Diary of a Madman (story)

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"Diary of a Madman" (1835) (Russian: Записки сумасшедшего) is a farcical short story by Nikolai Gogol. The tale centres on the life of a minor civil servant during the repressive era of Nicholas I.

One of Gogol's three great short story masterpieces, it centres around the life of a low-ranking civil servant who yearns to be noticed by a beautiful woman, the daughter of a senior official, with whom he has fallen in love. His diary records his gradual slide into insanity. As his madness deepens, he begins to suspect two dogs of having a love affair and believes he has discovered letters sent between them. Finally, he begins to believe himself to be the heir to the throne of Spain. When he is hauled off and maltreated by the authorities, the madman believes he is taking part in a strange coronation to the Spanish throne. It is only in his madness that the lowly anti-hero attains greatness in life.

The story satirizes the rampant petty officialdom of 1840s St Petersburg, and has been interpreted by some as going beyond this to being an allegory about the political state of Russia at the time, revealing Gogol's view of the government from the standpoint of a lowly citizen.