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Taras Bulba
Taras Bulba (Russian: «Тарас Бульба»; Tarás Búl'ba) is a romanticized
Taras Bulba
historical novella by Nikolai Gogol. It describes the life of an old
Zaporozhian Cossack, Taras Bulba, and his two sons, Andriy and Ostap. Author Nikolai Gogol
The sons study at the Kiev Academy and then return home, whereupon the Language Russian
three men set out on a journey to the Zaporizhian Sich (the Zaporizhian Genre Historical novel,
Cossack headquarters, located in southern Ukraine), where they join other novella
Cossacks and go to war against Poland.
Publication 1835 (1st as part of a
date collection)
The main character is based on several historical personalities, and other
characters are not as exaggerated or grotesque as was common in Gogol's
later fiction. The story can be understood in the context of the Romantic nationalism movement in literature, which
developed around a historical ethnic culture which meets the Romantic ideal.

Initially published in 1835 as part of a collection of stories, it was criticised by Russian authorities for being "too
Ukrainian". This, together with Gogol's own changing political and aesthetic views, led the author to rewrite and
expand the story for a markedly different second edition published in 1842 and expressing greater Russian nationalist
themes.

Contents
Inspiration
Plot
1842 revised edition
Differences from 1835 edition
Ethnic depictions
Depiction of Jews
Depiction of Poles
Depiction of Turks
Adaptations
In popular culture
References and notes
External links

Inspiration
The character of Taras Bulba, the main hero of this novel, is a composite of several historical personalities. It might be
based on the real family history of an ancestor of Nicholas Miklouho-Maclay, Cossak Ataman Okhrim Makukha from
Starodub, who killed his son Nazar for switching to the Polish side during the Khmelnytsky Uprising. Nicholas
Miklouho-Maclay's uncle, Grigory Illich Miklouho-Maclay, studied together with Gogol in Nizhyn Gymnasium and
probably told the family legend to Gogol.[1] Another possible inspiration was the hero of the folk song "The deeds of
Sava Chaly", published by Mykhaylo Maksymovych, about Cossack captain Sava Chaly (executed in 1741 after serving
as a colonel in the private army of a Polish noble), whose killing was ordered by his own father for betraying the
Ukrainian cause.[2]

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Plot

1842 revised edition

Taras Bulba's two sons, Ostap and Andriy, return home from an Orthodox seminary in Kiev. Ostap is the more
adventurous, whereas Andriy has deeply romantic feelings of an introvert. While in Kiev, he fell in love with a young
Polish noble girl, the daughter of the Governor of Kowno, but after a couple of meetings (edging into her house and in
church), he stopped seeing her when her family returned home. Taras Bulba gives his sons the opportunity to go to
war. They reach the Cossack camp at the Zaporozhian Sich, where there is much merrymaking. Taras attempts to
rouse the Cossacks to go into battle. He rallies them to replace the existing Hetman when the Hetman is reluctant to
break the peace treaty.

They soon have the opportunity to fight the Poles, who rule all Ukraine west of the Dnieper River. The Poles, led by
their ultra-Catholic king, are accused of atrocities against Orthodox Christians, in which they are aided by Jews. After
killing many of the Jewish merchants at the Sich, the Cossacks set off on a campaign against the Poles. They besiege
Dubno Castle where, surrounded by the Cossacks and short of supplies, the inhabitants begin to starve. One night a
Tatar woman comes to Andriy and rouses him. He finds her face familiar and then recalls she is the servant of the
Polish girl he was in love with. She advises him that all are starving inside the walls. He accompanies her through a
secret passage starting in the marsh that goes into the monastery inside the city walls. Andriy brings loaves of bread
with him for the starving girl and her mother. He is horrified by what he sees and in a fury of love, forsakes his
heritage for the Polish girl.

Meanwhile, several companies of Polish soldiers march into Dubno to relieve the siege, and destroy a regiment of
Cossacks. A number of battles ensue. Taras learns of his son's betrayal from Yankel the Jew, whom he saved earlier in
the story. During one of the final battles, he sees Andriy riding in Polish garb from the castle and has his men draw
him to the woods, where he takes him off his horse. Taras bitterly scolds his son, telling him "I gave you life, I will take
it", and shoots him dead.

Taras and Ostap continue fighting the Poles. Ostap is captured while his father is knocked out. When Taras regains
consciousness he learns that his son was taken prisoner by the Poles. Yankel agrees to take Taras to Warsaw, where
Ostap is held captive, hiding Taras in a cartload of bricks. Once in Warsaw, a group of Jews help Yankel dress Taras as
a German count. They go into the prison to see Ostap, but Taras unwittingly reveals himself as a Cossack, and only
escapes by use of a great bribe. Instead, they attend the execution the following day. During the execution, Ostap does
not make a single sound, even while being broken on the wheel, but, disheartened as he nears death, he calls aloud on
his father, unaware of his presence. Taras answers him from the crowd, thus giving himself away, but manages to
escape.

Taras returns home to find all of his old Cossack friends dead and younger Cossacks in their place. He goes to war
again. The new Hetman wishes to make peace with the Poles, which Taras is strongly against, warning that the Poles
are treacherous and will not honour their words. Failing to convince the Hetman, Taras takes his regiment away to
continue the assault independently. As Taras predicted, once the new Hetman agrees to a truce, the Poles betray him
and kill a number of Cossacks. Taras and his men continue to fight and are finally caught in a ruined fortress, where
they battle until the last man is defeated.

Taras is nailed and tied to a tree and set aflame. Even in this state, he calls out to his men to continue the fight,
claiming that a new Tsar is coming who will rule the earth. The story ends with Cossacks on the Dniester River
recalling the great feats of Taras and his unwavering Cossack spirit.

Differences from 1835 edition

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The original 1835 edition reflects the Ukrainian context of the story. In response to critics who called his The
Government Inspector "anti-Russian", and under pressure from the Russian government that considered Taras Bulba
too Ukrainian, Gogol decided to revise the book.[3] The 1842 edition was expanded by three chapters and rewritten to
include Russian nationalist themes in keeping with the official tsarist ideology at the time, as well as the author's
changing political and aesthetic views (later manifested in Dead Souls and Selected Passages from Correspondence
with his Friends). The changes included three new chapters and a new ending (in the 1835 edition, the protagonist is
not burned at the stake by the Poles). The little-known original edition was only translated into Ukrainian and made
available to the Ukrainian audience in 2005.[4][5]

Ethnic depictions

Depiction of Jews
Felix Dreizin and David Guaspari in their The Russian Soul and the Jew: Essays in Literary Ethnocentrism discuss
anti-semitism, pointing out Gogol's attachment to "anti-Jewish prejudices prevalent in Russian and Ukrainian
culture".[6] In Léon Poliakov's The History of Antisemitism, the author states that "The 'Yankel' from Taras Bulba
indeed became the archetypal Jew in Russian literature. Gogol painted him as supremely exploitative, cowardly, and
repulsive, albeit capable of gratitude.[7] There is a scene in Taras Bulba where Jews are thrown into a river, a scene
where Taras Bulba visits the Jews and seeks their aid, and reference by the narrator of the story that Jews are treated
inhumanely.[8]

Depiction of Poles
Following the 1830–1831 November Uprising against the Russian imperial rule in the heartland of Poland –
partitioned since 1795 – the Polish people became the subject of an official campaign of discrimination by the Tsarist
authorities. "Practically all of the Russian government, bureaucracy, and society were united in one outburst against
the Poles. The phobia that gripped society gave a new powerful push to the Russian national solidarity movement" –
wrote historian Liudmila Gatagova.[9] It was in this particular context that many of Russia's literary works and
popular media of the time became hostile toward the Poles in accordance with the state policy,[9][10] especially after
the emergence of the Panslavist ideology, accusing them of betraying the "Slavic family".[11] According to sociologist
and historian Prof. Vilho Harle, Taras Bulba, published only four years after the rebellion, was a part of this anti-
Polish propaganda effort.[12] Inadvertently, Gogol's accomplishment became "an anti-Polish novel of high literary
merit, to say nothing about lesser writers."[12]

Depiction of Turks
As in other Russian novels of the era, Turks are treated as barbaric and uncivilized compared to Europeans because of
their nomadic nature.

Adaptations
The story was the basis of an opera, Taras Bulba, by Ukrainian composer Mykola Lysenko, first performed in 1924
some 12 years after the composer's death. The opera's libretto was written by Mykhailo Starytsky, the composer's
cousin.

Czech composer Leoš Janáček's Taras Bulba, a symphonic rhapsody for orchestra, was written in the years 1915–1918,
inspired in part by the mass slaughter of World War I. The composition was first performed on 9 October 1921 by
František Neumann, and in Prague on 9 November 1924 by Václav Talich and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.

The story has been adapted to film many times:

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Taras Bulba (1909), a silent film adaptation, directed by Aleksandr Drankov

Taras Bulba (1924), made in Germany by the Russian exile Joseph N. Ermolieff
Taras Bulba (1935), a German production, directed by Russian director Alexis Granovsky, with noted decor by
Andrei Andreyev
The Rebel Son (1936), a British film starring Harry Baur with a supporting cast of significant British actors
Taras Bulba (1962), an American adaption starring Yul Brynner and Tony Curtis and directed by J. Lee
Thompson; this adaptation featured a significant musical score by Franz Waxman, which received an Academy
Award nomination. Bernard Herrmann called it "the score of a lifetime".
Who's the conqueror? (Ukrainian: Хто завойовник?, romanized: Khto zavoyovnyk?, 1977), a Ukrainian film starring
Nudtawat Saksiri as Taras.
Taras Bulba (2009), directed by Vladimir Bortko, commissioned by the Russian state TV and paid for totally by the
Russian Ministry of Culture. It includes Ukrainian, Russian and Polish actors such as Bohdan Stupka (as Taras
Bulba), Ada Rogovtseva (as Taras Bulba's wife), Igor Petrenko (as Andriy Bulba), Vladimir Vdovichenkov (as
Ostap Bulba) and Magdalena Mielcarz (as a Polish noble girl). The movie was filmed at several locations in
Ukraine such as Zaporizhia, Khotyn and Kamianets-Podilskyi during 2007. The screenplay used the 1842 edition
of the novel.
Veer (2010), a Hindi movie set in 19th century India, is based in part on the plot of Taras Bulba.

In popular culture
The 2007 Jane Smiley book Ten Days in the Hills features a film producer trying to film a new version of Taras
Bulba.
The villainous character Taurus Bulba (an anthropomorphic bull) in the Disney cartoon show Darkwing Duck is a
nod, if in name only, to the literary character of Taras Bulba.
In the 2002 video game No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way, Cate Archer (controlled by the player)
finds a copy of Taras Bulba by Nikolai Gogol when searching a vanquished bad guy.

References and notes

1. How Makuha turned into Taras Bulba. (http://uargument.com.ua/istoriya/kak-ohrim-makuha-stal-tarasom-bulboy/)
2. Prokhorov, E.I. (1963). Исторические и фольклорные источники "Тараса Бульбы": (К творческой истории
повести) in Гоголь Н. В. Тарас Бульба (http://feb-web.ru/feb/gogol/texts/gtb/gtb-199-.htm) (in Russian).
Moscow: Издательство Академии наук СССР. pp. 199–217.
3. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Taras-Bulba
4. The real Taras Bulba (http://www.day.kiev.ua/290619?idsource=149613&mainlang=eng), Tetiana Polishchuk, The
Day, October 4, 2005
5. E. Bojanowska, Nikolai Gogol: Between Ukrainian and Russian Nationalism (2007)
6. Antisemitism in Literature and in the Arts (http://sicsa.huji.ac.il/demtext2.html) Archived (https://web.archive.org/w
eb/20130926150625/http://sicsa.huji.ac.il/demtext2.html) 2013-09-26 at the Wayback Machine
7. Leon Poliakov. The History of Antisemitism. p. 75. Pennsylvania Press.[1] (https://books.google.com/books?id=94
H61cGGGQ8C&pg=PA75&lpg=PA75&dq=Nikolai+Gogol+and+anti-Semitism&source=web&ots=QZrpeuCWhi&si
g=KDrHHQSbL8YYlbINJ30bWDxp6wM&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result)
8. Mirogorod: Four Tales by N. Gogol, page 89, trans. by David Magarshack. Minerva Press 1962
9. Liudmila Gatagova, "THE CRYSTALLIZATION OF ETHNIC IDENTITY IN THE PROCESS OF MASS
ETHNOPHOBIAS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. (The Second Half of the 19th Century)." CRN E-book (http://archiv
es.acls.org/programs/crn/network/ebook_gatagova_paper2.doc)
10. (in Polish) Wasilij Szczukin, "Polska i Polacy w literaturze rosyjskiej. Literatura przedmiotu." (https://web.archive.or
g/web/20060524124804/http://www.toya.net.pl/~delazari/Szczukin+-+literatura+przedmiotu.pdf) Uniwersytet
Jagielloński, Kraków. See comments by Szczukin to section on literature in the Russian language: "Literatura w
języku rosyjskim," pp. 14–22.
11. Liudmila Gatagova, "The Crystallization of Ethnic Identity..." (https://web.archive.org/web/20071201032052/http://
www.acls.org/crn/network/ebook_gatagova_paper2.doc), ACLS American Council of Learned Societies, Internet
Archive

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12. Vilho Harle, The enemy with a thousand faces: the tradition of the other in western political thought and history. (h
ttps://books.google.com/books?id=dBItLcjv45QC&pg=PA131&lpg=PA131&dq=%22gogol%22+anti-polish+propag
anda&source=bl&ots=J1Qi23NJ6m&sig=3Vt-60gLpD_RGGp0Ysx8ZJ__5zc&hl=en&ei=6zWyTMG1DYeosAP30IX
-Aw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&sqi=2&ved=0CBkQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22gogol%22%2
0anti-polish%20propaganda&f=false) 1989, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000, 218 pages, ISBN 0-275-96141-9

External links
Тарас Бульба Online text (http://public-library.ru/Gogol.Nikolai/taras.html) (Russian) from public-library.ru
Тарас Бульба, 1835 edition, Online text (http://public-library.ru/Gogol.Nikolai/taras35.html) (Russian) from public-
library.ru

Taras Bulba at Project Gutenberg

Taras Bulba 2008 theatrical trailer (https://web.archive.org/web/20071202173437/http://twitchfilm.net/site/view/first
-footage-from-russian-epic-taras-bulba-positively-stuns/)

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