Gogol burned Dead Souls’ sequel as a devil’s prank
Ukrainian-born Nikolai Gogol (1809–1852) turned bureaucratic Russia grotesque—then, after Jerusalem pilgrimage, feared damnation. On the night of 24 February 1852 he burned most of Dead Souls Part Two, blamed a devilish joke, refused food, and died nine days later.
Born 1 April 1809 (O.S. 20 March) in Sorochyntsi, Poltava Governorate, to a Cossack-landowning family that spoke Ukrainian, Russian, and Polish, he staged plays in his uncle's home theatre. At Nezhin school (1820–28) classmates dubbed him "mysterious dwarf"; mimicry hinted at acting. Petersburg arrival with self-published Romantic poem Hans Küchelgarten under "V. Alov" brought mockery—he bought and destroyed every copy and swore off verse. Amid post-1830 Polish-uprising suspicion he dropped the Polish "Ianovskii," telling his mother to address only "Gogol."
Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka (1831–32) as "Rudy Panko" scored instant success with Ukrainian folklore flavoured Russian prose; Mirgorod and Arabesques followed. A ludicrous 1834–35 St Petersburg medieval-history professorship—missed lectures, toothache-feigned silence at exams—ended in resignation. The Government Inspector's 19 April 1836 premiere, staged with Nicholas I's blessing, convinced him of his vocation; the tsar called it cheerful mockery of bad provincial officials.
Rome years yielded Dead Souls Part One (Moscow 1842, censor-titled The Adventures of Chichikov), "The Overcoat," and a recast Taras Bulba. Contemporaries heard satire; Gogol planned a Dantean trilogy of purification. Starets Matvey Konstantinovsky deepened fear that imaginative work was sinful. After the 1852 burning and death, burial at Danilov Monastery later moved to Novodevichy; a face-down coffin sparked buried-alive lore. Dostoevsky to Kafka claimed descent "from under Gogol's Overcoat."
Source: Nikolai Gogol
