How did Nikolai Gogol die?

Search: gogol

Why: In Adventureland:

It's one of my favorite authors, Gogol. Russian. He lost his mind, burned the only copy of his final book, died a week later of self-starvation.

We read "The Nose" and "The Overcoat" in Russian Lit., but I don't remember any of that.

Answer: While writing the second part of his epic poem Dead Souls (1842) - thought to be a modern-day counterpart to Dante's Divine Comedy - he traveled a lot, from Palestine to Russia, staying with friends. A church elder confidant strengthened in Gogol the fear of perdition (eternal damnation) by insisting on the sinfulness of all his imaginative work. His health was undermined by "exaggerated ascetic practices," and he fell into a state of deep depression.

On the night of February 24, 1852, he burned some of his manuscripts, which contained most of the second part of Dead Souls. He explained this as a mistake — a practical joke played on him by The Devil. Soon thereafter he took to bed, refused all food, and died in great pain nine days later.

Gogol was buried at the Danilov Monastery, but in 1931, Moscow authorities decided to demolish the monastery. When his remains were dug up to be transferred, his body was discovered lying face down, which gave rise to the story that Gogol had been buried alive.

Source: Wikipedia

The More You Know: French Jewish artist Marc Chagall was among the illustrators of Dead Souls.