The Arabesques series, published at the end of January 1835, was an unusual book. It consisted of articles on art, history, geography, folklore, artistic and historical fragments and modern stories (these would later be called St. Petersburg).

The collection opened with a short preface: “This collection consists of plays written by me in different times, V different eras of my life. I didn't write them to order. They spoke from the heart, and I chose as a subject only what struck me greatly.” If we compare “Arabesques” with “Evenings” and even with “Mirgorod”, then they fundamentally changed both the scale of what was depicted (we were talking about the whole world, all art, starting from ancient times), and the very level of its development (not only sensual and intuitive , but also abstract-logical). The author, who acted simultaneously as an artist and as a scientist, covered various aspects of existence with imagination and thought. The book was intended to become a universal model of the world as the writer sees it, and a mirror of his own creativity - in the sequence and in the aspect in which it reflected the world.

Specifically, the idea of ​​“Arabesques” went back to Gogol’s intention to publish his works as a single whole by 1834, releasing a kind of “collected works”, which would include “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka” (in 1834 Gogol began preparing a reissue of “ Evenings", the book was even submitted to the censor and received approval, but for unknown reasons the second edition was published only in 1836), Mirgorod (interpreted as a continuation of Evenings) and, finally, Arabesques. The task of the latter was to complement “Evenings” and “Mirgorod”, giving a certain historical and critical context to their work and at the same time expanding the geographical area of ​​their works by introducing the St. Petersburg theme.

Let us pay attention to the title of the collection, which corresponded to the “spirit of the times” and had its own specifics. The word "arabesque" means a special type of ornament consisting of geometric shapes, stylized leaves, flowers, animal parts, which arose in imitation of the Arabic style. This word also had an allegorical meaning: “a collection of small-scale literary and musical works, different in content and style.” Moreover, in the art historical usage of that time, “arabesque” was in a certain sense synonymous with “grotesque”. Thus, in Pluchard’s “Encyclopedic Lexicon” it was explained that both terms owe their origin to sensual, visual “ancient art”. And characteristic of arabesques is the fantastic “combination of imaginary objects... with objects that actually exist in nature; combining half-figures, geniuses, etc. with flowers and leaves; placing heavy and massive objects on weak and light ones, etc.” explained as “realizations of a dreamy world”, decent, “with proper art”, and for modern times 141.

The fashion for arabesques came to Russia from Germany. Thus, F. Schlegel thought of the creation of a large epic form “no other way than a combination of narrative, song and other forms” with “confession.” And the latter “involuntarily and naively takes on the character of arabesques.” Apparently, Gogol was well aware of all these semantic shades, giving a similar title to his book. “Arabesques” immediately declared both the leading theme - art, and the personal, authorial principle - confession, and the associated fragmentation, a certain exaggeration, and grotesqueness of the image. The “arabesque-grotesque” plan, in turn, predetermined an appeal to the fine “ancient art”, to history, and a possible caricature of reality, a parody of “mass” vulgar-serious art. Of course, the title only more clearly indicated the most important features of the already formed collection, since, submitting it to the censorship, the author called it “Miscellaneous Works of N. Gogol.”

“Arabesques” owed their genesis in part to magazine and almanac publications of that time, in particular, to the “almanac of one author” - a single author’s collection that united small works of different types and genres. At the same time, in its structure and didactic orientation, Gogol’s book resembled both the religious and educational “Experiments” of an educational plan 142 and secular works like Batyushkov’s “Experiments in Verse and Prose,” with which it was similar in its orientation towards universalism. It could also be compared with the genres of medieval literature, for example, with the translated author’s “Sex Days” of the church fathers (John the Exarch, Basil the Great, etc.) - a kind of “encyclopedia”, where the structure of the world was explained from a Christian point of view. The combination of artistic and non-artistic material, its alternation became Gogol's compositional technique. One might even say that the collection acted as a palliative historical novel, the plot of which is all past life humanity (it’s not for nothing that one of the works “Arabesques” was called “Life”).

It has already been said that in the early 30s Gogol became seriously interested in history and worked on materials on the history of Ukraine, dreaming of a multi-volume “History of Little Russia” and “History of the Middle Ages.” Of the historical articles, the final edition of “Arabesque” included: “On the teaching of general history”, “Schletser, Miller and Herder”, “On the Middle Ages”. In the first, Gogol proved the common destinies of Russia and the West, and also developed the idea of ​​the need for an objective reflection of the role of the people in the development of the state and an objective reflection of the role of any people in the history of the world, thereby asserting the unity of universal history: “All events of the world should be so closely connected between themselves and cling to one another, like rings in a chain. If one ring is torn out, the chain is broken.” Gogol clearly learned the last thought from the German philosopher Herder, to whom his other article published in Arabesques, “Schletser, Miller and Herder,” was largely devoted. A certain autobiographicalism was also caught in Gogol’s reflections on Schletser: “He was not a historian, and I even think that he could not be a historian. His thoughts are too abrupt, too hot to settle into the harmonious, harmonious fluidity of the narrative.” In the article “On the Middle Ages,” Gogol overthrew the idea of ​​the Middle Ages as an era of stagnation in the history of civilization and the triumph of barbarism.

Among the articles about art in “Arabesques” were placed: “Sculpture, painting and music”, “On the architecture of the present time”, “On Little Russian songs”, “A few words about Pushkin”. He formulated the foundations of romantic aesthetics in “Sculpture, Painting and Music” (written by Gogol back in 1831). “Three wonderful sisters”, “three beautiful queens” are called upon to “decorate and delight the world.” But, comparing the three types of arts, Gogol, as a true romantic, gives preference to music, believing that it is music that is most capable of influencing the soul, being “belonging to the new world” - for “we have never thirsted so much for impulses that uplift the spirit as in the present time".

The article “The Last Day of Pompeii”, written under the impression of the painting of the same name by K. Bryullov, which he brought to St. Petersburg in the summer of 1834 and exhibited at the Academy of Arts, was of fundamental importance for Gogol as a kind of aesthetic credo, the embodiment of which, in a certain sense, would be the drama “The Inspector General” is an image of a “strong crisis”, “felt by the whole mass.” But at the same time, the artist was able to place not chaos or destruction at the center of the picture, but the eternal triumph of life and beauty: “Bryullov’s man appears to show all his beauty, all the supreme grace of his nature.”

Initially, Gogol thought to include in “Arabesques” a number of fragments of his unfinished artistic works: “The Terrible Boar”, two chapters from the historical novel “Hetman”, etc. However, the final text of the book included only three stories from artistic works: “Nevsky Prospekt” ", "Notes of a Madman" and "Portrait". All these three stories formed the basis of the so-called St. Petersburg cycle of Gogol (this name, in fact, although rooted, is not entirely accurate, since it was not given by Gogol, but by his critics). It was with them that for the first time (except for the St. Petersburg episode of “The Night Before Christmas”) the St. Petersburg theme first clearly entered into Gogol’s work.

In 1835, two collections appeared in print: “Arabesques” and “The World-City”. It was from this time that Gogol devoted himself entirely to writing.

These stories are united into one whole first of all common theme, defined by Gogol as “the collision of dreams with materiality” (reality). They are also related by the place of action - St. Petersburg, the capital city in which social contradictions especially clearly manifested themselves already in the 30s of the 19th century, during the period of development in the capital of “mercantilism”, the pursuit of profit, predation, and soulless calculation.

In Nevsky Prospect, Gogol tells the story of the artist Piskarev, an enthusiastic dreamer, before whose eyes appeared “the whole low, all the despicable life, a life full of emptiness and idleness...”. And Piskarev dies a tragic victim of the discord between dreams and reality.

The story “Portrait” was later (in 1841) revised by Gogol, especially the second part. This is a sad story about the artist Chartkov, who lost his talent in the pursuit of wealth. “Gold became his passion, ideal, fear, pleasure, goal.” Under the influence of gold they die off in Chartkov human qualities, the artist also perishes in it, since genuine, realistic art is not needed by the exploiting classes; they need an artisanal embellishment of themselves and the life they dominate.

In “Notes of a Madman” and in the adjacent, although written later (in 1841) “The Overcoat,” Gogol addresses the topic raised by Pushkin in “The Station Agent,” the topic “ little man", a poor petty official living in a society that ranks people according to rank and wealth.

The senseless office work - copying papers - killed every living thought and every human aspiration in Akaki Akakievich Bashmachkin. But even in this downtrodden, humiliated petty official, a man awakens when he has a goal in life - a new overcoat. “He,” writes Gogol, “somehow became more alive, even firmer in character, like a man who had already defined and set a goal for himself. Doubt and indecision naturally disappeared from his face and from his actions...”

Did not have happier person than Akaki Akakievich, when the tailor finally brought him new overcoat. But the joy was short-lived. At night, when he was returning from a colleague, he was robbed: his overcoat was taken off. In vain Akakiy Akakievich sought help from a private bailiff, from a “significant person”; Everywhere he met either complete indifference, or contempt and menacing shouts. Frightened by the reception at " significant person", the timid and downtrodden Akaki Akakievich fell ill with a nervous fever, which carried him to the grave. “The creature disappeared and hid,” notes Gogol, “protected by no one, dear to no one, and interesting to no one...”

With great sympathy, Gogol showed the downtrodden “little man” who responded to the evil ridicule of his colleagues with “penetrating” words: “Leave me alone. Why are you offending me?” and these penetrating words rang with other words: “I am your brother.”

Two collections of Gogol (“Mirgorod” and “Arabesques”) were the reason for the appearance of Belinsky’s remarkable article “On the Russian Tale and Gogol’s Stories,” published in the Telescope magazine for 1836. Material from the site

Defining the features of Gogol’s work, Belinsky writes: “The distinctive character of Mr. Gogol’s story consists of simplicity of fiction, nationality, the perfect truth of life, originality and comic animation, always overcome by a deep feeling of sadness and despondency. The reason for all these qualities lies in one source: Mr. Gogol is a poet, a poet of real life.” And if the first four qualities are inherent, in Belinsky’s opinion, in “all elegant works,” then the last one—special humor—constitutes the originality of Gogol the writer.

Belinsky sees in Gogol a realist writer, strong in his fidelity to the depiction of life. Each of Gogol’s stories “makes you say: “How simple, ordinary, natural and true all this is and, at the same time, how original and new!”

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  • in 1835, two collections of N.V. Gogol appeared in print:

  • The collection is very diverse in content, hence the name: “arabesques” - a special type of ornament from geometric shapes, stylized leaves, flowers, animal elements, which arose in imitation of the Arabic style.


    In the articles included in the collection “Arabesques,” Gogol sets out his historical views and his views on literature and art. In the article “A few words about Pushkin,” Gogol expressed his view of Pushkin as a great Russian national poet; in the fight against romantic aesthetics, Gogol here outlines the tasks facing Russian literature. In the article “On Little Russian Songs” Gogol assessed folk art, as expressions folk life And national consciousness. In an article about Karl Bryullov’s painting “The Last Day of Pompeii,” Gogol made a fundamental assessment of the phenomena of Russian art.


Part one.

  • Preface (1835)

  • Sculpture, Painting and Music (1835)

  • On the Middle Ages (1834)

  • Chapter from a Historical Romance (1835)

  • On the Teaching of World History (1834)

  • Portrait (story)

  • A Look at the Compilation of Little Russia (Excerpt from the History of Little Russia. Volume I, Book I, Chapter 1) (1834)

  • A few words about Pushkin (1835)

  • On the architecture of the present time (1835)

  • Al-Mamun (1835)


Getman (novel)

    The novel takes place in the middle of the 17th century. Main character- Stepan Ostranitsa - historical figure, Nezhin colonel, information about whom Gogol gleaned from “History of the Rus”. Gogol worked on the novel in -1832, but was dissatisfied with what he had written and burned his work, sparing only two chapters. Several rough handwritten excerpts from the novel have also survived, containing many inaccuracies.


    In “Northern Flowers” ​​for 1831, an excerpt from the novel was published under the title “Chapter from a Historical Novel.” Gogol placed this passage, along with another passage, “The Bloody Bandura Player,” in the collection “Arabesques,” but the ending of “The Bloody Bandura Player” was not passed by the censor, so Gogol wrote a different ending. The original version was published based on the surviving author’s proofreading, in the magazine “Niva”, 1917, No. 1


A look at the composition of Little Russia

  • Historical Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol, written in -1834. Included in the collection “Arabesques”.

  • This article was supposed to precede Gogol’s historical work “History of Little Russia,” unknown to this day. Gogol's biographers have never been able to discover manuscripts or any materials indicating that the History of Little Russia was written at all.


  • In a letter to Mikhail Maksimovich dated November 9, 1833, Gogol wrote about his work: “Now I set about the history of our only poor Ukraine. Nothing calms you down like a story. My thoughts begin to flow more quietly and more harmoniously. It seems to me that I will write it, that I will say a lot of things that have not been said before.”


    On January 30, 1834, Gogol placed in the Northern Bee an “Announcement about the publication of the history of Little Russia,” asking that they send him materials on the history of Ukraine for the great work he had begun. However, by the beginning of March 1834 (despite the fact that in a letter to M.A. Maksimovich dated February 12, Gogol promised to write the entire “History of Little Russia” “from beginning to end,” “in six small or four large volumes”) Gogol gradually began to cool down towards the work he had begun.


    About the reasons for his cooling, Gogol wrote on March 6, 1834 to Izmail Sreznevsky, who expressed a desire to help with the materials: “I have lost interest in our chronicles, trying in vain to find in them what I would like to find. Nowhere is there anything about that time, which should have been the richest in events. A people whose whole life consisted of movements, who were involuntarily (even if they were completely inactive by nature) neighbors, the position of the earth, the danger of existence, led to deeds and exploits, this people... I am dissatisfied with Polish historians, they say very little about these exploits ... And that’s why every sound of the song speaks more vividly to me about what has happened.


Part two.

  • Life (1835)

  • Schletser, Miller and Herder (1835)

  • Nevsky Prospekt (1835)

  • About Little Russian songs (1834)

  • Thoughts on Geography (A few thoughts on teaching geography to children) (1831)

  • The Last Day of Pompeii (1835)

  • "ARABESKI"

    collection of articles and stories by Gogol. Full title: “Arabesques. Various works by N. Gogol" (St. Petersburg, 1835). Censorship permission of the collection - November 10, 1834. Publication - January 20–22, 1835. A. consisted of two parts. Part 1 included: “Sculpture, painting and music”; "About the Middle Ages"; "Chapter from a historical novel"; “On teaching general history”; "Portrait"; “A look at the composition of Little Russia”; “A few words about Pushkin”; “On the architecture of the present time”; "Al-Mamun". Part 2 included: “Life”; "Schletser, Miller and Herder"; "Nevsky Avenue"; “About Little Russian songs”; "Thoughts on Geography"; "The last day of Pompeii"; "Prisoner"; “On the movement of peoples at the end of the 5th century”; "Diary of a Madman".

    “Arabesques” are Arabic patterns that are a combination of dissimilar elements. The Gogol collection combined articles on history, geography, literature and art, as well as stories on St. Petersburg themes. In the preface to A. Gogol emphasized: “This collection consists of plays written by me in different eras of my life. I didn't write them to order. They spoke from the heart, and I chose as a subject only what struck me greatly. Between them, readers will no doubt find much that is young. I confess that I might not have allowed some plays into this collection at all if I had published it a year earlier, when I was more strict with my old works. But instead of harshly judging your past, it is much better to be unforgiving about your present activities. It seems as unfair to destroy what we have previously written as to forget the past days of our youth. Moreover, if an essay contains two or three truths that have not yet been said, then the author no longer has the right to hide it from the reader, and for two or three correct thoughts one can forgive the imperfection of the whole.”

    Gogol first mentioned A. in letters to M.P. Pogodin dated November 2 and December 14, 1834: “... terribly busy... printing some things!” and “I print all sorts of things. All the writings and passages and thoughts that sometimes occupied me. Between them there are historical ones, already known and unknown ones. “I only ask you to look at them more leniently.” There is a lot of youth in them.”

    At the beginning of January 1835, Gogol sent a preface to A. A. S. Pushkin: “I am sending you a preface. Do yourself a favor, look through it, and if there is anything, correct it and change it right there in ink. As far as you know, I haven’t written serious prefaces yet, and therefore I’m completely inexperienced in this matter.” It is not known whether Pushkin made any changes to the text of his younger brother in literature.

    On January 22, 1835, Gogol sent a copy to A. A. S. Pushkin, noting in the letter: “Read it... and do yourself a favor, take a pencil in your hands and do not stop your indignation at the sight of mistakes, but at the same time they are all obvious. - I need it very much". On the same day, copies of A. were sent to M. P. Pogodin and M. A. Maksimovich. Gogol wrote to M.P. Pogodin: “I am sending you all my things. Stroke her and pat her: there is a lot of childishness in her, and I tried to throw her out into the world as quickly as possible, so that at the same time I could throw out everything old from my office, and, having shaken myself off, begin new life. Express your opinion about historical articles in some magazine. Better and more decent, I think, in an educational magazine. Your word will help me. Because I, too, seem to have some learned enemies. But fuck their mother!” Gogol reported to M. A. Maksimovich: “I am sending you a confusion, a mixture of everything, a porridge, judge for yourself whether there is oil in it.”

    V. G. Belinsky, in the article “On the Russian Tale and the Stories of Mr. Gogol” (1835), did not highly appreciate A.’s articles on history: “I don’t understand how one can so thoughtlessly compromise one’s literary name. Is it really true that translating, or, better said, paraphrasing and reparodying some passages from Miller’s history, mixing them with your own phrases, means writing a learned article? in what case are not comparable, also scholarship?..” A. did not have commercial success. In this regard, Gogol wrote to M.P. Pogodin on March 23, 1835: “...Please print an announcement about Arabesques in Moskovskie Vedomosti, that this book has aroused general curiosity, that the cost of it is terrible (NB, so far there has not been a penny of profit not received) and the like.” On October 7, 1835, Gogol complained to A.S. Pushkin: “My “Arabesques” and “Mirgorod” don’t work at all. God knows what that means. Booksellers are the kind of people who, without any conscience, could be hanged from the first tree.” Subsequently, Gogol did not value most of the works included in A. very highly. On November 16 (28), 1836, he wrote from Paris to M. P. Pogodin: “I’m scared to remember all my messes. They appear to my eyes as a kind of formidable accusers. The soul asks for oblivion, long oblivion. And if such a moth appeared that would suddenly eat all the copies of “The Inspector General”, and with them “Arabesques”, “Evenings” and all other nonsense, and for a long time no one spoke about me either in print or orally. words - I would thank fate. Only glory after death (for which, alas! I have not yet done anything) is familiar to the soul of a genuine poet. And modern fame is not worth a penny.” In the article “Russian Literature in 1841,” V. G. Belinsky noted that in A. “Gogol moves from cheerful comedy to “humor,” which for him consists in the opposition of contemplation of true life, in opposition to the ideal of life - with the reality of life. And therefore his humor makes only simpletons or children laugh; people who have looked into the depths of life look at his paintings with sad reflection, with heavy melancholy... Because of these monstrous and ugly faces, they see other, beautiful faces; this dirty reality leads them to contemplate the ideal reality, and what is, more clearly represents to them what should be ... "

    What is the meaning of the word "arabesque"? In life we ​​often come across this concept. This word is often used in accordance with its traditional characteristics, but is used as a figure of speech, as a common noun or in a figurative meaning, when it means something cleverly intertwined or intricately ornate, in another version - highly crushed and mixed or very delicate , light.

    What is arabesque?

    The word is of Italian origin. Translated, the term arabesque - arabesco - means "Arabic". However, this ornamental style is used in cultures different countries and in different types of art. There is no exact and uniform definition of arabesque. We are faced with seemingly completely different uses of the concept. There are several meanings for what an arabesque is.

    Initially, arabesque was a type of oriental (Arabic) ornament. Later this term began to be used as the name of a certain type of musical piece.

    There is another way to use the word - in the masculine gender. What is "arabesque" in this case? In this case, we are talking about dance movement or a form of dance.

    Let's look at each use case of the concept separately.

    Arabic pattern in Europe

    It is this variant of the use of the term that is actually associated with its Arabic meaning, since it is a type of ornament that arose in medieval era in the culture of nomadic Arabs.

    What is arabesque in art? Initially, the structure of the pattern included both geometric and floral motifs, but later only geometric ones began to be included.

    At a later time in floral pattern text components also began to be introduced. That is why such a concept as " Arabic script" - a type of writing that is fancifully ornate, similar in appearance to arabesque.

    During the heyday of the Middle Ages, the arabesque ornament was used to decorate handwritten books, and in Byzantium and Italy - in majolica and engraving. At this stage of development of the arabesque, she carried, first of all, symbolic meaning and was the main element of architectural structures.

    The “arabesque” type of ornament became most in demand during the Renaissance. Thanks to Giovanni da Udine, the pattern becomes the basis and connecting thread of the semantic component of fresco paintings and decorative and symbolic elements in architecture.

    In the era of classicism, the “arabesque” ornament was designated as an independent decorative element, abstracted from the semantic component.

    Arabic pattern in the countries of the Muslim world

    In the Arab world, over time, the arabesque ornament became an entire science that served the church. After all, Arabic arabesque patterns served as a connecting thread between Heaven - the abode of God and Paradise - and Man as a representative of the Earthly House. If you think about it, then the Underworld, which, according to Muslims, consists of two parts: the grave as the threshold of Heaven or Hell and Hell itself. Thus, one can put forward the version that the Muslim arabesque may be an image of the “World Tree”. Arabesque ornaments can completely cover the walls of the mosque. In the intertwining of their elements you will never find animals, birds, fish, humans and other living beings, since no one can compete with God - their creator.

    Arabesque in the arts and crafts of the East

    There is also a way of using the “arabesque” ornament in eastern cultures. One of the most common is the Arabic patterned carpet. In this case, creating a pattern involves greater creative freedom: you can use images of animals and people as elements, weaving them into a ligature of stems, petals and leaves.

    Based on the Arabic traditional ornament, a special direction has emerged in the art of carpet weaving - Islami - decorative ornament, consisting only of bindweed and spiral elements. In addition, there are six additional types of Islami: “shekasti” - with open ornaments; “bandi” or “vagire” - the elements of the pattern are repeated both horizontally and vertically, and are intertwined with each other; "dakhane azhdar", whose arabesques resemble the mouth of a dragon; “toranjdar”, in it, along with traditional patterns, an element such as a medallion is used; "lochak-toranj", where a composition of medallions in triangles is placed in the corners of the carpet; "Mari" - with spiral-shaped arabesques.

    Arabesques in the "Bandi" style also have a number of subtypes: "Islimi" - in the form of fastened arabesques; "pichak" - in the form of connected weaves; "shekaste" - in the form of untied arabesques; "Katibei" - in the form of a connected inscription; "varamin"; "caleb-kheshti" in the form of connected square frames; "derakhti" - in the form of intertwining trees; "sarvi" - the main element is cypress; "adamaki" - in the form of a pattern of human figures; "bakhtiyari"; "hushe-anguri" made from intertwined bunches of grapes; “shahae gavazne heyvandar” made of interlocking deer figurines; "khatame shirazi", reminiscent of inlays; "dastegul" of intertwined bouquets.

    In addition to creating unique carpet products, the arabesque motif is used to create models of clothing, tableware, interiors and even in landscape design.

    Pattern creation technology

    When creating an "arabesque" ornament, an ideal mathematical calculation is required, which is used to form absolutely accurate compositional solution its elements and their alternation in the ornamental chain. The elements of the pattern are very complex in their composition and often fit into each other. In this case, it is also necessary to use mathematical knowledge, because the elements of arabesques are difficult to combine variants of various geometric shapes - circles, ovals, rectangles, hexagons and octagons, trapezoids, triangles, rhombuses, etc. Moreover, each type of element has its own color. With such a mathematical pattern, a background is never used for it.

    Musical composition

    In music, the term “arabesque” was first introduced in relation to the proper name for his work by the famous composer Robert Schumann. Subsequently, the concept of “arabesque” began to be applied to a specific genre. instrumental music, as a rule, a small work, but very diverse, light, with an openwork interweaving of elements, rhythms, intonations, tempo, and fragments of melody. The intertwining melody of the arabesque was used in the work of the amazing French impressionist and symbolist composer Claude Debussy. Of the domestic composers, Alexandra Lyadova turned to this genre.

    dance movement

    What is "arabesque" in dance art? Arabesque, or rather arabesque, is one of the main movements in classical choreography. In the classification of Agrippina Yakovlevna Vaganova we find four types of arabesque, and the Italian choreographer Enrico Cecchetti has five. These movements have a similar position of the body and head, but differ in the position of the raised and abducted arms and legs.

    From classical choreography, the modified arabesque was transferred to sports ballroom dancing and figure skating. It has quite a long tradition of use in Indian belly dance.