10 interesting facts from the life of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol

Every schoolchild has known the name of Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol since childhood: the works of the great writer have long been included in the course of required reading books. Gogol’s novels have been translated into dozens of languages ​​and are also popular abroad: literary critics are still trying to analyze the lines in the author’s books.

Gogol’s stories and stories are of particular interest because of his mysterious personality – the life and death of the writer are shrouded in many secrets and legends. Contemporaries later said that the supernatural, to which Nikolai Vasilyevich gravitated so much, seemed to follow him always on his heels. We have found 10 most interesting facts from the life of Gogol, which will help to understand his nature and biography more fully.

10 The Gogol family had 12 children

Despite the oppressive feeling of loneliness that slipped through the writer’s works, Gogol’s house was always crowded. His mother gave birth to 12 children – Nikolai Vasilievich became the third oldest child. Unfortunately, most of his brothers and sisters were destined to die – the eldest two children were born dead, the middle children died while still young, before stepping over the line and 10 years old.

The author’s three younger sisters lived the longest – they always closely communicated with each other. After their parents died, the writer renounced his part of the inheritance in favor of relatives.

9. He was fond of sewing and knitting

The writer has always been a versatile person, and literature was not his only passion. In the memoirs of his contemporaries, Gogol was called a fashionable “dandy”: he dressed beautifully and tastefully, paying great attention to accessories, especially neckerchiefs. At the same time, he did not even need to visit the tailor – the writer himself knew how to sew and knit. Both sisters in childhood and friends in adulthood caught him doing needlework – the author was not shy about his hobby and even gave away some of the things he made to friends. Thus, many of his sisters’ dresses were made by him.

8. He was afraid of thunder and lightning

Nervousness and superstition were inherent in the writer, and sometimes he himself brought himself to a state of panic fear with an irrational attitude to reality. So, Gogol was very afraid of thunder and lightning. The author also experienced difficulties in communication – strangers frightened him, so if such a person appeared in the company, Nikolai Vasilievich hastily retreated.

7. His mother was married off at the age of 14

From the memoirs of the author’s contemporaries, it becomes clear that Gogol’s mother was an incredibly beautiful woman. Maria Ivanovna was married at the age of 14 to a man twice as old, and at the age of 34 she was widowed. The loss of most of the 12 children born could not but affect the woman’s psyche – she withdrew into herself, became interested in mysticism. She passed on these tendencies to her son. So, the writer recalled his mother’s stories about the Last Judgment, which made an indelible impression on him.

Their family connection can be called very strong – it was the mother who helped Gogol to collect interesting information about the customs and traditions of the Ukrainian people. Maria Ivanovna always closely followed her son’s work and rejoiced at his success.

6. He collected small books

Nikolai Vasilievich had a special passion for his collection – herobbed books of small, even tiny sizes. He even had “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka” in a pocket version. At the same time, the content of publications was not fundamentally important to him. For example, the writer has always hated numbers and exact sciences, but he specially ordered the production of a miniature mathematical reference book 7 by 10 centimeters in size.

After Gogol’s death, his collection was often exhibited in museums.

5. He was unhappy with his nose

In reality, Gogol was strikingly different from his image in portraits – the author was always dissatisfied with his appearance and urged artists to somewhat distort reality. Especially the writer was not satisfied with the size of the nose, which seemed huge to him. It is no coincidence that this particular part of the body became the hero of the story “The Nose”. In the paintings, the author asked the artists to make the nose smaller, because of this, the whole image of the face of Nikolai Vasilyevich changed.

4. Pushkin gave him a pug

The friendship of the writers Alexander Pushkin and Nikolai Gogol is well known to everyone, but few know that at one time the great the poet decided to give Nikolai Vasilyevich a petso that he doesn’t get bored. For these purposes, Pushkin purchased a pug puppy and presented it to a colleague. Gogol named the dog Josie and became very attached to her. Over time, as the writer’s mind became often overshadowed by disorders, the author could forget about the pet and not feed Josie for weeks. As a result, the dog died, which had an even more detrimental effect on the psyche of its owner.

Sometimes the dog allegedly appeared to him in dreams and told him that he was a priest of a magical cult. After that, members of various sects began to gather in Gogol’s apartment.

3. After his death, his fortune was estimated at 43 rubles.

Toward the end of his life, Nikolai Gogol converted to the faith, he even made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The material condition of the writer was also reflected in his passion for religion – he distributed the money received as royalties for the publication of books to the needy, while he himself actually lived like a beggar.

The police officers who came to describe the author’s property after his death the writer’s worn clothes were valued at 43 rubles. Gogol had nothing else at home.

2. Burned the 2nd volume of “Dead Souls”

The most famous story about the writer is burning them the second volume of “Dead Souls”. More recently, literary critics have been speculating whether the author deliberately threw the book into the fireplace or it happened by accident. After all, at that time the work was almost written – it is known that there was room in it for the whole order for 10 chapters.

Some of the critics even wondered if there was even a second volume. But rough sketches proved that Nikolai Vasilievich really described the continuation of Chichikov’s travels. The most likely version remains the one according to which Gogol himself burned the manuscript, succumbing to emotions. At that time, the writer was depressed due to the death of his friend’s wife and he himself was afraid of death. Moreover, in his youth he already burned books – this is how he destroyed the poem “Hanz Kühelgarten”, which was criticized in the press: for this he needed to buy out the entire circulation that went on sale.

1. Dessert “Gogol-mogul” has nothing to do with it

The story of how Nikolai Vasilyevich invented the Gogol-mogul dessert is one of the most common misconceptions. In fact, a certain Gogel, who served as a chorister in the church, was the first to prepare the drink. The man was looking for ways to improve the sound of his voice – they were going to fire him, as the timbre had changed, but he had to feed his family. Then he mixed a raw egg with pieces of bread, salt and shook it.

After many years, the countess from Mogilev decided to change the recipe a little, removing bread and salt from it and adding honey there. In this form, he has reached our days.