Gogol: Russian or Ukranian? Settling the matter once and for all

Gogol: Russian or Ukranian? Settling the matter once and for all

Was Gogol Russian or Ukrainian? Since publishing my long video on Russian  literature, a small bunch of idiots   complained about me making a video about Russian  literature at the time when the country is at war. My response is that is precisely the time to  understand a country’s literature because it  

Reveals deeper truths about the country. It’s  not the time to keep your head in the sand,   it is you learn about the country and  its literature is the perfect window. My second reason is that literature lets you  have a bigger perspective, a long-term view of  

The country and culture. Countries go to war, make  peace, become friends, then enemy and the cycle   continues. Politics tends to be short-term while  literature gives you a long-term perspective. Now my third reason for talking about Russian  literature has nothing to do with the current  

Geo-political conflict. Russian literature is  extremely profound in revealing and exposing   the human condition. The video mainly focuses  on the 19th century literature and the reason   these authors and their works have persisted for  so long is because they speak to us. They tell  

Us the truth about our existence. So Russian  literature is far more universal than a lot   of these idiots with a keyboard can comprehend.  So if you reject a country’s profound literature   because the country is at war right now, you’re  an emotional idiot my friend. You need to watch  

Less TV news coverage, and the start reading  literature. The media keeps you outraged,   while literature makes you understand the bigger  picture. I think if you watched the video fully,   you wouldn’t make idiotic comments, instead you  come out with a fresh perspective about the nature  

Of this world and the human condition, because  none of these Russian giants justified any war,   or human suffering, instead they shed lights into  why these things happen and how to prevent them. But the main topic I would like to address  here is about Nikolai Gogol and whether he  

Was Ukrainian or Russian. So let me chime in.  Later I will try to read a few passages from   Gogol’s work about his views or half  views on Ukraine as well as Russia. First thing first, my video’s Thumbnail  reads: Russian Literature is Insane. Well,  

It is insane. But that is not  the problem. Its title reads The   Incredible Works of 8 Russian Giants. So a  lot of people have taken issues with me for   including Gogol in the video arguing  he wasn’t Russian. He was Ukrainian. In my defence, the video is not about  nationality. Literature is about language,  

Therefore it belongs to those who  speak the language, not those who   holds the passport. In the video, I  explain Gogol’s Ukrainian background   in detail but a lot of dummies in the  comment section seemed to ignore that. Gogol wrote in Russian. Not just that, his  most famous works are also about Russia  

And the Russian people. To make my case even  stronger, Gogol while ethnically Ukrainian,   didn’t have a Ukrainian passport at the time,  he was the citizen of the Russian empire.   Now some might take issue with the Russian  imperial conquest of Ukraine, but that is a  

Different topic. Ukraine has been an independent  state since 1991 after the fall of the USSR. But the topic of a writer’s language, nationality  and ethnicity is not as clear cut as I would like   it to be. Was Gogol Russian or Ukrainian? Gogol  was born in modern-day Ukraine and his family  

Belonged to a Ukrainian-speaking people of Cossack  origin as well as some Polish background in his   family, so he was Ukrainian by ethnicity. His  father Vasily Gogol-Yanovsky also used his Polish   surname, but Gogol dropped Yanovsky, perhaps in  an attempt to be accepted in the Russian empire  

Or perhaps it was a sensible decision as a writer.  In order to be successful, a Polish surname might   not have been a good idea at the time when the  Poles were rebelling against the Russia Empire.

But what it makes it complicated is that he wrote  all his major works in Russian. Why? At the time,   Ukraine was part of the Russian Tsarist Empire,  so the Russian language offered more opportunities   for the young writer. The same goes for someone  like Franz Kafka who was born in Prague but wrote  

All his works in German. Gogol as a young man  moved to Saint-Petersburg to seek his fortune   at the capital of the Tsar. There he managed  to make a name for himself. He was at the time,   referred to as a writer from the Little Russia,  which denotes his Ukrainian background. Ukraine  

Was called Mala Rus or Little Russia at the  time. Today Belarus has kept its name which   means white Russia. So many Russian critics  at the time referred to Gogol as Ukrainian   but as his fame grew more and more, and he  became a very serious and established writer,  

He was called Russian writer in major  newspapers and literary magazines. At the beginning of his career Gogol wrote  primarily stories from Ukraine. His first   book was a collection of Ukrainian stories  titled Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka in   two volumes which were published in 1831  and 1832. Also his 1835 epic novel Taras  

Bulba is also about Ukrainian Cossacks  who fight against the Poles not Russians. Gogol was fascinated by the history  of the Cossacks. However in this epic,   Gogol doesn’t pitch Ukraine against Russia,  but rather against its western enemy,   the Poles and Lithuanians. As you  know Western Ukraine was ruled by  

The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth for  centuries, while eastern Ukraine was   part of the Russian Empire and even to this  day there is an east-west divide in Ukraine. Gogol characterises the Cossacks as a mix between  Europeans and Asians, because there was a lot of  

Intermarriages between the Slavs and Tatar  Turks. He says: “Owing to this co-mingling,   their facial features, so different from one  another’s, received a common impress, tending   towards the Asiatic. And so there came into being  a nation in faith and place belonging to Europe;  

On the other hand, in ways of life, customs, and  dress quite Asiatic. It was a nation in which   the world’s two extremes came in contact;  European caution and Asiatic indifference,   naiveté and cunning, an intense activity and the  greatest laziness and indulgence, an aspiration  

To development and perfection, and again a  desire to appear indifferent to perfection.” For Gogol this gave the Cossacks a sense of  dangerous, heroic and untamed characteristics   whose only value was freedom to roam the plains.  When the Russians took over, they didn’t destroy  

The Cossack militarism, rather they incorporated  into the Russian army. So Gogol’s Taras Bulba   is a love letter to an epic history of the  Cossacks which no longer existed in his time. Here is Gogol’s character, Andrey, the son of  Taras Bulba talking about his love for a woman  

Compared to his love for Ukraine. Here he is  talking to a woman from the side of the enemy:  ““Deceive not yourself and me, noble sir,” she  said, gently shaking her beautiful head; “I know,  

And to my great sorrow I know but too well, that  it is impossible for you to love me. I know what   your duty is, and your faith. Your father calls  you, your comrades, your country, and we are your  

Enemies.” He response: “And what are my father, my  comrades, my country to me?” said Andrii, with a   quick movement of his head, and straightening  up his figure like a poplar beside the river.   “Be that as it may, I have no one, no one!” he  repeated, with that movement of the hand with  

Which the Cossack expresses his determination to  do some unheard-of deed, impossible to any other   man. “Who says that the Ukraine is my country? Who  gave it to me for my country? Our country is the  

One our soul longs for, the one which is dearest  of all to us. My country is—you! That is my native   land, and I bear that country in my heart. I  will bear it there all my life, and I will see  

Whether any of the Cossacks can tear it thence.  And I will give everything, barter everything, I   will destroy myself, for that country!”” —Nikolai  Gogol—Taras Bulba (translation by John Cournos) Gogol was madly in love with his native  land, Ukraine, spent his childhood there  

So he started his careers with stories from his  native land but living in Saint-Petersburg he   became known as a writer from Little Russia.  In other words, he was boxed as a Ukrainian   writer which was cute but not considered a  serious Russian writer. To be taken seriously,  

Gogol changed gear. He started writing about  Russia and his fame grew exponentially as a   result. A modern-day example is Kazuo Ishiguro  who in the 1980s started writing about Japan and   the British media labelled him as a Japanese  writer, which propelled him to change gear  

With his masterpiece, The Remains of the Day,  a quintessential English story and today he is   called a British writer. Why? Because he stopped  writing about Japan. The same happened to Gogol. But Gogol didn’t become a  blind supporter of Russia,   instead he used all his literary  skills to expose the problems of  

Russia through comedy. His comic tales show  the issues Russia was suffering at the time. His masterpiece, Dead Souls is about a Russian  scammer who buys dead serfs to make him look rich   on paper so he can borrow money from banks.  His greatest short stories like The Nose,  

And the Overcoat and his most famous play  Government Inspector are also set in Russia.   In these tales, Gogol pokes fun at Russians and  the empire, which made him unique and popular at   the time. He was an outsider who saw what was  wrong with the Russian society at the time.

In his preface to Dead Souls, he refers  to himself as part of the Russian Empire,   but also distances himself from fully knowing  the Russian way of life. Of course with the   publication of Dead Souls, he became a  sensation in Russia and everyone claimed  

Him as a true Russian writer. Here Gogol talks  about his protagonist Chichikhov: “Him I have   taken as a type to show forth the vices and the  failings, rather than the merits and the virtues,   of the commonplace Russian individual; and the  characters which revolve around him have also  

Been selected for the purpose of demonstrating our  national weaknesses and shortcomings.” So here,   he says our national weaknesses and shortcomings,  by which he means Russian or at least the Russian   empire which was his nationality at the time  which included Ukraine and many other countries  

At the time. Gogol was also aware that to  criticise Russia or the Russian character,   he had to make it his own. Otherwise he would  be exposing himself to some attacks by Russian   nationalists. So throughout the novel,  Gogol doesn’t separate himself from Russia. Here is famous passage in which  Gogol likens Russian march towards  

Progress to the march of a troika or a  horse carriage drawn by three horses: “And you, Rus, do you not hurtle forward too,  like some spirited troika that none can catch?   A trail of smoke marks your passage, the  bridges rumble, everything falls back and  

Is left behind. On seeing this miracle  of God the onlooker stops in his tracks:   what is this?—a bolt of lighting hurled from the  heavens? And this terryiging onrush—what does it   portend? And what unearthly power lies hidden  in these unearthly steeds? And the steeds—what  

Steeds, what steeds! Are there whirlwinds  catch in your manes? Is there some sadder,   sensitive ear burning in every fibre of your  being? You head the familiar song ring out from   high above, in unison you tense your bronze  chests, and, your hooves skimming the ground,  

You are transformed into taut, elongated forms,  flying through the air, and you hurtle forwards,   inspired by God! …Rus, where you racing? Give  an answer! No answer comes. With the wondrous   jingling the carriage bells ring out, torn into  shreds, the air rumbles, and turns to wind;  

Every thing on this earth flashes by as, with an  oblique look, other peoples and empires step aside   to let her fly past.” —Nikolai Gogol—Dead  Souls (translation by Christopher English) Here Gogol talks about, not only the Russian  progress but also expansion, some 200 years  

Ago. If anything, reading Gogol will tell you  how little things have changed. Whether he was   criticising or praising is beside the point.  For Gogol Dead Souls was a perfect metaphor   for progress for the sake of it. Chichikov was a  scam artist but he didn’t see it that way because  

Russia was so big that you can be a respectable  gentleman in one area, a crook in another. Here is another passage from Dead Souls  where he talks about Russia from a   somewhat outsider’s perspective,  perhaps a Ukrainian perspective:

“Rus! Rus! I see you now, I see you from  my wondrous, beautiful distance: I see you,   mired in poverty and mess, unwelcoming, with  no arresting wonders of nature, crowned by   further arresting wonders of art, to delight  the eyes or to startle, no cities with lofty,  

Many-windowed palaces, clinging like moss to rocky  crags, no pictured tees and spreading ivy, growing   over houses lost in the roar and eternal sprays  of waterfalls; no needs to crane back and look   up at the massive granite slabs, towering high,  immeasurably high above; no dark arches piled one  

Above the other, and choked with vines, ivy, and  numberless millions of wild roses, through which   eternal contours of radiant mountains might  be glimpsed in the distance, soaring upwards   into the silvery skies above. Everything within  you is open, desolate, and flat; you are squat  

Towns barely protrude above the level of your wide  planes, marking them like little dots, like specs;   here is nothing to entice and fascinate the  onlooker’s gaze. Yet whence this unfathomable,   uncanny force that draws me to you? Why do my  ears ringing unceasingly with your dreary song,  

That carries cross your length and breath, from  sea to sea? What is there in it? What is in it, in   that song? What is it that so beckons, and sobs,  and tugs at the heart? What sounds are these that  

Sting as they caress, that irrupt into my soul  in twine about my heart? Rus! What is it you want   of me? What is the hidden, unfathomable bond that  holds us fast? Why do you gaze like that, and why  

Is it that everything in you has turned to look  at me with eyes full of expectation?… And while   I stand, baffled and emotionless, there suddenly  falls across my head the shadow of a thundercloud,   heavy with imminent rain, and my mind is  benumbed in the face of your vastness. What does  

This immense expands portend? Is it not here, in  you, that some boundless thought should be born,   since you yourself are without end? Is not here  that the hero of legend is to appear, where there   is space for him to unfurl his limbs in stride  about? Menacing is the embrace in which your  

Mighty expanse unfolds me, terrible the force with  which it strikes me to the very core, unnatural   the power with which my eyes burn bright—oh! What  a glittering, wondrous distance, faster than any   deer is on Earth! Rus!…” —Nikolai Gogol—Dead  Souls (translation by Christopher English)

As we can see Gogol talks about Russia  through his character Selifan a peasant   coach driver whose jobs to travel the  expanse of the country. Yet he appears   to not fully understand Russia. This  mystery has persisted to even today.   Even Gogol was fascinated with Russia  but shows how mysterious a country it is.

Gogol’s ethnic heritage was Ukrainian Cossack.  That’s why for some Ukrainians calling him Russian   is insulting. My counter to that is while Gogol  was an ethnic Ukrainian, he is primarily known   for his literary skills and his written words.  He wrote in Russian. So purely from a literary  

Perspective he was Russian language writer. But it  is not simple as that though. Gogol is also known   for his humour, which you could say is perhaps  more Ukrainian than Russian. Russians tend to   be more serious while Gogol was a comic genius.  Let me give you an example about the difference  

Between Russia and Ukraine. Gogol’s comedy very  distinct from other Russian writers at the time.   To illustrate this let’s look at their respective  presidents, a tale of two Vladimirs. I know it   is a bit superficial but it fits perfectly with  Gogol’s style of writing. Vladimir Putin was an  

Intelligence officer while Vladimir Zelanisky  was an actor. Him booming a president seems a   story written by Gogol. Zealensky played a  president role on TV, but shortly after was   elected the country’s a real president. Gogol  could have scripted that in one of his stories.

Today both Russia and Ukraine claim Gogol  as their own. This is a good thing. It only   shows that Gogol was a genius. I wish  two countries were fighting over me. But it is tricky. A lot of Irish writers like  James Joyce and Samuel Becket are considered  

Irish writers without writing in Irish. They  primarily wrote in English and French. But   the counter is that they were ethnically Irish  but also held Irish passport as far as I know.   Gogol held a Russian passport because Ukraine  wasn’t not an Independent country at the time,  

While Ireland was independent at the  time Joyce and Becket were writing. One of the strongest argument in favour  of Ukraine is that Gogol spent his early   childhood and early teenage years  in Ukraine and spoke Ukrainian,   so based on Freudian psychology that childhood  is the most important stage of our personality,  

His writing was primarily influenced by  his Ukrainian upbringing, his outlook,   his sensibilities, his humour, his overall  perspective had Ukrainian flavour. While it   is hard to quantify those things, it is still  important in a writer’s development. So the  

Seed was sewn in Ukraine but started fruiting in  Russia. I think without his Ukrainian heritage and   without the fertile soil of Russian intellectual  and literary environment, we would not have had   Gogol. So just as nature and nurture play an  intermingling, dynamic role in one’s upbringing,  

Gogol had the Ukrainian Cossack spirit but  nurtured as a great writer in Russian society. My final though is that Gogol belongs to  the whole humanity. He was a genius and   instead of fighting over which people he  belongs to, we should focus on reading and  

Enjoying his works and if possible learning  from the man. So if you have not watched,   I highly recommend you watch my extended  video on Gogol’s life and his major works.

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