Nikolai Gogol' and the Baroque Heritage

Nikolai Gogol' and the Baroque HeritageAuthor(s): Gavriel ShapiroSource: Slavic Review, Vol. 45, No. 1 (Spring, 1986), pp. 95-104Published by:Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2497924 .

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NOTES AND COMMENT

GAVRIEL SHAPIRO

Nikolai Gogol' and the Baroque Heritage

The writings of Nikolai Gogol' reflect the complexity of the author's world per- ception and, as such, contain many diverse elements. This diversity has made Gogol"s works a popular subject of literary criticism and scholarly research for more than one and a half centuries. Some Gogol' scholars, such as Adolf Stender- Petersen, Viktor Vinogradov, and Iurii Mann, have sought to understand and interpret Gogol"s works by focusing on parallels between his literary creations and the writings of his contemporaries and immediate predecessors. ' A few scholars, however, have looked beyond Gogol"s immediate predecessors and have pointed out parallels between his literary style and baroque literary traditions.

One of the first to note baroque elements in Gogol"s writings was Stepan Shevyrev. In his article on Dead Souls, Shevyrev did not mention the term baroque (the word was not yet in vogue among scholars) but did point to the highly colorful nature of Gogol"s style. Shevyrev also noted stylistic embellishments in Gogol"s language and the lushness and massiveness of his phrasing, a characteristic of the baroque.2

Shevyrev's observations, while they are valid as the first suggestion of baroque elements in Gogol"s poetics, do not reveal the origins of the baroque tradition in Gogol"s works. A connection between the works of Gogol' and baroque culture was established only in the twentieth century by Vladimir Rozov and, later, Vasilii Gippius, who linked Gogol"s writings to Ukrainian interludes and vertep-the Ukrainian puppet theater.3 The first scholar who used the term baroque in regard to Gogol"s works was Andrei Belyi. In his book, Masterstvo Gogolia, he compared Gogol"s phrasing to a highly ornate baroque building.4 Belyi was followed by Dmitrii Chizhevskii, who connected Gogol"s writings to the Ukrainian baroque literary tradition.5 A relation between Gogol"s works and Ukrainian and Italian baroque traditions was noted by Andrei Siniavskii in

An earlier version of this paper was delivered at the annual meeting of the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages on 29 December 1984 in Washington, D.C.

1. A. Stender-Petersen, "Gogol und die deutsche Romantik," Euphorion 24, no. 3 (1922): 628- 53; V V Vinogradov, "Evoliutsiia russkogo naturalizma," in his Poetika russkoi literatury (Moscow: Nauka, 1976), pp. 5-187; Iu. V Mann, "Evoliutsiia gogolevskoi fantastiki," in K istorii russkogo romantizma, ed. Iu. V Mann et al. (Moscow: Nauka, 1973), pp. 219-58.

2. S. P. Shevyrev, "Kritika. Pokhozhdeniia Chichikova, ili Mertvye dushi. Poema Nikolaia Go- golia. Stat'ia vtoraia," Moskvitianin 8 (1842): 375-76.

3. V A. Rozov, "Traditsionnye tipy malorusskogo teatra XVII-XVIII vv. i iunosheskie povesti N. V Gogolia," in Pamiati Gogolia (Kiev, 1911), pp. 99-169; Vasilii Gippius, Gogol' (Leningrad: Mysl', 1924).

4. Andrei Belyi, Masterstvo Gogolia (Moscow: Khudozhestvennaia Literatura, 1934), p. 8. 5. Dmitrii Chizhevskii, "Neizvestnyi Gogol'," Novyi zhurnal 27 (1951): 150.



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his book V teni Gogolia.6 Recently, an extreme point of view concerning Gogol"s works and the baroque tradition was expressed by the Soviet critic Vladimir Turbin, who asserted that Gogol' is "a baroque writer."7 Turbin's compatriot and an expert on the baroque, Aleksandr Morozov, although he criticized Tur- bin's approach, acknowledged a bond between Gogol"s works and the baroque tradition and recognized the importance of its study.8

Scholars who link Gogol' to baroque cultural traditions, as a rule, point out the parallels between his literary style and baroque artistic forms. The purpose of this note is to examine whether these parallels are merely coincidental or whether Gogol' was in fact familiar with baroque culture and may have con- sciously incorporated elements of it into his writings.9

Gogol' was born and raised in the Ukraine, where baroque culture flour- ished in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. As the Russian art historian Grigorii Pavlutskii has noted, baroque culture came to the Ukraine through Poland and influenced all major art forms there, including architecture and painting.10 A typical example of baroque architecture in the Ukraine is the Church of the Transfiguration, built in the beginning of the eighteenth century by Het- man Daniil Apostol in the village of Sorochintsy, where Gogol' was born. Gogol' was baptized in the church and later immortalized the village in his "The Fair at Sorochintsy.""l The luxuriant costumes in which an anonymous painter de- picted biblical personages on the icons, the rich adornment of the iconostasis, and the exterior and interior of the church all testify that the church, which Gogol', no doubt, visited many times, was built in the baroque style.'2

Gogol' was not immune to the grandeur of the baroque art forms that surrounded him. As Gogol"s acquaintance Pavel Annenkov observed, Gogol"s

nature shared many traits of the southern peoples for whom he, in general, held great esteem. He exceptionally valued external brilliance and an abundance and a variety of colors in objects. He valued luxuriant, splendid forms, and effect in paintings and in nature. . . . in his attitudes, he was in complete accord with the passionate and outwardly magnificent attitudes of the southern tribes. That is why he was so absorbed in reading Derzhavin and why he had others read him at that time.13

6. Andrei Siniavskii, V teni Gogolia (London: Overseas Publications Interchange, 1975), pp. 349-50.

7. See V. N. Turbin, Pushkin. Gogol'. Lermontov (Moscow: Prosveshchenie, 1978). 8. A. A. Morozov, "Izvechnaia konstanta ili istoricheskii stil'?," Russkaia literatura 3 (1979):

86. 9. A detailed historical survey of the term and of the concept of the baroque can be found in

Rene Wellek's Concepts of Criticism (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1963) in two chap- ters of the book: "The Concept of Baroque" and "Postscript 1962." For the historical background of the baroque epoch and characteristic traits of baroque culture, see Harold B. Segel, The Baroque Poem (New York: Dutton, 1974).

10. See G. Pavlutskii, "Barokko Ukrainy," in Istoriia russkogo iskusstva, ed., Igor' Grabar' (6 vols.; Moscow: I. Knebel', 1910-1914), 2:339-40.

11. Igor' Zolotusskii, Gogol' (Moscow: Molodaia Gvardiia, 1979), p. 12. 12. See Vadym Shcherbakivs'kyi, "Materiialy do istorii ukrains'koho mystetstva (Ikonostas

tserkvy het'mana Danyla Apostola v s. Sorochyntsiakh)," Pratsy Ukrains'koho Istorychno-Filolo- hichnoho Tovarystva v Prazi 5 (1944): 47-70.

13. P. V Annenkov, Vospominaniia i kriticheskie ocherki (3 vols.; St. Petersburg, 1877-1881) 1:186. All translations are mine.



Nikolai Gogol' and the Baroque Heritage 97

Gogol' came under the influence of baroque traditions not only in his phys- ical but also in his familial environment. The baroque historical epoch was par- ticularly important to Gogol"s family, who believed that they were descendants of Ostap Hohol', the seventeenth-century colonel. 14 The golden age of Ukrainian Cossackdom occurred during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries when baroque culture permeated Ukrainian life, and many of Gogol"s ancestors were well-known Cossack figures of that age. Among them were such prominent Cos- sacks as the hetmans Mikhail and Petr Doroshenko and Ivan Skoropadskii.'5

Not only Gogol"s distant ancestors but also his more immediate family were influenced by baroque culture. The writer's paternal ancestors-including Dem'ian Ivanovich and Afanasii Dem'ianovich Gogol'-Ianovskii, Semen Efi- movich and Semen Semenovich Lizogub, and Vasilii Mikhailovich Tanskii-as well as his maternal kin, Dmitrii Prokof'evich Troshchinskii, all graduated from the Kiev Academy.16 The Kiev Academy (until 1701 it was known as the Kiev Collegium) was founded by Petro Mohyla in the 1630s. The academy was modeled after Polish Jesuit colleges and universities. As Alexander Sydorenko pointed out, "The major achievement of the Kievan Academy lay in its profound and decisive impact on the intellectual and spiritual fabric of both Ukrairne and Russia. To Ukraine it represented the leading center of the Ukrainian baroque spirituality characteristic of the 17th and 18th centuries.'"17 Gogol"s knowledge of the Kiev Academy is demonstrated in Taras Bul'ba and in "Vii," where he reveals his familiarity with the academy's program of instruction and the living conditions of its students.

Although Gogol"s father, Vasilii Afanas'evich, did not study at the Kiev Academy, he did study at the Poltava Seminary, which was modeled after the academy.18 Gogol"s father absorbed much from baroque literary tradition. The comedies that he wrote stemmed in large part from Ukrainian interludes and vertep. Volodymyr Bezushko commented that "as a little boy Nicholas was introduced by his father into the Ukrainian theater life, with its comical sketches, puppet shows, and so on, which was permeated with a spirit of the luxurious baroque epoch."19 Gogol"s ancestors included other well-known baroque Ukrainian writers, among them Georgii Konisskii and his great-great grand- father, Vasilii Tanskii.20 Vasilii Tanskii was remembered in the nineteenth century Ukraine as the author of unpreserved interludes. Among Gogol"s papers

14. See Oleksander Ohloblyn, "Ancestry of Mykola Gogol (Hohol)," The Annals of the Ukrain- ian Academy of Arts and Sciences in the United States 12, no. 1-2 (1969-1972): 12-16.

15. Ibid., p. 32. Gogol' included a letter, written by the hetman Ivan Skoropadskii in 1711, in his Kniga vsiakoi vsiachiny ili podruchnaia entsiklopediia. See Nikolai Gogol', Polnoe sobranie sochinenii (14 vols.; Moscow: AN SSSR, 1937-1952), 9:504. All references to Gogol"s works are to this edition; references within the text are to volume and page of this edition.

16. Ohloblyn, "Ancestry of Mykola Gogol (Hohol)," pp. 10-40 passim; V L. Modzalevskii, Malorossiiskii rodoslovnik, (3 vols.; Kiev, 1908-1912), 1:292-95 and 3:102-106.

17. Alexander Sydorenko, The Kievan Academy in the Seventeenth Century (Ottawa, Canada: University of Ottawa Press, 1977), p. 1.

18. The fact that V A. Gogol' studied in the Poltava Seminary is mentioned by Ohoblyn, "Ancestry of Mykola Gogol (Hohol)," p. 35. For the effect of the baroque on instruction in the Ukrainian Orthodox educational institutions of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, see Paulina Lewin, "Barokko v literaturno-esteticheskom soznanii prepodavatelei i slushatelei russkikh dukhov- nykh uchilishch XVIII veka," Wiener Slavistisches Jahrbuch 23 (1977): 180-98.

19. Volodymyr Bezushko, Mykola Hohol' (Winnipeg, Man.: Kul'tura i osvita, 1956), p. 93. 20. Ohloblyn, "Ancestry of Mykola Gogol (Hohol)," pp. 29-30.



98 Slavic Review

was a humorous virsha, which was ascribed to Tanskii.2' Georgii Konisskii was known as a poet, playwright, and an author of sermons.

Nezhinskaia Gimnaziia Vysshikh Nauk (Nezhin Gymnasium, since 1833 known as Nezhin Lyceum), where Gogol' studied for seven years (1821-1828), also played an important role in the development of Gogol"s interest in the baroque epoch. The gymnasium's reading list included a great many baroque writers and historians. Among the books the school director Ivan Orlai recommended for students studying rhetoric and aesthetics were the works of such precursors of baroque literature as Luis Vaz de Cam6es and Torquato Tasso.22 Also recommended were western European baroque poets, as well as the sermons of such baroque Jesuit preachers as Jacques Benigne Bossuet, Louis Bour- daloue, Esprit Flechier, and Jean Baptiste Massillon. Orlai's list also included the names of Ukrainian and Russian writers whose works are either baroque or contain baroque elements, such as those by Stefan Iavorskii, Feofan Prokopov- ich, Mikhail Lomonosov, and Gavriil Derzhavin. For his literary studies in the gymnasium, Gogol' used Aleksandr Nikol'skii's Osnovaniia rossiiskoi slovesnosti.23 In a letter to his mother on 23 April 1825 Gogol' wrote: "If it does not trouble you and if you can, send me ten rubles for a book that I have to buy, entitled The Course of Russian Philology, for we are going through it" (10:54). In his studies, Gogol' also used Sobranie obraztsovykh russkikh sochinenii i perevodov v stikhakh i proze.24 Gogol"s use of Sobranie is attested to by letters to his parents. In 1824 Gogol' twice wrote to his parents asking for a copy of Sobranie (10:47 and 10:48-49). In addition, Gogol' used Iakov Tolmachev's Pravila slovesnosti, also included in the gymnasium's list of textbooks.25

Gogol"s textbooks discussed important principles that underlie baroque literature. For example, Sreznevskii's preface to the six volumes of prose in the Sobranie, entitled "Opyt kratkoi ritoriki," includes the important baroque concept of inventiveness, while Tolmachev's Rules mentions the basic baroque concept of arguzia, which the author refers to as ostrota razuma [acuity of mind].26 Both of these textbooks speak of the "triple task" of baroque arts, which was inherited from Horace: docere, movere, and delectare.27 The authors of the textbooks support their definitions with citations from such baroque Jesuit preachers as Bossuet, Massillon, and Flechier.

Through his reading, Gogol' also became familiar with genres prominent in the baroque epoch, such as Christian historical epic, especially its religious- military subgenre, and the emblem. Gogol' became acquainted with the genre of Christian historical epic from Sreznevskii's preface to the six poetry volumes of the Sobranie, entitled "Opyt rossiiskoi piitiki." In it, Sreznevskii emphasizes

21. "K stoletnemu iubileiu N. V Gogolia," Trudy Kievskoi Dukhovnoi Akademii 50 (June 1909): 328.

22. For Orlai's list, see M. Speranskii, ed., Gogolevskii sbornik (Kiev, 1902), p. 336. 23. A. S. Nikol'skii, Osnovaniia rossiiskoi slovesnosti (2 vols.; St. Petersburg, 1809). 24. Sobranie obraztsovykh russkikh sochinenii i perevodov v stikhakh i proze (12 vols.;

St. Petersburg: Obshchestvo liubitelei otechestvennoi slovestnosti, 1821-1824). 25. Iakov Tolmachev, Pravila slovesnosti (4 vols.; St. Petersburg, 1815-1822). 26. losif Sreznevskii, "Opyt kratkoi ritoriki," in Sobranie obraztsovykh russkikh sochinenii i

perevodov v proze, 6:clix; and Tolmachev, Pravila slovesnosti, 2:307. 27. Sreznevskii, "Opyt kratkoi ritoriki," 3:xcvi-ciii; and Tolmachev, Pravila slovesnosti, 3:157.




the importance of Tasso's epic Jerusalem Delivered.28 The genre of emblem was introduced to Gogol' by Aleksandr Nikol'skii who defines the emblem as an inscription plus hieroglyph or visible image. As an example, Nikol'skii cited an emblem that appeared at the Moscow Academy and consisted of the image of a candle, burning in fog, and the inscription: "Non mihi, sed aliis."29

In his textbooks, Gogol' also came across themes that, although they did not originate in the baroque epoch, gained great importance in the literature of that period. For example, in the Sobranie there is an excerpt from Bossuet's "A Eulogy on the Death of the Duchess of Orleans" (in Russian translation) that contains such themes as the brevity of life, life's mutability and transiency, vanitas, life as a dream, and memento mori:

Oh, vanity! Oh, nothingness! Oh, mortals, who do not know their fate!... In depicting one disaster, I want to depict all the misfortunes of the human race, and in one death, I want to show the decay and nothingness of all our grandeur. For the vanity of the world was never so clearly seen, and more- over never so solemnly exposed. So this sight assures us that health is only a name, life is a dream, glory is only a phantom, and beauty and pleasure are only a dangerous temptation. All in us is vain except for the thought that we should despise all of our existence.30

The themes of vanitas, life as a dream, life's mutability, and memento mori also appear in concert in Vasilii Petrov's "Ode to Count Orlov," which was included in Tolmachev's Pravila: "Wealth, splendor, power-all dies with us, / All passes as a dream, all is swallowed by eternity. / Mortals' birth is the first step toward death."3"

The authors of all three textbooks also discussed stylistic devices that were used extensively in baroque literature. For example, Nikol'skii's book introduces such devices as the echo device, which the author refers to as usugublenie; an- aphora (edinonachatie); and epiphora (edinozakliuchenie) ;32 Sreznevskii's "Opyt kratkoi ritoriki" presents such stylistic devices as antithesis, oxymoron, and con- cetto, while Tolmachev's book includes the pun.33

In his "Opyt rossiiskoi piitiki," Sreznevskii surveyed the history of foreign and Russian literatures of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. He introduces the names of the authors and, at times, their works. For example, in the section on Italian literature, Sreznevskii mentions the baroque writer Giambat-

28. Sreznevskii, "Opyt rossiiskoi piitiki," Sobranie obraztsovykh russkikh sochinenii i perevodov v stikhakh, Lxlvii.

29. Nikol'skii, Osnovaniia rossiiskoi slovesnosti, 2:116. Gogol"s knowledge of the genre of emblem is confirmed in his correspondence. In a letter to his mother on 18 December 1835, he wrote: "On this occasion, I have enclosed vegetable seeds: incidentally, this is appropriate for the New Year. It is an emblem and a device and also a wish that you will sow a lot of good things at the beginning of the year and, at the same time, that you will lead a joyful and happy life, which will last henceforth forevermore." See 10:379.

30. Sreznevskii, "Opyt kratkoi ritoriki," in Sobranie obraztsovykh russkikh sochinenii i perevodov v proze, 1:270-71. For the prominence of these themes in baroque literature, see Segel, The Baroque Poem, pp. 96-97.

31. Tolmachev, Pravila slovesnosti, 1:165. 32. Nikol'skii, Osnovaniia rossiiskoi slovesnosti, 2:37-39. 33. Sreznevskii, "Opyt kratkoi ritoriki," 2:lxii-lxviii; and Tolmachev, Pravila slovesnosti, 2:293.



100 Slavic Review

tista Marino.34 In the section on Spanish literature, he includes baroque poet Luis de G6ngora as well as the playwright Calderon de la Barca.35 Among the English baroque writers, he includes the poets John Donne, Richard Crashaw, and Michael Drayton. In this section, Sreznevskii also mentions Abraham Cow- ley's Davideis, John Milton's Paradise Lost, and John Dryden's Absalom and Achitophel.36 The section on Polish literature contains such baroque poets as Samuel Twardowski and Wespazjan Kochowski.37 In his discussion of Russian literature, Sreznevskii includes Simeon Polotskii and his works Rifmologion, Ko- mediia o bludnom syne, and Novukhodonosor; St. Dmitrii of Rostov and his plays, Rozhdestvo Khristovo, Uspenie Bogoroditsy, and Greshnik kaiushchiisia; Feofan Prokopovich and his manual, De arte poetica as well as his play Vladimir and such poems as "Kto krepok na Boga upovaia," "O, suetnyi cheloveche," and "K likhoradke v likhoradke."38

Sobranie also contains an essay by Mikhail Kachenovskii that surveys Rus- sian literature before Lomonosov and is entitled "Vzgliad na uspekhi rossiiskogo vitiistva v pervoi polovine istekshego stoletiia."39 In it, the author mentions such very important Ukrainian-Russian baroque ecclesiastical writers as Ioannikii Galiatovskii, Antonii Radivilovskii, Lazar' Baranovich, and Gavriil Buzhinskii.

Gogol' remained profoundly interested in Ukrainian-Russian ecclesiastical baroque literature throughout his life. During his stay abroad, he repeatedly asked his friends to send him books of an ecclesiastical nature. For example, in his letter of 5 October 1843 to Nikolai Iazykov he wrote, "Here are the books, which I would like to have: (1) St. Dmitrii of Rostov's Search, (2) Trumpets of Words and The Spiritual Sword by Lazar' Baranovich, and (3) Works by Stefan Iavorskii in three parts, his sermons.. . . Here are the books which I would very much like to get" (12:219-20). In Gogol"s notebook of 1846 there is a long list of ecclesiastical works. Among them are many written by Ukrainian-Russian baroque church writers (9:561-62). Corresponding with his friends, Gogol' often recommended that they read Ukrainian-Russian ecclesiastical writings of the baroque epoch. For example, he wrote to Aleksandra Smirnova in a letter of 4 June 1845 (12:491):

When things become too hard for you to bear and your grief is great, don't forget to read the Works of St. Dmitrii of Rostov (in 5 volumes). After vigorously praying to God, read the conversation between the comforter and the mourner in the first volume and then reread it more than once.

Gogol"s textbooks, as was mentioned earlier, also contained many examples from French Jesuit ecclesiastical writers of the baroque, including Bossuet.40

34. Sreznevskii, "Opyt rossiiskoi piitiki," in Sobranie obraztsovykh russkikh sochinenii i perevodov v stikhakh, 1:xlviii-xlix.

35. Ibid., 1:lxxv-lxxviii. 36. Ibid. 1:lxxxiii-lxxxvii. 37. Ibid., 1:ciii. 38. Ibid., 1:cxxiv-cxxvii. 39. M. T. Kachenovskii, "Vzgliad na uspekhi Rossiiskogo vitiistva v pervoi polovine istekshego

stoletiia," in Sobranie obraztsovykh russkikh sochinenii i perevodov v proze, 1:5-32. 40. See, for example, Sobranie obraztsovykh russkikh sochinenii i perevodov v proze, 1:270-

71.




Many years after he had read these textbooks, in his letter of 26 March 1844 to Smirnova, Gogol' advised her to read Bossuet's works (12:278).

Another example of the influence of Gogol"s gymnasium education on his later literary taste can be found in a section of Selected Passages from Corre- spondence with Friends, entitled "What is at Last the Essence of Russian Poetry and What is Its Peculiarity." Gogol' devoted a great deal of his writing to an analysis of Lomonosov's and Derzhavin's poetry, both of which contain many baroque elements. He also devoted a few lines for the appraisal, with some reservations, of the minor poet Vasilii Petrov, whose works, according to Chi- zhevskii, contain baroque elements as well.4' Gogol' wrote (8:372):

Following the example of Lomonosov, odes became customary among us. Festivals, victories, name days, even illuminations and fireworks became subjects of odes. Their composers have expressed only undistinguished live- liness in place of rapture. The only possible exception is Petrov, who is not devoid of some power and a poetic flame: he was really a poet, in spite of the rigidity and staleness of his verse.

Gogol"s inclusion of Petrov can be traced to the gymnasium. In Gogol"s textbooks, there were numerous citations to the works of Lomonosov and Derzhavin, as well as to Petrov's odes. It is noteworthy that losif Sreznevskii in his "Opyt rossiiskoi piitiki" also praised Petrov's odes with some reservations:

Petrov also wrote many odes of this kind, which will always have merit for poetry lovers. Two shortcomings in his odes are noticed by critics: the first one is that he frequently tries to be conspicuous by erudition and puns; the second is that his style is sometimes verbose and coarse and that he often makes mistakes in regard to the purity of the language. But having weighed all the pros and cons, one must do him justice. In all of his odes, one can notice the most fervent imagination and the strongest rapture.42

Another important surce of Gogol"s exposure to baroque literature was D. P. Troshchinskii's library. That Gogol' had easy access to this book collection was emphasized by Ivan Kamanin. The library catalogue lists many translated works of prominent baroque writers. Among them are Giambattista Marino's La strage degli innocenti in two different translations, Baltasar Gracian's El heroe and Oraculo manual y arte de prudencia and Voyage a l'ile d'amour by Paul Tellemant. The catalogue also contains works of Ukrainian-Russian baroque ecclesiastical writers, such as Dnevnye zapiski by St. Dmitrii of Rostov, Polnoe sobranie pouchitel'nykh slov, skazannykh v prisutstvii Petra I by Gavriil Buzh- inskii, Slova i rechi pouchitel'nye, pokhral'nye i pozdravitel'nye by Feofan Pro- kopovich, and Znameniia prishestviia Antikhristova i konchiny veka, ot pisanii

41. See Chizhevskii, "Das Barock in der russischen Literatur," Slavische Barockliteratur I, ed. D. Chizhevskii (Munich: Fink, 1970), pp. 34-36.

42. Sreznevskii, Sobranie obraztsovykh russkikh sochinenii i perevodov v stikhakh, 2:cxcvi- cxcvii.

43. I. M. Kamanin, "Nauchnye i literaturnye proizvedeniia Nikolaia Gogolia po istorii Malo- rossii," in Pamiati Gogolia, ed. N. P. Dashkevich (Kiev: Istoricheskoe Obshchestvo Nestora-leto- pistsa, 1902), p. 77.



102 Slavic Review

Bozhestvennykh iavlena by Stefan Iavorskii.4 The catalogue of Troshchinskii's library also contains some emblematic literature, including Ikonologiia, ob"iasnennaia litsami ili polnoe sobranie allegorii, emblem i proch., s 225 figurami, gravirovannymi Shtioberom v Parizhe, published in 1803, and Emvlemy i simvoly izbrannye, published in 1788.45

At the gymnasium, Gogol' studied not only the literature of the baroque epoch but also its history. Many historical essays concerned with the baroque period are in Sobranie. Kachenovskii contributed an essay, entitled "O prichi- nakh nizlozheniia Nikona, moskovskogo patriarkha" in which he deals with the subject against the historical background of seventeenth century Russia. Kach- enovskii's essay is preceded by Nikolai Karamzin's "O moskovskom miatezhe v tsarstvovanie Alekseia Mikhailovicha." This volume of Sobranie also contains Karamzin's "Istoricheskie vospominaniia i zamechaniia na puti k Troitse," in which the historian describes episodes from Russian history related to the mon- astery from the early fifteenth to the late eighteenth century. The volume also includes an essay written by Mikhail Murav'ev entitled, "Soedinenie udel'nykh kniazhenii v edinoe gosudarstvo." This essay deals with the period of Russian history from the reign of Moscow's Grand Duke Ivan III (1462) to the Ecumen- ical Council of 1666 and the Treaty of Andrusovo with Poland in 1667 during the reign of Tsar Alexis.46

Gogol"s interest in the history of the baroque epoch extended beyond the classroom. In 1826, when he was still a student at the Nezhin Gymnasium, Gogol' began A Book of Odds and Ends or a Manual Encyclopedia. In this notebook, he copied extracts from the accounts of foreign travelers, who had observed the customs of Russians in the seventeenth century. One was an account written by a German diplomat, Adam Olearius, who visited Russia from 1636 to 1639 as a member of the embassy of Freidrich III, duke of Schleswig-Holstein (9:520-22, 654).47 Another was an account written by the Baron Augustin Meierberg, an Austrian diplomat, who wrote of the 1661-1662 negotiations conducted in Mos- cow offering Austrian mediation for the conclusion of the peace treaty between Russia and Poland (9:519-20, 654). Gogol' made his last entry in the notebook in 1831 or 1832 in St. Petersburg.

After Gogol' completed his education in the Nezhin Gymnasium, he continued studying the baroque epoch. In his notes for the lectures he delivered in the Patriotic Institute, where he taught history from 1831 to 1835, Gogol' wrote at length about the history of the seventeenth century Ukraine and the events in Europe that influenced the destiny of his native land (9:89). At the end of 1833, Gogol' wrote to the Minister of Education, Count Sergei Uvarov, to apply for the position of professor of general history at Kiev University. In his application, Gogol' included an outline for a proposed course of study. In his outline, Gogol' discussed the important events and movements in the formation of the baroque

44. E. Ia. Fedorov, Katalog antikvarnoi biblioteki, priobretennoi posle byvshego ministra D. P Troshchinskogo (Kiev, 1874), pp. 283, 36 and 76, 208, 2, 13, 25, and 24.

45. See ibid., pp. 42 and 83. 46. Sobranie obraztsovykh russkikh sochinenii i perevodov v proze, 4:22-54, 3-22, 232-74, 154-

98. 47. For a modern English translation of this travel account, see Adam Olearius, The Travels of

Olearius in Seventeenth-Century Russia, trans. and ed. Samuel H. Baron (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1967).




epoch, including important geographic discoveries, the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation, the rise of nationalism in Europe, and the devastating wars of that period (8:34).

Gogol"s interest in the baroque epoch continued long after his teaching career ended. In his letter of 27 July 1842 Gogol' asked Sergei Aksakov to send him Grigorii Kotoshikhin's book, 0 Rossii v tsarstvovanie Alekseia Mikhailovi- cha, which was published in 1840 (12:83, 606). Later, he recommended that Nikolai Iazykov read Pavel Stroev's book, Vykhody gosudarei, tsarei i velikikh kniazei Mikhaila Fedorovicha, Alekseia Mikhailovicha, Fedora Alekseevicha (8:279, 793).

Another important landmark in Gogol"s life and in the development of his interest in the baroque epoch was his first visit to Rome in 1836. Gogol' stayed abroad for almost eleven years and spent six of them in Rome. In speaking about the contribution of Rome to the development of Gogol"s baroque interests, Victor Erlich noted, "It is a matter of record that Gogol responded powerfully to the purely sensuous attractions of Italy-the luxurious scenery, the blinding skies, the grandeur of Antiquity, the dazzling richness of renaissance painting and sculpture, the lushness of the Roman baroque."48

During his stay in Italy, Gogol', who was fluent in Italian, became well acquainted with Italian literature.49 In his letter to Mariia Balabina of April 1838, Gogol' revealed his great interest in Italian literature of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and specifically mentioned having read a collection entitled Autori burleschi italiani (11:143).

Gogol' was interested not only in Italian baroque literature but also in Italian baroque architecture and art. His fondness for baroque art was noted by Sigrid Richter, "Clearly Gogol knew how to derive great pleasure from the baroque in all its manifestations, especially from the churches, in which splendor and opu- lence are most markedly developed."50

It should be emphasized that Gogol"s interest in baroque architecture, which he had many opportunities to see in both the Ukraine and two Russian capitals, developed long before he arrived in Rome. In 1831 he wrote an article, "On the Architecture of the Present Day." The article contains Gogol"s architectural project, which amazes the reader with its grandeur, disproportion, and abundance of embellishment (8:74-75). The project reflects Gogol"s taste for baroque elements in architecture long before his Roman experience. This ten- dency toward baroque, which Gogol' reveals in-his early article, was noticed by Andrei Siniavskii: "No matter how fantastic Gogol"s architectural hyperboles are, one can clearly see in them the baroque style which pervades his aesthetic speculations and creative practices."'"

Gogol"s experience in Rome intensified his interest in baroque architecture. In his fragment "Rome" (1842), he writes of such Italian baroque architects as Giacomo de Vignola, Giacomo della Porta, Giovanni Bernini, and Francesco Borromini (3:235). When Smirnova visited Rome, Gogol' showed her a variety

48. Victor Erlich, Gogol (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1969), p. 161. 49. Gogol' could already read Italian during his teaching period in St. Petersburg; see Daria

Borghese, Gogol a Roma (Florence: Sansoni, 1957), p. 129. 50. Sigrid Richter, Rom und Gogol': Gogol"s Romerlebnis und sein Fragment "Rim" (Hamburg:

Hamburg University Press, 1964), p. 66. 51. Siniavskii, V teni Gogolia, p. 347.



104 Slavic Review

of Roman sites that he considered to be of special importance and interest. Among them were the Church of S. Giovanni di Laterano, for which Borromini had created a baroque interior; the Church of S. Maria in Campitelli, built between 1663 -and 1667 by Carlo Rainaldi; and the Church of S. Andrea della Valle (1591-1663), designed by della Porta and built by Carlo Maderno and with later work by Carlo Rainaldi. His itinerary also included such palaces as the Palazzo Madama (1642), built by Paolo Maruscelli, and the Palazzo Rospigliosi (1603) and the Palazzo Sciarra-Colonna (1610), both built by Flaminio Ponzio (9:490, 650).

Gogol' was interested not only in Italy's baroque architecture but also in its painting. In "Rome," he mentions the Carracci and Il Guercino (Giovanni Bar- bieri) (3:219). In the itinerary, Gogol' also makes note of the ceiling fresco Aurora (1615) in the Palazzo Rospigliosi by Guido Reni. Reni's name also ap- pears in the second edition (1842) of his story "The Portrait" (3:85). Gogol"s itinerary also includes the frescoes of Domenichino in the Church of Carlo in Catinari.

In addition to Italian baroque artists, Gogol' discussed baroque painters from other countries. For example, in the second edition of Taras Bul'ba (1842), he mentions the Dutch painter Gerard van Honthorst. In the first edition of Taras Bul'ba, published in 1835, a year before Gogol"s arrival in Rome, the passage about this Dutch baroque painter is absent; Gogol' apparently saw his works in Italy. In his letter to Balabina of 17 February 1842 Gogol' mentioned the French painter Claude Lorrain and advised Balabina's brother Viktor, an amateur artist, to develop his talent by copying the works of this baroque master of decorative- mythological landscape (12:37-38).

It is clear that Gogol' had numerous contacts with baroque cultural, historical, and literary traditions. He grew up in an environment that included baroque architecture and art, and later, as an adult, he sought out and admired baroque art forms in Rome. Gogol' studied the history of the baroque epoch at home and at school and continued to learn and to collect information about it throughout his life. Long after his graduation from school, Gogol' was still asking his friends to send him copies of baroque writings and, more significantly, he considered them to be so valuable that he very often recommended them to his friends. Thus, it can be concluded that Gogol' not only had direct contact with baroque art and literature but that he studied baroque culture throughout his artistic life.



Documents

Nikolai Gogol' and the Baroque Heritage