TODAY: In 1852, Nikolai Gogol burns some of his manuscripts, including most of the second part of Dead Souls, telling acquaintances the action is a practical joke played on him by the Devil. He takes to his bed and dies a few days later.
Also on Lit Hub: Lynn Cullen on Dorothy Horstman, the woman behind the polio vaccine • An interview with Split/Lip Press • Read from Lorenza Pieri’s newly translated novel, Lesser Islands (tr. Peter Digiovanni and Donatella Melucci)