that, created over more than ten years, the article contains the final reflections of the writer on the importance of literature in the public and state life of Russia and is an irreplaceable auto-commentary to “Dead Souls.”