Gogol created the image of Ukraine, which ends today for three reasons — because all three of its foundations are cut today. Russian Russians, that is, a country adjacent to Russia, vitally close to it, recognizing the power of the Russian tsars over itself and closely connected with Russian culture, not to mention the common faith. It is enough to recall "The Night before Christmas".
But the fact that Ukraine has been a historical ally of Russia for at least the last two hundred years, today it is prescribed to forget: between two peoples — or two parts of a single people, as many believe — a wedge has been driven for a long time, if not forever. And such a division is predicted by many, most clearly by Aksenov: the imperial nation has the most vicious, most cursed enemy — its part, which wished to be free. Ukraine could become a Mecca for those Russians who do not consider themselves imperials, but in its current state it is hardly capable of this: the bitterness there is now such that no Russian, whether he is a supporter of a free Ukraine three times, will not be perceived as a friend there. At the first disagreement, at the first attempt to criticize the Ukrainian order, he will hear in response: he was a slave, he remained a slave. Ukraine is not to blame for this — or is no more to blame than Russia — but there will be no unity for a long time now. And this is closely related to the second reason why the Gogol matrix no longer works: the nation lives in new circumstances, it does not want to be absorbed by Russia, but it also does not want to dissolve into the West. She would have to reinvent herself. Gogol's Ukraine was the southwestern, best, most fertile part of Russia — the new Ukraine is forced to maneuver between new mythologies, look for another identity, get used to the forced buffer, frontiersman, border role. She was an outpost of Russia in Europe, now she wanted to be an outpost of Europe on the borders of Russia — and this is a completely different matter. It will have to actualize its completely different features — namely European ones, and it is difficult to cope with this in today's Ukraine, since the tradition is different, and the Soviet experience will not be so easily forgotten, and you will not switch to the Latin alphabet. Of course, Pan Danilo Burulbash, as Gogol wrote him in "Terrible Revenge", is quite a traditional European knight, and the "Terrible Revenge" itself is a legend rather German, Gogolian, than Ukrainian; but the symbol of the Ukrainian was not Danilo Burulbash, but Taras Bulba, who is opposed to Europe in everything. It's scary to imagine a politically correct Bulba, who sincerely patronizes the Jew Yankel, provides humanitarian aid to a starving Polish woman, and says to Andriy: well, my son... Nothing, nothing... there is no bond holier than family ties! Ukraine, which Gogol invented as wild and ardent, will now have to dress up as a European woman, and the image of a broad, brusque and beautiful Oksana is gradually being replaced in the Ukrainian consciousness by the image of a cultured, nervous, patriotic, but cosmopolitan Lesya Ukrainka. However, Ukrainians have never had that meekness, submissiveness, blind devotion to her husband that patriots attribute — and prescribe — to the ideal Russian woman; rather, they are similar to Sholokhov's Cossacks, so it will be easiest for them to make this evolution.
The third feature of the new Ukrainian world, the third difference between it and the Gogol matrix, is that this new world is already an adult, whereas the Gogol world is largely children's, folklore, fairy-tale. You can write as much as you like about the disgusting Gogol character, Gogol's anger, even Gogol's madness — we will return to this topic later to debunk the myth — but it is necessary to judge the artist first of all by his creations, and Gogol's creations give out exactly the character that he created and described: light. Of course, the Gogol type — like the beloved protagonist Rudy (Red) Panko or the narrator in Mirgorod — is characterized by fits of melancholy, hypochondria, even melancholy — "It's boring in this world, gentlemen!" — but in general, Gogol and most of his heroes are kind, generous, cheerful, full-blooded, mentally healthy, patriotic, mocking, outgoing, and Ukraine, created by Gogol, is a country of eternal celebration, where the night scum, it seems, exists only to make it more interesting; a country where devils are tamed, and mermaids are so seductive that they cause, first of all, not fear, but a slight poetic longing for unattainable perfections. Gogol molded his Ukraine from German romance, from Eastern European legends, from folklore - and it came to life, and imitated Gogol's prose always, even in tragic, furious (after all, never malicious) Shevchenko poetry. The present Ukraine will not be kind for a long time and at least calm: its romantic period is over. Who will now create a new Ukrainian nation? It's not the presidents who form it! The very melody of the singing Ukrainian speech, the very sounds of the Ukrainian night will change after the war. Even Russian folklore, which was stable, changed irreversibly after the civil war — what can we say about Ukraine, which is smaller, more mobile, and more vulnerable! Funny and harmless mutual banter — lazy Ukrainians, angry Muscovites — all in the past. Ukrainian culture faces a titanic task — to invent a new Ukraine. The Russian culture faces a much larger task: to think of Russia, which Gogol began to build, built the St. Petersburg myth in "Arabesques" for two hundred years ahead — but, bogged down in the Russian rainy space, he did not finish the main thing.