On 1 April, it was the 215th anniversary of Nikolai Gogol, an unrivalled artist in words and the author of dozens of immortal works. The exhibition under the title “The life and works of Nikolai Gogol (1809–1852) in the works by researchers of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries”, which was opened at the Department of Rare Books, introduces the readers to works of famous literary critics.
Panteleimon Kulish (1819–1897) was the first to collect materials about the life and writings of Nikolai Gogol. In 1854, he published the book “The Experience of the Biography of N.V. Gogol” (Saint Petersburg, 1854). Then, some of Gogol's acquaintances were still alive and this book reflected their attitude to the writer. The book was supplemented by the work by Alexey Tarasenkov “The Last Days of the Life of N.V. Gogol”. The second edition of the biography published in 1856 contained three times more materials.
The exhibition also presented the book by Alexandra Annenskaya “N.V. Gogol. His Life and Literary Activities” (Saint Petersburg, 1894), which was published in the series “Life of Outstanding People” by Florenty Pavlenkov in 1894. The book traces the life of the writer from his childhood and adolescence until his death. Alexandra Annenskaya (1840–1915), the author of the essay, was a teacher and a famous children's writer of the late 19th – early 20th century.
Vladimir Shenrok (1853–1910) is a Russian writer and historian of literature. His literary research, which he conducted nearly all his life, was devoted to the study of Gogol's life and works. Vladimir Shenrok’s book “Materials for the Biography of Gogol” (Moscow, 1892) can be seen at the exhibition.
Another interesting exhibit is the book by Nestor Kotlyarevsky “Nikolai Gogol, 1829–1842: an Essay on the History of the Russian Novella and Drama” (Petrograd, 1915). Nestor Kotlyarevsky was a publicist, literary critic, and the first director of Pushkin’s House. He tried “to reconstruct the story of the mysterious soul of the artist as fully as possible and to explore in more detail the connections between Gogol's works and works of his contemporaries and predecessors”. The author evaluated the works by Nikolai Gogol in the context of the history of Russian literature and criticism and this is what makes the Kotlyarevsky's book of value.
These and other works can be seen at the exhibition between 1 and 30 April at the address: 24 Prospekt Revolutsii, Voronezh, Russian Federation.
