How did Nikolay Gogol’s comic writing shift into horror and sadness?

Nikolay Gogol’s transition from comic writing to themes of horror and sadness was rooted in his evolving worldview, which shifted from romantic escapism to a pessimistic, aggressive realism that sought to expose the vulgarity and evil of existence.1

While his early works, such as Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka, drew on sunny Ukrainian folklore and whimsical tales, his later writing increasingly reflected a deep-seated bitterness. In stories like "The Story of the Quarrel Between Ivan Ivanovich and Ivan Nikiforovich," humor became a vehicle to highlight the meanness of life, while works like "Diary of a Madman" and "The Overcoat" explored the tragic, dehumanizing conditions of insignificant individuals.12

Gogol eventually viewed his literary talent as a divine mission to castigate societal abuses through "laughter through tears" and to reveal a righteous path for humanity. However, as he struggled to write the second part of Dead Souls—which he intended as a moral Purgatorio and Paradiso to his initial Inferno—he felt his creative capacity deserting him. Plagued by self-doubt, religious fervor, and the influence of a fanatical priest, he descended into a state of near-madness, ultimately burning his manuscripts and dying in despair.13