As M. Dupuy does not pretend to give any thing more than a hasty
_résumé_ of biographical facts, the reader may like to have for
reference a more definite and fuller account of the lives of the three
great authors whose literary work has been analyzed. The main authority
which I have consulted has been P. Polevoï’s “History of Russian
Literature, in Sketches and Biographies” [_Istoriya Russkoï Literaturui
f Otcherkakh i Biografyakh_, fourth edition, published in 1883.] Some
of his dates differ slightly from those commonly accepted. How far a
man’s judgment is to be accepted who writes with the fear of the censor
in his eyes, is a question; but there are a few quotations in Polevoï
which are surprising in their liberality. The work is a valuable
compound of literary fact and criticism, and it is illustrated with
capital woodcuts.
Nikolaï Vasilyévitch Gogol-Yanovsky was born on the 31st of March,
1809 (N.S.), in the little town of Sorotchintsui, in the Government
of Poltava. His father, Vasíli Afanasyévitch Gogol, was the son of a
regimental clerk: at the time when the Zaparog Cossacks were still in
existence, this position was considered highly respectable. Only two
generations separated Gogol from the time of the Cossack wars; and
his grandfather, the regimental clerk, used to relate to his family a
great many stories of that time. Gogol was surrounded from his earliest
childhood by a life that was hardly freed from its mediæval, warlike,
half-wild character. It was full of fresh recollections of the olden
times, of legends and war-songs; it was a life in which religious
fervor was intermingled with a swarm of popular prejudices. Gogol’s
grandfather was a lively representative of the just vanishing past,
and not in vain does Gogol speak about him often in his _Vetchera na
Khutoryé_ (Evenings at the Farm). Gogol was indebted to his grandfather
for at least half of his Malo-Russian tales. “My grandfather,” he says,
in his sketch in his _Vetcher Nakanunya Ivána Kupála_ (“The Eve of Ivan
Kupalo’s Day”). “My grandfather (may he prosper in heaven! may he eat
in the other world little wheaten rolls, with poppy seeds and honey!)
was able to tell stories in a wonderful way. When he told stories, I
would sit the whole day without moving from my place, and never cease
to listen.... It was not so much the marvellous tales of the olden
time, about the invasions of the Zaporozhtsui (Cossacks) and the Poles,
about the brave deeds of the old heroes (Polkova, Poltor-Kozhukh, and
Sagaidatchnui), that interested us, as the legends about some olden
deed, which used to make the shudders run down my back, and my hair
stand on end. Sometimes my fear would be so great from them, that every
thing would appear to me like God knows what monsters.”
While his grandfather was a representative of the vanishing past,
his father, Vasíli Afanasyévitch, appeared as the representative of
modern times. He was a well-read man and full of experience, was fond
of literature, subscribed to magazines, and at the same time was
endowed with a gift of relating stories, and of enhancing them with
Malo-Russian humor. His farm, Vasilyevka, was the centre of society
for the district. Among the varied festivals in this farm, Gogol’s
father used often to get up private theatricals. At these spectacles
they used to give Kotlyarevsky’s just published comedy _Natalka
Poltavka_ (“The Girl from Poltava”), and _Moskal Tcharivnik_ (“The
Charming Muscovite”). Thus Gogol was early attracted to the stage.
Gogol’s father wrote, in imitation of Kotlyarevsky, several comedies
which were played at Vasilyevka. Gogol was taught to read at home by
a hired seminarist. Afterwards he was taken, with his younger brother
Ivan, to Poltava, where he was taught by one of the teachers of the
gymnasium. While the children were at home on their vacation, Ivan
died; and Gogol was not sent back to Poltava, but remained for some
time at home. Meantime, the governor of Thernígof, the _prokuror_
(attorney-general) Bazhánof, informed Gogol’s father about the opening
at Niézhin, of a gymnasium for higher learning, founded by Prince
Bezborodko, and advised him to place his son in the boarding-school
connected with the gymnasium. This was done in May, 1821. Gogol
entered as a paying pupil, and at the end of a year he received the
government scholarship. It cannot be said that Gogol was much indebted
to this gymnasium of the higher education, or that he gained there any
solid knowledge of any kind whatsoever, even in the very elementary
branches. He studied his lessons very superficially; but as he had
a good memory he got a smattering of the lectures, and, by studying
hard just before the examinations, he was promoted in due time. He
especially disliked mathematics, and he had a very slight inclination
even for the study of languages. After graduation he could not read a
French book without a dictionary. Against German and English he had a
curious spite. He used to say, in jest, that he did not believe that
Schiller or Goethe knew German; “surely they must have written in some
other language.”
The slight progress made by Gogol in the modern languages was more than
rivalled by his backwardness in the classic tongues. “He studied with
me three years,” says Kulzhinsky, Gogol’s Latin teacher at the Niézhin
gymnasium, in his “Reminiscences,” “and he could not learn any thing
except the translation of the first sentence of the “Chrestomathie” by
means of Koshansky’s grammar, ‘Universus mundus plerumque distribuitur
in duas partes, cœlum et terram’ (for which he was nicknamed _universus
mundus_). During the lectures, Gogol used to hide some book or other
under his desk, paying heed neither to _cœlum_ nor _terram_. I must
confess that neither under me nor under my colleagues did he learn any
thing. The school taught him only some logical formality and directness
of understanding and thought; and, more than that, he learned nothing
with us.”
Not even the Russian language was accurately learned by Gogol in the
gymnasium of the higher sciences, according to the testimony of his
biographer. “His school letters,” says he, “can be distinguished by
the absence of all rules of orthography. To make them plainer, I used
to arrange the punctuation-marks as it was necessary; I used to change
the capital letters, of which he was very extravagant; and I often
corrected his blunders in the endings of adjectives.”
The only thing that Gogol acquired in the gymnasium was the art of
drawing, and his letters to his relatives prove that he took great
pleasure in spending much time in this art.
As he was towards the bottom of his class in his studies, he was at the
same time greatly distinguished by his love of mischief; and he was a
great favourite with every one. His comrades were especially drawn to
him by his inexhaustible humor. Even in childhood could be seen in him
his spontaneous wit; and at the same time, no one could copy or imitate
a character as well as the little Gogol.
He was an indefatigable reader. He especially liked Pushkin and
Zhukovsky. His parents subscribed to the _Vyestnik Yevropui_
(“Messenger of Europe”), and the reading of this and the almanacs
aroused in him a desire to write. At first this came in the form of
parodies. While he was at Niézhin, a certain scholar showed some signs
of poetical passion; and Gogol collected this fellow’s verses, and
put them in the form of an almanac, which he called _Parnassky Navoz_
(“Manure from Parnassus”). These parodies suggested to him to publish
a serious written journal, and his enterprise cost him great trouble.
He had to write articles on all subjects, and then copy them, and, what
was more important, to make a volume out of them. He spent whole nights
trying to decide upon his titlepage, on which was ornamented the name
of his journal “The Star” (_Zvyezdá_). It was all done stealthily,
without the knowledge of his friends. Early in the month, the journal
made its first appearance. In “The Star” were published Gogol’s story,
“The Tverdislavitch Brothers,” which was an imitation of contemporary
fiction, and some of his poems. In Gogol’s lofty style, which he now
affected, he also wrote a tragedy, “The Murderers” (_Razboiniki_) and
a ballad, “Two Little Fish” (_Dvé Ruíbki_), touching on the death
of his brother. He also wrote at this time “Hans Küchel-Garten,” a
rhymed idyl, which tells how an ideal young man leaves his sweetheart
through his thirst for grandeur, but, after vain wandering, returns
again to his home, and shares with his love happiness under a straw
thatch. Gogol’s comic talent, however, in spite of his belief in a
lofty style, began to find means of expression. Thus, among other
things, he wrote a satire on the inhabitants of the town of Niézhin,
under the title “Something about Niézhin; or, no Law for Fools,” in
which he depicts the typical people of the town. It was divided into
five parts,--“The Dedication of the Church in the Greek Cemetery,” “The
Election to the Greek Magistracy,” “Swallowing-all Fair,” “The Dinner
to the _Predvodítel_ of the Nobility,” and “The Coming and Going of the
Students.”
On returning once to the gymnasium after his vacation, Gogol wrote a
comedy in Malo-Russian, which was played in his father’s theatre; and
thus he made his _début_ as a director and actor.
Blackboards served as scenes, and the insufficiency of costumes was
made up by imagination. Then the schoolboys clubbed together, and got
scenery and costumes, copying what Gogol had seen in his father’s
theatre, the only one that he had ever attended. The direction of the
gymnasium, wishing to encourage the study of French, introduced pieces
in that tongue; and the repertory of the little school theatre soon
was composed of comedies by Molière, Florian, Von Vizin, Kotzebue,
Kniaznin, and Malo-Russian authors. The townspeople heard about the
theatre, and it soon became very popular; and a few years ago people
were still living in Niézhin who could remember how successfully Gogol
took the _rôle_ of old women.
Towards the end of his course, Gogol and his comrades subscribed quite
a sum of money, and bought a library, which contained the works of
Delvig, Pushkin, Zhukovsky, and other distinguished contemporaries, and
subscribed to several journals. Gogol was made librarian. He was so
indefatigable that he made every person who took a book finish it, and
so careful of their cleanliness that he used to wrap up the fingers of
his readers in paper.
Gogol graduated in 1828, with the rank of the fourteenth _tchin_.
Even at this time he was very religious, as can be seen in his
correspondence with his relatives. “After the death of his father, in
1825, he writes to his mother, ‘Don’t be worried, my dearest _mámenka_.
I have borne this shock with the strength of a Christian. It is true,
at first I was overwhelmed with this terrible tidings. However, I
did not let anybody see that I was so sorrowful; but, in my own room,
I was given over mightily to unreasonable despair. I even wanted to
take my life. But God kept me from it. And towards evening, I noticed
only sorrow, but not a passionate sorrow; and it gradually turned into
an uneasy, hardly noticeable melancholy, mingled with a feeling of
gratitude to Almighty God. I bless thee, holy faith! In thee only I
find a source of consolation and compensation for my bitter grief.’”
At the same time he was a fiery enthusiast; he imagined himself a
great benefactor of his fatherland. For this reason he felt inclined
to a governmental situation. He wrote his mother in 1828 that he was
not understood: some, he said, took him to be a genius; others, to be
a stupid. He tried to be one of the romanticists; and, like all of
those budding geniuses, he thought that he had a great deal to put up
with from people. In the same letter he writes his mother how much
ungratefulness, coldness, vexation, he had been obliged to bear without
complaint and without grumbling. He writes one of his friends that the
people of Niézhin, not excepting “our dear instructors,” have heaped
upon our genius the pressing heaps of their earthiness, and crushed us.
Two features of Gogol’s life at this time are interesting as showing
his development,--a tendency to asceticism, which led him to a stern
self-restraint, turning all the pleasures and interests of his life to
a spiritual and intellectual sphere. “My plan of my life,” he writes
to his mother in 1829, “is wonderfully stern and exact. Every _kopek_
has its place. I refuse myself even very extreme necessities, with
a view of being able to keep myself in the position which I am now,
so that I can satisfy my desire of seeing and feeling the beautiful
(_prekrásnoe_). With this view I lay up all my annual allowance, except
what is absolutely necessary.”
In 1829 Gogol first went to Petersburg, where, in spite of his vivid
dreams of success and glory, he found the hard realities of life, and
met with discouraging failures. He wrote his mother: “Everywhere I met
with disappointments; and, what is strangest of all, I met them when I
least expected them. Men entirely incapable, without any letters of
introduction whatever, easily succeeded where I, even with the aid of
my patrons, failed.” He also fell in love with a girl of high rank; and
in his letter to his mother he speaks about it, but does not mention
her name: “For God’s sake, don’t ask her name. She is very, very
high.... No, it is not love: I, at least, never heard of such a love.
Under the impulse of madness and horrible torments of the soul, I was
thirsty to intoxicate myself only with the sight of her, only the sight
of her I looked for. To look upon her once more was my only desire,
which grew stronger with an unspeakable, gnawing anguish. I looked upon
myself with horror, and I saw all my horrible situation. Every thing in
the world was strange to me, life and death were equally intolerable,
and my soul could not account for its impulses.”
His mental state arising from all these disappointments became so
serious that he went abroad with money that his mother sent him to pay
a mortgage on their estate, and told his mother to take his portion of
the estate in exchange for it. He went to Lübeck by sea, staid there a
month, took a few baths, and returned to Petersburg without seeing any
thing more of Europe. At all events, he returned, sobered, refreshed,
and strengthened, in September, 1829. In April, 1830, Gogol found
a very insignificant place in the ministry of Appanages. The whole
outcome of this year of servitude was the knowledge of tying up papers,
and a vivid memory of various types of _Tchinovniks_ which he used to
advantage in his works later on.
In 1829 he wrote his poem “Italy,” and sent it anonymously to the
publisher of _Suin Otetchestva_ (Son of the Fatherland.) Soon
afterwards he published “Hans Küchel-Garten,” which had been written
while he was in the gymnasium. It was signed _Alof_, and brought a
review full of unmerciful ridicule. This review cut Gogol so keenly
that he immediately withdrew the story from circulation. Buying up all
the copies that he could get hold of, he hired a room in a hotel, and
made a grand holocaust of them. The last tendencies of his immature,
imitative romanticism went up with the incense of the fire and smoke.
He soon saw that a new spirit was invading Russian literature:
historical novels were becoming fashionable. So Gogol writes to all
his friends and relatives in Malo-Russia to send him every possible
scrap about the history of that region, about the habits, manners,
customs, legends, games, songs, of the Cossacks. “It is very, very
necessary for me,” he would add. He was working over his “Evenings on
the Farm near Dikanka.” In February, 1830, there appeared anonymously
in the _Otetchestvennuie Zapiski_ one of Gogol’s tales, entitled
“Bassavriuk; or, Ivan Kupala’s Eve.” In 1831, in “Northern Flowers,”
appeared a chapter of his historical novel “Hetman,” signed with four
zeros. In the first number of the “Literary Gazette” he published a
sketch from his Malo-Russian story, _Strashnui Kaban_ (The Terrible
Boar). He also wrote serious articles and translations.
In March, 1831, he was made teacher of Russian in the Patriotic
Institute. Here, instead of teaching Russian, he taught history,
geography, and international history; and when he was called to account
for his vagaries, and was asked when he was going to teach the Russian
language, he smiled, and said, “What do you want it for, gentlemen? The
main thing in Russian is to know the difference between _yé_ and _yat_
[two similarly sounding, but differently written, letters], and that I
perceive you know already, as is seen by your copy-books. No one can
teach you to write smoothly and gracefully. This power is granted by
nature, but not by instruction.”
Indeed, Gogol himself, to his dying day, was not able to spell
correctly. He cared more for the spirit than the form. The publication
of “Evenings on the Farm,” especially the second series, which are
marked by the purest humor, without a shade of melancholy, immediately
placed him in the front rank of the authors of his day; and this was
the happiest epoch of his life. Soon afterwards he began to feel a
re-action. In 1833 he wrote to Pogódin: “Let my stories be doomed to
oblivion till something really solid, great, artistic, shall come out
of me. But I stand idle, motionless. I don’t want to do any thing
trivial, and I can’t think of any thing great.” He then betook himself
to historical investigation, and determined to write the history of
Malo-Russia and of the Middle Ages. He laid out the work on a colossal
scale. He wrote to Maksímof, “I am writing the history of the Middle
Ages, and I think it will fill eight volumes, if not nine.” He never
finished these histories, but his study of Malo-Russia led him to the
composition of his great epos “Taras Bulba.”
There happened to be a vacancy in the university of St. Vladímer in
Kief. Some one suggested Gogol, and he was invited to apply. He came,
he saw, and he conquered the man in whose hands the appointment lay,
by his wonderful flow of brilliant conversation; but he brought no
documents. He was requested to come again, with his documents and
application. Again he appeared, and again he dazzled by his wit; but
when he was asked for his documents he pulled from his inside pocket
his certificate of graduation from the gymnasium, which gave him the
right to a _tchin_ of the fourteenth class, and an application for the
chair of Ordinary Professor. He was told that it was impossible, with
such credentials, for him to be given any thing more than the chair
of adjunct. Gogol was obstinate, and absolutely refused to take that
position. Shortly after, he was appointed professor at Petersburg,
where he gave the one lecture which was so beautiful. “We awaited the
next lecture with impatience,” says Ivanitsky, who was a pupil at that
time; “Gogol came in very late, and began with the phrase: ‘Asia was
a volcano belching forth people.’ Then he spoke a few words about the
emigration of nations; but it was so dull, lifeless, and desultory that
it was tedious to listen to him, and we could not believe that it was
the same Gogol who had spoken so beautifully the week before. Finally
he mentioned a few books where we could read up the subject, and bowed
and left. The whole lecture lasted twenty minutes. The following
lectures were of the same stamp; so that we became entirely cool to
him, and the classes became smaller and smaller. But once,--it was
October,--while walking up and down the hall of assembly, and waiting
for him, suddenly Pushkin and Zhukovsky came in. They knew, of course,
through the Swiss, that Gogol had not yet come; and so they only asked
us in which room he would read. We showed them the auditorium. Pushkin
and Zhukovsky looked in, but did not enter. They waited in the hall of
assembly. In quarter of an hour the lecturer came; and we, following
the three poets, entered the auditorium and sat down. Gogol took his
chair, and suddenly, without any warning, began to read the history
of the Arabians. The lecture was brilliant, exactly in the manner of
the first. Word for word it was published in the ‘Arabesques.’ It was
evident that he knew beforehand the intention of the poets to come
to his lecture, and therefore he prepared himself to treat them like
poets. After the lecture Pushkin said something to Gogol, but the
only word I heard was ‘fascinating’ (_uvlekátelno_). The rest of his
lectures were very dry and tedious. Not one historical personage caused
any lively and enthusiastic discussion.... He looked upon the dead
nations of the past with dreary eyes, as it were; and it was doubtless
true that it was tedious to him, and he saw that it was tedious to his
hearers. He used to come and speak half an hour from his platform, and
then leave for a whole week and sometimes for two. Then he would come
again and repeat the same proceeding. Thus went the time till May.”
He gave up his thoughts of the nine-volume history of the Middle Ages;
and of this year of disappointment there remained only a few articles
in the “Arabesques,” and the sketches of a tragedy entitled “Alfred,”
which show that he had not a trace of talent for tragedy. In 1835 he
resigned, and devoted himself entirely to literature.
About this time he began to develop a great passion for the
supernatural, which is best illustrated in his sketch “Vii.” It is an
interesting fact that the poet Pushkin, whose influence over Gogol was
considerable, suggested to him the subject of “Dead Souls.” He also
told him the story which he afterwards worked up into the “Revizor.”
Pushkin himself at one time intended to use both of these subjects.
Gogol attended the first production of the “Revizor” on the stage, and
was greatly disgusted. He trained the actors, however, giving them the
meaning of every inflection, and showing what gesticulation was needed.
“All are against me,” he wrote to M. S. Shchepkin in 1836, “all the
decent _tchinovniks_ are shouting that I hold nothing sacred, since
I dared to speak so about people who are in the service. The police
are against me, merchants are against me, literary men are against me:
they berate me, yet they go to see the play. At the fourth act it is
impossible to get tickets. Had it not been for the mighty protection
of the emperor, my play would never have been put on the stage; and
people even now are doing their best to have it suppressed. Now I see
what it means to be a comic writer. The least spark of truth, and all
are against you,--not one man, but all classes. I imagine what it would
have been if I had taken something from Petersburg life, with which I
am even more acquainted than provincial life. It is very unpleasant for
a man to see people against him whom he loves with brotherly affection.”
Gogol wrote another comedy, entitled “The Leaving of the Theatre
after the Production of a New Comedy.” It was founded on the various
criticisms of his “Revizor,” but it was not very successful. In 1836
Gogol went abroad. He lived most of the time in Rome, though he
wandered all over Europe, and occasionally returned for short visits,
renewing his acquaintance with his old friends. Like Turgénief,
while he was in Russia he was disgusted with the state of affairs,
but when he left there his soul began to turn with intense yearning
for his native land. In 1837 Gogol wrote “Dead Souls.” He said in his
“Confessions of an Author,” “I began to write ‘Dead Souls’ without
laying out any circumstantial plan, without deciding what the hero
should be. I simply thought that the bold project, with the fulfilment
of which Tchitchikof was occupied, would of itself lead me to various
persons and characters, that the natural impulse in me to laugh would
create many scenes which I intended to mingle with pathetic ones. But
I was stopped with questions at every step, why and wherefore? What
must express such and such a character? What must express such and such
a phenomenon? Now I had to ask: What must be done when such questions
arise? Drive them off? I tried, but the stern question confronted me.
As I felt no special love for this character or that, I could not
feel any love for the work to bring it out. On the contrary, I felt
something like contempt: every thing seemed strained, forced; and even
that which made me laugh became pitiable.”
Charles Edward Turner, English lector in the University of St.
Petersburg, says in his “Studies in Russian Literature:” “In the year
1840 Gogol came to Russia for a short period, in order to superintend
the publication of the first volume of the “Dead Souls”, and then
returned to Italy. With the appearance of this volume we may date the
close of his literary career; for though in 1846, at which period
he again settled in Russia, he published his “Correspondence with
my Friends,” the work can only be regarded as the production of a
disordered and enfeebled intellect.... Describing his final illness
and death in 1852, he says, “One of his last acts was to burn the
manuscript of the concluding portion of ‘The Dead Souls,’ and to
write a few sad lines in which he prays that all his works may be
forgotten as the products of a pitiable vanity, composed at a time
when he was still ignorant of the true interests and duties of man.”
At the end of his article on Gogol he says, “What ultimately became
of Tchitchikof, we do not know; for, as has been already stated, the
concluding portion of his adventures was destroyed by Gogol in a fit
of religious enthusiasm.” A certain Dr. Zahartchenko of Kief thought
fit to publish, in 1857, a continuation of Gogol’s inimitable work.
The stolid complacency which alone could encourage an obscure and
talent-less novelist to undertake such a task is in itself a sufficient
standard of the success he could achieve; and his book must be regarded
with the same mingled feeling of astonishment and pity an Englishman
would experience on having put before him a continuation of Thackeray’s
“Denis Duval” or Dickens’s “Mystery of Edwin Drood.”
In 1848 Gogol made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and returned to Russia
by way of Odessa. The last years of his life were passed in Moscow in
an ever-deepening state of fanatical mysticism. His death, in March,
1852, was probably due to his insane attempt to keep the strict fast.
His last days were troubled by strange hallucinations. His life-long
disorder was an acute derangement of the nerves caused by self-abuse.
As an example of Gogol’s early style, the opening scene of “Taras
Bulba,” which has been mentioned by M. Dupuy, may be read with
interest:--
“‘Ah! turn around, little son. How funny you look! What kind of a
parson’s garment have you got on? Is that the way you go in your
academy?’ With such words the old Bulba met his two sons, who had been
studying in the theological school in Kief, and who just came home to
their father.
“His sons have only just dismounted from their horses. They were a
couple of hearty fellows, who looked from under their brows like just
graduated seminarists. Their strong, healthy faces were covered with
the first downy hair, as yet untouched by a razor. They were very much
confused at such a reception by their father, and stood motionless,
with their eyes fixed on the ground.
“‘Hold on, hold on, children!’ he continued, turning them around and
around. ‘What a long _svitkas_ you’ve got on! Those are fine _svitkas_.
_Nu, nu, nu_, such _svitkas_ as these were never yet seen! Well, now,
both of you try to run; I’ll see if you don’t trip up.’
“‘Don’t you make fun of us, don’t you make fun of us, father!’ at last
said the eldest of them.
“‘_Fu_, what a dandy you are! Why not laugh?’
“‘Simply because [_Da tak_]; I suppose, you are my father; yet, if you
keep on making sport of us, by Heaven, I’ll give to you!’
“‘_Akh!_ a fine kind of a son you are. What’s that you say to your
father?’ said Taras Bulba, falling back a little in surprise.
“‘Yes, though you are my father. I don’t regard anybody, or have any
respect for anybody, who insults me.’
“‘How do you want to fight with me,--with fists?’
“‘It makes no difference to me.’
“‘_Nu!_ let us fight with fists,’ said Bulba, rolling up his sleeves.
“And the father and son, instead of saluting each other after their
long separation, began to beat each other angrily.
“‘The old man must be crazy,’ said the pale, thin, and kindly mother,
who was standing on the threshold, and who has not yet had a chance
to embrace her beloved children. ‘By Heaven, he is crazy! Here the
children have come home. For more than a year he has not seen them, and
now he is doing, God knows what! To fight with fists!’
“‘Yes, he fights gloriously,’ said Bulba, stopping. [_Éï Bogu!_]
‘Capital!... So, so!’ he continued, adjusting himself a little. ‘There
won’t be any need of trying. He will make a good Kazak.--_Nu_, how are
you, little son? Give us a kiss.’ And the father and son began to kiss
each other.
“‘Excellent, little son; pound everybody just as you have thrashed me;
don’t give in to anybody. Yet you have on a funny rig. What kind of a
rope is that hanging down?--And, you dog, what are you there for with
your hands by your sides?’ said he, addressing the younger one. ‘Why
don’t you thrash me, you son of a dog?’
“‘Now he is talking nonsense again,’ cried the mother, at the same time
throwing her arms around the younger one. ‘And what nonsense gets into
his head! How can a child beat his own father? As though that was all
he had to tend to now. He is a little child; he has travelled such a
long way, he must be tired’ (this child was more than twenty years old,
and exactly a _Sazhen_, almost seven feet high). ‘He must need to rest
now, and have something to eat; and yet he compels him to fight!’
“‘_Ey!_ you are a little dandy [_mazuntchik_] I see,’ said Bulba.
‘Don’t listen, little son, to your mother: she is a _baba_ [woman], she
doesn’t know any thing. What kind of petting do you want? Your petting
is the clear field and a good horse; that is your petting. And do you
see this sabre? That is your mother. All they are stuffing your heads
with is nonsense: the academy and all those little books--primers and
philosophies--are the Devil knows what. I spit at it all. I am going to
send you away next week to the Zaporozhe. That is the school for you.
It is there only where you will learn reason.’
“‘Won’t they stay at home with us but one week?’ asked the thin old
mother pitifully, with tears in her eyes. ‘Poor fellows, they won’t
have time to enjoy themselves. They won’t get any good out of their
own home, and I sha’n’t look at them half enough.’
“That’ll do, that’ll do, old woman! A Kazak’s got something better
to do than spend his time with women [_babas_]. Hurry up, and put on
the table every thing you’ve got,--poppy-seed cake [_pampuskek_],
gingerbread, and such like; _puddings_ we can get along without. But
fetch us a whole ram for dinner, and then whiskey; and let’s have more
whiskey than any thing else: not the kind with different kinds of stuff
in it,--raisins, and other such things,--but straight whiskey, the
unadulterated, such as’ll hiss like the devil!’
“Bulba took his sons into the small room. Every thing in the room
was arranged according to the taste of that time; and that time was
about the sixteenth century, when the idea of the union had just begun
to be discussed. Every thing was clean and whitewashed. The whole
wall was adorned with sabres and guns. The windows in the room were
small, with round panes of ground glass, such as can be found at the
present time only in old churches. On the shelves, which occupied the
corners of the room, and which were made triangular in shape, were
standing earthen pitchers, blue and green bottles, silver cups, gilded
wine-glasses, of Venetian, Turkish, and Circassian workmanship, which
had found their way into Bulba’s room in different ways,--third and
fourth hand, a very ordinary thing in those bold days. The linden
benches around the whole room, the huge table in the middle of it, the
stove occupying half of the room, like a fat Russian merchant’s wife,
and adorned with tiles with designs of cockerels,--all these things
were very familiar to our two young fellows, who used to walk home
almost every year to spend their vacation; they used to walk because
they had no horses, and because it was not customary to allow scholars
to go on horseback. They had only the long forelocks which every Kazak
who carries weapons felt that he had a right to pull. Bulba, just as
they were about to leave school, sent them from his stud a pair of good
horses.
“‘Well [_nu_], little sons, before all let us have some whiskey. God
bless you! to your health, my little sons; yours, Ostap, and yours,
Andriï! May God grant you be always successful in battle, that you
may beat the Busurmans (Mahometans), beat the Turks, beat the Tatars,
and when the Poles begin to do any thing against our religion, beat
the Poles too! _Nu!_ hold up your glass. Is the whiskey good? And what
is whiskey in Latin? That’s it [_to-to_] little son. The _Latuintsui_
[Latins] were fools; they did not know there was such a thing as
whiskey in existence. What was the name of that fellow who wrote Latin
verses? I don’t know much of reading and writing, and therefore I do
not remember. Wasn’t it Horatsii?’
“‘That’s a fine father,’ said the older son, Ostap, to himself. ‘The
dog knows every thing, but he makes believe that he doesn’t.’
“‘I don’t believe the _arkhimandrit_ allowed you even to smell
whiskey,’ continued Bulba. ‘Well, now, little sons, tell the truth:
did they lash you with cherry and maple sticks over the back, and
everywhere else? Or maybe, being as you are so mighty smart, they used
straps on you! I reckon that; besides Saturdays, they used to thrash
you on Wednesdays and Thursdays too.’
“‘Father, there’s no need of bringing up all that,’ said Ostap, in his
usual phlegmatic voice. ‘What’s past is gone.’
“‘Now we shall pay everybody off,’ said Andriï, ‘with sabres and
bayonets. Just let the Tatars come in our way!’
“‘That is good, little son. By Heavens, that’s good! If that’s the
case, I shall go along with you. By Heavens, I’ll go! What the devil
is the good of staying here! What! must I look after the grain and
swine-herds, or to fool with my wife? I stay at home for her sake? I am
a Kazak. I do not want it! Well, even supposing there is no war, I am
going with you to the Zaporozhe. We’ll have a good time. By Heavens,
I’m going!” And the old Bulba, little by little, grew excited, and
finally became entirely fierce. He got up from the table, and, trying
to look dignified, stamped his foot upon the ground. ‘To-morrow we’ll
go! Why put it off? What in the devil should we sit here for? What good
does this hut do us? What do we want all these things for? What’s the
good of these pots?’ And, while saying this, Bulba began to smash and
throw about the pots and the bottles.
“The poor old wife, who was long wonted to such tricks of her husband,
looked on sorrowfully as she sat on the bench. She did not dare to say
a word; but after hearing this resolution, so terrible to her, she
could not refrain from tears. She looked up at her children, from whom
such a quick separation threatened her; and no one could describe the
whole speechless force of her sorrow, which seemed to quiver in her
eyes and in the tremblingly compressed lips.
“Bulba was terribly stubborn. He was one of those characters which
could spring up only in the rough sixteenth century, and especially in
the half-nomadic Eastern Europe, when ideas were both right and wrong
as to the possession of lands which were a disputed and undecided
property. At that time, the Ukraïna was in this state. The everlasting
necessity of defending the border against three different nations,--all
this added a sort of free and broad character to the actions of its
sons, and it trained in them a stubborn spirit. This stubbornness of
spirit was imprinted with full strength in Taras Bulba. When Batori
raised regiments in Malo-Russia, and roused in them that warlike
spirit which at first marked only the inhabitants of the Rapids,
Taras was one of the first colonels; but at the first opportunity he
quarrelled with all the others, because the booty obtained from the
Tatars by the united forces of the Polish and Cossack armies was not
equally divided between them, and because the Polish army received
a greater share. He, in the presence of all, resigned his rank, and
said, ‘When you colonels don’t know your own rights, then let the Devil
lead you by the nose. And I am going to recruit my own regiment; and
whoever will attempt to take away what belongs to me, I shall know
how to wipe off his lips.’ And, in fact, in a short time he collected
from his father’s estate quite a good number of men, made up of both
farm-laborers and warriors, who gave themselves up entirely to his
wish. He was generally a great hand for taking part in invasions and
raids; he heard with his nose, as it were, where and in what place an
uprising was taking place. Like snow upon the head, he would appear
on his horse. ‘_Nu_, children, what is it? How is it? Who is to be
beaten? What is the reason?’ was what he generally asked, and then
took a hand in the affair. First of all, he would sternly analyze the
circumstances, and he would take a hand only in cases when he saw that
those who seized the weapons had really a right to do so; and this
right, according to his opinion, was only in the following cases. If
the nation in the neighborhood had been carrying off cattle, or cutting
off a portion of land; or if the commissioners had been putting on
heavy taxes, or had not respected their elders, and had spoken in
their presence with their hats on; or if they had left the Christian
religion,--in such cases it was inevitably necessary to take up the
sabre; but against the Busurmans, Tatars, and Turks, he considered it
just to use the weapon any time, in the name of God, Christianity, and
Kazatchestvo (Cossackdom). The position of Malo-Russia at that time,
having no system whatever, and being in perfect uncertainty, brought
into existence many entirely separate partisans. Bulba led a very
simple life; and it would have been impossible to distinguish him from
any ordinary Kazak in the service, if his face had not preserved a
certain expression of command, and even grandeur, particularly when he
used to make up his mind to defend something.
“Bulba comforted himself beforehand with the thought of how he should
appear now with his two sons, and say, ‘Just look what nice fellows I
have brought to you.’ He thought about how he should take them to the
Zaporozhe, to that school of war of the Ukraïna of that day, how he
should introduce them to his comrades, and superintend their advance
in the science of war and making raids, which he considered at that
time one of the first qualities of a knight. At first he intended to
send them off alone, because he deemed it necessary to give himself
up to the enlistment of a new regiment which demanded his presence;
but at the sight of his sons, who were well built and hearty, all his
warrior-spirit suddenly awoke in him, and he made up his mind to go
along with them on the following day, though the necessity of this was
only his stubborn will.
“Without losing a minute, he began to give orders to his _esaul_,
whom he called Tovkatch, because he was really like some kind of a
cold-blooded machine: during battle he would pass indifferently along
the enemy’s ranks, sweeping them down with his sabre as though he was
mixing dough, like a boxer clearing his way. The orders were to the
effect that he should stay on the farm till orders came for him to set
out to the war. After this, he went around the village, giving orders
to some of his people to accompany him, to water the horses, to feed
them with wheat, and to saddle his own horse, which he used to call
Tchort, or the Devil. ‘_Nu_, children, now we must go to sleep, and
to-morrow we shall do what God may instruct us to do. Don’t give us any
bedding! We don’t need any bedding: we shall sleep in the _dvor_!’
“The night had just embraced the heaven; but Bulba always retired
early. He made himself comfortable on the carpet, covered himself up
with a sheep-skin _tulup_, because the night air was rather fresh, and
because Bulba was fond of covering himself warmly when at home. He was
soon snoring, and his example was followed by the whole court. Every
thing that was lying in its various corners was snoring and singing.
Before anybody else the watchman fell asleep, because he drank more
than anybody else, in honor of the arrival of the young lords.
“The poor mother only was not sleeping. She leaned towards the heads
of her dear sons, who were lying side by side; with a comb she
straightened their young, carelessly disordered locks, and moistened
them with her tears. She gazed at them with her whole soul, with all
her feelings; she _metamorphosed herself into one gaze_, and she could
not satisfy herself in looking at them. She had nursed them with her
own breast; she had brought them up, caressed them,--and now only for
one moment does she see them before her. ‘My sons, my precious sons!
what will become of you? what fate awaits you there? If only for one
week more, I might look upon you both,’ said she; and her tears stood
in the wrinkles, which had changed her once beautiful face. And indeed
she was pitiful, like any other woman of that bold age. She saw her
husband two or three days a year, and then for several years there
would be no tidings of him. And if she did see him, when they lived
together, what kind of a life was hers? She suffered insults, even
blows. Only out of mercy at times she felt his caresses. She was like a
strange creature in this assemblage of wifeless knights, upon whom the
dissolute Zaparog life threw its stern shadow. The joyless days of her
youth flashed before her, and her cheeks were covered with premature
wrinkles. All her love, all her feelings, all that is tender and
passionate in a woman, all turned with her into one motherly feeling.
She, with heat, with passion, with tears, like the gull of the steppe
[_step-tchaïka_], looked upon her children. Her sons, her dear sons,
are taken away from her: they are taken away, never to be seen again.
Who knows? Maybe at the first battle the _Tatarin_ will chop off their
heads, and she would not even know where their bodies lie: the ravening
birds may pick them up; and for every little piece of their flesh, for
every drop of blood, she would have given up her all! As she wept, she
looked straight into their eyes, which all compelling sleep began to
close, and she thought to herself, ‘Maybe Bulba, after having a good
sleep, will postpone the journey for a couple of days. Maybe he decided
to go so soon because he drank too much.’ The moon from the height
of the heaven was already shining over the whole _dvor_, filled with
sleeping people, with the thick mass of willows and tall steppe grass,
in which the fence around the yard was drowned. She was still sitting
at the heads of her dear sons, without for a moment taking off her eyes
from them, and not thinking of sleep.
“The horses, anticipating the dawn of day, lay down on the grass, and
ceased eating. The upper leaves of the willows began to rustle, and
little by little the rustling stream descended down over them to the
very bottom. She sat till the very morning: she was not at all tired,
and she inwardly wished that the night might last as long as possible.
From the steppe was heard the loud neighing of a young colt.
“Ruddy stripes brightly gleamed in the heaven. Bulba suddenly awoke and
jumped up. He remembered very well every thing that he had ordered the
day before. ‘_Nu_, fellows, you’ve slept long enough: it is time. Water
the horses. And where is the old woman? [Thus he generally called his
wife]. Be lively, old woman, have something for us to eat, because
there is a long journey before us.’
“The poor old woman, who was deprived of her last hope, gloomily
dragged herself to the hut. While with tears in her eyes she was
preparing every thing for breakfast, Bulba gave his orders, busied
himself in the stable, and he himself selected for his sons his best
adornments. The seminarists were suddenly transformed: instead of their
old soiled boots, they wore red leather ones with silver rings on the
heels; pantaloons as wide as the Black Sea, with a thousand folds and
pleats, were fastened tight around the waist with a golden belt; to the
belt were attached long straps, with tassels and other little ornaments
for the pipe. The _kazakin_ (a little Russian garment), of gay color,
of cloth as bright as fire, was tightened with an embroidered belt.
Silver-mounted Turkish pistols were stuck behind the belt; the sabre
clattered under their feet. Their faces, which were a little burned
by the sun, it seemed, became handsomer and whiter; their young black
mustaches brought out now in somewhat more striking contrast their
whiteness and the healthy, robust color of youth. They looked well
under their sheepskin hats with golden tips.
“The poor mother! As soon as she looked up at them, she could not utter
a word, and the tears were checked in her eyes.
“‘_Nu_, little sons, every thing is ready! There is no need of wasting
time,’ cried Bulba at last. ‘Now, according to the Christian style, all
of us must sit down before setting out.’
“All of them sat down, not excepting even the serfs, who were standing
respectfully at the door. ‘Now, mother, bless your children,’ said
Bulba. ‘Pray to God that they may fight with courage, that they may
always keep the honor of knights, that they may always stand up for
the Christian faith; else rather may they sink, so that their spirits
perish from the world.--Go over, children, to your mother. A mother’s
prayer saves in fire and water.’ The mother, weak as a mother, embraced
them, took out two small holy images, put them on their necks, all the
time weeping bitterly. ‘May the Mother of God--preserve you.--Don’t
forget, little sons, your mother.--Send me some little word about you.’
Further she could not speak.
“‘_Nu_, let us start, children,’ said Bulba.
“At the steps their horses were standing. Bulba mounted his _devil_,
who wickedly began to back on feeling a weight of twenty _puds_ (nearly
eight hundred pounds), for Bulba was exceedingly heavy and fat.
“When the mother saw that her sons were already on the horses, she
hurried after the younger one, whose face expressed more of tenderness.
She caught the stirrup, clung to his saddle, and, with desperation
in all her features, would not let it out of her hands. Two strong
Kazaks took her gently and carried her into the hut. But as soon as
they left her, she, with all the rapidity of a wild goat, though it
was not in accordance with her age, ran out of the gate, and with an
incomprehensible strength stopped the horse, and threw her arms around
one of them in a sort of a mad and senseless excitement.
“They took her away again.
“The young Kazaks rode on gloomily, but kept their tears, fearing
their father, who, however, on his part, was also somewhat melancholy,
though he tried not to show it. It was a gray day; the green fields
gleamed brightly, the birds were singing somehow in discord. After
going some distance, they looked back. Their farm seemed as though
it was swallowed up by the earth; only two chimneys of their humble
house stood on the earth; only the tops of the trees, on the branches
of which they used to climb like squirrels. Only the distant prairie
remained before them, that prairie which reminded them of the whole
history of their life, since the days when they used to ride over its
dewy grass. And now there is only the sweep over the well, with a
_telyega_ wheel attached to its top, standing out by itself against
the sky; already the level over which they have passed looks, in a
distance, like a mountain, and it has covered every thing. Farewell,
childhood, and games, and all, and all, farewell.”