How did Gogol die? In what year did Gogol die?

For over 150 years, many doctors, historians, analysts and other experts have been trying to understand how Gogol died, what caused the painful last days of the writer and what illnesses he suffered in the last years of his life? Some believe that the famous author was simply "crazy", others believe that he committed suicide by starving himself. However, the truth, as it turned out, in this whole story is only apparent, somewhat ephemeral. The facts that have survived to this day, and the studies of contemporaries give the opportunity to draw definite conclusions about how Gogol died. Because now we will look in detail and consider all these materials and his last years of life.

A few words about the writer's life

The famous playwright, writer, critic, writer and poet was born in Poltava province in 1809. In his native land, he graduated from the gymnasium, after which he entered the Academy of Higher Sciences for the children of the provincial nobility. There he learned the basics of literary criticism, painting and other arts. In his youth, Gogol moved to the capital - in St. Petersburg, where he met a number of famous poets and critics, among whom it is important to highlight A. Pushkin. It was he who became the closest friend of the then young Nikolai Gogol, who opened new doors to him for literary criticism, influenced the formation of his social and cultural views. In St. Petersburg, the writer is taken to compose the first volume of "Dead Souls," but at home the work begins to be severely criticized. Nikolai Vasilievich goes to Europe and, after visiting a number of cities, stops in Rome, where he finishes writing the first volume, after which he takes over the second. It was after he returned from Italy that the doctors (and all his close people) began to notice the changes in the writer's mental state, not in a good way. It can be said that it is from this time that the very story of Gogol's death begins, which exhausted him mentally and physically and made the last days of his life extremely painful.

Was there schizophrenia?

There was a time when rumors were circulating in Moscow that the writer, who had just returned from Rome, was a little out of himself, suffering from schizophrenia. His contemporaries believed that it was precisely because of this mental disorder that he himself had brought himself to utter exhaustion. In fact, everything was a bit wrong, and several other circumstances caused Gogol 's death . The biography of this writer, if you read it in more detail, tells that the author has suffered from manic-depressive psychosis during the last 20 years of his existence . I mean, he had periods when the mood became particularly cheerful, but they quickly gave way to the opposite - the most severe depression. Unbeknownst to such a definition in those years, physicians posed the most ridiculous diagnoses to Nikolai - "Qatar gut", "spastic colitis" and others. Now they believe that it was the treatment of these imaginary ailments that played a fatal role in his fate.

Did the author wake up in his own coffin?

Very often in a conversation on the topic of how Gogol died, many claim that he was buried alive. Say, the writer plunged into a lethargic dream, which everyone took for death. The rumors are based on the fact that when exhuming the body of Nicholas in the coffin was unnaturally curved, and the upper part of the lid was scratched. In fact, if you think about it, you can understand that this is fiction. By the time when the exhumation was conducted, only ashes were found in the coffin. The wood and the upholstery were completely decayed (which, in principle, is natural), because there was no way to detect any scratches and other traces.

An interesting fact about ... the fear of being buried alive

In fact, there is one more circumstance that caused people to believe for many years that the famous writer was buried alive, in a state of lethargic sleep. The fact is that Gogol suffered from tafefobiy - this is exactly the same fear of being buried in the ground during his lifetime. This fear was based on the fact that after the malaria suffered in Italy he often fell into fainting, which made his pulse slow down too much, his breathing almost completely ceased as well. Then the author of "Viya" and "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka" woke up and felt normal. It is for this reason that for the last 10 years of his life he hardly went to bed. Nikolai Vasilyevich was dozing in his chair, falling asleep behind the manuscripts in constant anxiety and readiness for awakening. Moreover, in his will he indicated that he wants to be buried only after his body begins to show signs of complete decay. His will was done. The official date of Gogol's death is February 21, 1852 (according to the old style), and the date of his death is February 24.

Other ridiculous versions

Among the conclusions of the doctors who personally saw how Gogol died and how he spent his last days, or who were indirectly aware of this, guided by his analyzes and the results of the surveys, there were many absurd records. Among them there is also such that the writer has taken a mercury poison in order to settle scores with life. Like, because he practically did not eat anything, and his stomach was empty, the poison was eating him from the inside, so he was dying for a long time and painfully. The second theory is typhoid fever, which caused Gogol's death. The biography of the author shows that in fact he did not suffer from this disease, and moreover, throughout his whole life there was not a single such symptom. Therefore, at the consultation, which was held among doctors after the nomination of this version, the latter was officially rejected.

Causes of severe premature death

It is believed that the story of Gogol's death begins in January 1852, when Catherine Khomyakova, the sister of his close friend, died. The poet experienced this funeral with particular horror, and during the funeral said very terrible words: "Everything is over for me ..." Weak physically, inclined to various ailments, with poor immunity, Nikolai Vasilyevich on that day, buckled completely. It is also necessary to take into account the fact that for 20 years he suffered from bipolar affective personality disorder , because such a significant and mournful event drove him into the phase of depression, rather than hypomania. Since then, he began to refuse to eat, while previously he always preferred hearty meat dishes. Eyewitnesses claimed that the writer seemed to have left reality. He stopped talking with friends, often withdrew into himself, could go to bed in his dressing gown and boots, while muttering something. The culmination of his depression was the fact that he burned the second volume of Dead Souls.

Attempts to heal

Over the years, analysts and researchers did not understand why Gogol died. The poet and playwright, struck at that time by an unknown illness, remained under careful medical supervision and tutelage. Although it is worth noting that the doctors treated him with a very tough attitude, trying, however, to do as best. Treated imaginary "meningitis". The force was put in a hot bath, the head was poured with icy water, and then they did not let me get dressed. Under the nose, the writer was seated with leeches to intensify the bleeding, and if he resisted, his hands broke, causing pain. It is likely that another of these procedures is the answer to the question of why Gogol died so suddenly. At 8 am on February 21, he fell into a state of unconsciousness when there was no one beside the nurse. By 10 am, when the doctors were already at the writer's bed, they found only a corpse.

Continuous chain leading to death

Thanks to the research of contemporaries, it is possible to construct a logical and correct connection of all events and circumstances, during which the playwright died. Initially, the negative impact was the place where Gogol (Moscow) died. There were often rumors of his madness, many of his works were not recognized. On the basis of these factors, his mental illness became aggravated, and as a result, Nikolai Vasilyevich came to the conclusion that he should give up food. Full bodily exhaustion, distortion of the perception of reality indescribably weakened a person. Fatal was that he was subjected to sudden changes in temperature, shock and other rigid therapeutic methods. The date of Gogol's death was the last day of such bullying for him. After a long and painful night on the morning of February 21, he no longer woke up.

Was it possible to save the writer?

Definitely, you can. To do this, it was necessary to use forceful feeding with high-nutritional products, the injection of saline solutions under the skin, and also to force a person to drink plenty of water. Another factor is the use of antidepressants, but considering what year Gogol died, one can say that it was impossible. By the way, one of the doctors, Tarasenkov, insisted precisely on such methods, in particular, on the fact that Nikolai Vasilyevich was forced to eat. Nevertheless, most physicians rejected this recipe - they began to treat non-existent meningitis ...

Afterword

We briefly reviewed all the circumstances of the death of the famous writer and playwright Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. It was with his works that he conquered the hearts of ordinary readers and directors, children and adults. You can read his works without stirring from the book, because each of his creations is extraordinarily interesting. Now you know when Gogol was born and died, how he lived his life, and in particular - what his last years were like. And most importantly, we tried to sort out a little how this genius died and why so many rumors go around his death.