A whole era of literature has passed, and a galaxy of prominent authors has left its distinctive mark on literature, but Gogol is still for many a real wizard of the word. Therefore, it is recommended to read the original author of his creations, and not just a brief summary. "May Night, or the Drowned Woman" still astonishes readers with its impressive architectonics, the unique structure of the textual space and the rich palette of words. It contains absolutely all the iconic attributes of Gogol's works : mysticism, fear, laughter. The writer skillfully scares the reader, telling terrible stories, generously mixing them with satire and humor.
Hypnosis of the Gogol Syllable
The story "May Night, or the Drowned Woman" is built precisely in the eloquent syllable, it is not just processed folklore, it is an author's fiction, enchanting with semantic nuances. When you start reading, literally from the first lines of this story you fall under the hypnosis of Gogol’s syllable, the ability to build a storytelling in close interweaving with folklore motifs, and you remain impressed for a long time after turning the last page. He will never convey to magic the words of a genius, a brief summary, “May Night, or the Drowned Woman,” only captivates in its original reading.
Anthology and film adaptation
This work was first published in 1831, after which it was included in the collection-cycle “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka”. Also, the mystical story is included in the anthology: “Russian mystical prose” (Russian 19-century Gothic Tales), in the library of Russian science fiction “Kiev Witches. Volume 4 ". I wonder how Gogol would comment on this fact? "May Night, or the Drowned Woman" was twice filmed. For the first time in the Russian Empire (in 1910), director V. Krivtsov released a film based on the novella “The Night in May”, and the second film adaptation belongs to the already famous director-storyteller A. Rowe, he shot the film using a short summary. May Night, or the Drowned Woman, was released in 1953.
Folklore recordings as a basis
For true admirers of the writer's talent, it is not a secret that when writing the novel, the author used folklore records that he received from relatives and mother. This is evidenced by his letter to his mother dated April 30, 1829, in which he urges him to tell him “a few words ... about mermaids”. But not only these mythical creatures will become characters in the story, there will be other heroes in it.
"May Night, or the Drowned Woman" begins with a scene of a tender meeting between Gann and Levko. In subsequent chapters, popular beliefs, legends about drowned women, witches, etc. May Night, or the Drowned Woman (the description of the plot will be presented below) are widely used, none of the well-known folklore plots is narrated, the story conveys to the reader a poetic picture from a colorful life Little Russia. Gogol as the creator of this work is completely independent.
Abstract
“May Night, or the Drowned Woman” in the basis of the plot contains the motives of many legends about the restless, innocent dead souls. The gentle, beautiful little lady humbly endures all the bullying of her stepmother-witch. But once, unable to bear the torment, the girl throws herself into the water, drowns and at the same moment becomes a mermaid. But the stepmother is not going to be content with her death, she is insidious and vindictive. The witch also turns into a mermaid, and now the unfortunate little lady cannot swim freely.
For help, she turns to the son of the head - Levko, whose personal happiness does not add up at all. He sincerely loves the beautiful Galya, but as it turned out, his father also laid eyes on him. The head is not averse to frolic with it, and therefore does not want to think about the wedding of his son. The little mermaid comes to Levko in a dream and selflessly prays to the couple to find her evil stepmother among the underwater virgins. The pessimistic hero watched the waving game for a while, the mermaids played the kite. Levko drew attention to one of the girls, which stood out for her anger and predation: she rushed so violently at her friends that it seemed that for her this was not a game at all. The witch was discovered, and the grateful and happy little mermaid helped the unfortunate lover to connect with her beloved Galya, taming her father with state diploma.
And then what happened?
"Then" (the period after publication) for any literary work is twofold. This is either the process of replication, arrangements for the theater stage, cinema, animation; borrowing the plot by many imitators is also widely practiced; numerous author's illustrations, painting on the theme, children's toys based on motives, etc. Or, what happens most often - oblivion.
But this sad fate did not suffer the original work, not so Gogol. "May Night, or the Drowned Woman" - one of the most exciting works of the writer.
Singer of Ukrainian folklore
Surprisingly, according to the postulates of Russian literary criticism, Gogol refers to the realists. However, his works can be called anything you like: fiction, farce, comedy, folklore, "horrors", mysticism - just not copying and describing reality. Sometimes the author deliberately in his creations brings the growing horror to a logical ending - the mystical and terrible death of the protagonist (panels in this case). However, the death of the creator is a relative concept, those who died in his narratives lead a rather active otherworldly life, periodically interfering in the life of the living. This trait is very characteristic of any folklore. This is another proof that Gogol deliberately actively “promoted” original Ukrainian folklore, and the well-known description of Ukrainian night is “May Night”.