What happened to the second volume of Dead Souls: Did Gogol burn the book or set up a hoax

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

"Dead Souls" is considered the most mysterious work of Nikolai Gogol. Many researchers are still trying to figure out what really happened with the second volume. Was it mercilessly burned by a picky author, or maybe it was stolen by ill-wishers? Some believe that Gogol did not write the second part of the poem at all, but arranged a grandiose hoax. Read the most interesting versions of this event in the material.

Did Alexander Tolstoy steal Gogol's manuscript?

If we turn to the work of Igor Garin "The Mysterious Gogol", then there you can find assumptions based on the conclusions of the writer Durylin. They consist in the fact that the fate of the second volume of "Dead Souls" is not connected with fire, and with a high probability it was stolen by someone.

The role of the insidious kidnapper went to Count Alexander Tolstoy. It was in his house in Moscow that the writer's last years passed. They say that the count decided to steal the work of a rhinestone after the death of Gogol in order to check if there is a literary character in it similar to him, Tolstoy. Most likely, the reason could be the gossip that arose after the publication of the collection Selected Passages from Correspondence with Friends, where Gogol brought several letters to the count. But the point is that the censorship banned them. Apparently, the count decided to play it safe, stole the manuscript, took the compromising parts, and returned the rest to the people who were Gogol's executors (Governor Kapnist and Professor Shevyrev).

At the same time, Tolstoy came up with a story that Nikolai Vasilyevich himself turned into ashes some parts of the poem that were unsuccessful, as he believed. In a strong emotional outburst. The fact that Gogol's works were indeed in Tolstov's is evident from his letters. For example, he wrote to his sister that he could not trust Shevyrev and give the papers to him for study. Those researchers who adhere to this version believe that Count Tolstoy did not want to destroy the second volume completely. He only hid those chapters that could compromise him. And that the papers are still in the cache and are waiting to be found.

Tragic mistake: Gogol burned the manuscript by accident

According to the Norwegian researcher Geirom Hietso, Gogol did not throw the manuscript into the fire, succumbing to an attack of self-criticism, but did it quite by accident. The writer returned from the all-night vigil and decided that it was necessary to put things in order in the papers - to burn unnecessary papers. And by mistake he sent some chapters of his work to the stove.

The same version is presented by one of the writers, Yuri Ivask. He believes that Gogol was a very inattentive person. Therefore, the chapters of the second volume of the famous poem were on fire. They say that the writer destroyed the drafts of the poem, but he was so carried away by the process that he did not notice how a stack of sheets of the finished work, rewritten whitewashed, flew into the stove.

Theories that the author did not have time to finish the poem and the spy version

According to the literary critic Vladimir Voropaev, Gogol generally sent the manuscript to the stove. He just didn't finish it. After all, there are 4 chapters, as well as a partial ending. People were able to read them solely thanks to the drafts. It was not possible to find a continuation of the story in the form of a "belovik". The same Garin, when considering this version, wrote that Gogol at the end of his life felt very bad, suffering from progressive sclerosis. The work was given to him with great difficulty. Garin also takes into account another option: Gogol, worried about the fate of the work, simply faked the death of the second volume. This was done to protect the poem from editing by the tsarist censorship. Like, the writer burned some unnecessary pieces of paper in front of a servant-witness, and gave the originals to his faithful friends. One of them, according to assumptions, could be Metropolitan Philaret.

There is also a more mysterious version: agents of the Third Section were involved in the theft of the manuscript. They allegedly committed this act, since the writer in his poem wrote about the fate of the Russian Empire and, accordingly, about the Romanov dynasty. The adherents of this theory believe that Gogol could describe the collapse of the autocracy and the entire imperial family.

Did the manuscript exist?

And one more interesting opinion, expressed by Nikolai Fokht, which was published in the Russian Pioneer magazine. Surprisingly, there is a conspiracy theory. Its supporters believe that Gogol did not intend to write a sequel to Dead Souls, but arranged a scandal with the burned chapters for the purpose of self-promotion. Today it would be called black PR. That is, the writer simply made fun of his fans and enemies. Adherents of the conspiracy theory suggest that Gogol did this scam not alone, but together with his friends. He supposedly read them some chapters of Dead Souls, but in fact there were unnecessary pieces of paper in the pile of papers that could simply be thrown away.

Fochtom also put forward another version - the writer did not throw the manuscript into the stove, but took it to Sorochintsy (family nest), where he safely hid it, burying it in the ground. At the same time, he did not tell anyone anything, but he gave the following order to the peasants: when there is a lean year, they should dig up all the arable land, find papers and sell them dearly. This will help both "pull" the estate out of the economic hole, and show the whole world a genius poem.

And one more interesting fact: in 2009, the 200th anniversary of the birth of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol was celebrated. And this year, a businessman from the United States, Timur Abdullaev, made a statement that he has a unique, most complete handwritten edition of the second volume of Dead Souls. At the same time, an authentication was carried out. All 163 pages were recognized as authentic, this was recognized by the specialists of the Saltykov-Shchedrin Library in St. Petersburg and the experienced experts of the Christie auction. Maybe soon everyone will read the new Dead Souls.

By the way, Russian classics did not immediately become famous. AND often the authorities had to do with it.