First literary experiments

In April 1829, Gogol settled on Bolshaya Meshchanskaya Street (Kazanskaya, 39), opposite Stolyarny Lane, in a cramped apartment on the fourth floor of the house of the well-known carriage master Joachim. In this house lived two tailors, a shoemaker, a dyer, and a midwife. There were also a confectionery, a small grocery shop, a winter clothing savings store, and a tobacco shop, so the entire building was plastered with signs. The writer immortalized its first owner, carriage master Johann Joachim, in his story "The Inspector General": at one point, Khlestakov regrets that master Joachim did not give him a carriage.

It is interesting to note that in the same house, from 1828 until May 1829, lived the Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz, accepted into the circle of famous Russian poets (Krylov, Zhukovsky, Vyazemsky, Pletnyov, Pushkin, Griboyedov), none of whom, in the spring of 1829, yet knew the name of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. Living in Joachim’s house, Gogol published the poem "Hans Küchelgarten" under the pseudonym V. Alov, which was coldly received by critics. Depressed by his failure, he retrieved copies of his poem from booksellers, rented a room for one day at the "Neapol" hotel on Voznesensky Prospect (currently the section of house 79/23), where, together with his servant Yakim, he moved the books and burned them, effectively foreshadowing the story of the second chapter of "Dead Souls." Gogol continued writing; it was here, in this house, that the first drafts of the future "Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka" appeared. Overall, Gogol had a complicated relationship with Petersburg.

All this significantly undermined the morale and health of the young man. He frostbit his nose (could this be the source of the story "The Nose"?), but also began to suffer from a typical Petersburg ailment of that time—hemorrhoids. The cause was the harsh climate, poor food, and sedentary lifestyle of city dwellers. He felt great only during the short Petersburg summer. His work life was also troubled. He was not accepted into the theater, although he was an excellent actor, performing vividly and unconventionally. In the end, he became a low-ranking official. Here, people from the petty bourgeoisie and clergy’s sons—people with bird-like rights—were copying meaningless papers, and their salaries were not enough even to properly set up a household and marry. He lasted 1.5 years and then left to become a tutor and teacher. He first taught at the Patriotic Institute, then at Petersburg University. He told stories interestingly but had problems with discipline; some lectures were poorly prepared due to a clear lack of knowledge. Ultimately, he left the faculty.

Sources:

https://www.fiesta.ru/spb/live/gogolevskie-mesta-peterburga/

http://literatura5.narod.ru/gogol2.html