Аннотация: Gogol - Turgenev. Pressure of time. Literary abolition of serfdom. A note on chapter 18 of the Nicholas Bogoslovskiy's book "Turgenev."
Gogol - Turgenev. Pressure of time. Literary abolition of serfdom. A note on chapter 18 of the Nicholas Bogoslovskiy's book "Turgenev."
In the fall of 1851, Mikhail Semyonovich Shchepkin organizes the acquaintance of Gogol (1809 - 1852) and Turgenev (1818 - 1883).
Shchepkin and Turgenev pay a visit to Gogol. A long conversation took place.
A few days later, Turgenev was present while Gogol was reading a fragment of the 'The Government Inspector'.
After the death of Gogol, Turgenev writes an article about Gogol.
Turgenev managed to circumvent censorship obstacles and print this article. But not in St. Petersburg, but in Moscow under the name "Letter from St. Petersburg."
Nikolai Pavlovich [Nicholas I] was angry. "Why Gogol is called "A great [man]"!!!"
Manager of the Third Section [police chief] Leontiy Dubbelt suggested to make, only, a strict warning in relation to Turgenev.
Chief of gendarmes A.F. Orlov proposed to establish secret surveillance of Turgenev.
'Such a measure seemed to the Tsar not strict enough. He imposed a resolution on Orlov's report: 'I suppose this is not enough, for [the case of] obvious disobedience. [It's necessary to] Put him under arrest for a month and send him to his hometown under supervision ...'
On April 16, 1852, Turgenev was taken into custody and sent to the place for the arrested persons ["'съезжая'"]. (Here and further - quotes from the book by Nicholas Bogoslovskiy "Turgenev").
At the place for the arrested persons, Turgenev wrote the world famous story 'Mumu'. History seems is silent about Nikolai Pavlovich's reaction to "Mumu".
It seems that Nikolai Pavlovich, being locked in his limited beliefs, gradually lost his understanding of the surrounding reality ...
'The Hunter's Sketches' were published as a separate publication in the summer of 1852, during Turgenev's stay in the Spasskoye estate. Thus, in 1852, Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev fulfilled a literary abolition of serfdom in Russia.
An investigation was ordered. One of the results of the investigation was an anecdotal question formulated during the investigation: "Is it useful to prove to our literate people that our one-house-owners [однодворцы] and peasants, whom the author showed in a poetic manner, are in oppression, that our landlords behave in an obscene and illegal manner, that the rural clergy is slaving under power of landlords, that the officials and other authorities take bribes, or, finally, that the peasants are better able to live on freedom?"
'The poet F.I. Tyutchev [since 1848 he served as senior censor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs] ... read the 'The Hunter's Sketches' shortly after they came out. 'They have so much life force and wonderful talent power,' he wrote.
Using a residence permit [kind of internal passport] of a some merchant, Turgenev in March 1853 headed to Moscow for 10 days. In Moscow, he settles into the house of a some woman, widow-merchant, and devotes all his time to a different visits.
It seems that Turgenev's punishment for calling Nikolai Gogol 'great' was perceived with deep irony by all without exception (except Nikolai Pavlovich himself).
"... what Shakespeare calls the body and pressure of time."
May 29, 2020 09:52
Translation from Russian into English: June 1, 2020 19:38.
Владимир Владимирович Залесский 'Гоголь - Тургенев. Pressure of time. Литературная отмена крепостного права. Заметка о главе 18 книги Николая Богословского 'Тургенев''.