The book tells the story of the serious mental illness of the brilliant Russian writer Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol, which accompanied him until the end of his days, influenced his work and became the cause of his death. The book is written in the genre of pathography, when a comprehensive study of a creative personality comes through the prism of both normal and pathological characteristics of a person. Zinaida Mikhailovna Ageeva is a psychiatrist, a member of the International Confederation of Historians of Medicine, a member of the Writers' Union of Russia, the author of many books, including: “ Tsar Peter and Martha Skavronskaya", "Emperor Peter the Great", "Wife of Peter the Great" (Catherine I), "Son of Tsarevich Alexei" (Peter II), "Ruler Anna Leopoldovna and Biron", "Doctor Kashchenko", "Gogol's Mental Illness" "(pathography), "Historical essays", "Life lessons" (memoirs of a psychiatrist), "The spiritual world of Vladimir Vysotsky" (pathography), "Pathography of Sergei Yesenin", "Fyodor Dostoevsky. Illness and creativity”, etc.