Slavophil-statesmen. N. V. Gogol in themovements of the epoch

Abstract

In the article for the first time, on the basis of numerous sources, an understanding of the socio-political position of Gogol as a Slavophile state figure is proposed. Being a constant supporter of the unity of the Slavs, Gogol at the same time adhered to deeply “protective” views in relation to Russian statehood. At the forefront of Slavophilism, he put the interests of Russia as a unique state of the only Slavic people who retained their independence and identity in history. N. M. Karamzin, S. S. Uvarov and, partly, the oldest representatives of the Slavophile camp, close friends of the writer M. P. Pogodin and S. P. Shevyrev, in their turn, recommended themselves in the history of social currents as thinkers-statesmen. As a convinced Slavophile, Gogol at the same time was critical to the opposition views of his friends, the Moscow Slavophiles K. S. Aksakov and I. V. Kireevsky, the separatist views of his fellow countryman, the Slavist O. M. Bodyansky. Gogol was also critical to the negative attitude towards the Romanov`s house of Polish Slavophiles led by A. Mickiewicz, and – to an even greater extent – to the position of the domestic radicals-Westerners V. G. Belinsky and A. I. Herzen. To be concluded, Gogol was definitely superior than both the Westernist and many representatives of the Slavophilist movement, because on a number of issues he was superior not only to the Westernists who were far from him, but also to the “Orientalists” who also could not reach the scale and the objectivity of Gogol's artistic vision.

Keywords

• gogol
• biography
• creativity
• interpretation
• slavophiles
• westerners
• radicalism
• conservatism
• monarchism
• patriotism
• spiritual heritage