Vasili Afanasyevich Gogol-Yanovsky (; 1777 – 31 March (11 April) 1825), also known as Vasyl Panasovych Hohol-Yanovsky (), was an author of a number of theater pieces in Russian and in Ukrainian and father of the writer

Nikolai Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; ; (; () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright of Ukrainian origin. Gogol used the Grotesque#In literature, grotesque in his writings, for example, in his works "The Nose (Gogol short story), ...

. He was the landlord of the village of Vasilyevka (now Hoholeve,

Poltava Oblast Poltava Oblast (), also referred to as Poltavshchyna (), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) of central Ukraine. The capital city, administrative center of the oblast is the city of Poltava. Most of its territory was par ...

) and descendant of Ukrainian Cossack noble families of Gogol (Hohol) and Lizogub. Vasili Gogol-Yanovsky loved writing comedic

stage play A play is a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between characters and is intended for theatrical performance rather than mere reading. The creator of a play is known as a playwright. Plays are staged at various levels, ranging ...

s in Russian as well as in Ukrainian, which were successfully put on by the famous theatre patron Dmitry Troshchinsky.

Biography

Vasili was a son of Opanas Demianovych Gogol-Yanovsky (1739–1798) and Tatyana Semenivna Lizohub (1760–1826). According to legend, one ancestor, Ostap Hohol,Hohol, Ostap
/ref> was famous as a

Cossack The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borders of Ukraine and Rus ...

colonel and

Hetman ''Hetman'' is a political title from Central and Eastern Europe, historically assigned to military commanders (comparable to a field marshal or imperial marshal in the Holy Roman Empire). First used by the Czechs in Bohemia in the 15th century, ...

of Right-Bank Ukraine. His grandfather and great grandfather were Orthodox priests. He attended the Poltava Theological Seminary and was a member of the Zaporizhian Army. Having spent some time at the post service, Vasili left in 1805, with the rank of Collegiate Assessor and retired to his own estate Vasilyevka (Yanovshchina) to devote himself to farming. Vasili Gogol-Yanovsky was a friend of Dmitry Prokofyevich Troshchinsky, Minister of the State Council, and a distant relative. Vasili Afanasyevich was the director and actor in the Troshchinsky Home Theater between 1812 and 1825. In this capacity, he wrote several musical comedies based upon

Ukrainian culture The culture of Ukraine is composed of the material and spiritual values of the Ukrainian people that has formed throughout the history of Ukraine. Strong family values and religion, alongside the traditions of Ukrainian embroidery and Ukrainian ...

and

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

. Vasili Gogol-Yanovsky also wrote poems in the Russian and Ukrainian languages. Alexander Danilevsky noted that Vasili was a "matchless storyteller".

Works

*
Собака-Вивця
// ''Записки о жизни Н. В. Гоголя''. V. 1. – 1856. – pp. 15–16. *
Простакъ, или хитрость женщины, перехитренная солдатомъ
// ''

Osnova The Ukrainian journal ''Osnova'' (meaning ''Basis'' in English) was published between 1861 and 1862 in Saint Petersburg. It contained articles devoted to life and customs of the Ukrainian people, including regular features about their wedding c ...

''. – 1862. – # 2. – pp. 19–43.

References

External links

"For Fools, or The Cunning Woman" by Vasyl Gogol-Yanovsky

Encyclopedia of Ukraine (Toronto) {{DEFAULTSORT:Gogol-Yanovsky, Vasyl 1777 births 1825 deaths Nikolai Gogol Lyzohub family Ukrainian people in the Russian Empire Ukrainian nobility Dramatists and playwrights from the Russian Empire Poets from the Russian Empire Ukrainian landlords 19th-century landowners from the Russian Empire 19th-century Ukrainian writers