Gogol's name stands in the history of Russian literature after Pushkin's name. Gogol is a continuation of Pushkin and the beginning of a new era in the artistic consciousness of Russia in the 19th century. The author of this book considers Gogol not only as a writer, but also as a thinker, whose fate somehow reflected the fate of literature and social thought of that time. The author uses little-known materials about Gogol, relies on documents, drafts and manuscripts of the writer, as well as on the unreleased correspondence of his contemporaries.