V. A. Voropaev, Doctor of Philology, Professor of the Department of History of Russian Literature at Moscow State University, author of numerous works on the life and work of N.V. Gogol, presents to the readers a book written on the basis of the memories of Nikolai Vasilyevich’s schoolmates and friends. These small but capacious stories, arranged in chronological order - in accordance with the stages of the writer's biography - provide an opportunity to enter the world of Gogol. Readers will learn a lot of new things: for example, what Nikolai Vasilyevich was like in childhood and adolescence, how he worked on his works, how he prayed and fasted, and made pilgrimages to holy places.