“Gogol once wrote that he could never decide whether his soul was Russian or Ukrainian. In an era when Ukrainian aspirations for nationhood were dormant, he did not see the two as contradictory; for him, Ukraine and Russia were inseparable parts of a greater whole. Unsurprisingly, many Russian politicians and pundits have seized on this theme, making the bicentennial [of Gogol’s birth] an occasion to affirm Russian-Ukrainian unity — and snipe at Ukrainians who are less than fond of the idea.”