8 Famous Artists Who Tried To Destroy Their Own Art

6. Nikolai Gogol

Nikolai Gogol is best known for his haunting portrayal of Russian society in Dead Souls, but what many people don't know is that he actually wrote a sequel, and had even planned a trilogy. It's believed that around 1850 Gogol read segments of the second volume of Dead Souls to his friends, who responded positively to the material and insisted that he continue. Over the next few years Gogol worked on the book, crafting and honing the story. Sadly, it was never to be. Struck by a personality crisis (which is basically the polite way of saying he began to go absolutely insane - he stopped sleeping lying down for fear of being buried alive) Gogol sought spiritual guidance to attempt to fix his increasingly paranoid mindset. During this time he was convinced that his previous writings were sinful, prompting him to burn the completely finished sequel.