Gogol

This unique book, with a truly bizarre and dramatic fate, took many years to reach readers. The trial edition of Gogol's biography in the series «Life of Remarkable People», published in 1934, was banned, as the author of the biography,... the prominent writer and publicist Alexander Voronsky, was subjected to repression. A few copies of this edition miraculously survived.
A. Voronsky's book is intended for a wide audience. It recreates a vivid image of Gogol as a person and a writer. His artistic works interest the biographer primarily to the extent that they reflect the personality of the creator. Gogol, in Voronsky's view, possesses a kind of «dual vision», allowing him, on the one hand, to see the «materiality of the world» with astonishing clarity, and on the other hand, to perceive the spiritual growth of a person.