The book by Tatyana Piskareva, an essayist and poet, laureate of the Fazil Iskander International Prize, promises the reader a wealth of interesting discoveries. Fifteen names, fifteen creative destinies: Nikolai Gumilev, Anna Akhmatova, Nikolai Zabolotsky, Konstantin Paustovsky, Boris Ryzhy, Novella Matveeva, Afanasy Fet, Fyodor Tyutchev, Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, Ray Bradbury, Giovanni Boccaccio… Each biography is a vivid plot, with carefully selected, sometimes little-known facts from the lives of these remarkable personalities.
The author, having studied a vast amount of documents, assists the reader in the search for literary and worldview meanings, and also reminds that what is significant in art is not only the creative impulse and inspiration, but also despair, daring courage, delusion, and firm faith in one’s abilities.