5 facts from the life of Gogol, which are not accepted to talk about

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol is not just a classic, but the first major Russian prose writer, who was considered his teacher by many great writers, and not only domestic ones. Turgenev, Tolstoy, Goncharov, Bulgakov, and even Kafka claimed that he had a serious influence on their work. But the life of Gogol himself can hardly be called bright, rich and happy. In addition, it contained facts that historians and literary critics generally do not like to remember.

Nikolai Gogol, having arrived as a very young man from the provincial Sorochintsy of the Mirgorod district in St. Petersburg, was delighted with the capital. But Northern Palmyra treated the young writer harshly. Very quickly, he developed chronic bronchitis and bone aches, which tormented the writer for the rest of his life.

But the young Gogol was not too upset, because St. Petersburg gave him several excellent stories and, most importantly, an acquaintance with Pushkin. The great Russian poet was the first to publish the works of a little-known visiting writer in the magazine "Sovremennik". Pushkin's death was one of the most powerful shocks in Gogol's life, from which he never recovered.

As for the life of the creator of "Dead Souls" and "Overcoat", it seems to many to be filled with mysticism. After you learn a few little-known facts from the biography of the classic, you will not argue with this for sure.

All his life, Nikolai Vasilyevich considered himself a very sick person. He was terrified of infections and washed his hands countless times a day. It is believed that Gogol's special suspiciousness was the result of overprotection of his parents, who literally blew away dust motes from him as a child.

The writer's mother, Maria Ivanovna Kosyarovskaya, was married at the age of 14 to a nobleman twice her age, Vasily Afanasyevich Gogol-Yanovsky. The couple had 11 children, most of whom died at an early age. Nicholas was the third child born after the death of two children.

The parents were very afraid of losing their son and raised him in greenhouse conditions. Gogol's schoolmates recall how he was brought to school in a carriage at the age of 12, wrapped up to the nose in handkerchiefs and scarves. At a more mature age, Gogol did not miss the opportunity to complain about his poor health to his family and friends in letters, and complaints of malaise often occupied most of the message.

The writer had certain health problems, but most of them he came up with himself. It is particularly worth mentioning the mental health of Nikolai Vasilyevich. Experts who studied the memoirs of Gogol's contemporaries, letters of the classic and his works, claimed that the writer suffered from chronic depression.

In relation to the people dependent on him, Gogol was never cruel, but in his life there is also one very ugly act. The writer, who ridiculed the autocratic barins in "Dead Souls" and criticized serfdom, himself treated his servant like a true slave owner.

In 1832, Gogol had to send his younger sisters to study in St. Petersburg. At that time, it certainly required a maid, whose services were very expensive. The writer solved the problem in an original, but disgusting way – he chose a serf girl in Sorochintsy and ordered his servant Yakim to marry her.

Having implemented this cunning plan, Gogol sent Yakim and his new wife, whom he appointed as a maid, with the girls. This also solved another domestic problem – the servants, being married, could live in one small room. The economy was obvious, and the classic himself was very proud of his idea.

Gogol had a complex all his life because of his appearance, origin, manners, clothes, and many other things. Nikolai Vasilyevich was ashamed of his Ukrainian origin, wary of receiving praise for his own work, embarrassed in the presence of unfamiliar people.

A special " dot " in the list of classic complexes was his nose, which was actually quite long. People who knew Gogol personally claimed that the nose was somewhat reduced in the portraits of the writer, so we do not have a completely correct idea of the appearance of the literary genius.

We must pay tribute to Nikolai Vasilyevich, he actively fought with his complexes, most often with the help of creativity. The story "Nose" is devoted to ridiculing the main problem of the writer's appearance, and the story" Overcoat " touches on his feelings about clothes.

The short, nosy and suspicious Gogol was never popular with the ladies. The writer was very embarrassed in women's society, and sometimes completely lost. There is a well-known case when the writer came to the Pushkin house and instead of Alexander Sergeevich, Natalia Goncharova came out to meet him in the hallway. At the sight of the poet's wife, Gogol seemed petrified and lost the power of speech.

It is not surprising that Nikolai Vasilyevich was never married and he did not even have illegitimate children. Many biographers of the writer claim that he lived his life and died "in purity", that is, remaining a virgin. Despite this, history has preserved the names of two women for whom Gogol had warm feelings.

One of them is Alexandra Smirnova-Rosset, the Empress ' lady-in-waiting. This woman considered Gogol her friend and treated him very warmly. They corresponded for many years, discussing books and creativity, but never touching on human feelings. Surely the lady-in-waiting understood that Gogol was in love with her, but, alas, he was not a worthy match for her.

Gogol's second love is Maria Sinelnikova, who was his cousin. She got married at the age of 15, but very soon the family broke up and she was left alone. After leaving her husband, Maria settled in the Vlasovka estate near Kharkiv. Once, in the company of other relatives, she was visited by Nikolai Vasilyevich, who had already become a famous writer.

Maria was struck by the gentleness, delicacy and intelligence of Nikolai Vasilyevich. She fell in love with the writer. This woman was the only one who confessed her love to him, although in a letter. But Gogol at that time was no longer interested in romantic relationships – he completely immersed himself in religion and literally enjoyed his loneliness and phobias.

The writer's correspondence with Maria Sinelnikova lasted for two years, until Gogol's death. The letters that Nikolai Vasilyevich and Maria wrote to each other can well be called love letters, although their style was quite restrained even for that time.

Among the many phobias of the writer, not the last place was occupied by the fear of being buried alive. Gogol wrote seven years before his death:

Gogol died at the age of 42, at 8 o'clock in the morning on February 21, 1852. Who exactly recorded the death of Nikolai Vasilyevich is unknown. The first doctor who arrived at the body was doctor Tarasenkov, who found the writer already washed and dressed in a new coat. No autopsy was performed, so the exact cause of Gogol's death is unknown.

The document on the death of the collegiate assessor Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol states that he "died of a cold", although everyone who saw the writer in the last days of his life does not mention any cold. After the funeral, many versions were expressed about his death, ranging from banal meningitis, and ending with a very exotic "religious mania".

Even later, a popular version appeared about a lethargic dream, into which Gogol fell as a result of accidental or intentional poisoning. On May 31, 1931, due to the need to move the grave, the writer's body was exhumed, which was witnessed by 20 people.

The commission included not only responsible persons, but also representatives of the literary community. One of them, the writer V. Lidin, spread the hypothesis that Gogol was buried alive. He wrote that the oak coffin was well preserved, but the inside was badly scratched. The body of Nikolai Vasilyevich, according to Lidin, lay on its side with unnaturally twisted limbs.

Later it became clear that this was an invention of the writer, as evidenced by the memories of other witnesses to the exhumation. Few people know that the memories of the sculptor Ramazanov, who removed the death mask of Gogol, have been preserved. He claimed that in the process of working, he clearly saw the first signs of decomposition on the face of the deceased.

The version of lethargic sleep has been repeatedly refuted by respected scientists, but it has become so firmly part of folk folklore that it cannot be eradicated to this day. Another dubious story is the disappearance of the writer's head from the coffin. Whether it is true or not, no one knows for sure.