Literary heritage of Nikolai Gogol as a source of research on the history of bureaucracy

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to identify the general social characteristics of the capital bureaucracy of the Russian Empire in the first half of the nineteenth century on the example of Mykola Vasylovych Hohol «Petersburg Stories». The methodology consists of methods of scientific criticism, historical-chronological, historical-typological, structural-system methods for the study of belles-lettres as a historical source and the presentation of intrinsic results. The scientific novelty of the research is to update the works of M.V. Hohol as a fact of objective reality, a historical source in the study of the history of bureaucracy. Conclusions. Reform of the bureaucratic apparatus of the Russian empire of the first half of the nineteenth century determined: changes in the quantitative, qualitative composition of the bureaucracy; mental transformations; professionalization and features of activity; increase of educational qualification; reduction of the role of family ties, that is, patronage; development of the service hierarchy. The formation of class bureaucracy as a special stratum with a specific subculture illustrates the images of the Hohol titular counselor and collegiate assessor, depicted against the backdrop of general social history, the history of everyday life, the everyday life of the individual. Their official activity was conditioned by special qualification and rewarded with titles, pledges, and other honors. The multi-vector of the plot lines of «Petersburg Stories» enables a multidimensional perception of the image of the bureaucrat and the historically predetermined background of his existence.