Nikolai Gogol Biography

Russian Novelist, Playwright, and Short-Story Writer

Dec 4, 2009
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N. Gogol, Russian Playwright, Short-Story Writer - Ivanov, Wikimedia Commons

Brief biography of Russian novelist, playwright, and short-story writer Nikolai Gogol, famous for masterpiece epic Dead Souls, a satirical long short-story fiction.

Gogol, 19th century Russian novelist, short-story writer and playwright, is famous for his masterpiece, Dead Souls. He began his fame from folk tales including Taras Bulba, made popular by a 1962 film starring Yul Brynner. Gogol’s work transitioned from pure Romanticism to Realism.

Early Life of Nikolai Gogole

Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol was born in Sorochintsy in the Ukraine into a well-to-do landowning family. He went to St. Petersburg to look for a job after leaving school. He already published a book by the time he was 20-years-old.

He worked as a civil service clerk, but hated this job. He then became a college lecturer in history, something he had no knowledge of nor the skills to succeed. In over a year, he eventually resigned. Having started writing young, he was able to establish himself as a writer of Ukrainian tales and plays.

Dead Souls and Other Work

Many of his stories have a nightmarish element. One of his plays, The Inspector General, intended to ridicule the Russian government, was heavily criticized for its grotesque satirical style. The furious Gogol left the country, but the play was a brilliant piece of work.

By the time he was 31-years-old, Gogol produced his satirical epic Dead Souls, his longest short-story, which was a great success. Considered his masterpiece, it is read widely all over the world. The hero is a conman who tries to get rich quick by buying and selling serfs, peasants who were treated as slaves by landowners.

Later in his life Gogol became mentally unstable. Dismayed by criticisms of his work, he turned to religion for spiritual support and lived mainly in Rome from 1836 to 1848 where he completed the first part of his major work Dead Souls, the one published, and the short-story “The Overcoat.”

Insights on Gogol and His Final Years

Nikolai Gogol was one of a small group of outstanding Russian novelists of the 19th century who tried to expose the injustices of life in Russia, in particular, its effect on the life of the "underdog." His masterpiece Dead Souls, an epic short-story fiction shows great influence from 18th century writer Laurence Sterne. Gogol was a contemporary and an acquaintance of Aleksander Pushkin.

The last ten years of Gogol's life was spent writing the second part of Dead Souls which was destroyed before publication. He burned manuscripts, and developed a religious mania with visions. He often believed that he was about to be attacked so he walked sideways with his back to a wall. He eventually returned to Moscow, where he starved himself to death. Gogol died at the age of 43, March 4, 1852.