Morphine

Mikhail Bulgakov is the main Russian mystic of the XX century. A doctor by education and a subtle satirist by vocation, he himself witnessed and masterfully described the breaks of eras, the Revolution, the Civil War, the complexities of the profession, and the abyss of addiction. For the cycle of stories "Notes of a Young Doctor," he based it on his own experience as a rural doctor and created a whole array of colorful characters with their quirks, fears, and prejudices. And the story "Morphine," styled as a diary, is also almost autobiographical – after an unsuccessful operation, Bulgakov was forced to inject himself with painkillers and became addicted to them.