The mystery of Gogol’s death still haunts a huge number of scientists and researchers, as well as ordinary people, among whom are even those who are far from the world of literature. Probably, it was such a general interest and widespread discussion with many different assumptions that led to the fact that so many legends arose around the writer's death.
A few facts from the biography of Gogol
Nikolai Vasilievich lived a short life. He was born in 1809 in the Poltava province. Gogol's death occurred on February 21, 1852. He was buried in Moscow, in a cemetery located on the territory of the Danilov Monastery.
He studied at a prestigious gymnasium (Nezhino), but there, as he believed with his friends, the students received insufficient knowledge. Therefore, the future writer was carefully engaged in self-education. At the same time, Nikolai Vasilievich already then tried himself in writing, however, he worked mainly in poetic form. Gogol was also interested in the theater, he was especially attracted to comic works: already in his school years he possessed an unsurpassed sense of humor.
The death of Gogol
According to experts, contrary to popular belief, Gogol did not have schizophrenia. However, he suffered from manic-depressive psychosis. This disease manifested itself in different ways, but its strongest manifestation was that Gogol was panicky afraid that he would be buried alive. He did not even go to bed: he spent the nights and hours of daytime rest in armchairs. This fact was overgrown with a huge number of conjectures, because of which it was believed in the minds of many that everything happened exactly that way: the writer, they say, fell asleep with a lethargic sleep, and he was buried. But this is not so. The official version for a long time is that the death of Gogol took place before his burial.
In 1931, it was decided to unearth the grave in order to refute the rumors spread then. However, false information again surfaced. It was said that Gogol's body was in an unnatural position, and the inner casing of the coffin was scratched with nails. Anyone who is able to at least a little analyze the situation, of course, doubt it. The fact is that for 80 years the coffin, together with the body, if it had not completely decomposed in the ground, would certainly not have preserved any traces and scratches.
The mystery is the direct death of Gogol. The last few weeks of his life, the writer felt very bad. No doctor then could explain what was the reason for the rapid withering. Due to excessive religiosity, especially aggravated in the last years of his life, in 1852 Gogol began fasting 10 days ahead of schedule. At the same time, he reduced the consumption of food and water to an absolute minimum, thereby bringing himself to complete exhaustion. Even the entreaties of friends who begged him to return to a normal life did not affect Gogol.
Even after so many years, Gogol, whose death was a real shock for many, remains one of the most widely read writers not only in the post-Soviet space, but throughout the world.