Dead Souls. Volume Two

In June 1845, Gogol burns the initial version of the second volume of Dead Souls. In 1849, he reads the chapters of the second volume of Dead Souls to Smirnova, Shevyryov, and the Aksakovs. In July—early August 1851, Gogol reads to Shevyryov new chapters of the second volume of Dead Souls in great secrecy. On January 26, 1852, E. M. Khomyakova (the wife of A. S. Khomyakov and the sister of Yazykov) dies—a loss that leaves a deep impression on Gogol. On February 7, 1852, he goes to his former parish church, confesses, and partakes of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. In the night of February 11–12, he burns the manuscripts of the second volume of Dead Souls (draft sketches of individual chapters of this volume, along with the manuscripts of Reflections on the Divine Liturgy, were discovered after the writer’s death among his papers). On February 18, 1852, Gogol receives Communion again and is attended by a priest. The writer dies on February 21, 1852, at about 8 a.m.

Soon after Gogol’s funeral, all the papers found in his apartment—down to the very last sheet—were transferred by Count A. P. Tolstoy to S. P. Shevyryov. Shevyryov set about sorting through the late Gogol’s papers in Moscow. Among them were several finished chapters of the second volume of Dead Souls and several excerpts from the second, and perhaps even the third part. These manuscripts were evidently drafts, with so many corrections and overwriting that deciphering them was extremely difficult. Shevyryov, who had managed to read almost the entire second volume, could restore the text from memory alone—closest to the edition that had been burned. With the help of the deceased Gogol’s nephew, Mr. Trushkovsky, this work was completed in the spring of 1853.