A tutorial of a writer s success. Part II. Ch 4

http://proza.ru/2021/08/31/121 A tutorial of a writer s success. Part II. Chapter 1. http://proza.ru/2021/08/31/121

http://proza.ru/2021/08/31/124 A tutorial of a writer s success. Part II. Chapter 2. http://proza.ru/2021/08/31/124

http://proza.ru/2021/10/05/100 A tutorial of a writer s success. Part II. Chapter 3. http://proza.ru/2021/10/05/100



Chapter 4. Transformation (changing) of (parental) families. The situation in families

In case of an especially diligent consideration, one can see something in common in the transformation of the families of Heinrich Schliemann, Nikolai Gogol, Maxim Gorky: the early death of one of the parents and the death of a brother.

Heinrich Schliemann and Nikolai Gogol (being already adults) took the position of the main person in a family consisting mainly of sisters.

For the part of the readers skeptical about such a discretion, the information presented will be part of the biographical data.

"...Schliemann... in the first years was called Julius, but when his brother Heinrich died, he was named in his memory" [Егоров, 1923. С.17] [Egorov, 1923. P. 17].

"At the age of nine ( ... ) he suffered the most terrible blow in his entire life — the death of his mother shortly after the birth of her ninth child, Paul. Sixty-year-old Schliemann dedicates a single phrase to this event: "It was an irreparable loss for me and, probably, the greatest grief that only could fall on me and my six sisters" [Вандерберг. С. 420] [Vanderberg. P. 420].

"Having reached the age of twenty-five, but being already a well-earning merchant, Heinrich considered himself the head of the family. Schliemann's father ( ... ) did not object to such aspiration of Heinrich; on the contrary, as long as the diligent son financially supported him, he paid him with admiration and was ready to accept his benevolent advices" [Вандерберг. С. 82] [Vanderberg. P. 82].

"In the family of Vasily and Maria Gogol-Yanovsky there were twelve children... [Виноградов И.] [Vinogradov I.]. " Besides Nikolai, Vasily and Maria Gogol had five children...". ["Гоголь, Мария Ивановна"] ["Gogol, Maria Ivanovna"]. The discrepancy in the number of children is due to the high child mortality of that time.

It should be noted that in the biographical literature devoted to Nikolai Gogol, attention is focused on the susceptibility of Maria Ivanovna, the mother of Nikolai Gogol, to anxieties and fears. However, the high mortality rate (the development of healthcare in the broad sense of the word was a matter of the future) fully explains both anxiety and fears.

Nikolai Gogol's younger brother, Ivan, died in 1819, and his father, Vasily Afanasyevich, died in 1825. In 1825, Nikolai Gogol studied at the Nizhyn Gymnasium (Nizhyn Lyceum); gradually, Nikolai became the head of the family.

"In July 1871 (according to some sources, in 1872), little Alyosha [little Gorky] fell ill with cholera and infected his father with it. The boy recovered, and the father who was tinkering with him died before the birth of his second son, named Maxim in his honor. Maxim Sr. [the father] was buried in Astrakhan. The younger Maxim [second son, not Aleksey] died on the way to Nizhny Novgorod, on a steamer, and remained lying in the Saratov land... "[Басинский П. В. Страсти по Максиму] [Basinsky P. V. Passions according to Maxim].  Aleksey Peshkov did not happen to become the head of the family (if we keep in mind the members of the parental family).