Letters of Nikolay Gogol from Malta

Abstract

Before leaving Russia Nikolay Gogol invited a few close friends. They all gathered around the samovar. Gogol never allowed any of his friends to brew the tea. One of the friends who had just arrived from a voyage abroad started narrating stories and adventures of Russians who had travelled around the world. Gogol sat in a comer, ready like a vulture to ensure that nobody had an empty cup. The room did not have anything special except for an antique chest. The room was full of rows of books. Gogol decided to take with him the barest essentials and nothing else. On the wall there was a painting. The windows were always mysteriously hidden behind curtains which had faded through time. A clock. By midnight the friends started to leave. Gogol waited till the last minute and as soon as the hour hand had stealthily reached the number "XII", Gogol put his ear against the clock to listen to the twelve strokes. Just at the end of the twelfth stroke, he opened the clock, stopped for a few seconds in front of it as if in an act of reverence and all of a sudden stopped the pendulum. And he left Russia... [Excerpt]