[1] He graduated from the Petrograd University in 1923 and held the chair in Russian literature there.
Gukovsky was considered the foremost authority on 18th-century Russian literature.
After spending a winter in besieged Leningrad he read lectures in Saratov University until 1948.
[1] Gukovsky's wife Natalia Rykova (1898–1928) was Anna Akhmatova's close friend.
Their daughter Natalia Dolinina (1928–1979) wrote a number of books for children.