The cycle of stories "Evenings on a Farm near Dykanka" presents in all its glory a picturesque picture of Ukrainian life of the 17-18 centuries. The period in which Gogol created his masterpiece was the happiest in the life of the author, which was later full of grandiose literary plans. Along with national recognition, the cycle "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka" was highly appreciated by the genius writer of our time - Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin.

History of creation

Gogol's childhood passed in one of the most picturesque places in Ukraine - in the Poltava region, in the village of Dykanka. Since ancient times, there have been many fantastic rumors and legends about this place. The echoes of childhood impressions were reflected in their entirety in a number of Gogol's stories, which constituted a single cycle "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka." In 1829, the author began work on the work, and in 1831-1832 the cycle was published and highly appreciated by the literary community. Individual stories of the series "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka" have undergone many theatrical performances and screen adaptations.

Analysis of the work

Description of the work

Each of the parts is preceded by an ironic narration of the imaginary author - the beekeeper Rudy Panka.

Sorochinskaya fair. The story of the savvy, dapper lad Gritska, who won the right to marry the rich lady Paraska with his cunning and resourcefulness. The action is accompanied by a colorful description of the fair and is distinguished by a special satirical depiction of the images of some of the heroes.

The evening before Ivan Kupala. An eerie story, shrouded in mystical flavor, says that unjustly obtained wealth does not bring happiness to its owner.

May Night or Drowned Woman. This story partly echoes the plot with the Sorochinskaya Fair. The young Cossack Levka has a beloved girlfriend, Hanna. To reunite with the bride-to-be, the cunning young man has to turn to the help of a mystical girl, Pannochka, a drowned woman.

The missing letter. The story is permeated with a fantastic flavor with elements of lively Gogol humor. The grandfather, whose letter, money, horses and hat were stolen, with the help of the sign of the cross, wins the stolen goods in cards from the witch.

Christmas Eve. And again the story of the marriage of a simple and savvy lad to a beautiful lady. The blacksmith Vakula is seeking the love of a rich rural beauty Oksana. They find their happiness not without the help of evil spirits. Touched by the innocence of the blacksmith, the queen gives the coveted slivers for the future bride of the blacksmith.

Terrible revenge. A story written in an epic narrative style. The terrible story of the Cossack chieftain Danila Burulbash and his wife Katerina, forced to make a terrible choice in relation to her father, a sorcerer. In the finale of the story, the sorcerer pays in full for his terrible atrocities.

Ivan Fedorovich Shponka and his aunt. The only purely everyday satirical sketch about a small landowner trying to get his inheritance. The only unfinished story of the Gogol cycle.

An enchanted place. A story about evil jokes of evil spirits. A phantasmagoric story about finding and finding a "treasure" in an enchanted place.

main characters

The heroes of the cycle are divided into several groups:

• young lads with both innocence and cunning and ingenuity - Gritsko, Levko and Vakula;
• beautiful ladies, whose parents are very picky about their future fiancés - Paraska, Ganna, Oksana;
• comic characters shown in full Gogol humor - Patsyuk, Chub, Shponka, etc .;
• evil spirits, the tricks of which often punish the heroes of some stories of the cycle (Petrus, Grandfather from the last story) for their passion for wealth, and sometimes evil spirits become an assistant to cunning and savvy characters in achieving their goal.

The structure of the work

Compositionally, the work consists of 8 stories, located in two books (4 stories in each). An introduction to the colorful world of Ukrainian life is the preface of the imaginary publisher Rudy Panka, which prefaces each of the books.

Genuine poetry, seen by the author in the life and legends of the Ukrainian people, unfolds in its most diverse manifestations: everyday scenes of modern life, historical legends and fantastic folk legends. The abundance of phantasmagoric scenes is designed to give a great contrast between good and evil, the struggle of the Christian principle and devilry.

Final conclusion

Gogol's work is of particular value - the personality of an ordinary person, described with great love, is in no way diminished by the presence of satire. Many heroes are described with a fair amount of good humor, gleaned by the author in the real life of Ukrainian peasants of that time. The originality of the style, poetic talent for depicting the natural beauties of a Little Russian village, lyricism and kind laughter make the genius cycle of the young writer a true masterpiece of world literature

This work of N.V. Gogol combines realistic pictures of everyday life, and images of folk fiction, and historical motives, which in their totality paint a broad and multifaceted picture of the life of the Ukrainian people. Creating his stories, Gogol willingly turned to folk songs and legends: they most vividly and fully capture the popular understanding of life.

In the songs, Gogol saw primarily a reflection of the folk character. In an article dedicated to Ukrainian songs, he wrote: “This is a folk story, living, bright, full of colors, truth, revealing the entire life of the people ... Whoever has not penetrated deeply into them will not learn anything about the past life of this flourishing part of Russia. .. "because the songs convey" the faithful way of life, the elements of character, all the curves and shades of feelings, excitement, suffering, joy of the depicted people ... "

Creating poetic images of girls covered with lyricism: Hanna in May Night, Oksana in The Night Before Christmas, Paraschi in Sorochinskaya Fair, Gogol makes extensive use of folk songs. In them he finds soulful features and colors with which his heroines are endowed, sometimes lyrically pensive and gentle, like Ganna, then full of perky fun, like Paraska, but equally devoted and tenderly loving. Gogol's lovers even explain themselves among themselves by the words of folk songs, because everything beautiful and pure, which distinguishes the feelings of ordinary people from the people, is expressed with the greatest completeness and poetic power in a folk song. Lyrical, songful is the explanation of Levko and Hanna in the story "May Night". No wonder the beginning of the first chapter is so close to one of the famous Ukrainian songs - "The sun is low, the evening is close."

In the people of the people, Gogol saw the best human traits and qualities: love for the motherland, self-esteem, a lively and clear mind, humanity and nobility.

The blacksmith Vakula in "The Night Before Christmas", Levko in "May Night", Danila Burulbash in "Terrible Vengeance" are the embodiment of those positive traits that are embodied in people's thoughts and songs. Vakula is not lost under any life circumstances. He made the devil serve himself; he is not shy either in the palace of the queen. His actions are determined by a great and genuine feeling of love for Oksana.

In "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka," there is no direct picture of serfdom, the oppression of the peasants by the landlords. This is not due to the writer's desire to idealize, to embellish reality, but to the fact that Gogol wanted to show the people not as bondage and obedient, but proud, free in their inner beauty and strength, in their life-affirming optimism. One should not forget the historical features of the life of the Ukrainian people, enslaved only at a relatively late time: serfdom in Ukraine acquired its final form only under Catherine II.

In "May Night", who decided to tease the head and help Levko, they are shown not only as rakes and revelers - they stand up for their rights, they still have a memory of the freedom for which the Cossacks were famous. "What are we guys, for serfs? Are we not of the same kind as he is? We, thank God, are free Cossacks! Let's show him, lads, that we are free Cossacks!" - says Levko, raising his comrades against the head. One of the lads recalls the former Cossack will: "... it seems as if you are remembering the old years. Love, it hurts in your heart; but your soul is like in paradise. Hey, boys! Hey, walk! .."

The freedom-loving folk principle of "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka" was especially fully expressed in the image of a Zaporozhets, which is repeatedly encountered in stories. Courage and love of freedom are characteristic of such heroes as the blacksmith Vakula, Gritsko, the Cossack grandfather from the story "The Lost Letter", not to mention Danil Burulbash from the story "Terrible Revenge".

Folklore traditions in "Evenings on a farm near Dikanka"

Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka is the first book by Nikolai Gogol, which immediately won success and recognition. A.S. Pushkin wrote: "... Everyone was delighted with this lively description of the tribe singing and dancing, these fresh pictures of Little Russian nature, this gaiety, simple-minded and at the same time crafty ...". The author painted kind and attractive images of people from the people, at the same time, the writer's terrible indignation was caused by spiritual emptiness, petty interests, and the stupidity of the bourgeoisie and landowners. This work contains a manner inherent only to Gogol - to notice the sadness behind the funny, "through the laughter visible to the world ... tears invisible to him." Therefore, disturbing notes are intertwined with scenes filled with lively humor, sunny laughter. The author tries to turn the unjust world around with the help of crushing satire.

Reflecting popular ideas and his own dreams about fair, reasonable social relations, about an ideal person, beautiful physically and morally, Gogol in "Evenings ..." raises good over evil, magnanimity over greed, humanism over selfishness, courage over cowardice, energy over laziness and idleness , nobility over baseness and meanness, spiritualized love over coarse sensuality. The writer convinces his readers that the power of money is destructive, happiness is achieved not by crime, but by good, human, earthly forces defeat the devil, violation of natural, national moral laws, betrayal of the homeland deserves the most severe punishment.

“Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka” recreate the folk customs, everyday customs and beliefs, mainly of ancient times, when Ukraine was free from serfdom. Poetising the free life of the working people. Gogol in the stories "Sorochinskaya Fair" and "May Night, or the Drowned Woman" refers not to forced serfs, but to state farmers, of whom there were quite a few in Ukraine. Levko's words: "We, thank God, are free Cossacks!" were an expression of feelings, thoughts, desires of Gogol and his positive characters.

In "Evenings ..." the heroes are dominated by religious and fantastic ideas, pagan and Christian beliefs. In stories about recent events, about modern times, demonic forces are perceived as superstition ("Sorochinskaya Fair"). The author's own attitude to supernatural phenomena is ironic. Embraced by high thoughts about civil service, striving for "noble deeds", the writer subordinated folklore and ethnographic materials to the spiritual essence, moral and psychological image of the people, as a positive hero of his works. Magic and fairy-tale fantasy is portrayed by Gogol not mystically, but more or less humanized. Devils, mermaids, witches are given real, certain human properties. So, the devil from the story "The Night Before Christmas" "in front - a perfect German", and "behind - a provincial solicitor in uniform." And, caring like a real womanizer for Solokha, he whispered in her ear "the same thing that is usually whispered to the entire female family."

The fantastic in "Evenings ..." coexists and intersects with the folk-fabulous. Gogol literally collects his stories from folklore blocks. Dozens, if not hundreds, of studies have been devoted to this topic. In The Lost Charter, for example, the legend about the sold-out soul is used, for which they go to hell. (Gogol, deliberately confusing the fantastic and the comic, replaces the "soul" with a "hat" in the story.) The evening on the eve of Ivan Kupala is based on the legend about Ivan Kupala, and Sorochinskaya Yarmarka is a legend about the devil expelled from the inferno, and about the search for features of their property. How did Gogol manage his folklore economy? “The next night, a friend from the swamp, with horns on his head, trudges to visit, and let's strangle the neck when there is a monisto on the neck, bite on the finger when there is a ring on it, or pull on the braid when the ribbon is woven into it. ". Even this excerpt from "Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala" shows how far the author's prose is from the original source. First, the gogol uses a close-up (monisto on the neck; a ribbon woven into a braid). Secondly, it gives what is happening a concrete-sensual character. Thirdly, it introduces an element of parody ("bite the finger when there is a ring on it"). In each story "Evenings ..." several folklore plots interact at once. The concentration of fabulous material in them is enormous. Gogol compresses entire fairy tales to the size of an episode. At the Sorochinskaya Fair, the grumpy Khivrya, hearing a knock on the door, hides the flirtatious priest on the boards under the ceiling. This fragment is a truncated plot of the Pop folk tale. By the way, in the fairy tale the concrete-sensual beginning, despite the playfulness of the situation, is completely absent. For Gogol, it plays no less a role than the plot itself: “Here are the offerings for you, Afanasy Ivanovich! - She said, putting the bowls on the table and cutesy buttoning up her jacket, which seemed to be unbuttoned by accident. - Dumplings, wheat dumplings, donuts, tovchenichki! " Folk fiction is presented in Gogol's prose not only at the plot level - the most obvious - level.

Water, fire, forest play the same role in Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka as they do in folklore. A. N. Afanasyev in the article "Sages, witches, ghouls and werewolves" notes that in different regions suspects in witchcraft were tortured in different ways: they burned them with a hot iron, hung them on trees. In Lithuania, sorcerers were lured into jelly, which was boiled in holy water from the Church. “In Ukraine,” writes A. N. Afanasyev, “until later, witches were recognized by their ability to float. When it happened that the rain did not irrigate the fields for a long time, the villagers attributed its detention to evil spells, gathered in peace, seized suspected women and took them to bathe on a river or pond. They twisted them with ropes, tied heavy stones around their necks and then threw the unfortunate prisoners into deep pools: the innocent in sorcery immediately sank to the bottom, and the real witch swam over the water with the stone. The first were pulled out with ropes and released; those who were recognized as witches were beaten to death and drowned by force ...

In May Night, Gogol, faithful to Ukrainian custom, turns a witch into a drowned woman who lives in a pond. In the "Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala" girls throw demonic gifts - rings, monisto - into the water: "Throw it into the water - the demonic ring floats or monisto over the water, and into your hands ..." Did Gogol perceive Folklore as folklore, that is ... philologically? In a sense, yes. In letters, he asked his mother and relatives to send him folklore materials in St. Petersburg. The writer is most attentively studying Pavlovsky's “Grammar of the Little Russian Speech”. He writes out dozens of Ukrainian names from there and, as G. Shapiro notes, 136 proverbs and sayings. Gol uses some of them in "Evenings ...". And yet, the writer's approach to folklore can be considered philological only with great reservations.

"Evenings ..." are imbued with humor. Light humor, sparkling throughout "Evenings ...", debunks the mysterious and fantastic, convinces the reader of its ghostly nature. evening khotor dikanka gogol

Creating poetic images of girls covered with lyricism - Ghana in "May Night", Parasky in "Sorochinskaya Fair", Oksana in "The Night Before Christmas" - Gogol makes extensive use of folk songs, from which he chooses those beautiful emotional features and colors that are endowed with him heroines, then dreamily brooding and gentle, like Ganna, then full of perky fun, laughing and flirtatious, like Oksana. Gogol's lovers even explain themselves to each other with the words of folk songs.

Let us first turn to specific examples and start with the question of what pre-Christian beliefs and ideas were reflected in Gogol's "Evenings ...". It is known that the pagans perceived the world as living, spiritualized, personified. In Gogol's tales, nature lives and breathes. In Gogol's "Ukrainian" stories, the writer's inclination to myth-making was fully manifested. Creating his own mythical reality, the writer uses ready-made examples of mythology, in particular Slavic. His early works reflected the ideas of the ancient Slavs about evil spirits.

Such demonological characters as devils, witches, mermaids play a special role in the artistic world of Gogol. I. Ognenko pointed out that Christianity not only brought new names and Ukrainian demonology (devil, demon, Satan), but also changed the very look at it: “it finally turned a supernatural force into an evil, unclean force”. "Unclean" - the constant name for a devil in Ukrainian stories - is contrasted by Gogol with the Christian soul, in particular, the soul of the Cossack-Zaporozhian. We observe this antithesis in The Enchanted Place, Terrible Vengeance and other works of the early period.

The devil is one of the most popular characters in Ukrainian demonology, personifying evil forces. In accordance with popular ideas of the times of paganism, he looks like Chernobog (the antipode of Belobog). Later "he was presented as a foreigner, dressed in a short jacket or tailcoat, narrow trousers." It was believed that he was afraid of the cross. The description of the trait in Gogol's tales corresponds to the ancient folk beliefs: “in front, completely German<…>but on the back he was a real provincial solicitor in uniform. "

The demonological character in this context is reduced and personified. “Over the course of several centuries, the folk laughter culture has developed stable traditions of simplification, de-demonization and domestication of Christian mythological images of evil,” notes Yu.V. Mann. A striking example of the dedemonization of the image of the devil is the story "The Night Before Christmas", where he is presented in an emphatically comic vein with a muzzle constantly twirling around and sniffing everything that came along the way. Clarification - "the muzzle ended like our pigs, a round snout" - gives him the features of a home. Before us is not just a devil, but our own Ukrainian devil. The analogy between the demonic and the human is intertwined, emphasized by the writer in the depiction of evil spirits. The devil in "Christmas Eve" is "an agile dandy with a tail and a goat's beard", a cunning animal that steals a month, "grimacing and blowing like a man who got fire for his cradle with his bare hands." He “builds love chickens,” drives up as a “petty demon,” looks after Solokha, and so on. A similar description is found in the story "The Missing Letter", where "devils with dog faces, on German legs, twirling their tails, twisted around witches, like guys around red girls."

In Sorochinskaya Yarmarka, from separate mentions of the “red scroll” and the inserted episode (the story of the godfather), the image of a reveler devil appears, who was expelled from the hell for sitting in a shank all day until he drank his “red scroll”. In "The Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala" Bisavryuk is also a reveler. But it evokes a sense of dread. This is "the devil in human form", "demonic man." Here Gogol uses the motive, widespread in world literature, of selling a soul to a devil in exchange for wealth and money. This story, like many others from the "Evenings ..." cycle, can be regarded as a religious lesson. The author does not declare the idea that an alliance with evil spirits has sad consequences, brings misfortune. He presents it in a figurative form, demonstrating its fairness throughout the course of the development of the action.

The question of the sources of the image of the devil in Gogol's "Evenings ..." requires separate consideration and cannot be resolved unambiguously. Gogol took advantage of a wandering plot, which is a complex product of international communication. Of course, also the fact that the creator of "Evenings ..." was strongly influenced by Ukrainian folk legends, beliefs, as well as literary sources. According to P. Filippovich, the image of the devil in Gogol's first collection goes back to Gulak-Artemovsky's ballad "Pan Tvardovsky", which was very popular.

VA Rozov saw the source of the comic image of the devil in hagiographic and ascetic literature, noting that “the holy ascetics, indulging in prayer and privation, triumphed over all the temptations and tricks of the devil,” who “turned into a simple-minded person playing the comic role of a demon”. The researcher's assumption that the comic image of the devil could appear in Gogol under the influence of the nativity scenes of the Ukrainian theater is also convincing: "the devil of the Little Russian theater is harmless and plays a service and comic role near the Cossack."

As in the works of other romantics, the artistic world in the works of Gogol is bifurcated: the world is real, real, earthly, daytime and the world of bizarre fantasy, nighttime, dark. At the same time, Gogol's fantasy is associated with mythology, and this connection is so close that one can speak of its mythologized character.

The split of the world in Gogol is emphasized by the fact that people and mythological creatures are in the same space and exist simultaneously. Solokha is a witch and an ordinary woman. She can fly on a broomstick, meet with the devil and with very real fellow villagers. A journey to hell is made by the hero of The Missing Letter, where he is subjected to “demonic deceit”.

The sorcerer has many faces in "Terrible Vengeance": he is both a Cossack and Katerina's father, and a being opposed to the people, an enemy, a traitor. The sorcerer is capable of performing various miracles, but he is powerless in front of Christian symbols, shrines and covenants.

Demonological motives are very important in the artistic structure of the stories "May Night, or the Drowned Woman", "The Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala", "The Night Before Christmas". The image of the witch plays an important role here.

In folk tales and legends, there is a witch, old and young. In Gogol's "Evenings ..." different types of this character, widespread in Ukrainian demonology, are also presented. In "May Night" the centurion's young wife, "blush and white," turns out to be a harsh stepmother, a terrible witch, capable of transforming into other creatures and doing evil: she brings the little girl out of the light. In The Lost Charter, the witches are "unloaded, smeared, like little girls at a fair." In “The Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala,” a witch “with a face like a baked apple” is a terrible witch who appears in the form of a black dog, then a cat and pushes Petrus Bezrodny to a crime. Gogol's Solokha does not make such a terrible impression, perhaps because he lives in two worlds. In everyday life, she is a "kind woman" who "knew how to mock the most staid Cossacks to herself." Stout and loving, she belongs to the category of witches on the grounds that she loves to fly on a broomstick, collect stars and is the devil's mistress.

Mermaids - goddesses of reservoirs in Slavic mythology are depicted by Gogol in the story "May's Daughter". Here the author puts the story of the mermaid-girl into the mouth of Levko. It is remote from the time in which the heroes live, by a tangible distance - "for a long time ... the centurion lived in this house" and is a text in a text. The episode about the mermaid girl and the witch stepmother is duplicated in the chapter "The Drowned Woman". The inclusion of fantastic elements is conditioned here by the motive of the dream. However, after awakening, the hero is convinced that surreal forces are interfering in his life. Gogol's portrayal of mermaids has a mythoepic character. Their appearance is preceded by a description of a fragrant night landscape: "motionless pond", "rumble of a nightingale", "strange delightful radiance", "Silver fog". The mermaid is given in the perception of an enthusiastic "boy": "Pale as a sheet, like the shine of the month; but how wonderful! How beautiful! "

The mermaid's friends are also presented in poetic lighting: "girls in white, like a meadow, decorated with lilies of the valley, shirts that flickered in a thin silver fog."

In the research literature, it was rightly pointed out that the image of a mermaid in folk art is much simpler. She has long green hair and green eyes. In the portrayal of the writer, mermaids act as a symbol of the beauty of the water element, although since ancient times in Slavic mythology they have been a symbol of the danger that haunts man. The ancient legend of the mermaids takes on poetic forms under the pen of Gogol and in "Terrible Vengeance". It has no independent meaning here and only enhances the mystical flavor of the story. Descriptions of mermaids are close to popular beliefs: these are "unbaptized children" who "cry, laugh", as well as "virgins who have ruined their souls", running out of the water in rows. They are extremely attractive. However, Gogol's enthusiastic description of the mermaid ends with the author's warning: “Run, baptized man! Her lips are ice, her bed is cold water; she will tickle you and carry you into the river. " The antithesis of the mermaid - "unbaptized children" and "baptized man" emphasizes the hostility of pagan elements and Christian ideas.

Most of the images of Ukrainian demonology are of pre-Christian origin. Christian and pagan motives are intricately intertwined in the artistic fabric of "Evenings ...".

We can also observe the synthesis of pagan and Christian motives in the depiction of holidays, which is especially clearly manifested in the "Evening on the eve of Ivan Kupala" and "The night before Christmas". In particular, the phrase

"Ivana Kupala" in the title of the story reminds of the pagan holiday Kupala, widespread among the Slavic peoples, which was celebrated on the night of July 6-7. With the introduction of Christianity, the feast of John the Baptist appeared (July 7), and in the popular mind the pre-Christian and Christian traditions were combined, which was reflected in the celebration of Ivan Kupala.

The author of "Evenings ..." shows an increased interest in Slavic demonology. But in all stories where evil spirits are present - the embodiment of evil, she turns out to be defeated, punished. "<…>Overcoming the devil is one of the main themes of "Evenings ...", notes Yu.V. Mann. In the fight against it, the importance of Christian shrines and symbols is emphasized, in particular, the cross, the sign of the cross, prayer, sprinkler and holy water. At first glance, mentioning them in the text of Gogol's stories takes up little space, but they play an important role in the author's concept of the world, of which Christian culture is an integral part. Christian elements are especially perceptible in the "stories" told by the deacon of the Dikan Church, Foma Grigorievich. For example, having mentioned his grandfather in the story “The Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala”, the narrator does not forget to add “the kingdom of heaven to him!”, And, remembering the evil one and his tricks, “so that his dog's son would dream of a holy cross”. We meet similar accents in The Enchanted Place. In all the "stories" told by Foma Grigorievich, the sign of the cross is the only salvation from evil spirits. In the "Enchanted Place", the grandfather puts crosses if he hears about the "accursed place." Here the devil is "the enemy of the Lord Christ, who cannot be trusted ...". The motive for selling the soul to the devil is one of the key ones in the story "The Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala", in the finale of which the sign of the cross is mentioned several times as the only salvation from evil spirits: "Father Afanasy walked all over the village with holy water and drove the devil with sprinkles." In The Lost Letter - a story about “how witches played a fool with the late grandfather” - the hero manages to win and save the missing letter thanks to the fact that he guessed to cross the cards. The theme of overcoming the devil is one of the key themes in The Night Before Christmas. Here the line is contrasted with Vakula, whose piety the author repeatedly emphasizes: "a God-fearing man", "the most devout man from the whole village", who painted images of saints, in particular, the Evangelist Luke. The triumph of his art was the painting in which “he depicted Saint Peter on the day of the Last Judgment, casting out an evil spirit from hell; the frightened devil rushed in all directions, anticipating his death ... ". Since then, the unclean hunts for Vakula, wishing to take revenge on him. However, he failed to buy Vakula's soul, despite his promises (“I’ll give you as much money as you want”). The sign of the Cross, created by Vakula, made the devil obedient, and the blacksmith himself turned out to be much more cunning than the devil.

The story "Terrible Vengeance" is one of the key stories in the collection, summarizing the Christian motives reflected in it. An important role is played in it by the motive of God's righteous judgment, which is repeated twice: first, Katerina's soul warns her father that “the Last Judgment is near”, then in the story of two Cossacks - Peter and Ivan, which was told by a blind bandura player. In this interim legend, which concludes the story, in the foreground is the motive of betrayal, which goes back to biblical archetypes. After all, Peter betrayed his brother like Judas. The image of a foreign land, barely outlined at the beginning of the story, is associated with the image of the sorcerer. The miraculous power of icons helps to reveal the true appearance of the sorcerer. Under the influence of holy icons and prayers, the unkind guest "appeared". The motive of selling the soul to the devil in this story is associated not only with the image of the sorcerer, but also with his ancestors, "unclean grandfathers" who "were ready to sell themselves for money to Satan with a soul." The sorcerer - "brother to the devil", like an unclean one tempts Katerina's soul, asks to be released from the cell where Danilo Burulbash imprisoned him. And in order to win her over to his side, he starts talking about the Apostle Paul, who was a sinful man, but repented and became a saint: "I will repent: I will go to the caves, put on a hard hair shirt on my body, I will pray to God day and night." The sorcerer's false oaths are contrasted in this episode with the motive of holiness. A sorcerer, capable of many miracles, cannot pass through the walls that the holy schema-monk built.

The importance of Christian motives in the first Gogol collection cannot be underestimated. The Christian worldview is an integral part of the characterization of the author and his heroes. The surreal, nocturnal world, inhabited by devils, witches, mermaids and other characters of ancient Slavic mythology, is assessed from the point of view of Christian ideology, and its main character - the devil - is ridiculed and defeated. Christian and pagan motifs and symbols in Gogol's Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka are sharply contrasted and at the same time presented in a synthesis as opposite poles that characterize the people's perception of the world.

On the eve of Christmas and New Year's holidays, I cannot but remember this film.
For me, this film is a childhood memory.

The film adaptation of the classic of Russian literature Nikolai Gogol was made by the classic of the Russian film fairy tale Alexander Row. Without music, dancing and other obscurantism, but close to the text, with funny horrors, special effects and wonderfully played characters.

Cast-

This is a love story in which everything that can be seen on the night before Christmas is mixed. A lot of amazing events take place on the quiet Ukrainian farm Dykanka on Christmas night. The girl wanted shoes, but not just some shoes, but so that they were like those of the queen herself!

The blacksmith Vakula, seeking favor from the proud lady, saddled the devil himself and went to Petersburg to beg from the queen herself for some slivers for his beloved. At the same time, in the village, the insidious coquette Solokha (Vakula's mother) can hardly cope with the flow of suitors who often visit her. The devil also has its own views: once Vakula drew the devil in such a way that even in hell they laughed at him, and now the unclean dreams of getting the immortal soul of a blacksmith. Many miracles and incredible stories await the inhabitants of Dikanka on the night before Christmas. However, to retell Gogol, either Gogol himself or Alexander Row can.

"Evenings ..." is an undoubted success. "Everyone was delighted with this lively description of the tribe singing and dancing, these fresh pictures of Little Russian nature, this gaiety, ingenuous and at the same time sly." This is how Pushkin wrote about Gogol's first book, and we dare to assert that the film would have made an equally favorable impression on the great poet - first of all, thanks to the accurate hit of the actors in the characters.

Blacksmith Vakula (Yuri Tavrov) is serious and thorough, but timidly in love. The first, graduation, role of Yuri became a dignified, one might say, triumphant procession of a spoken, truly Gogol boy across the screens and hearts of millions. After all, half a century later, another Vakula somehow does not want to be represented. As well as other actors identified with Gogol's heroes from A. Rowe's galaxy.

The beauty Oksana (Lyudmila Myznikova) is flirtatious and cheerful. Alexander Arturovich Rowe saw Myznikova, a 19-year-old studio, in the corridor of the Kiev film studio (she was called by the representatives of Belarus-Film to audition) and immediately invited Oksana to play the role of Oksana in the film Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka. On the set, Rowe and Lyudmila developed a very warm relationship, the director took care of the young actress in a fatherly way.

Chub, Oksana's father (Alexander Khvylya) is a solid and important, a real respectable father. Solokha, the mother of Vakula (Lyudmila Khityaeva), is a spectacular village witch who loves men and vodka; in the place of the "good woman" Solokha, it is impossible to imagine anyone but Lyudmila Khityaeva.

And, of course, the main character is the devil performed by Georgy Millyar. Piglet nose, crochet tail, terribly charming and mischievous. "The most ordinary devil" is one of the best roles of Georgy Millyar.

Filming took place on the Kola Peninsula in March 1961. Before that, in the Murmansk region filmed other northern regions of the country, filmed Siberia, the Far East. But Ukraine !!! It was necessary to dare to do so.

Let's get a grasp of the wondrous, almost poetic lines of the classic: “The last day before Christmas has passed. A clear winter night has come. The stars looked. The month majestically ascended to heaven to shine a light on good people and the whole world, so that everyone would have fun caroling and praising Christ. The frost was stronger than in the morning; but on the other hand it was so quiet that the cry of frost under the boot could be heard half a mile away. Not a single crowd of lads has yet appeared under the windows of the huts; for a month he only peeked into them furtively, as if calling the girls who were dressing up to run out into the hidden snow as soon as possible. Then smoke poured through the chimney of one hut in clouds and went like a cloud across the sky, and together with the smoke a witch rose astride a broomstick. "

Where to find a similar nature? Rowe discovered her near Kirovsk. In the village of "13th kilometer", a "real" Little Russian village was erected in a few days. White huts and fences were drowning in snowdrifts of fluffy snow, young men and girls were walking at a distance, joking among themselves, among whom were Kirov workers, students, and amateur artists who participated in the crowd. Except that the smoke did not come from the pipes, but otherwise everything was natural.

And in the story, and in the process of creating a motion picture, the devil got the most. He was reincarnated as Georgy Millyar, by that time already firmly known to the entire population of the country as "the people's Baba Yaga of the Soviet Union." They beat him on Gogol, use him as a horse-drawn transport, and dip him into an ice-hole. Millyar was Rowe's "favorite", his close friend, and the director wanted, as much as possible, to feel sorry for the actor.

It was planned to make a scene with an ice hole in the pavilion, but Georgy Frantsevich protested. Therefore, they filmed live, on the real polar reservoir. Milliar, who had withstood several takes in the icy water, was just right to be awarded the title of "walrus". In addition, the devil's suit was first sewn into a fur suit so that he would not catch a cold. But he constrained the movements, and Millyar asked to make another suit - cold, but light and tight. In it he worked. And, as always in this film - the most complicated make-up. Humose, plastic compounds again. And at the same time a lively, mobile face. For the artist there was one more sin - a passion for verbal hooliganism, for which he called himself "The Old Man Pohabych". For example, the actor Anatoly Kubatsky, who played Panas in "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka", was nicknamed Diarrhea, he either recited frivolous rhymes, then invented such aphorisms that made young dressers blush.

In December 1961, a public screening of the new film took place in the large hall of the Palace of Culture of the Apatit plant. The residents of Kirov became the first spectators. It turns out that special effects and theatrical premieres were created not at all in our 21st century. Eyewitnesses say that back in 1961, at the premiere of Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka, they staged such a devilry that today's creatives never dreamed of! Real devils were running around the foyer of the House and throwing real fake snowballs at the audience.

The picture was presented by the second director V. D. Losev and Chub - aka Alexander Khvylya, who had specially come to the premiere. Reviews of the painting by the residents of the mining town, many of whom also saw themselves on the screen, were enthusiastic. The only one who decided to add a fly in the ointment to the barrel of honey was the doctor V. Yanovsky, who noted that “against the generally good background of the film, little things slip through, which could not have been.

For example, the blacksmith Vakula had charcoal in the bags, but the Cossack Chub who got out of one of them turned out to be clean, and the Head, after being in the bag, shakes off something gray, surprisingly similar to the dust of apatite concentrate. And about the cherevichki we can say that their size and shape still do not correspond to the fabulous ones - they look too big. " But on the whole, the tape was received extremely warmly, as evidenced by the opinion of the newspaper "Kirovsky Rabochy", which placed a selection of materials about the picture under the general heading "A very good film!"

Rowe had problems with the title of the film. In the USSR, even the word "Christmas" itself was not only written with a small letter, but as it were, was not approved for use. Therefore, it is funny that it was at the height of Khrushchev's anti-religious campaign of the early 1960s, when the film adaptation of The Night Before Christmas by director-storyteller Alexander Rowe, chose the common title of the early Gogol stories.

Apparently, the director was forced to reinforce in the interpretation of Gogol's stinging Christmas phantasmagoria, first of all, the images of the clerk played by Sergei Martinson and the obviously eccentric devil performed by Georgy Millyar. Now it is difficult to say what was revised in 1970, since we are already dealing with a revised copy, which, by the way, is now loved to be shown on television on Christmas Day.

But the rather detailed reproduction in the film of old Christmas rituals, including the ritual of caroling and folk fun, served with humor, is just surprising, if we take into account that in 1961, the display of scenes of the celebration of a religious celebration, albeit in a national refraction, is quite could be perceived by the authorities as admiration and glorification of supposedly outdated traditions.

The film was restored in 1970 and presented in color.

Winged phrases-
* "He hanged himself!
- Drowned!
-No, he hanged himself! "

* "We, brother, will talk about ours with the queen!"

Interesting fact-
In the process of studying Gogol's text, the stage director of the play "The Night Before Christmas" at the Perm Youth Theater Vladimir Gurfinkel discovered some inaccuracies that were used by Alexander Row.
“When Vakula fell into the hands of the slivers, he exclaimed:" My God, in such slivers, do you really go to the ice to play? " (to slide means), ”says Vladimir Gurfinkel. “It turns out that if we analyze Gogol’s text, then our dear queen gave him skates.”

Declaring laughter as his literary weapon, Gogol, like the writers of the Enlightenment, set himself the task of correcting souls not only by satirical denunciation, but also by returning to their natural and true basis. Even minor flaws are found in Gogol not as a condescending comic writer who kindly makes fun of people's weaknesses and forgives them, but a discerning author. Gogol's laugh is his angle of view of the world and a way of describing the world. Therefore, it must embrace all aspects and all shades of life and be as comprehensive as life itself.

Gogol's laughter is satirical and humorous, carefree and sad, joyful and tragic, cheerful and bitter. It cannot be reduced to one scourging satire. It is broader - it contains humor, irony, and derision. It is associated with an epic and lyrical beginning. There is much that is objective, coming from life itself, but there is also a lot of lyrical content introduced by the author. This laughter is piercingly compassionate, deeply bitter and painfully tragic. All these facets of Gogol's laughter appeared gradually, as Gogol's talent matured and matured. Now it is important to learn one thing - Gogol as a whole is not a satirist, but he has a satire; Gogol is not a condescending humorist, but he also has humor. Gogol is a comic writer whose comic turns into a dramatic and tragic meaning.

"Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka"... “Evenings on a farm near Dikanka” aroused almost universal admiration. "Everyone was delighted," wrote Pushkin, "to this lively description of the tribe singing and dancing ..." Critics noted the cheerfulness and sincerity of "Evenings ...". The success of "Evenings ..." was due to several factors.

Gogol was a native of Ukraine and knew her folklore, customs, customs and language well. He managed to raise the image of national color to a new level, recreating the free spirit of the Ukrainian people. Gogol did not limit his artistic task only to descriptions of the Little Russian province. The farm near Dikanka and Dikanka itself are not only a special colorful outskirts of Russia, but a whole artistic world.

Petersburg disappointed the writer. People in it are impersonal. Gogol from St. Petersburg looked at Ukraine with different eyes and appreciated the spirit of freedom, naturalness and directness of feelings, the fullness of feelings. The farm near Dikanka is in contrast to the deadened Petersburg. This romantic view of Gogol is close to that of the fictional publisher Rudy Pank. The old man-storyteller suddenly appears in the "big light". He is simple, spontaneous, simple-minded, but at the same time intricate, talkative, courageous and proud, not alien to irony and rather caustic. Rudy Papko likes to describe colorful genre scenes, gives picturesque pictures, widely uses the Ukrainian language, although he also knows Russian. He, not being an intellectual, but having got into the "big world", wants to express himself in bookish language and uses rhetorical pathetic expressions and phrases. He is characterized by an enthusiastic, high, even odic speech. He "translates" the speech of the common people into the bookish, intelligent and vice versa.

Science fiction and reality. Folklore and Literature... Almost all the stories included in the book Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka are legends and fairy tales. They are dominated by the images of folklore and folk fiction. They are permeated with genre scenes and pictorial descriptions. In the artistic world of Dikanka, naturalness and fullness of feelings have been preserved, a healthy beginning of public life. Therefore, the dark forces of evil are not so terrible for the characters as to be afraid of them, and sometimes they are just ridiculous.

The stories about devils and witches are believed and not believed. But the devil can also remind a solicitor, because his tail is the same as the coat tails of the uniform of an official, and a provincial boyfriend, on the grounds that he can wriggle just as coquettishly. The old Zaporozhets from The Lost Letter is afraid of devils and witches, but he can disown them. And the blacksmith Vakula from "The Night Before Christmas" does not stand on ceremony with demonic spirits and hits them with a log.

In the stories of "Evenings ...", light colors, an elevated tonality and cheerful laughter prevail. Gogol gives scope to his merry imagination. Dikanka's world is natural, simple and integral. If spiritual and mental health has been preserved on the farm, it means that there is a hope that it has not disappeared from the big world of national life.

In a number of stories, sublime lyricism is replaced by anxious mood. Notes of sadness and longing penetrate the story. Sometimes the pictures that Gogol paints become scary. The fantasy becomes dark. In the story "Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala" Petro sells his soul to the devil. Basavryuk seduces him with money. Other stories also tell about how natural and family ties break down, how death lies in wait for people. Bright colors fade at times, life becomes less intense and dimmer, less fabulous and more prosaic. Gogol sees that the former wealth, prowess, gaiety are leaving modernity, which is losing its vitality. This applies to the whole world and primarily concerns the present time.

The characters of "Evenings ..." live on the verge of fantasy and reality, laughter and fear. In the story about Shponka, Gogol turned, however, to the most ordinary, unremarkable hero.

Ivan Fedorovich Shponka is so ordinary and worthless that there is nothing to say about him. At the same time, the reader, accustomed to the manner of "Evenings ...", expects that with the mention of an object or phenomenon, an event that is out of the ordinary must surely occur. However, nothing happens, and the life that surrounds Shponka is dull and inconspicuous. This story already foreshadows the ironic and sad stories of Mirgorod. In "Evenings ..." Gogol describes the historically gone, integral world of folk fabulousness and strives to describe contemporary reality. The writer tries and masters various techniques of comic storytelling.