“The Night Before Christmas” is the first story of the second book “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka” by N. V. Gogol.

In Little Russian Dikanka, the night before Christmas comes. A witch flies out of the chimney of a house on a broomstick and begins to collect stars from the sky in her sleeve. Next to her in the sky is shown, which grabs a hot month and hides it in his pocket. In this way, the devil wants to take revenge on the village blacksmith and painter Vakula, who painted in the church an unpleasant picture for him about the expulsion of the unclean from hell.

Vakula is passionately in love with Oksana, the daughter of the Cossack Chub. Chub is going to spend the night before Christmas drinking at the clerk's, while Vakula is waiting for Oksana to be left at home without a father to come and declare his love to her. But the devil, having stolen the moon from the sky, plunges Dikanka into darkness with the expectation that this darkness will force Chub to stay at home and upset the blacksmith's plan.

"The Night Before Christmas" ("Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka"). 1961 film

However, Chub still goes to treat the deacon. Young Oksana, seeing off her father,. Vakula enters her hut. He tells Oksana about his love, but the capricious coquette only laughs at him. A heated explanation is interrupted by an unexpected knock on the door. Dissatisfied with this hindrance, Vakula leaves the door with the intention of hitting the side of the uninvited guest.

Knocking on the hut is none other than its owner, Chub. The devil, the insidious enemy of Vakula, made a snowstorm on his way, which nevertheless forced Oksana's father to leave the thought of drinking at the deacon's and return home. But because of the heavy snow, Chub is not quite sure that he is knocking on his own hut, and not on someone else's. And Vakula, who came out to knock in the middle of a snowstorm, does not recognize Chub. He tells him to get out, rewarding him with two strong cuffs. Mistakenly believing that the hut is really not his, Chub decides to spend the rest of the night before Christmas with Vakula's mother, Solokha, with whom he has been playing love tricks for a long time.

Gogol. Christmas Eve. audiobook

Genre: dark fantasy, humor, chronofiction, pastiche, mashup

Publisher: alpha book

The year of publishing: 2016

Series: fantasy action movie

Similar works:

• "The Third Jungle Book" by Pamela Jaeckel (collection of short stories)

Writer Andrey Belyanin is one of the standard-bearers of the Armada publishing house. Many readers know him as an adherent of humorous fiction. Of course, he is not called the “Russian Pratchett”, but despite the abundance of works, no one is in a hurry to baptize him as a graphomaniac. But what a thing - Belyanin made a pastiche on the classics, on “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka” and “Viya” - works, although containing elements of humor, are basically gloomy prose, a reflection of the terrible folklore of Little Russia. The author, being a great admirer of Nikolai Vasilyevich, cherished the idea of ​​creating a stylization for a long time. And so, in 2016, in his "home" series "Fantastic action movie" Belyanin released "Night on a Farm near Dikanka". And after reading this novel, you experience conflicting feelings.

Let's move on to summary. The narrator of the novel falls into the hands of the manuscript of Gogol himself, which sets out the "true" story, taken as the basis for the works of the classic. Such a technique, of course, is not innovative, and has long been used by writers. The genres of the work are the so-called pastiche and mashup.

Something similar would have appeared sooner or later, not with Belyanin, but with someone else. Still, it is interesting to read a novel in which the author of his own works (that is, Gogol) is a direct participant in the action. "Night on a Farm near Dikanka" in structure is an arrangement of the motives of "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka" and partly "Viya", but, as mentioned, the plot is something completely different. Let's break it down and take a look.

First things first, the plot is framed by the story and characters of The Night Before Christmas. Here you have Vakula with his witch mother Solokha, his love Oksana, Chub, a deacon, a devil, a Cossack character Patsyuk and so on. The story of "The Night Before Christmas" is stretched over the entire work: it begins with it, and ends with it. Almost her. A string from "Wii" is attached to the ending. Blacksmith Vakula is none other than best friend Gogol, whom everyone in the novel calls in the French manner "Nikola". Actually, with the arrival of Nicolas in Dikanka, the misadventures of friends begin, filled with clashes with various local evil spirits. Vakula himself sometimes wonders how it happened that the arrival of the schoolboy Gogol shook up the quiet life of the village so much, catalyzing a chain of insidious events.

The short story about mermaids "May Night or the Drowned Woman" is inserted into the narrative without any major changes. Everything is the same as in Gogol's story: a drowned mermaid asks the hero to help her figure out her villainous stepmother among other mermaids.

The most frightening story from the collection "Evenings ..." "Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala" is missing for some reason. Not really! The infernal image of Basavryuk has been remade into Baystryuk, a personality that is not so frightening, but no less crafty. Moreover, Belyanin played Gogol's main feature in his own way, making him not only a clown, but an antagonist, not devoid of a sense of humor, which is why he becomes one of the most interesting characters in the novel. The story of the sacrifice, of course, is missing: Belyanin is not Gogol, he does not write horror stories. That's who really scares, except perhaps the Cossack Hanurik Sverbyguz, who is the devil himself's drinking companion. His episodic appearance, at least a little, but reminds that the original genre of "Evenings ..." is still closer to horror, as well as characters in hoods from the forest who know the way to hell. But in the course of the novel, the heroes will have to seek help from the devil Baistruk, going into hell. This episode plays on The Missing Letter, remotely, of course.

One way or another, an attentive reader can find certain references to "Mirgorod" or "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka", but in addition to borrowed stories, there are also quite original ones. For example, the duel of the Zaporozhye devil against the Polish one. The latter has two winged hussars that have come to life with a creepy appearance, which the illustrator did not forget to capture on the pages of the book.

By the way, about illustrations. They are an integral part of the work, and without them, reading "Night ..." would not be so exciting. We must pay tribute to Belyanin himself, because the pencil sketches of the characters are his work. The talented Belyanin is talented not only in prose. The cover and farzats are decorated with paintings by Ilya Voronin, a member of the Union of Artists of Russia and just a good illustrator. His works can be seen in almost every tenth book in the science fiction genre.

Let's not forget the most unfortunate moment of the book - the excessive use of narrative in the form of journalism. Well, a very boring text, removing which would not have lost anything. Only the volume of the book would have decreased by thirty or forty pages. Perhaps these are the costs of the publisher's requirements, so that the volume of the novel is brought to the desired condition by the writer. Well, you can endure, albeit with difficulty.

As for historical inconsistencies that may repel the reader, it should be recalled that Gogol sometimes did not disdain them either. So, the latter is rather Belyanin's courtesy, and not a defect.

It is also worth noting the humor, where without it in the works of Belyanin. The author skillfully intertwines topical topics of the present time, such as inveterate tolerance and propaganda of non-traditional, so to speak, values. Just read: ...they collapsed... right on the wide bed, where two naked beauties-witches were just about to do something fun and useful for mutual education...“Therefore, in the first place, “Night ...” can be recommended not to fans of Gogol, but just Belyanin. Humor is the visiting card of the writer in all his works. It is the humorous component that is the driving force of this pastiche, and not the gloomy folk characteristic of Gogol. Perhaps the most ardent fans of Nikolai Vasilyevich, when reading “Night ...” will generally spit and want to burn the book, just like Gogol burned the second volume “ dead souls". However, there is no need to show such fanaticism: yes, this is not Gogol, but only a stylization of him through the prism of Belyanin, so to speak. Should I read Night on a Farm near Dikanka? Absolutely yes! Should it be called a masterpiece? Certainly not! Otherwise it will be re-evaluated. Enjoy reading.

P.S.: Despite all the advantages, Night on a Farm near Dikanka looks better not as a novel, but as a script for a film, and even better for a TV series. It’s good if it is filmed and it is desirable to add more horror, because there is so little of it in the book.

Belyanin's pencil sketch

“Meanwhile, the witch rose so high that only a black speck flickered above. But wherever a speck appeared, there the stars, one after another, disappeared in the sky ... ”And then, according to Gogol, the devil stole the moon that hung in the sky over Dikanka."Around the World" went to the Poltava region to find out what the hell is going on in these places.

As soon as I got ready for Dikanka, strange things began to happen in my life. On the evening before departure, a thunderstorm suddenly began, so strong that 30 people were left without electricity. settlements Poltava region. On the way under the wheels of the car, a fox who came from nowhere rushed. And just as suddenly, she disappeared. Following this, a cloud of rooks rose over the road, and the sky turned black. I looked at the counter - the number of kilometers covered ended with three sixes. "What the hell is this?" - I was already afraid to guess what would happen next. And then, before reaching 60 kilometers to Dikanka, I turned into the village of Gogolevo, where the writer spent his childhood ...

Origins of legends

A few years ago, a black cat wandered into our house. She was missing one leg. Perhaps the animal fell into a trap, - says Yulia Boridko, a researcher at the National Museum-Reserve of N.V. Gogol in Gogolev. - So, if you remember, in the story "May Night, or the Drowned Woman" the centurion's wife was a witch. One night, she turned into a black cat and attacked her unloved stepdaughter. But she cut off the animal's paw. And in the morning I saw that my stepmother's hand was bandaged ...

One story from Gogol's childhood is connected with the "bad" cat. One day, five-year-old Nikosha (as the future writer was called when he was little) was left alone in big house. It was evening, the only thing breaking the silence was the chiming of the clock. Suddenly the boy saw a green-eyed cat with an unkind look sneaking towards him. Nikosha mistook her for an evil spirit, grabbed her and carried her to the pond, where he drowned her. Then he suffered for a long time because of what he had done.

Holy Trinity Church was mentioned in the story "The Night Before Christmas"

The same artificial pond is depicted on the family coat of arms of the nobles Gogol-Yanovsky. The horseshoe pond goes around the manor with columns. Near the pond at the exit from the museum there are seven birch trees: two separately, and five, smaller ones, sprout from one root.

After the restoration of the museum, we planted three birch trees, - says Yulia Boridko. One dried up in the fall. And in the spring, five shoots appeared in its place. This family of birches seems to symbolize the Gogols. Two bigger trees are parents, and the rest are five children. Here is such a coincidence. I try not to pay attention to any mysticism, but it's hard to ignore it when you're dealing with Gogol. The writer himself said that he succeeded only in what he took from life, and did not invent. He simply captured everything he saw and heard.

In the Dikan library, Gogol is held in high esteem

Scary stories of Nicholas

Gogol's parents are buried in the park across the street from the museum. This is the only grave left from the local cemetery. I walk along the path and in horror I see that the grave is engulfed in flames ...

The fire is the work of Nikolai, a security guard at the Gogol Museum-Estate. Wielding a welding cylinder, he burns a forged fence.

I clean off the paint with fire, - Nikolai explains, seeing my frightened face. - Then it will be easier to apply a new layer.

And I thought it was Gogol himself who was burning something, - I'm trying to joke, - for example, manuscripts.

No, Gogol does not appear here. He usually wanders around the estate.

What?

While on duty, I often saw him. And I'm not alone. Sometimes you look at the screen, and near the bushes - time! - and the human figure appears. For a minute or two, a dark silhouette is clearly visible. Then it disappears… When the estate was being restored, different figures also often appeared on the facade covered with film: both the auditor and other Gogol characters. And once at lunch, the peasants and I played cards for desire. The loser had to knock on the window of the wing where Gogol lived and say hello ten times. The lad who did this began to be haunted by failures. Either he almost cut off his fingers, then he stepped on a nail ... Once, five of us walked, so a branch almost gouged out his eyes. The rest didn't even notice. As a result, the wife of this lad advised him to knock on the window again and ask for forgiveness. He did just that. And the trouble is over.

A witch in Dikanka is not immediately recognizable. Many have changed brooms for the same bikes

How often do weird things like this happen to you?

It happens. Witches live in our village.

Do you know them?

One I knew personally. Her grandmother's name was Grynykha. She lived opposite my house. The old one was. As soon as she looked at any child, he began to cry. Maybe Grynykha did not want this, but that was her look. The children then screamed all night, could not calm down until the old woman removed the damage. The witch did not let anyone into her house, but for some reason she let me in. I've been to her house two or three times. Scary ... The ceiling is low, I had to bend down. The grandmother did not turn on the light - only a kerosene lamp. I spied how she removed the evil eye: she drove matches over the water. Then he even tried to repeat this ritual when the children were capricious. And it did work.

And where is she now?

Died. She died for three days. You look - she doesn’t seem to be breathing, but she will take it and open her eyes. I suffered until the lads punched a hole in the sky - they cut a hole in the ceiling above the bed. As soon as this was done, the witch's soul flew away.

And how many witches do you have?

There are probably dozens. Although there are only about five hundred of us here. Right now it's raining all over the area. All the villages around Gogolev are flooded so that the road is not visible. There, three kilometers from here, all the potatoes were washed out in the vegetable gardens. And it's dry here, not a drop has fallen. These are all their tricks. I'm sure there are witches.

Glory to the legacy

Solokha is in front of you, - Natalia Dzyuba, a cheerful blonde with blue eyes, laughs. Natalia is a researcher at the local history museum of Dikanka. - We call all married women Solokhs.

And indeed, looking at local women, you catch yourself thinking that they are, if not witches, but definitely sorceresses. To cope with so many cases without magic is impossible. In Dikanka, working women have time to raise children and do everything around the house. The huts in the village are well-groomed, flowers and fruit trees are planted in the yards, which tend to the ground under the weight of fruits. At the same time, the Dikan girls manage to find time for themselves. Whatever you look at - all with neat manicure and makeup. And in high heels. Like Gogol's Oksana, probably all the women of this village have a weakness for beautiful shorts.

Our girls have broken more than one heart. Even Pushkin got it, - continues Natalia. - The first love of Alexander Sergeevich was our Natalya Kochubey, who later became Stroganova. The poet dedicated poems to her, described her in "Eugene Onegin". From Natalia, he learned about Dikanka. And before Gogol mentioned our village - in the poem "Poltava". The Kochubeev family was very influential. This Cossack family owned Dikanka for more than 200 years, starting in 1689, when Mazepa gave the village to Vasily Kochubey, the general clerk of the Zaporozhye Host. The Kochubeys here, in Dikanka, had a huge palace, a brewery and a greenhouse with exotic plants. Dikanka was considered advanced, as they would say today. And Viktor Pavlovich, Natalya's father, was a count and minister of the interior. Russian Empire. Everyone in St. Petersburg knew about the Kochubeev family and their native village. Emperor Alexander I himself came to visit them. In memory of his visit, Viktor Kochubey erected the Triumphal Arch. So Dikanka, which is God knows where, at that time was on the lips of everyone thanks to the Kochubeys. And Gogol took advantage of this.

The triumphal arch was erected in 1820 in memory of the arrival of Emperor Alexander I in Dikanka.

This is probably why Nikolai Vasilyevich in the main museum of Dikanka is given only one room out of nine, while a solid part of the exposition is devoted to the Kochubeys.

fertile soil

Why do you think Gogol called his work "Evenings on a farm near Dikanka"? And not, say, near Vasilyevka or Yanovshchina (the old names of Gogolev. - Note. "Around the world" where did he spend his childhood? asks me Valentina Polozyukova, a teacher of foreign literature with 30 years of experience. - Yes, because Dikanka was already a brand. Gogol wanted to become famous at all costs. His first work, Hanz Kühelgarten, written under the pseudonym Alov, was smashed by critics. The second book, "Evenings on a farm near Dikanka", owes its success to a good title. No, Gogol, of course, is a talented writer, but if he called his collection in a different way, he would not see such glory.

Lesson of foreign literature in the gymnasium named after N.V. Gogol

Valentina works at the gymnasium named after N.V. Gogol - one of the two schools in Dikanka, located in the center of the village, next to Gogol Street. In the gymnasium, children get acquainted with the works of their countryman at the lessons of foreign literature. Because Gogol wrote in Russian. Today, schoolchildren study "Taras Bulba" and "Overcoat", but "Evenings on the Farm" in the gymnasium are optional.

- They say that it was Gogol who made Dikanka mystical. Nothing like this. Even before Gogol, she was shrouded in mystery, says Valentina. - Have you heard that we have our own subway? Under Dikanka there is a whole network of underground passages that have existed for a long time and stretch for many tens of kilometers. Local residents hid in them during enemy raids back in the 15th century! In case of danger, people fled to the church - and ... disappeared. In the church basement there was an entrance to these dungeons, which connected many houses. This is how they escaped the enemy. My neighbor, grandmother Sonya, said that one spring, about 50 years ago, the floor in her house collapsed. A hole formed near the stove. Sonya's grandfather went down into that hole and saw a long corridor. It led to an underground room with a table and chairs made from earth. Grandfather lived for almost a century in that hut and did not even suspect that there were some tunnels under it.

So rumors circulated about Dikanka as about an enchanted place, whose inhabitants disappeared into nowhere and just as inexplicably appeared from somewhere, like devils from snuffboxes. And now the underground past of Dikanka is tormenting public utilities. Ten years ago, a deep hole formed near Valentina's house. It was covered with rubble and covered with asphalt. But the ground in this place still falls through. There are many such holes in Dikanka. The public utilities only do what they pave the roads, while cursing the devils.

Church Affairs

I have not met with the devil. But I know that devilry yes, says Father Pavel, 74, rector of the Holy Trinity Church. - We face it every second at every turn. How? We insult someone, we think badly about someone, we commit a bad deed. But demons leave me. I pray - and the soul becomes good.

Father Pavel Sverlovich - Rector of the Holy Trinity Church

Father Pavel has been serving in the Holy Trinity Church for more than 25 years - as soon as it was restored from ruins. The original church was built by the Kochubeys in late XVIII century. Today, a snow-white building with golden domes is surrounded by literary streets: Pushkin, Shevchenko and Belinsky. A little further is Gogol Street. The writer often visited the church and recalled it in his "Evenings ...".

The book says that the blacksmith Vakula painted the wall in the T…church. This is our Trinity Church. Vakula portrayed a devil so nasty that everyone spat when they passed by. And when the women showed the children the image, they clung to their mother's breasts in fear, - says the priest. - We have another church in the village, St. Nicholas. She played a very important role in Gogol's life.

This church stands alone on the outskirts of Dikanka. The forests surrounding the ancestral temple-tomb of the Kochubeevs saved it from demolition during Soviet power. According to legend, on the site where the church is now located, the Dikankovites discovered the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. The parishioners took it to the functioning village church. But the next day the icon disappeared - and it was again found in the same place on the stump. This happened several times. The locals took this as a sign from above and in the 17th century they built a temple in honor of St. Nicholas.

The fame of the icon spread far beyond Dikanka. Maria Gogol-Yanovskaya, the writer's mother, experienced her strength firsthand. After her first two children were stillborn, the woman went to church on foot, covering 30 km. Mary prayed that God would send her a healthy child. She promised to name the boy in honor of Nicholas the Wonderworker. And the future writer was born.

Now people don't go to church very often. Twenty people is already good. Here is a man selling a house, if only he would come to us to light a candle. People only think about money. Officials all buy apartments, cars, expensive clothes. But you can’t take all this into the next world ...

Every evening, Father Pavel turns on the lights on the makeshift chapel in his yard

Batiushka sighs and turns on the lights in his yard. His makeshift chapel in the garden lights up with lights. And the stars are shining in the sky. And rolls out full moon. I think that somewhere out there, far in space, there is another Dikanka. This is the name of a small asteroid. It revolves around the Sun in three years and eight months. People often talk about him in Dikanka. And they dignify heavenly body planet. But few here know that solar system there is another asteroid named after Gogol. It was opened on April 1, 1976, the writer's birthday. On the same day as the planet Dikanka.

Orientation on the ground
Dikanka, Poltava region, Ukraine

Dikanka Square 10.77 km²
Population 7730 people
Population density 718 people/km²

Square of the Poltava region 28,750 km²
Population 1 462 500 people
Population density 50.9 people/km²

ATTRACTION Triumphal arch, Kochubey oaks in Dikanka; monument to dumplings in Poltava; museum-estate in Gogolev; Mirgorod puddle with a monument to Gogol and his heroes in Mirgorod, Sorochinskaya fair (in August) in Velikie Sorochintsy.
TRADITIONAL DISHES Poltava pundyki - thin cakes fried with onions; dumplings.
TRADITIONAL DRINKS Gorilka, Mirgorodskaya mineral water.
SOUVENIRS ceramics with Gogol's heroes, embroidered shirts, lard.

DISTANCE from Moscow to Dikanka ~ 700 km (from 2.5 hours in flight from Moscow to Kharkov, then to Dikanka 160 km)
TIME behind Moscow for an hour in winter, coincides in summer
VISA not required
CURRENCY hryvnia (1 USD~ 2,2 RUB)

Photo: NATALIA MAYBORODA (X11), GETTY IMAGES, OLESIA BONDARENKO / LORI PHOTOBANK, ALAMY / LEGION-MEDIA

"Gogol The Night Before Christmas" - "The Night Before Christmas" is like a fairy tale. In the gymnasium, Gogol was fond of drawing and theater. Then, in the gymnasium, the writer awakened a passion for writing. After the release of Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka, Gogol became famous. Heroes of the work. The narration is conducted on behalf of the narrator - Rudy Panka.

"Gogol's life and work" - "Dead souls" "Arabesques" "Evenings on a farm near Dikanka" "Inspector" "Mirgorod". V. G. Belinsky A. S. Pushkin I. S. Turgenev. What works were included in "Evenings on a farm near Dikanka"? Test on the life and work of N.V. Gogol. Which writer played a huge role in the life and work of N.V. Gogol? Where was N.V. Gogol born?

"Gogol Taras Bulba" - Do not brag about going on a campaign, ... .. The word of the teacher. Scroll Clay Ambush. Maznitsa Kukhol Korchik Chaman Suleya. "Thought spoken". Cossack blood….. Centurion Esaul Koshevoy Kurennoy ataman. There is no bond more sacred than fellowship. The names of the types of weapons used by the Cossacks: Not water, but boasted from the campaign while driving.

"Lessons Gogol Revizor" - Why do we need binary lessons in law in combination with others humanities: Features of the binary lesson: Why binary lessons are needed: January 19, 2011. “Power and society in the comedy by N.V. Gogol's "Inspector". BINARY LESSON - training session, which combines the content of two subjects of the same cycle (or educational area) in one lesson.

"Gogol Dead Souls" - Theater named after N.V. Gogol. House in Vasilievka. Sobakevich for food. Manilov. What "keys" did Chichikov pick up for Manilov and his wife, trying to conquer. Ivan Antonovich "jug snout". Poverty, drunkenness, general laziness, stupidity - this is what a fortress village looks like. Plushkin. Nozdryov brings confusion to any society, his appearance always portends a scandal.

"Inspector" - This is how it is done in a well-organized society. Anna Andreevna, wife of the mayor Marya Antonovna, daughter of the mayor. Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol (1809-1852). 2. Name the hero. Yu.Mann "Gogol's Comedy" The Inspector General ". The mayor - to Buttons: “Look! folk proverb. A street with old houses along which the characters of The Government Inspector could walk.

Total in the topic 23 presentations