“Gogol is the bearer of a “medieval”, mystical-ascetic worldview. Gogol marks the moment of awakening of Russian social consciousness. Gogol does not begin a new period of Russian literature, but only completes the old one. Gogol is the founder of “modern” Russian literature. Gogol is an artist who created instinctively, an artist who ridiculed the negative aspects of life not in the name of certain positive ideals. Gogol opens a period of fundamentally critical attitude of literature to questions of reality. These are the mutually exclusive views expressed by criticism regarding Gogol and his work. ..."