5 incredible stories from the life of Nikolai Gogol, possibly invented by himself

Researchers of the writer's work still can't say for sure whether some stories are true or fiction. We reveal some facts from Gogol's life, recorded from his own words, recorded in the memoirs of his contemporaries and found in the works of literary scholars that may shed some light on the most peculiar.

Drowned a cat

Gogol once told Alexandra Smirnova-Rosset, with whom he was friends, that he drowned a cat at the age of five. It happened like this: His parents weren't home. Suddenly, he saw a cat sneaking toward him. "I will never forget how it walked, stretching, its soft paws faintly tapping their claws on the floorboards and its green eyes sparkling with an unkind light. I felt terrified. I climbed onto the sofa and pressed myself against the wall." The child grabbed the cat, ran into the garden and threw it into the pond. And he pushed it away with a pole every time it tried to reach the shore. When the animal drowned, the boy felt as if he had "drowned a man". "I cried terribly and only calmed down when my father, to whom I confessed my deed, whipped me," Gogol wrote.

Afraid of thunderstorms

Gogol was a rather nervous, suspicious and impressionable person. Anything could frighten him. In Baden-Baden in the summer of 1837, the writer was reading the first chapters of ‘Dead Soul’s to his friends. The reading was interrupted by a severe thunderstorm. When everyone began to leave, Gogol asked Andrei Karamzin to accompany him home, explaining that large dogs roamed around Graben (where he lived) and that he had forgotten his stick and was afraid to walk alone. However, as Karamzin later discovered, there were no dogs in Graben. In reality, Gogol had been frightened by the thunderstorm and his "weak nerves" demanded support, but he was too embarrassed to admit this directly.

He sewed & knitted, but was also embarrassed about it.

Gogol had four younger sisters. According to their recollections, not only was he himself prone to extravagance in clothing in his youth, but he also meticulously curated his sisters' wardrobes, dictating what they should wear. At the same time, much of what he and his sisters wore was sewn and knitted by the writer himself. His sister Olga recalled his passion for brightly colored waistcoats, but also confirmed that he knew how to sew and alter them. In a letter to a relative, a young Gogol humorously, but clearly listed his talents: "You don't yet know all my virtues. I'm a good tailor, I'm a good wall painter and I cook." The collection of Gogol's Moscow house contains a bone needle case, which the writer received as a gift from his mother.

Heard otherworldly voices

The writer's biographer, Igor Zolotussky, in his book ‘In Gogol's Footsteps’, points out that the writer grew up in an atmosphere of mysticism and religiosity. His family believed not only in God, but also in omens and prophecies. Shortly before his death, the writer's father heard "voices" foretelling his death. This trait was passed on to his son.

According to contemporaries, Gogol claimed that the "evil one" prompted him to burn the second volume of Dead Souls.

He slept sitting upright and feared being buried alive.

In 1839, in Italy, Gogol suffered a severe case of malaria. The illness led to complications and the writer became prone to deep fainting spells and prolonged somnambulistic states. In his ‘Testament’, which opens the book ‘Selected Passages from Correspondence with Friends’, Gogol requested: "Being in full possession of my memory and sound mind, I set forth here my last will. I bequeath that my body not be buried until obvious signs of decomposition appear. I mention this because, even during the illness itself, moments of numbness overtook me; my heart and pulse ceased beating…" He was terrified that during one of these attacks he would be presumed dead and buried, only to awaken in a coffin. The fear of being buried alive defined the writer's daily habits. For the last 10 years of his life, he did not go to bed and slept sitting or reclining in a chair or on a sofa.