The interplay between a paranoid individual and a discontented social group is traced in the career of this Russian writer. Common symbols gave outlet to repressed individual forces and political forces. Each type of force served to weaken preconscious controls and discharge unconscious drives for the other. When this brought about a relaxation of Gogol's defenses he abandoned wit and proclaimed himself a political leader in megalomanic fashion. The public therefore quickly dropped him and he became openly psychotic.