Arabesque gogol summary. Meaning and analysis of Gogol's works "Arabesques"

In the light of his other collection: "Arabesques". This included his articles of historical, aesthetic, critical, philosophical, pedagogical and fiction content. Gogol always somewhat exaggerated the analytical "thinker" in himself at the expense of the "artist". This also affected Gogol's attitude to those articles that he placed in Arabesques. Judging by his preface, he himself admitted that not everything included here deserves to be printed, but at the same time, not without a share of conceit, he declared that he nevertheless considers it necessary to publish everything without exception, believing that the Russian it will be useful for the public to know some of his thoughts: “if an essay contains two or three truths that have not yet been said, then the author has no right to hide it from the reader, and for two or three true thoughts one can forgive the imperfection of the whole.” If we, indeed, with full right to admit that in the articles of "Arabesques" there are many fair and correct thoughts, then nevertheless such an immodest statement by the author that he expresses "truths" is very characteristic of Gogol. This indiscretion was noticed by modern criticism and only sharpened the attitude towards the "Arabesques" in its analysis.

Arabesque Articles on Aesthetics

Articles of aesthetic content placed by Gogol in "Arabesques" ("Sculpture, painting and music", "On the architecture of the present time", "The Last Day of Pompeii") are (especially the first one) more like poems in prose than reasoning. The style of these articles is distinguished by pathos: Gogol lavishes metaphors, comparisons, exclamation points, and, as a result, in his sketches there is more poetry, feeling, mood than thought. In his first article, Gogol, following the German romantics, sings a hymn to music, the highest of all arts, which acts on our souls more than others. He believes that music alone can drive away the egoism that seizes the world of people, that it will return our "young and decrepit age" to God. “She is all impulse,” he wrote about music, she suddenly, at one time, tears a person from his land, deafens him with a thunder of mighty sounds and at once immerses him in his world; she turns him into one tremble. He no longer enjoys, he no longer sympathizes, he himself turns into suffering, his soul does not contemplate an incomprehensible phenomenon, but lives itself, lives impetuously, crushingly, rebelliously ... ”In the Arabesque article“ On Architecture ”he points to the modern fall of this art and its prosperity in the past. Of all architectural styles, he focuses his attention with admiration on the Gothic, medieval style.

“There is no more majestic, loftier and more decent architecture for the building of the Christian God than Gothic,” writes Gogol. “But they have passed those centuries when faith, fiery, ardent faith, directed all minds, all actions towards one thing, when the artist strove higher and higher to raise his creation to heaven, he rushed to him alone ... His building flew to the sky, narrow windows, pillars, arches, stretched endlessly into the sky; a transparent, almost lacy spitz, like smoke, shone over them, and the majestic temple was so great in front of ordinary dwellings of people, as great are the demands of our soul before the demands of the body ... "

In the article "The Last Day of Pompeii" Gogol extols famous painting by Bryullov, indicating his ability to use "effects", the ability to combine the real with the ideal.

N. V. Gogol. Portrait by F. Müller, 1841

Arabesque articles on history

Gogol's historical articles in "Arabesques" ("On the Middle Ages", "Life", "A Look at the Compilation of Little Russia", "On Little Russian Songs", "Schletser, Miller and Herder”, “On the movement of peoples at the end of the 5th century”) appeared as a result of his romantic hobbies in the Middle Ages, classes history of Little Russia and university lectures. Not as a scientist, Gogol approached history, but as a poet, an artist, richly endowed with lyricism and vivid imagination, and a pathetic flowery style ... He paints pictures, draws living portraits, he creates, but only when the plot arouses his inspiration. With true enthusiasm, he sings a hymn to the Middle Ages in “Arabesques”, throws a few fiery lines to the “crusades”, “medieval woman”, “terrible secret courts”, the old house in which the alchemist lives, etc., all these plots are “interesting ”, on which the attention of the poet and painter has stopped and stops so many times ... In addition to such aestheticism of the “romantic style”, Gogol introduced a religious and conservative worldview into his historical analysis. He stood on the point of view that “it is not people who completely establish government, that it is established and developed by the very position of the earth against their will, on which the national character depends, that for this reason the forms of government are sacred, and changing them must inevitably bring misfortune on people". Gogol, both from his professorship and in his articles, taught that universal history is the realization of Providence's plans. By the wisdom of Providence, he explained the migration of peoples that refreshed the old, fading civilizations; Divine Providence, according to him, strengthened the power of the Roman high priest, and this strengthening rallied Europe, enlightened the barbarians.

"Arabesques" on the meaning of the poet

Thus, Gogol introduced a lot of subjectivity of his hobbies, his views into the articles of "Arabesques"... In the article about Caliph Al-Mamun, he expressed an interesting view on the state significance of the "great poet". “They are great priests,” says Gogol. Wise rulers honor such poets with their conversation, cherish their precious life and are afraid to suppress it with the many-sided activity of the ruler. They are called only to important state meetings, as knowers of the depths of the human heart. From these words it is clear that Gogol attached immeasurably more importance to the “poet” than Pushkin, who saw the poet as a “personality”, but never looked at him as a “statesman”, adviser to the tsars ... What bizarre pictures she painted for Gogol his brilliant fantasy, inspired by historical visions, is best seen from the "prose poem" placed in the "Arabesques": "Life". In a few lines, a poet-historian is clearly visible, who managed to capture the characteristic features of worldviews ancient egypt, cheerful Greece, iron Rome, who managed in artistic analysis to compare the ancient civilizations of the world with Christianity. From this inspired and beautiful work, perhaps, “Prose Poems” originate. Turgenev.

"Arabesques" about Little Russia

In the article “Arabesques” “On Little Russian Songs,” Gogol noted the enormous historical value of these folk works, in which the living faces of fighters for their homeland were preserved, the feelings that these fighters lived were preserved; and, at the same time, in these songs, a poetic image of a Little Russian woman emerges clearly, an image full of love, affection and beauty, condemned harsh history to separation, orphanhood, widowhood ... Gogol notes the lively drama, as feature these songs.

In the article “A Look at the Compilation of Little Russia”, Gogol gives a concise analysis of the history of his homeland and dwells in particular detail on the history and characteristics of the Cossacks. The ideas expressed succinctly here by him found a brilliant, artistic embodiment in " Taras Bulba". In this article "Arabesque" Gogol's view of ancient Russian history is curious. It turns out that the post-Kiev period did not affect his poetic susceptibility at all. Gogol finds the 13th century a “terribly insignificant” time, and at the same time cruel: “the people acquired cold-blooded brutality, he says, because they cut, without knowing why. He was not kindled by any strong feeling - neither fanaticism, nor superstition, nor even prejudice.

Gogol about Pushkin

Of the critical articles of Arabesques, Gogol's discussion of Pushkin. "A few words about Pushkin". In this article, for the first time, he clearly and definitely analyzes the concept of “nationality”, which Russian criticism, as applied to Pushkin, interpreted at random: some critics confused this concept with “common people”, others with “nationalism”. “Pushkin is an extraordinary phenomenon and, perhaps, the only manifestation of the Russian spirit,” Gogol writes in this article. - This is a Russian man in his final development, in which he, perhaps, will appear in two hundred years. His very life is completely Russian. The same revelry and expanse, to which the Russian sometimes, forgetting, strives, and which fresh Russian youth always likes, was reflected in his primitive years of entry into society. He remained Russian wherever fate threw him: both in the Caucasus and in the Crimea, that is, where he wrote those of his works in which they want to see the most imitative. He, at the very beginning, was already national, because true nationality does not consist in the description of a sundress, but in the very spirit of the people. A poet can even be national when he describes a completely foreign world, but looks at it through the eyes of his national element, through the eyes of the whole people, when he feels and speaks in such a way that it seems to his compatriots that they themselves feel and say it ... "

In the same article "Arabesques" Gogol praised Pushkin for his artistic "realism" and defined the essence of this trend, condemning romanticism for its tendency to depict only the spectacular. A curious accusation in the mouth of Gogol, who at that time had not yet rid himself of the romantic weakness he pointed out. He defends Pushkin from the attack of critics, who are used to admiring his romantic poems from the Caucasian and Crimean life and did not understand the "poetry of reality" with which the great poet spoke in " Onegin», « Godunov"..." The mass of the people, Gogol wrote on this occasion, looks like a woman ordering an artist to draw a completely similar portrait of herself; but woe to him if he failed to hide all her shortcomings! No one will argue that a wild mountaineer, in his warlike costume, free as will, is much brighter than any assessor, and despite the fact that he stabbed his enemy, hiding in a gorge, or burned an entire village, nevertheless he more striking, more arousing interest in us than our judge, in a worn tailcoat, stained with tobacco, which innocently, through inquiries and corrections, let many serfs and free souls through the world. But both of them, they are both phenomena belonging to our world: they both should have the right to our attention.

From these significant words it is clear that while Gogol, defending Pushkin the realist, recognized in Arabesques the equality of both artistic movements. The time was not far off when, following Pushkin, he would completely go over to the side of realism.

Fiction articles in "Arabesques"

The “fictional” articles included in the “Arabesques” include three: “ Portrait"(In the first edition)," Nevsky Prospekt "and" Diary of a Madman". Of the first two of these stories, they are a concrete presentation of Gogol's views on the life and mental world of the artist.

An era favored by romantics. No wonder the students of the Nizhyn Lyceum of the Gogol era were mainly interested in this era and even decided to write a book dedicated to this era.

That is why Gogol attached such importance to the study of "geography". Climate, soil, of course, have a great influence on the history of the people in the initial period of his life, when he is under the power of nature, but still not as decisive as was thought at the beginning of the 19th century. some historians (eg Cousin) who were taken in geography known land talk about her story. The history of culture proves that, over time, geographical influences are weakening: man conquers nature.

Gogol, upon his arrival in St. Petersburg, became close to some artists; subsequently in Rome, he constantly revolved in a circle of artists; he loved music, studied art history, worked hard to develop his aesthetic taste. It was from these interests of him in the arts that his peculiarities of his theoretical analysis of art developed.

The view, perhaps developed by Gogol under the influence of Schelling's philosophy, although no evidence of Gogol's direct acquaintance with the teachings of this philosopher has survived.

The writers who willingly analyzed such topics include the Schellingian Odoevsky; he loved to appeal to the "feeling of the sublime" and smashed the vulgarity of life. In the stories Beethoven's Last Quartet, The Improviser, Sebastian Bach, he speaks of the secret of creativity. Pushkin in " Egyptian nights” brought out a brilliant poet in the person of an improviser. Puppeteer in " Torquato Tasso” developed the idea of ​​​​discord between genius and the environment. Timofeev in the dramatic fantasy "Poet", Field in the story "The Painter" and the novel "Abbadonna", Pavlov in the story "Name Day" and many other writers of that time in a fictional form developed similar themes with special zeal.

What is the meaning of the word "arabesque"? In life, we often come across this concept. The word is often used in accordance with its traditional characteristics, but is used as a figure of speech, as a common noun or in figurative meaning, when it means something cunningly intertwined or whimsically ornate, in another version - very crushed and mixed or very openwork, light.

What is an arabesque?

The word is of Italian origin. In translation, the term arabesque - arabesco - means "Arabic". However, this ornamental style is used in cultures different countries and in various forms of art. There is no exact and unified definition of an arabesque. We are faced with a completely different use of the concept, it would seem. There are several meanings of what an arabesque is.

Initially, a type of oriental (Arabic) ornament was called an arabesque. In the future, this term began to be used as the name of a certain type of musical piece.

There is another way to use the word - in the masculine gender. What is "arabesque" in this case? In this case, we are talking about a dance movement or a type of dance.

Let's look at each use case of the concept separately.

Arabic pattern in Europe

It is this use of the term that is really associated with its Arabic meaning, as it is a type of ornament that arose in the medieval era in the culture of nomadic Arabs.

What is an arabesque in art? Initially, the structure of the pattern included both geometric and floral motifs, but later only geometric motifs began to be included.

At a later time, text components began to be introduced into the floral pattern. That is why such a concept as "Arabic script" arose - a type of writing whimsically ornate, similar to an arabesque in appearance.

In the heyday of the Middle Ages, the "arabesque" ornament was used to design handwritten books, and in Byzantium and Italy - in majolica and engraving. At this stage in the development of the arabesque, it carried, first of all, a symbolic meaning and was the main element of architectural structures.

The most popular type of ornament "arabesque" became in the Renaissance. Thanks to Giovanni da Udine, the pattern becomes the basis and connecting thread of the semantic component of fresco paintings and decorative and symbolic elements in architecture.

In the era of classicism, the "arabesque" ornament received the appointment of an independent decorative element, abstracted from the semantic component.

Arabic pattern in the countries of the Muslim world

In the Arab world, over time, the arabesque ornament became a whole science that was in the service of the church. After all, Arabic arabesque patterns served as a connecting thread between Heaven - the abode of God and Paradise - and Man as a representative of the Earthly House. If you think about it, then the Underworld, which, according to Muslims, consists of two parts: the grave as the threshold of Paradise or Hell and Hell itself. Thus, it is possible to express the version that the Muslim arabesque can be the image of the "World Tree". Arabesque ornaments can completely cover the walls of the mosque. In the interweaving of their elements, you will never find animals, birds, fish, humans and other living beings, since no one can compete with God - their creator.

Arabesque in the arts and crafts of the East

There is also a non-religious way of using the arabesque ornament in Eastern cultures. One of the most common is the Arabic patterned carpet. In this case, the creation of a pattern implies greater freedom of creativity: images of animals and people can be used as elements, weaving them into a ligature of stems, petals and leaves.

On the basis of the Arabic traditional ornament in the art of carpet weaving, a special direction emerged - Islami - a decorative ornament consisting only of bindweed and spiral elements. In addition, six additional types of Islami are distinguished: "shekasti" - with open ornaments; "bandi" or "vagire" - the elements of the pattern are repeated both horizontally and vertically, and intertwined with each other; "dakhane azhdar", whose arabesques resemble the mouth of a dragon; "toranjdar", in it, along with traditional patterns, such an element as a medallion is used; "lochak-toranj", where a composition of medallions in triangles is placed in the corners of the carpet; "mari" - with spiral-shaped arabesques.

Arabesques in the "bandy" style also have a number of subspecies: "islimi" - in the form of fastened arabesques; "pichak" - in the form of connected weaves; "shekaste" - in the form of untied arabesques; "katibei" - in the form of an associated inscription; "varamin"; "caleb-hashti" in the form of connected square frames; "derakhti" - in the form of intertwining trees; "sarvi" - the main element - cypress; "adamaki" - in the form of a pattern of human figures; "bakhtiyari"; "khushe-anguri" from intertwined bunches of grapes; "shahae gavazne kheyvandar" from linked figurines of deer; "hatame shirazi", reminiscent of inlays; "dastegul" from intertwined bouquets.

In addition to creating unique carpet products, the arabesque motif is used to create models of clothes, dishes, interiors, and even in landscape design.

Pattern creation technology

When creating an "arabesque" ornament, an ideal mathematical calculation is required, which is used to form absolutely accurate compositional elements of its elements and their alternation in an ornamental chain. The elements of the pattern are very complex in composition, often fit into each other. At the same time, it is also necessary to use mathematical knowledge, because the elements of arabesques are difficultly combined variants of various geometric shapes- circles, ovals, rectangles, hexagons, octagons, trapezoids, triangles, rhombuses, etc. Moreover, each type of element has its own color. With such a mathematical pattern, the background is never used for it.

Musical composition

In music, the term "arabesque" was first introduced in relation to a proper name for his work by the famous composer Robert Schumann. Later, the concept of "arabesque" began to be applied to a certain genre of instrumental music, as a rule, a work of small size, but very diverse, light, with an openwork interweaving of elements, rhythms, intonations, tempo, fragments of a melody. The intertwining melody of the arabesque was used in the work of the amazing French impressionist and symbolist composer Claude Debussy. Of the domestic composers, Alexandra Lyadova turned to this genre.

dance movement

What is "arabesque" in dance art? The arabesque, or rather the arabesque, is one of the main movements in classical choreography. In the classification of Agrippina Yakovlevna Vaganova, we meet four types of arabesque, and the Italian choreographer Enrico Cecchetti has five. These movements have a similar setting of the body, head, but differ in the position of the raised and retracted arms and legs.

From classical choreography, the modified arabesque was transferred to sports ballroom dancing and figure skating. It has a fairly long tradition of application in Indian belly dance.

"ARABESCO",

collection of articles and stories by Gogol. Full name: "Arabesques. Various works of N. Gogol ”(St. Petersburg, 1835). Censorship permission of the collection - November 10, 1834 Publication - January 20-22, 1835 A. consisted of two parts. The 1st part included: "Sculpture, painting and music"; "On the Middle Ages"; "Chapter from a historical novel"; "On the Teaching of World History"; "Portrait"; "A look at the compilation of Little Russia"; "A few words about Pushkin"; "On the architecture of the present time"; "Al-Mamun". The 2nd part included: "Life"; "Schlozer, Miller and Herder"; "Nevsky Avenue"; "On Little Russian Songs"; "Thoughts on Geography"; "The last day of Pompeii"; "Prisoner"; "On the movement of peoples at the end of the 5th century"; "Diary of a Madman".

"Arabesques" are Arabic patterns, which are a combination of dissimilar elements. The Gogol collection brought together articles on history, geography, literature and art, as well as St. Petersburg stories. In the preface to A. Gogol, he emphasized: “This collection consists of plays written by me in different eras of my life. I didn't write them to order. They spoke from the heart, and I chose as the subject only that which struck me greatly. Between them, readers will no doubt find many young ones. I confess that I might not have admitted some plays to this collection at all if I had published it a year earlier, when I was more strict with my old works. But instead of sternly judging your past, it is much better to be inexorable to your present pursuits. It seems as unfair to destroy what we have written before, as to forget the bygone days of our youth. Moreover, if an essay contains two or three truths that have not yet been said, then the author has no right to hide it from the reader, and for two or three correct thoughts one can forgive the imperfection of the whole.

For the first time Gogol mentioned A. in letters to M.P. Pogodin dated November 2 and December 14, 1834: “... I’m terribly busy ... I’m printing some things!” and “I print all sorts of things. All the writings and passages and thoughts that sometimes occupied me. Between them there are historical, already known and unknown. - I ask only you to look at them indulgently. They have a lot of young people."

In early January 1835, Gogol sent a preface to A. A. S. Pushkin: “I am sending you a preface. Do me a favor, look through and if anything, then correct and change immediately with ink. After all, as far as you know, I have not yet written serious prefaces, and therefore I am completely inexperienced in this matter. It is not known whether Pushkin made any corrections to the text of his younger brother in literature.

On January 22, 1835, Gogol sent a copy to A. A. S. Pushkin, noting in a letter: “Subtract ... and do yourself a favor, take a pencil in your pens and do not stop indignation at the sight of mistakes, but the same hour of them all on the face. - I need it very much". On the same day, copies of A. were sent to M. P. Pogodin and M. A. Maksimovich. Gogol wrote to M.P. Pogodin: “I send you all my stuff. Stroke her and pat her: there is a lot of childishness in her, and I tried to throw her out into the light as soon as possible, in order to throw everything old out of my office at the same time, and, shaking myself off, start new life. Express your opinion on historical articles in some magazine. Better and more decent, I think, in an enlightenment magazine. Your word will help me. Because I also seem to have some kind of scientific enemies. But fuck their mother!” Gogol informed M.A. Maksimovich: “I am sending you a confusion, a mixture of everything, porridge, in which there is butter, judge for yourself.”

V. G. Belinsky, in his article “On the Russian story and the stories of Mr. Gogol” (1835), did not appreciate A.’s articles on history: “I don’t understand how you can compromise your literary name so thoughtlessly. Is it possible to translate, or, better to say, to paraphrase and re-parody some passages from the history of Miller, to mix them up with your own phrases, to write a scholarly article? in what case are they not comparable, also scholarship? .. ”A. did not have commercial success. In this regard, on March 23, 1835, Gogol wrote to M.P. Pogodin: “... Please print an announcement about Arabesques in Moskovskie Vedomosti, that this book aroused general curiosity, that the cost of it is terrible (NB, still not a penny of profit not received) and the like. On October 7, 1835, Gogol complained to A. S. Pushkin: “Mine neither Arabesques nor Mirgorod work at all. The devil knows what that means. Booksellers are the kind of people who, without any conscience, can be hung on the first tree. Subsequently, most of the works included in A., Gogol did not appreciate too highly. On November 16 (28), 1836, he wrote from Paris to M. P. Pogodin: “I am afraid to remember all my dirty tricks. They appear to my eyes in a kind of formidable accusers. Oblivion, long oblivion asks the soul. And if such a moth appeared that would suddenly eat all the copies of The Inspector General, and with them Arabesques, Evenings and all other nonsense, and for a long time, no one would say anything about me, either in print or orally. words - I would thank fate. Only glory after death (for which, alas, I have done nothing so far) is familiar to the soul of a genuine poet. And modern glory is not worth a penny. In the article “Russian Literature in 1841”, V. G. Belinsky noted that in A. “Gogol moves from merry comedy to“ humor ”, which for him consists in the opposite of contemplation of true life, in contrast to the ideal of life - with the reality of life. And therefore his humor will make laugh only simpletons or children; people who have looked into the depths of life look at his paintings with sad reflection, with heavy anguish ... Because of these monstrous and ugly faces, they see other, fine-looking faces; this dirty reality leads them to the contemplation of ideal reality, and what is, more clearly represents to them what should be ... "

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol

SCULPTURE, PAINTING AND MUSIC

ABOUT THE MIDDLE AGES

A FEW WORDS ABOUT PUSHKIN

AL-MAMUN. (HISTORICAL CHARACTERISTICS)

SCHLEZER, MILLER AND HERDER

ABOUT LITTLE RUSSIAN SONGS

THOUGHTS ON GEOGRAPHY

THE LAST DAY OF POMPEII

ON THE MOVEMENT OF PEOPLES AT THE END OF THE V CENTURY

VARIANTS OF ARTICLES FROM "ARABESCO"

SCULPTURE, PAINTING AND MUSIC

ABOUT THE MIDDLE AGES

ON TEACHING GENERAL HISTORY

LOOK AT COMPILATION OF LITTLE RUSSIA

A FEW WORDS ABOUT PUSHKIN

ABOUT THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE PRESENT TIME

SCHLEZER, MILLER AND HERDER

ABOUT LITTLE RUSSIAN SONGS

THOUGHTS ON GEOGRAPHY

THE LAST DAY OF POMPEII

BORIS GODUNOV. PUSHKIN'S POEM

ABOUT KOZLOV'S POETRY

PETERSBURG NOTES OF 1836

REVIEWS FROM THE "CONTEMPORARY"

REVIEWS NOT INCLUDED IN THE Sovremennik

DAWN

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol

ARTICLES FROM "ARABESCO"

This collection consists of plays written by me at different times, in different eras of my life. I didn't write them to order. They spoke from the heart, and I chose as the subject only that which struck me greatly. Between them, readers will no doubt find many young ones. I confess that I might not have admitted some plays to this collection at all if I had published it a year earlier, when I was more strict with my old works. But instead of sternly judging your past, it is much better to be inexorable to your present pursuits. To destroy what we have written before seems to be as unfair as to forget the bygone days of our youth. Moreover, if an essay contains two or three truths that have not yet been said, then the author has no right to hide it from the reader, and for two or three correct thoughts one can forgive the imperfection of the whole.

I must say about the edition itself: when I read the printed sheets, I myself was frightened in many places by faults in the style, redundancies and omissions resulting from my indiscretion. But lack of time and circumstances, sometimes not very pleasant, did not allow me to calmly and carefully review my manuscripts, and therefore I dare to hope that readers will generously excuse me.

SCULPTURE, PAINTING AND MUSIC

Gratitude to the builder of myriads for goodness and compassion for people! Three wonderful sisters were sent by him to decorate and delight the world: without them it would be a desert and without singing it would roll along its path. Let's shift our desires more friendly, allied, and - the first cup for the health of sculpture! Sensual, beautiful, she first of all visited the earth. She is an instant phenomenon. She is the remaining trace of that people who are all enclosed in her, with all their spirit and life. She is a clear ghost of that bright, Greek world, which has gone from us to a deep distance of centuries, has already disappeared in fog and to which only the thought of the poet reaches. A world entwined with bunches of grapes and olive vines, harmonious fiction and luxurious paganism; the world rushing in a harmonious dance, at the sound of timbrels, in a burst of Bacchic movements, where a sense of beauty penetrated everywhere: into the poor man's hut, under the branches of the plane tree, under the marble of the columns, into the square, boiling with living, wayward people, into the relief decorating the feast bowl, depicting the entire winding string of graceful mythology, where the goddess of beauty bashfully emerges from the foam of the waves, the tritons rush, striking in the palms, Poseidon emerges from the depths of his beautiful element silver and white; a world where all religion is contained in beauty, in human beauty, in the god-like beauty of a woman - this whole world has remained in her, in this delicate sculpture; nothing but her could so vividly express his bright existence. White, milky, breathing beauty, softness and voluptuousness in transparent marble, she retained one idea, one thought: beauty, the proud beauty of a person. In whatever fervor of passion, in whatever strong impulse, but always in it a person is beautiful, proud and involuntarily stops by his athletic, free position. Everything in her merged into beauty and sensuality: one does not merge the suffering cry of the heart with her suffering groups, but, one might say, enjoy their very suffering; so the feeling of plastic, calm beauty overpowers the striving of the spirit in her! She never expressed a long deep feeling, she created only rapid movements: fierce anger, a momentary cry of suffering, horror, fright at suddenness, tears, pride and contempt, and finally beauty, immersed in itself. She turns all the feelings of the viewer into one pleasure, into a calm pleasure, leading the bliss and complacency of the pagan world. It does not have those secret, boundless feelings that endless dreams entail. In it you will not read the whole long, full of upheavals and upheavals of life. She is beautiful, instantaneous, like a beauty looking in a mirror, smiling when she sees her image, and already running, dragging a crowd of proud youths behind her in triumph. She is charming, like life, like the world, like sensual beauty, to which she serves as an altar. She was born together with the pagan, clearly formed world, expressed it - and died with it. In vain did they try to depict with it the lofty manifestations of Christianity; it was just as separated from it as the most pagan faith. No lofty, impetuous thoughts could ever rest on her marble, voluptuous appearance. They were absorbed in her sensuality.

Not such are her two sisters, painting and music, which Christianity raised from nothingness and turned into gigantic. By his impetus they developed and burst out of the boundaries of the sensible world. I feel sorry for my marble-cloud sculpture! But ... shine brighter, my poop, in my humble cell, and long live painting! Sublime, beautiful, like autumn in its rich decoration, flashing through the sash of a window twined with grapes, humble and vast, like the universe, bright music of the eyes - you are beautiful! Sculpture never dared to express your heavenly revelations. Those subtle, those mysteriously earthly features have never been poured over it, peering into which, you hear how the sky fills your soul, and you feel the inexpressible. Here, as in a cloudy fog, long galleries flash by, where from ancient gilded frames you show yourself alive and dark from inexorable time, and a silent spectator stands in front of you, arms folded crosswise; and there is no longer pleasure in his face, his gaze breathes pleasure not from this place. You were not the expression of the life of any nation; no, you were higher: you were the expression of everything that the mysteriously lofty Christian world has. Look at her, thoughtful, her beautiful head resting on her hand: how inspired and lengthy is her clear gaze! She does not grasp only one quick moment, which marble expresses; it prolongs this moment, it continues life beyond the boundaries of the sensual, it steals phenomena from another boundless world, for the names of which there are no words. Everything indefinite, which marble, cut through by the sculptor's mighty hammer, is unable to express, is determined by her inspired brush. It also expresses passions that are understandable to everyone, but sensuality no longer dominates them so much; the spiritual involuntarily penetrates everything. Suffering is expressed more vividly and evokes compassion, and all of it requires sympathy, not pleasure. It no longer takes one person, its boundaries are wider: it contains the whole world; all the beautiful phenomena surrounding a person are in her power; all the secret harmony and connection of man with nature is in it alone. It connects the sensual with the spiritual.

But hiss harder, my third poke! Shine brighter and splash along its golden edges, ringing foam - you sparkle in honor of music. She is more enthusiastic, she is more impetuous than both her sisters. She is all impulse; it suddenly tears a man from his earth one after another, deafens him with a thunder of mighty sounds and at once plunges him into his world. It powerfully strikes, like keys, on his nerves, on his entire existence and turns him into one trembling. He no longer enjoys, he no longer sympathizes, he himself turns into suffering; his soul does not contemplate an incomprehensible phenomenon, but lives itself, lives its own life, lives impetuously, crushingly, rebelliously. Invisible, sweet-voiced, it has penetrated the whole world, spilled over and breathes in a thousand different images. She is languid and rebellious; but more powerful and enthusiastic under the endless, dark vaults of the cathedral, where thousands of praying people prostrate on their knees, she strives in one consonant movement, exposes their heart thoughts to the depths, circles and rushes with them in grief, leaving behind a long silence and a long fading sound, trembling in deepening of the pointed tower.

How can you compare with each other, three beautiful queens of the world? Sensual, captivating sculpture inspires pleasure, painting - quiet delight and dreaming, music - passion and confusion of the soul; examining a marble work of sculpture, the spirit involuntarily plunges into rapture; considering a work of painting, he turns into contemplation; hearing music, - into a painful cry, as if only one desire to escape from the body took possession of the soul. She is ours! she belongs to the new world! She remained to us when sculpture, painting, and architecture left us. We have never thirsted so much for impulses that uplift the spirit as at the present time, when all the fractions of whims and pleasures come upon us and crush us, over the inventions of which our nineteenth century racks its brains. Everything conspires against us; all this seductive chain of refined inventions of luxury strives stronger and stronger to stifle and lull our senses. We yearn to save our poor soul, to escape from these terrible deceivers and - rushed into music. Oh, be our keeper, savior, music! Don't leave us! Wake our mercantile souls more often! strike sharper with your sounds on our dormant senses! Agitate, tear them apart and drive, even if only for a moment, this coldly terrible egoism, which is trying to take over our world. Let, at the powerful blow of your bow, the troubled soul of the robber feel, although for a moment, remorse, the speculator will lose his calculations, shamelessness and arrogance will involuntarily shed a tear before the creation of talent. Oh, do not leave us, our deity! The great builder of the world plunged us into numb silence with his deep wisdom: to a wild, not yet unfolded man, he has already advanced the idea of ​​​​architecture. With simple forces, without the help of a mechanism, he turns over a granite mountain, heaps it up to the sky with a high cliff and falls prostrate before its ugly majesty. He sent a beautiful sculpture to the ancient, clear, sensual world, which brought pure, bashful beauty - and all ancient world turned into incense to beauty. The aesthetic sense of beauty merged him into one harmony and kept him from ...


Arabesques is a collection of works by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol in two parts, compiled by the author. Published in the first half of January 1835 (censored on November 10, 1834). The collection combined articles on annals, geography, art, as well as several works of art. Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol, 1835, 1834




In the articles included in the collection "Arabesques" Gogol sets out his historical views and his views on literature and art. In the article "A few words about Pushkin", Gogol expressed his view of Pushkin as a great Russian national poet; in the fight against romantic aesthetics, Gogol outlines here the tasks facing Russian literature. In the article "On Little Russian Songs" Gogol gave an assessment of folk art as an expression of folk life and folk consciousness. In an article about Karl Bryullov's painting "The Last Day of Pompeii", Gogol made a fundamental assessment of the phenomena of Russian art.


Part one. Preface (1835) Sculpture, painting and music (1835) On the Middle Ages (1834) Chapter from a historical novel (1835) Chapter from a historical novel On the teaching of general history (1834) Portrait (story) A look at the compilation of Little Russia (An excerpt from the History of Little Russia. Volume I, book I, chapter 1) (1834) A look at the compilation of Little Russia A few words about Pushkin (1835) A few words about Pushkin On the architecture of the present time (1835) Al-Mamun (1835)


Hetman (novel) The action of the novel takes place in the middle of the 17th century. Main character Stepan Ostranitsa is a historical person, a colonel from Nizhyn, about whom Gogol got information from the History of the Rus. Gogol worked on the novel for years, but was dissatisfied with what was written and burned his work, sparing only two chapters. Several draft handwritten passages from the novel have also been preserved, containing many inaccuracies.XVII centuryStepan OpageColonel


In Northern Flowers for 1831, an extract from the novel was printed under the title "Chapter from a historical novel." This excerpt, along with another excerpt from "The Bloody Bandura Player", Gogol placed in the collection "Arabesques", however, the ending of "The Bloody Bandura Player" was not allowed by the censors, so Gogol wrote a different ending. The original version was printed according to the surviving author's proofreading, in the Niva magazine, 1917, 1 Northern Flowers, 1831 Arabesque censored Niva


A look at the compilation of Little Russia Historical article by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol, written in years. Included in the collection "Arabesques". article by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol yearsArabesques This article was supposed to precede Gogol's historical work "History of Little Russia", unknown to this day. Gogol's biographers have never been able to find manuscripts or any material indicating that The History of Little Russia was written at all.


In a letter to Mikhail Maksimovich dated November 9, 1833, Gogol wrote about his work: “Now I set to work on the history of our only poor Ukraine. Nothing is more soothing than history. My thoughts begin to flow quieter and leaner. It seems to me that I will write it, that I will say a lot of things that have not been said before me "Mikhail Maksimovich 1833 Ukraine history


On January 30, 1834, Gogol placed in Severnaya Pchela an "Announcement about the publication of the history of Little Russia", asking him to send him materials on the history of Ukraine for the great work he had begun. However, by the beginning of March 1834 (despite the fact that even in a letter to M.A. Maksimovich dated February 12, Gogol promises to write the entire History of Little Russia "from beginning to end", "in six small or four large volumes") Gogol began to gradually cool down to the work he had begun. Northern bee


On March 6, 1834, Gogol wrote to Izmail Sreznevsky about the reasons for his cooling, who expressed a desire to help with the materials: “I lost interest in our chronicles, trying in vain to find in them what I would like to find. Nowhere is there anything about that time, which should have been richer than all events. A people whose whole life consisted of movements, whom involuntarily (even if they were completely inactive by nature) neighbors, the position of the earth, the danger of being led to deeds and feats, this people ... I am dissatisfied with Polish historians, they say very little about these feats ... And that's why every sound of the song speaks to me more vividly about the past. To Izmail Sreznevsky


Part two. Life (1835) Schlozer, Miller and Herder (1835) Nevsky Prospekt (1835) Nevsky Prospekt About Little Russian Songs (1834) About Little Russian Songs Thoughts on Geography (A Few Thoughts on Teaching Geography to Children) (1831) The Last Day of Pompeii (1835) Prisoner ( Bloody bandura player) (1835) Captive (Bloody bandura player) On the movement of peoples at the end of the 5th century (1835) Notes (1835)


"Nevsky Prospekt" The story of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. Included in the cycle Petersburg stories. Written in years. Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol's Stories from Petersburg First published in the book “Arabesques. Miscellaneous works by N. Gogol, part 2, St. Petersburg, The concept of Nevsky Prospekt dates back to 1831, when Gogol made several unfinished sketches depicting the landscape of St. Petersburg. Arabesques. Various works by N. Gogol in 1831 in Petersburg


Two sketches have survived: “A terrible hand. A story from a book called: moonlight in a broken attic window "and" The lantern was dying ... ". Both sketches relating to years are associated with the concept of Nevsky Prospekt for years.


"On Little Russian Songs" An article by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol, in which he compares a folk song and a reflection of folk history, folk aspirations and ideals. The song for him is nothing more than "folk history, lively, bright, full of colors, truths, exposing the whole life of the people ..., living, speaking ... chronicle." Written in 1833. Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol 1833 The article was written about the "Zaporozhye antiquity" by Izmail Sreznevsky. Zaporozhye antiquity by Izmail Sreznevsky


"Notes of a Madman" The story of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol, written by him in 1834. For the first time the story was published in 1835 in the collection "Arabesques" with the title "Scraps from the notes of a madman." Later it was included in the collection "Petersburg Tales". The story of Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol in 1834 in 1835 Arabesques Petersburg stories