Is it easy to be a king in Russia? “I have known many sorrows and troubles”

Ivan IV the Terrible, the first Russian tsar, is known not only as a harsh ruler and conqueror but also as an outstanding writer, who became the founder of the genre of journalism in Russian literature. He wrote about many events in his life, – about his childhood and youth, his rule over Russia, his struggle with enemies. “I have known many sorrows and troubles,” says the Terrible, “but worse still is that the Russian state has often been on the brink of destruction.” He discusses this as well, constantly addressing the theme of “is it easy to be a king in Russia.” “A bold innovator, an astonishing master of language, at times angry, at times lyrically elevated… a master of the ‘biting’ style, always principled, always the ‘autocrat of all Russia,’ disregarding any literary conventions for the sake of a single goal – to convince his reader, to influence him – such is the Terrible in his works,” D. S. Likhachev