Vasili was a son of Opanas Demianovych Gogol-Yanovsky (1739–1798) and Tatyana Semenivna Lizohub (1760–1826). According to legend, one ancestor, Ostap Hohol, was famous as a
Cossack colonel and
Hetman of
Right-Bank Ukraine. His grandfather and great grandfather were Orthodox priests. He attended the Poltava Theological Seminary and was a member of the Zaporizhian Army. Having spent some time at the post service, Vasili left in 1805, with the rank of
Collegiate Assessor and retired to his own estate Vasilyevka (Yanovshchina) to devote himself to farming. Vasili Gogol-Yanovsky was a friend of Dmitry Prokofyevich Troshchinsky, Minister of the State Council, and a distant relative. Vasili Afanasyevich was the director and actor in the Troshchinsky Home Theater between 1812 and 1825. In this capacity, he wrote several musical comedies based upon
Ukrainian culture and
folklore. Vasili Gogol-Yanovsky also wrote poems in the Russian and Ukrainian languages. Alexander Danilevsky noted that Vasili was a "matchless storyteller". == Works ==