A cosmopolitan or a patriot? The conception of patriotism in disputes with Gogol and about Gogol

The article puts a question of understanding of patriotism by Gogol and Belinsky. The problem is contemplated within the broad context of the interaction and opposition between Slavophilism and Westernism. The sources of a common mistaken opinion that Gogol's owed his “Slavophilism” to Aksakov are studied. The article is based on an obscure history of the origin of one of Belinsky's polemical statements about Gogol as a writer who did not love Russia enough until 1839 and in fact was a “cosmopolitan poet”. In this regard, a particular attitude of Aksakov family toward religious and patriotic ideas of Gogol is taken into consideration. The recollections about Gogol by Sergey Timofeevich Aksakov-father - who shared Belinsky's viewpoint in 1840 and inserted it later in his memoirs about Gogol, as well as the nature of the relationship of Gogol and Aksakov-father in the 1830s - 1840s, are analyzed. Gogol's views on the problem of difference between imaginary and true patriotism are introduced. The place of Gogol in the confrontation between the Slavophils and Westerners is determined.