Gogol's Rome: The Author's Readings of the Tale as Part of its Creative Process. The present article is devoted to the public reading of the tale Rome done by Gogol' in Rome in March and in December 1839 at some acquaintances' home, and in Moscow in February 1840, on two different occasions. These readings are considered by the author as a part of the text's history. On the basis of letters, memoirs and later writings, the article provides a description of the events, of the comments by the

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... le present at the readings and of the reactions by the literary milieu of the time. The author takes into consideration the role which the avtorskie chteniia had for Gogol' himself, who intended them as moments of self-evaluation of the text. The reaction by the audience is taken into account on the basis of their expectations.