Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asian continent and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and the Philippine Sea in the south; the kanji that make up Japan's name mean "sun origin", it is called the "Land of the Rising Sun". Japan is a stratovolcanic archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands; the four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido and Shikoku, which make up about ninety-seven percent of Japan's land area and are referred to as home islands. The country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions, with Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one; the population of 127 million is the world's tenth largest. 90.7 % of people live in cities. About 13.8 million people live in the capital of Japan. The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous metropolitan area in the world with over 38 million people. Archaeological research indicates; the first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD.
Influence from other regions China, followed by periods of isolation from Western Europe, has characterized Japan's history. From the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shōguns who ruled in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a long period of isolation in the early 17th century, ended in 1853 when a United States fleet pressured Japan to open to the West. After nearly two decades of internal conflict and insurrection, the Imperial Court regained its political power in 1868 through the help of several clans from Chōshū and Satsuma – and the Empire of Japan was established. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, victories in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War and World War I allowed Japan to expand its empire during a period of increasing militarism; the Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the Japanese surrender. Since adopting its revised constitution on May 3, 1947, during the occupation led by SCAP, the sovereign state of Japan has maintained a unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy with an Emperor and an elected legislature called the National Diet.
Japan is a member of the ASEAN Plus mechanism, UN, the OECD, the G7, the G8, the G20, is considered a great power. Its economy is the world's third-largest by nominal GDP and the fourth-largest by purchasing power parity, it is the world's fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer. Japan benefits from a skilled and educated workforce. Although it has renounced its right to declare war, Japan maintains a modern military with the world's eighth-largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. Japan is a developed country with a high standard of living and Human Development Index, its population enjoys the highest life expectancy and third lowest infant mortality rate in the world, but is experiencing issues due to an aging population and low birthrate. Japan is renowned for its historical and extensive cinema, influential music industry, video gaming, rich cuisine and its major contributions to science and modern technology; the Japanese word for Japan is 日本, pronounced Nihon or Nippon and means "the origin of the sun".
The character nichi means "sun" or "day". The compound therefore means "origin of the sun" and is the source of the popular Western epithet "Land of the Rising Sun"; the earliest record of the name Nihon appears in the Chinese historical records of the Tang dynasty, the Old Book of Tang. At the end of the seventh century, a delegation from Japan requested that Nihon be used as the name of their country; this name may have its origin in a letter sent in 607 and recorded in the official history of the Sui dynasty. Prince Shōtoku, the Regent of Japan, sent a mission to China with a letter in which he called himself "the Emperor of the Land where the Sun rises"; the message said: "Here, I, the emperor of the country where the sun rises, send a letter to the emperor of the country where the sun sets. How are you". Prior to the adoption of Nihon, other terms such as Yamato and Wakoku were used; the term Wa is a homophone of Wo 倭, used by the Chinese as a designation for the Japanese as early as the third century Three Kingdoms period.
Another form of Wa, Wei in Chinese) was used for an early state in Japan called Nakoku during the Han dynasty. However, the Japanese disliked some connotation of Wa 倭, it was therefore replaced with the substitute character Wa, meaning "togetherness, harmony"; the English word Japan derives from the historical Chinese pronunciation of 日本. The Old Mandarin or early Wu Chinese pronunciation of Japan was recorded by Marco Polo as Cipangu. In modern Shanghainese, a Wu dialect, the pronunciation of characters 日本; the old Malay word for Japan, Japun or Japang, was borrowed from a southern coastal Chinese dialect Fukienese or Ningpo – and this Malay word was encountered by Portuguese traders in Southeast Asia in the 16th century. These Early Portuguese traders brought the word
Sebastian Roché
Sebastian Charles Edward Roché is a Scottish-French actor and screenwriter. He is known for his roles as Kurt Mendel in Odyssey 5, Jerry Jacks in General Hospital, Thomas Jerome Newton in Fringe, Balthazar in Supernatural, Mikael in both The Vampire Diaries and The Originals, Reichsminister Martin Heusmann in The Man in the High Castle. Roché has appeared in the films The Last of the Mohicans, The Peacemaker, 15 Minutes, Haters, The Namesake, New York City Serenade, Happy Tears, Safe House, Wer, A Walk Among the Tombstones, We Love You, Sally Carmichael!. He starred in the Broadway plays Salome and The Green Bird. Roché was born in Paris to a French father, he was named Sebastian Charles Edward after Jacobite pretender Charles Edward Stuart. From age 12 to 18, Roché lived on a sailboat with his parents and brothers, travelling to the Mediterranean, South America, the Caribbean, he is multilingual – able to speak English, French and Italian fluently. Roché was educated at the Cours Florent in Paris and the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts et Techniques du Théâtre, attended the prestigious French National Academy of Dramatic Arts, from which he graduated in 1989.
He moved to New York City in 1992. Roché began his acting career in the made-for-television film The Murders in the Rue Morgue, appearing opposite Ian McShane and Val Kilmer, which aired on CBS on 7 December 1986. Throughout the late 1980s, he had roles in French television and cinema, including the films Adieu je t'aime, La Queue de la comète, La Révolution française, A Woman's Revenge, the television series Bonjour maître and The Hitchhiker. Roché has an extensive classical theatre background, notably starring in Salome with Al Pacino at the Circle in the Square Theatre, he appeared in a supporting role in the Daniel Day-Lewis-starring historical epic The Last of the Mohicans, released in the United States on 25 September 1992. On American television, he appeared in Loving, South Beach, New York Undercover, Swift Justice, Liberty!. In 1997, Roché was part of the main cast in the Fox fantasy adventure series Roar, playing the role of Saint Longinus, he starred opposite Vera Farmiga. The series was cancelled due to low ratings that same year.
Roché's many 1990s television credits include recurring and guest starring stints in series such as Feds, Dellaventura and the City, Law & Order, Big Apple. In 1998, he returned to the stage in the Off-Broadway production of Trainspotting at the Players Theater. In 2000, he portrayed Prince Renzo in the Broadway production of The Green Bird at the Cort Theatre; the play marked his second collaboration with director Julie Taymor. That same year, he appeared in the television film The Crossing opposite Jeff Daniels, which aired on A&E on 10 January 2000, he had a minor role in the Robert De Niro-starring thriller film 15 Minutes, released on 9 March 2001. In 2002, Roché began portraying Kurt Mendel in the Canadian science fiction series Odyssey 5 for Showtime, he remained in the role until the show's cancellation a year later. In the pilot episode, he spoke French, he guest starred in episodes of Touching Evil, Alias, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, The Unit. Roché co-starred in the Mira Nair-directed drama film The Namesake, released on 9 March 2007, in the Darby Crash biopic What We Do Is Secret, released on 8 August 2008.
He subsequently co-starred with Freddie Prinze, Jr. the comedy-drama New York City Serenade, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on 13 September 2007. Roché next starred in the motion capture epic fantasy film Beowulf, alongside Anthony Hopkins and Angelina Jolie, directed by Robert Zemeckis and released to cinemas on 16 November 2007, he reprised his role as Wulfgar from the film in the accompanying video game Beowulf: The Game, released on 13 November 2007. In 2007, Roché began appearing in the ABC soap opera General Hospital as terrorist/criminal Jerry Jacks. By early 2009, Jerry had minimal screen time and was written out. From July to August 2009, Roché returned to the series in a recurring capacity, returned again to the role in December 2010. From August 2012 to October 2013, Roché again returned as the character on a recurring basis, he starred in a total of 319 episodes, has spoken Russian and French in the series. In 2009, Roché guest starred in The Mentalist as Shirali Arlov, as John Quinn in both 24: Redemption, the 2009 season of 24.
He appeared in the comedy-drama film Happy Tears with Demi Moore and Parker Posey, released on 19 February 2010, lent his voice to the animated film The Adventures of Tintin, directed by Steven Spielberg and released on 21 December 2011. In 2010, Roché joined the recurring cast of The CW's drama series Supernatural, he starred in six episodes of the sixth season as Balthazar, a rogue angel and longtime friend of fellow angel Castiel. He was next cast in the Fox science fiction drama series Fringe, recurring in the second and third seasons as Thomas Jerome Newton, the leader of an army of shapeshifters from a parallel universe and a main antagonist of the series. In 2011, Roché began rec
Kolkata
Kolkata is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River 75 kilometres west of the border with Bangladesh, it is the principal commercial and educational centre of East India, while the Port of Kolkata is India's oldest operating port and its sole major riverine port; the city is regarded as the "cultural capital" of India, is nicknamed the "City of Joy". According to the 2011 Indian census, it is the seventh most populous city. Recent estimates of Kolkata Metropolitan Area's economy have ranged from $60 to $150 billion making it third most-productive metropolitan area in India, after Mumbai and Delhi. In the late 17th century, the three villages that predated Calcutta were ruled by the Nawab of Bengal under Mughal suzerainty. After the Nawab granted the East India Company a trading licence in 1690, the area was developed by the Company into an fortified trading post. Nawab Siraj ud-Daulah occupied Calcutta in 1756, the East India Company retook it the following year.
In 1793 the East India company was strong enough to abolish Nizamat, assumed full sovereignty of the region. Under the company rule, under the British Raj, Calcutta served as the capital of British-held territories in India until 1911, when its perceived geographical disadvantages, combined with growing nationalism in Bengal, led to a shift of the capital to New Delhi. Calcutta was the centre for the Indian independence movement. Following Indian independence in 1947, once the centre of modern Indian education, science and politics, suffered several decades of economic stagnation; as a nucleus of the 19th- and early 20th-century Bengal Renaissance and a religiously and ethnically diverse centre of culture in Bengal and India, Kolkata has local traditions in drama, film and literature. Many people from Kolkata—among them several Nobel laureates—have contributed to the arts, the sciences, other areas. Kolkata culture features idiosyncrasies that include distinctively close-knit neighbourhoods and freestyle intellectual exchanges.
West Bengal's share of the Bengali film industry is based in the city, which hosts venerable cultural institutions of national importance, such as the Academy of Fine Arts, the Victoria Memorial, the Asiatic Society, the Indian Museum and the National Library of India. Among professional scientific institutions, Kolkata hosts the Agri Horticultural Society of India, the Geological Survey of India, the Botanical Survey of India, the Calcutta Mathematical Society, the Indian Science Congress Association, the Zoological Survey of India, the Institution of Engineers, the Anthropological Survey of India and the Indian Public Health Association. Though home to major cricketing venues and franchises, Kolkata differs from other Indian cities by giving importance to association football and other sports; the word Kolkata derives from the Bengali term Kôlikata, the name of one of three villages that predated the arrival of the British, in the area where the city was to be established. There are several explanations about the etymology of this name: The term Kolikata is thought to be a variation of Kalikkhetrô, meaning "Field of Kali".
It can be a variation of'Kalikshetra'. Another theory is. Alternatively, the name may have been derived from the Bengali term kilkila, or "flat area"; the name may have its origin in the words khal meaning "canal", followed by kaṭa, which may mean "dug". According to another theory, the area specialised in the production of quicklime or koli chun and coir or kata. Although the city's name has always been pronounced Kolkata or Kôlikata in Bengali, the anglicised form Calcutta was the official name until 2001, when it was changed to Kolkata in order to match Bengali pronunciation; the discovery and archaeological study of Chandraketugarh, 35 kilometres north of Kolkata, provide evidence that the region in which the city stands has been inhabited for over two millennia. Kolkata's recorded history began in 1690 with the arrival of the English East India Company, consolidating its trade business in Bengal. Job Charnock, an administrator who worked for the company, was credited as the founder of the city.
The area occupied by the present-day city encompassed three villages: Kalikata and Sutanuti. Kalikata was a fishing village, they were part of an estate belonging to the Mughal emperor. These rights were transferred to the East India Company in 1698. In 1712, the British completed the cons
Cinema of India
The cinema of India consists of films produced in the nation of India. Cinema is immensely popular in India, with as many as 1,600 films produced in various languages every year. Indian cinema produces more films watched by more people than any other country. Mumbai and Hyderabad are the major centres of film production in India; as of 2013, India ranked first in terms of annual film output, followed by Nigeria and China. In 2012, India produced 1,602 feature films; the Indian film industry reached overall revenues of $1.86 billion in 2011. In 2015, India had a total box office gross of US$2.1 billion, third largest in the world. Indian cinema is a global enterprise, its films have a following throughout Southern Asia and across Europe, North America, the Greater Middle East, Eastern Africa and elsewhere, reaching in over 90 countries. Biopics including Dangal became transnational blockbusters grossing over $300 million worldwide. Global enterprises such as 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures, Walt Disney Pictures and Warner Bros. invested in the industry along with Indian enterprises such as AVM Productions, Prasad's Group, Sun Pictures, PVP Cinemas, Zee, UTV, Suresh Productions, Eros International, Ayngaran International, Pyramid Saimira, Aascar Films and Adlabs.
By 2003 as many as 30 film production companies had been listed in the National Stock Exchange of India. The overall revenue of Indian cinema reached US$1.3 billion in 2000. The industry is segmented by language; the Hindi language film industry is known as Bollywood, the largest sector, representing 43% of box office revenue. Combined Tamil and Telugu film industries revenues represent 36%; the South Indian film industry encompasses five film cultures: Tamil, Malayalam and Tulu. Another prominent film culture is Bengali cinema, associated with the parallel cinema movement, in contrast to the masala films more prominent in Bollywood and Telugu films at the time. Millions of Indians overseas watch Indian films, accounting for some 12% of revenues. Music rights alone account for 4–5% of net revenues; the history of cinema in India extends back to the beginning of the film era. Following the screening of the Lumière and Robert Paul moving pictures in London, commercial cinematography became a worldwide sensation and by mid-1896 both Lumière and Robert Paul films had been shown in Bombay.
In 1897, a film presentation by one Professor Stevenson featured a stage show at Calcutta's Star Theatre. With Stevenson's encouragement and camera Hiralal Sen, an Indian photographer, made a film of scenes from that show, namely The Flower of Persia; the Wrestlers by H. S. Bhatavdekar, showing a wrestling match at the Hanging Gardens in Bombay, was the first film to be shot by an Indian and the first Indian documentary film; the first Indian film released in India was Shree Pundalik, a silent film in Marathi by Dadasaheb Torne on 18 May 1912 at Coronation Cinematograph, Bombay. Some have argued that Pundalik was not the first Indian film, because it was a photographic recording of a play, because the cameraman was a British man named Johnson and the film was processed in London; the first full-length motion picture in India was produced by Dadasaheb Phalke, Phalke is seen as the pioneer of the Indian film industry and a scholar of India's languages and culture. He employed elements from Sanskrit epics to produce his Raja Harishchandra, a silent film in Marathi.
The female characters in the film were played by male actors. Only one print of the film was made, for showing at the Coronation Cinematograph on 3 May 1913, it was a commercial success. The first silent film in Tamil, Keechaka Vadham was made by R. Nataraja Mudaliar in 1916; the first chain of Indian cinemas, Madan Theatre was owned by Parsi entrepreneur Jamshedji Framji Madan, who oversaw production of 10 films annually and distributed them throughout India beginning in 1902. He founded Elphinstone Bioscope Company in Calcutta. Elphinstone merged into Madan Theatres Limited in 1919, which had brought many of Bengal's most popular literary works to the stage, he produced Satyawadi Raja Harishchandra in 1917, a remake of Phalke's Raja Harishchandra. Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu was a film pioneer. From 1909, he was involved in many aspects of Indian cinema, he was the first to own cinemas in Madras. He was credited as the father of Telugu cinema. In South India, the first Tamil talkie Kalidas was released on 31 October 1931.
Nataraja Mudaliar established South India's first film studio in Madras. Film gained popularity across India. Tickets were affordable to the masses with additional comforts available at a higher price. Young producers began to incorporate elements of culture into cinema. Others brought ideas from across the world. Global audiences and markets soon became aware of India's film industry. In 1927, the British Government, to promote the market in India for British films over American ones, formed the Indian Cinematograph Enquiry Committee; the ICC consisted of three Indians, led by T. Rangachari, a Madras lawyer; this committee failed to support the desired recommendations of supporting British Film, instead recommending support for the fledgling Indian film industry. Their suggestions were shelved. Ardeshir Irani released Alam Ara, the first Indian talkie, on 14 March 1931. Irani produced the first south Indian talkie film Kalidas directed by H. M. Reddy released on 31 October 1931. Jumai Shasthi was the first Bengali talkie.
Chittor V. Nagaiah, was one of the first multilingual film actor/singer/composer/
Sabyasachi Chakrabarty
Sabyasachi Chakraborty, born 8 September 1956) is an Indian actor of theater and television. He is considered to be one of the most prolific actors of West Bengal, is best known for portraying iconic Bengali detective characters and Kakababu, his parents, Jagadish Chandra Chakrabarty and Monica Chakrabarty, used to lovingly call him "Benu."In 1975, he passed Higher Secondary Examination from Andrew's High School, Kolkata. He earned a degree in B. Sc from Hansraj College, University of Delhi, he cleared his AMI examination from Delhi in 1978. Apart from acting, his love for nature and forests is well known, he takes ardent interest in wild life photography. Sabyasachi got married in 1986 to Mithu Chakrabarty, a popular face in the Bengali entertainment industry, he has two sons and Arjun, both of whom are talented actors. They are working in both television. Sabyasachi's first mainstream work was a lead role in the 1987 TV series Tero Parbon for Kolkata Doordarshan channel. Tero Parbon was critically acclaimed with a memorable soundtrack in which his role as the character Gora was well-received and made him popular in his early days of acting.
He made his movie debut in Tapan Sinha’s Antardhan in 1992. He shows, he has directed some shows for children. He played Kakababu in the Kakababu original film series, he acted in Kakababu Here Gelen? and Ek Tukro Chand and the mini TV series Khali Jahajer Rahasya as Kakababu. His role as Feluda in Baksho Rahashya, Gosaipur Sargaram, Sheyal Debota Rahasya, Bosepukure Khunkharapi, Joto Kando Kathmandute, Jahangirer Swarnamudra, Ghurghutiyar Ghotona, Golapi Mukto Rahashya, Ambar Sen Antardhan Rahashya, Dr. Munshir Diary,Bombaiyer Bombete, Kailashey Kelenkari, Tintorettor Jishu, Gorosthaney Sabdhan, Royal Bengal Rahashya and Double Feluda have reinstated the nostalgia surrounding Satyajit Ray’s Feluda series, his roles in Antardhan, Sweth Pathorer Thala, Mahulbanir Sereng, Nishijapon Raj Kumar Santoshi's cop drama Khakee and Mira Nair's The Namesake amongst others have earned him wide recognition. He got involved with Charbak theatre group in 1983, he has worked in a number of Hindi movies and TV shows as well.
In 2002 Chakrabarty was awarded the Best Actor award for Ek Je Aachhe Kanya and in 2004 he was awarded Best Actor for his performance in Bombaiyer Bombete by Anandalok Awards. In 1996 he received the Best Actor award for his performance in Kakababu Here Gelen and, again, in 2005 he was awarded Best Actor for his role in Mahulbanir Sereng, by Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards. Sabyasachi Chakrabarty was the recipient of the Best Actor award in a Supporting Role by the BFJA in 1995, 2000 and 2003, he has received many other awards including the 2nd International Indo-Bangladesh Kala Music Award. He is a recipient of Kalakar Awards. Sabyasachi portrayed Feluda on both small and big screens after legendary Soumitra Chatterjee donned the detective's hat in two films directed by Ray himself in the 1970s. Soumitra Chatterjee played Feluda in Satyajit Ray's Feluda series, he acted in Joi Baba Felunath as Feluda. Both Soumitra and Sabyasachi played the Feluda character with great success; as Sabyasachi said in many interviews that Feluda is one of his idol and favourite hero from his young age.
In the late 80's Sabyasachi met the author of Feluda series Satyajit Ray and He expressed interest in starring as Feluda. But Satyajit Ray said that he will not make another Feluda movie as Santosh Dutta the actor who played the role of Jatayu died in 1988, but he told Sabyasachi to go to his son Sandip Ray, a rising film director in that time. Sabyasachi met Sandip Ray, but Sandip Ray had no plan of making any Feluda film at that time. Sabyasachi started working in the movies beside theatre and television. In the year 1994 Sandip Ray called Sabyasachi Chakrabarti in Ray's home. At that time Sabyasachi became a well known actor in big screens beside theatre, he met Sandip Ray offered him the iconic hero of Bengali literature, Feluda. It was a dream character for Sabyasachi Chakrabarti. All films of the Feluda new film series were directed by Sandip Ray. In this series he made five full-length films in Bengali on the character, his first Feluda film was Baksho Rahashya. It was released as a TV film and it was a part of Feluda 30 TV film series which includes five TV films based on five Feluda novels and stories.
The series continued from the year 1996 to 1997. In 1999 series Satyajiter Gappo includes four Feluda TV films. In the year 2000 he acted in Dr. Munshir Diary as Feluda, it was the last Feluda TV film since 2000. In 2002 Sandip Ray was developing a third big screen adaptation of Feluda film series. Bombaiyer Bombete was the first big screen adaptation of the Feluda new film series and the third big screen adaptation of the Bengali sleuth Feluda after 25 years of the second Feluda movie Joi Baba Felunath, directed by the author of the Feluda series Satyajit Ray. After the huge success of Bombaiyer Bombete four sequels have been made till 2011, they are Tintorettor Jishu, Gorosthaney Sabdhan and Royal Bengal Rohosso. The first Feluda film shot abroad was Tintorettor Jishu directed by Sandip Ray and Sabyasachi as Feluda. A fifth sequel is announced by Sandip Ray where Sabyasachi Chakrabarty will return as the Bengali sleuth Feluda after five years. Sabyasachi Chakrabarty played that role in the
Jacinda Barrett
Giacinta Juanita Cordelia Arabella Luciana Rosalina Barrett, known professionally as Jacinda Barrett, is an Australian–American actress and former model, first became known to audiences as a cast member on The Real World: London before appearing in films such as The Human Stain, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, Ladder 49, The Namesake and The Last Kiss. She appeared in the series The Following in 2013 and joined the main cast of the Netflix series Bloodline, which launched in 2015. Born in Brisbane, the daughter of an airport firefighter, Barrett entered and won the annual Dolly Covergirl contest in Australia in 1988, while attending San Sisto College, started modeling at the age of 17 throughout Europe. In 1995, she had her first television appearance as a cast member on MTV's The Real World: London. Barrett appeared in the September 1998 issue of Maxim, in an article promoting the new fall television series, her appearance served to promote her appearance in the NBC primetime soap opera Wind on Water, but the show only lasted one season.
Barrett was engaged to TV host and comedian Chris Hardwick before her marriage to American actor Gabriel Macht in 2004. The couple had their first child, a girl named Satine Anais Geraldine Macht, on August 20, 2007 in Los Angeles, they had a second child, a son named Luca, on February 26, 2014. Barrett and Macht appeared together in the film Middle Men, she had a recurring role in the second season of Macht's TV series, playing a love interest of her husband's character. Barrett enjoys explaining "it gets scarier the more you do it. After a while, you realize you're flinging yourself out of a good plane for no apparent reason."On August 28, 2009, Barrett was naturalized as a US citizen at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Jacinda Barrett on IMDb
Nikolai Gogol
Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol was a Russian dramatist of Ukrainian origin. Although Gogol was considered by his contemporaries to be one of the preeminent figures of the natural school of Russian literary realism critics have found in his work a fundamentally romantic sensibility, with strains of surrealism and the grotesque, his early works, such as Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka, were influenced by his Ukrainian upbringing, Ukrainian culture and folklore. His writing satirised political corruption in the Russian Empire; the novel Taras Bulba and the play Marriage, along with the short stories "Diary of a Madman", "The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich", "The Portrait" and "The Carriage", are among his best-known works. Gogol was born in the Ukrainian Cossack town of Sorochyntsi, in Poltava Governorate of the Russian Empire, his mother descended from Leonty Kosyarovsky, an officer of the Lubny Regiment in 1710. His father Vasily Gogol-Yanovsky, a descendant of Ukrainian Cossacks and who died when Gogol was 15 years old, belonged to the'petty gentry', wrote poetry in Ukrainian and Russian, was an amateur Ukrainian-language playwright.
As was typical of the left-bank Ukrainian gentry of the early nineteenth century, the family spoke Ukrainian as well as Russian. As a child, Gogol helped. In 1820, Gogol went to a school of higher art in Nizhyn and remained there until 1828, it was there. He was not popular among his schoolmates, who called him their "mysterious dwarf", but with two or three of them he formed lasting friendships. Early he developed a dark and secretive disposition, marked by a painful self-consciousness and boundless ambition. Early he developed a talent for mimicry, which made him a matchless reader of his own works and induced him to toy with the idea of becoming an actor. In 1828, on leaving school, Gogol came to Saint Petersburg, full of vague but glowingly ambitious hopes, he had hoped for literary fame, brought with him a Romantic poem of German idyllic life – Hans Küchelgarten. He had it published, at his own expense, under the name of "V. Alov." The magazines he sent it to universally derided it. He destroyed them, swearing never to write poetry again.
Gogol was in touch with the "literary aristocracy", had a story published in Anton Delvig's Northern Flowers, was taken up by Vasily Zhukovsky and Pyotr Pletnyov, was introduced to Pushkin. In 1831 Gogol brought out the first volume of his Ukrainian stories, which met with immediate success, he followed it in 1832 with a second volume, in 1835 by two volumes of stories entitled Mirgorod, as well as by two volumes of miscellaneous prose entitled Arabesques. At this time Russian editors and critics such as Nikolai Polevoy and Nikolai Nadezhdin saw in Gogol the emergence of a Ukrainian, rather than Russian, using his works to illustrate supposed differences between Russian and Ukrainian national characters; the themes and style of these early prose works by Gogol, as well as his drama, were similar to the work of Ukrainian writers and dramatists who were his contemporaries and friends, including Hryhory Kvitka-Osnovyanenko and Vasily Narezhny. However, Gogol's satire was unconventional. At this time, Gogol developed a passion for Ukrainian history and tried to obtain an appointment to the history department at Kiev University.
Despite the support of Pushkin and Sergey Uvarov, the Russian minister of education, his appointment was blocked by a Kyivan bureaucrat on the grounds that Gogol was unqualified. His fictional story Taras Bulba, based on the history of Ukrainian cossacks, was the result of this phase in his interests. During this time he developed a close and lifelong friendship with another Ukrainian, the historian and naturalist Mykhaylo Maksymovych. In 1834 Gogol was made Professor of Medieval History at the University of St. Petersburg, a job for which he had no qualifications, he turned in a performance ludicrous enough to warrant satiric treatment in one of his own stories. After an introductory lecture made up of brilliant generalizations which the'historian' had prudently prepared and memorized, he gave up all pretence at erudition and teaching, missed two lectures out of three, when he did appear, muttered unintelligibly through his teeth. At the final examination, he sat in utter silence with a black handkerchief wrapped around his head, simulating a toothache, while another professor interrogated the students."
This academic venture proved a failure and he resigned his chair in 1835. Between 1832 and 1836 Gogol worked with great energy, though all his work has in one way or another its sources in these four years of contact with Pushkin, he had not yet decided that his ambitions were to be fulfilled by success in literature. During this time, the Russian critics Stepan Shevyrev and Vissarion Belinsky, contradicting earlier critics, reclassified Gogol from a Ukrainian to a Russian writer, it was only after the presentation at the Saint Petersburg State Theatre, on 19 April 1836, of his comedy The Government Inspector that he came to believe in his literary vocation. The comedy, a violent satire of Russian provincial bureaucracy, was staged thanks only to the intervention of the emperor, Nicholas I. From 1836 to 1848 Gogol lived abroad, travelling through Switzerland. Gogol spent the winter of 1836–37 in Paris, among Russian expatriates and Polish exiles meeting the Polish poets Adam
