Christmas Eve

Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol (1809-1852) is an outstanding writer of the first half of the XIX century, a classic of Russian literature, who has distinguished his original talent.
Gogol was born in a family, according to the legend of the old noble Cossack kind. His homeland was Ukraine, the village of Sorochintsy in the Poltava province, bordering Mirgorod, whose image - both comic and lyrical - so often arises in his works. The Gogol family was large, and life was determined by the village structure of the Little Russians (as representatives of the southwestern group of the Eastern Slavs, living in modern Ukraine, Belarus and Poland, used to be called) It is believed that the father, who wrote amateur plays, and a beautiful appearance, the mother - a devout and prone to mysticism - determined the creative vector of the writer.
It is interesting that Gogol was unimportant by the gymnasium player: he was only interested in Russian literature and drawing, but thanks to excellent memory, he memorized objects, passing exams, and graduated from the gymnasium of higher sciences in the non -Zhin.
At the age of 21, Gogol moves to St. Petersburg as an idealist who is fully intentionally benefiting society. However, in fact, he could only count on the service of a small official. The colossal coup in his life occurred thanks to the entry into the literary circle of Vasily Zhukovsky and Alexander Pushkin, whom he idolized.
Their interest and friendly support inspired Gogol to create stories exotic for St. Petersburg, painting mystical Little Russia. "Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka. The novels published by the Rudim Panku with Rudym ", published in St. Petersburg in 1831 and 1832, laid the foundation for his glory and were highly appreciated by Pushkin: Evenings near Dikanka ... were amazed me. Here is a real mercy, sincere, relaxed, without scum, without stiffness, and in some places there is a poetry! .. All this is so unusual in our current literature that I have not formed a hitherto. ”
"The night before Christmas" and "Enlarged place" entered the second part of the Code "Evenings". The novels are permeated with a subtle comic, they resemble popular beliefs, but fiction is so confidently entering the ordinary world, which makes you believe in the impossible. “Both funny and terrible at the same time,” as the author himself said, chuckling at his heroes