<p>In the present article the nocturnal landscapes of some of the short stories from the Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka and Viy from the Mirgorod cycle, are reconsidered, thus analysis is focused on the depiction of the Evil and the author&rsquo;s attitude to the metaphysical background of this problem. The scrutiny is prompted by a few groups of questions: 1.&nbsp;what sort of poetic principles regulate the depictions of Ukrainian landscapes and the relationship between man and the

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... ery including him&rsquo; in N.&nbsp;V.&nbsp;Gogol&rsquo;s early works? 2.&nbsp;how do a great variety of elements taken from different traditions cross each other at one point, such as the Bucolic (pastoral) poetry, clich&eacute;s of Romanticism, folkloric archetypes and the author&rsquo;s own, independent artistic means? 3.&nbsp;what is hidden behind the apparent Dualism of the Good and the Evil in Gogol&rsquo;s early works? how do elements of Romanticist Weltanschauung and the traits of Evangelic (paskhal&rsquo;naya) Aesthetics co-exist? With these questions traced down, the function of the multifoldness of the Gogolian prose can get verified alongside with identifying a close relationship between text and subtext. According to the approach of the author of the present article, the research into the &lsquo;literary appearance&rsquo; of Gogol&rsquo;s early works may reveal the various stages in the development of the writer&rsquo;s artistic idea.</p>