About famous writers you can find huge amount information - how they lived, how they created their immortal works. And we want to bring to your attention interesting and unusual facts from the lives of famous writers. Reading interesting book, the reader usually does not think about the peculiarities of the character and lifestyle of the writer who wrote it, but some facts of his biography or the history of the creation of a particular book are sometimes very entertaining and even cause a smile.
One day at Francois Rabelais there was no money to get from Lyon to Paris. Then he prepared three bags with the inscriptions “Poison for the King”, “Poison for the Queen” and “Poison for the Dauphin” and left them in a visible place in the hotel room. Upon learning of this, the hotel owner immediately reported to the authorities. Rabelais was captured and convoyed to the capital directly to King Francis I so that he could decide the writer’s fate. It turned out that the packages contained sugar, which Rabelais immediately drank with a glass of water, and then told the king, with whom they were friends, how he solved his problem. 
Charles Dickens I drank half a liter of champagne every day. It all started when, in 1858, Dickens, in order to raise his popularity to a new level, decided to give lectures. His performances were extremely successful, and he traveled all over England and then went to America. And where there is a lecture, there is a subsequent meeting with readers! How can we live here without champagne! In addition, the writer Charles Dickens always slept with his head facing north. He also sat facing north when he wrote his great works. 
Franz Kafka was the most modest person. He practically did not publish everything that he wrote, but he always read it aloud to his three Prague friends. Being seriously ill, he asked his friend Max Brod to burn all his works after his death, including several unfinished novels. Brod did not fulfill this request, but, on the contrary, ensured the publication of the works that brought Kafka worldwide fame. 
Ilf and Petrov They avoided cliché thoughts in a very original way. They discarded ideas that came to both of them at once. 
Marie-François Arouet (Voltaire) simultaneously wrote several works. Sitting down at his desk, depending on his mood, he took the manuscript and continued to work on it. 
Kir Bulychev- this is the final pseudonym of Vsevolod Mozheiko, but in general he changed them every month, especially when he worked in the magazine “Around the World”. He once signed himself "Sarah Fan" but was accused of anti-Semitism. We decided to simply put “S. Fan,” but this was considered an attack against the Korean people. Then Bulychev signed: “Ivan Shlagbaum.” 
Alexandre Dumas the father(1802-1870), whose green collection of works in fifteen volumes occupies bookshelves in many apartments, I didn’t write all these myself adventure novels. A whole staff of “literary blacks” worked for Dumas - at other times their number reached 70 people. More often than others, Dumas collaborated with the writer Auguste Macquet (1813-1888), who wrote, in particular, significant parts of The Three Musketeers and The Count of Montecristo. From the correspondence between Dumas and Macke it follows that the latter’s contribution to the beloved novels was very significant. 
The main plot of the immortal work N. V. Gogol“The Inspector General” was suggested to the author by A. S. Pushkin. These great classics were good friends. Once Alexander Sergeevich told Nikolai Vasilyevich an interesting fact from the life of the city of Ustyuzhna, Novgorod province. It was this incident that formed the basis of the work of Nikolai Gogol. Throughout the time he was writing The Inspector General, Gogol often wrote to Pushkin about his work, told him what stage it was in, and also repeatedly announced that he wanted to quit it. However, Pushkin forbade him to do this, so “The Inspector General” was still completed. By the way, Pushkin, who was present at the first reading of the play, was completely delighted with it. 
The stable phrase “lost generation” came to us from the works Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway's lost generation are young people who found themselves at the front in early age(for Hemingway, primarily the period between the two world wars), often not yet graduated from school, undecided in life, but began to kill early. After returning from the war, such people, morally or physically crippled, often could not adapt to peaceful life, many committed suicide, some went crazy. Also called the "Lost Generation" literary movement, which united such famous writers as Ham himself, James Joyce, Erich Maria Remarque, Henri Barbusse, Francis Scott Fitzgerald and others. 
Daria Dontsova, whose father was Soviet writer Arkady Vasiliev, grew up surrounded creative intelligentsia. Once at school she was asked to write an essay on the topic: “What was Valentin Petrovich Kataev thinking about when he wrote the story “The Lonely Sail Whitens”?”, and Dontsova asked Kataev himself to help her. As a result, Daria received a bad mark, and the literature teacher wrote in her notebook: “Kataev was not thinking about this at all!” 
Belarusian poet Adam Mickiewicz was also a science fiction writer. In the novel “The History of the Future,” he wrote about acoustic devices with the help of which, sitting by the fireplace, you can listen to concerts from the city, as well as about mechanisms that allow the inhabitants of the Earth to maintain contact with creatures inhabiting other planets. 
Honore de Balzac I wrote in the dark, so even during the day I closed the curtains and lit candles. Starting to work on a new piece, Balzac locked himself in a room for one or two months and closed the shutters tightly so that no light could penetrate through them. He wrote by candlelight, dressed in a robe, for 18 hours every day. 
U Lord Byron there were four pet geese that followed him everywhere, even at social gatherings. Despite being overweight and having a rather severe clubfoot, Byron was considered one of the most energetic and attractive people of his time. 
To his close relatives he was Ronald, to his school friends he was John Ronald. At Oxford University, where he first studied and then taught, he was called “Tollers.” It's about John Ronald Rowan Tolkien. By the way, in Denmark there is The Tolkien Ensemble - an ensemble named after Tolkien. This is Danish symphony orchestra, performing musical pieces based on the works of Tolkien. He has the support of Queen Margaret II, a great fan of Tolkien's books, who herself illustrates his books. 
Frankenstein- this is not the name of the famous monster at all. In Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus, first published in 1818, this same monster was simply called the “Monster.” Victor Frankenstein was the name of a young student scientist from Geneva who created a living creature from non-living material. 
Mark Twain was a good inventor. Among his developments are a notebook with tear-off leaves for journalists, a wardrobe with sliding shelves, and also the most ingenious of his inventions - a tie-tying machine!
Real name Daniel Defoe, was not de Fo, indicating noble origin, but simply Fo. By the way, he wrote not just one book, but more than 300. Moreover, among his works there are a lot scientific works on history, economics, geography, as well as a series of books on demonology and magic. He even wrote a book about the history of the reign of Peter I. 
One of the most prolific writers of all times was a Spaniard Lope de Vega. In addition to “Dog in the Manger,” he wrote another 1,800 plays, all of them in verse. He never worked on a single play for more than 3 days. At the same time, his work was well paid, so Lope de Vega was practically a multimillionaire, which is extremely rare among writers. 
The life and work of the world's literary luminaries is rich in all sorts of interesting things. For example, Russian poets and writers came up with many new words: substance, thermometer (Lomonosov), industry (Karamzin), bungling (Saltykov-Shchedrin), fade away (Dostoevsky), mediocrity (Severyanin), exhausted (Khlebnikov). In our library you can plunge into most fascinating world masterpieces of world literature, as well as increase your erudition by becoming familiar with a lot of new information. We are waiting for you in our library! 
Today I will tell you 20 facts about writers and poets that you did not know. Or maybe they knew, of course. I can’t guarantee you that all this is true, and no one can. It’s your choice to believe it or not.
20 facts about writers and poets that you didn't know
Fact No. 1.Alexander Pushkin was blond!
True, only up to 19 years old. In Memories little Pushkin called a "frisky blond boy", he was blond as a child. Pushkin lost his blond locks due to illness. At the age of 19, he was struck down by fever, and the poet was shaved bald. For a long time, Alexander Sergeevich wore a red skullcap, and then the cap was replaced dark brown hair. And he began to look the way we are used to.
Fact No. 2. Alexandre Dumas is Pushkin
There is a version according to which our beloved Pushkin did not die at all, but faked his death and left for France, since he spoke French perfectly. There is a whole lot of evidence. One of them is that until Pushkin died, Dumas could not write anything, but after 1837 he began to write brilliant novels one after another. “The Count of Monte Cristo”, “The Three Musketeers”, “Twenty Years Later”, “Queen Margot”...
Fact No. 3. Conan Doyle believed in winged fairies
Yes, the man who invented Sherlock Holmes believed in the existence of fairies. He wrote the book “The Coming of Fairies”, in which he published photographs of winged fairies and examinations proving the authenticity of the photographs. Believed in existence little people the writer spent more than a million dollars on these studies.
Fact No. 4. Chekhov's pet was a mongoose
The writer brought this strange animal from a trip to the island of Ceylon. Chekhov himself called the mongoose “a cute and independent little animal,” and his family nicknamed him “Bastard.” By the way, Chekhov later exchanged Bastard for a free ticket to the Moscow Zoo.
Fact No. 5.Nikolai Gogol invented the first attraction
The writer remade windmill into a Ferris wheel and took peasant children for rides on it. But the problem is that Gogol didn’t think about reliable insurance. Then everything is like in the book: “The auditor is coming to us!” In general, the amusement park closed it down.
Fact No. 6. A St. Petersburg journalist received royalties for The Master and Margarita
Dying, Bulgakov bequeathed to give part of the royalties for the book to the one who, after the publication of “The Master and Margarita,” would bring flowers to the writer’s grave, and not just some day, but on the day when he burned the first version of the novel’s manuscript. This person was Vladimir Nevelsky, a journalist from Leningrad. It was to him that Bulgakov’s wife gave a check for a decent amount of royalties.
Fact No. 7.Lewis Carroll invented the tricycle
The author of "Alice in Wonderland" was a mathematician, poet and great inventor. He invented a tricycle, a mnemonic system for remembering names and dates, an electric pen (by the way, what is that?!), a dust jacket, a prototype of everyone’s favorite game Scrabble, which in Russian is called “Erudite”.
Fact No. 8.Edgar Poe studied in a cemetery
And, by the way, he was terribly afraid of the dark. The school where little Edgar studied was very poor, and the children did not have textbooks. And a resourceful mathematics teacher took schoolchildren to the cemetery, where they counted the graves and calculated the years of life of the dead.
Fact No. 9. Hans Andersen had Pushkin’s autograph
The Danish storyteller received it from the wife of the owner of the “Kapnist Notebook”, into which Pushkin rewrote the poems he had selected in his own hand. The wife tore out one sheet from the notebook and sent it to Andersen, who was immensely happy. By the way, this leaflet is now kept in the Copenhagen Royal Library.
Fact No. 10. Nikolai Gogol was an excellent knitter.
Gogol had a passion for cooking and handicrafts. He treated his friends to personally prepared dumplings and dumplings, knitted and sewed scarves for himself. But he flatly refused to be photographed - he either covered his face with a top hat, or made faces in every possible way. Therefore, he was rarely invited to social events.
Fact No. 11. The army of Chekhov fans were nicknamed “Antonovkas”
When Anton Chekhov moved to Yalta, his enthusiastic fans also moved to Crimea. They ran after him all over the city, studied his gait and costume, and tried to attract attention. In January 1902, the newspaper “News of the Day” wrote: “In Yalta, a whole army of stupid and unbearably ardent fans of his artistic talent, called here “Antonovkas,” was formed.
Fact No. 12.Mark Twain invented suspenders
He was no worse an inventor than Carroll. He holds patents for self-adjusting suspenders and a scrapbook with adhesive pages. Mark Twain also invented a notepad with tear-off leaves, a closet with sliding shelves, but his most ingenious invention was a tie-tying machine. Apparently it didn't get widespread...
Fact No. 13.Lewis Carroll - Jack the Ripper
Journalist Richard Wallis, author of Jack the Ripper, the Fickle Friend, claims that Jack the Ripper, who brutally murdered London prostitutes, is Lewis Carroll. And Carroll himself constantly repented of some sin in his diaries. But no one knew which one, because Carroll’s relatives destroyed all his diaries. Out of harm's way.
Fact No. 14. Boxing gloves helped Vladimir Nabokov emigrate
Nabokov became interested in boxing while in the army. When he emigrated to America in 1940, three customs officers at the border began to meticulously examine his luggage. But when they saw boxing gloves in the suitcase, they immediately put them on and began jokingly boxing with each other. In general, America and Nabokov liked each other.
Fact No. 15. Jack London is a millionaire
Jack London became the first American writer, who earned a million dollars with his work. London lived only 41 years, but began working at the age of 9 – selling newspapers. After becoming a writer, London worked 15-17 hours a day and wrote about 40 books in his short life.
Fact No. 16. John Tolkien snored terribly
His snoring was so loud that he slept in the bathroom so as not to disturb his wife's sleep. And the author of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy bequeathed never, never to make films based on his books. But, apparently, the thirst for money prevailed over the wills of the brilliant father, and Tolkien’s children agreed to the film adaptation. Well, we all know what came of it.
Fact No. 17. Vladimir Mayakovsky - Puppy
Mayakovsky was terribly fond of various “cats and dogs,” as he called them. One day, while walking with Lilya Brik, they picked up a stray red puppy. They took him home and named him Puppy. Later, Lilya began to call Mayakovsky Puppy. And from then on he signed his letters and telegrams “Puppy” and always drew a puppy at the bottom.
Fact No. 18. Balzac drank 50 cups of coffee a day
And he wrote exclusively at night. He sat down to work at midnight, dressed in a white robe, he wrote for 15 hours straight, drinking up to 20 cups of strong Turkish coffee only at night or simply chewing coffee beans. So at night he wrote his 100 novels of the literary epic “The Human Comedy”.
Fact No. 19. The first kebab shop in France was opened by Alexandre Dumas
Yes, it was he who introduced kebab to France. Dumas first tried shish kebab while traveling through the Caucasus. He liked the dish so much that he included it in his “Big Cookbook.” Yes, Dumas had one like that. There are rumors that the writer even cooked crow kebab for the French. They praised.
Well, if you believe fact No. 2, then it was Alexander Pushkin who was such an ardent lover of fried meat on skewers...
Fact No. 20. Dickens slept with only his head to the north
And he sat down to write only when his face was turned to the north. And he couldn’t work at all if the chair and table in the office weren’t the way he wanted. Therefore, before starting to write, he always rearranged the furniture.
Illustrations by Katerina Karpenko
(except for the illustration to the fact about Vladimir Mayakovsky)
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We recently published. Today we bring to your attention a continuation of everything that will be useful to know for a true book lover. As always, happy reading!
1. One of the most extraordinary books is “ Divine Comedy"Dante, created by G. Celani on one sheet of paper measuring 800x600 mm. It contained 14 thousand poems, and you can read them without special magnifying equipment. If you look at the book from a distance, you get a map of Italy. Monk Gabriel spent 4 years creating it.
2. The poet Oppian received the largest fee of the Roman Empire. Marcus Aurelius paid him a gold coin for each line of the poem. For his work he received 20 thousand gold coins.
3. To make books as cheap as cigarettes, Penguin began using paperbacks. The first such books were distributed in churches.
4. A bibliocleptomaniac is a person who steals books. Stephen Bloomberg, the most famous book thief, stole more than 23 thousand rare copies of books. Now his collection is worth about $20 million.
5. B medieval Europe To prevent it from being taken out of the public library, the book was chained to the shelf. Their length made it possible to remove books from shelves and read them, but not to take them with them. This method of protection against theft was used until the 18th century, since books were very expensive at that time.
6. According to Google estimates, there are almost 130 million book titles in the world (this includes all artistic, journalistic and scientific works).
7. A book by the famous Dutch doctor Herman Boerhaave entitled “The Only and deepest secrets medical art" was sold for 10 thousand dollars. When the seal on it was opened, it turned out that its pages were blank. Only the title page read: “Keep your head cold, your feet warm, and you will make the best doctor poor.”
8. The well-known and familiar “bookworm” appeared thanks to small insects that eat the spines of books.
9. In Shakespeare’s works, the word “love” appears almost 10 times more often than the word “hate” (2259 and 229 times, respectively).
10. Leonardo da Vinci's work on water, earth and celestial bodies, called the Codex Leicester, is considered one of the most expensive books in the world. To become its owner, Bill Gates spent more than $30 million. The book itself should only be read with a mirror, as it is written in mirror handwriting.
Which facts did you like best? Do you know anything else interesting about books? We are waiting for your answers in the comments!
Interesting facts about writers and poets who glorified Russian literature are of interest to everyone who is at least a little passionate about Russian literature. Their books can be found on the shelves of any home library. educated person in our country, but do we know everything about their biography? Sometimes Russian classics simply amazed those around them with their unexpected and extravagant actions and antics. The most interesting stories you will find in this article.
Alexander Pushkin is considered the founder of Russian literary language, but there are enough interesting facts about this writer, although it seems that we know his biography thoroughly.
In fact, many may be surprised that the poet smoked a lot, and often shocked the surrounding ladies with transparent pantaloons, under which there was no underwear. Officially, Pushkin had four children, at least one child was illegitimate. This is the son of 19-year-old serf Olga Kalashnikova, Pavel, whom the poet seduced in 1824 during his exile in Mikhailovskoye. He sent her to Boldino to Vyazemsky to give birth. The child was born prematurely. Pushkin was not interested in the fate of his now former lover and her son, only learning about the boy’s death a few years later. Most likely, he had other illegitimate children, but nothing is known for certain about them.
Here is another interesting fact from the writer’s life. Despite his education, he believed fortune tellers and was sure that he would die by hand white man or a white horse. In general, Pushkin often thought about death - he himself chose the place for his grave, once gave a skull to his friend Delvig, and was very upset about his death English poet Byron and even ordered a mass for the repose of the soul of God's servant George.
Pushkin received his education at the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. Moreover, he studied extremely poorly; he showed success only in literature. Throughout almost his entire life, he played cards a lot, often lost, and was constantly in debt with cards.
Fatal duel
It is worth recognizing that his opponent in the fatal duel in which he was killed was very unusual. was a relative of Pushkin. He was married to the sister of the poet’s wife, Ekaterina Goncharova. Before his death, the poet was very worried that he had violated the royal ban on participating in duels; he even said that he was waiting for forgiveness from the emperor in order to die peacefully.
In one of the last moments of enlightenment before his death, Pushkin asked for cloudberries, and finally said goodbye to the most true friends those in the room were his books. Here are some interesting facts about literature and writers that can reveal Pushkin to you in a new way.
Mikhail Lermontov became famous during the time of Pushkin, although he was much younger than him. If we talk about interesting facts about writers and poets of Russia, then there is something to tell about him. His appearance was frankly unprepossessing: he was broad-shouldered, short in stature, large-headed and stocky. At the same time, he limped on one leg, as some believe, to resemble Byron.
Most of all of his relatives he loved his grandmother, who reciprocated his feelings. Like Pushkin, he was an avid duelist. Once he took part in a duel with a Frenchman who supplied pistols for the fatal duel between Alexander Sergeevich and Dantes. For participating in duels he was exiled to the Caucasus, where he proved himself to be a brave officer. There he began to learn the Azerbaijani language.
He was amorous and changeable. Once he stole his friend’s bride, and when he got tired of the girl, he wrote an anonymous slander against himself. Friends noted that Lermontov was famous for his unpleasant character - he was vindictive, did not forgive people’s weaknesses, and treated everyone arrogantly.
Heads or tails
For my short life(he lived only 26 years) took part in three duels. He managed to avoid four more only thanks to the efforts of his acquaintances. One of his pastimes was to upset upcoming marriages. He pretended to be an ardent young man in love with the bride, showed her signs of attention, sent poems and flowers. Sometimes he even went so far as to promise to commit suicide if she married someone else. When the girl succumbed to these advances, he admitted that it was a joke.
Surprisingly, Lermontov managed to lose in all the competitions and games in which he participated. Only the fall of his opponent saved him from death in the very first duel. Returning from exile in the Caucasus, he tossed a coin to determine where he should go - to work or to stop in Pyatigorsk. As a result, he had to go to Pyatigorsk, where he was killed by a retired cavalryman Martynov. As it turned out later, he had only fired a pistol three times before this duel.
You can find many interesting facts in the biography of the writer Chekhov. As a child, he worked in his father's shop. At his home lived a tame mongoose named Bastard, whom Anton Pavlovich brought from the island of Ceylon.
As a high school student, he often dressed up as a beggar, carefully put on make-up and begged for alms from his own uncle. He most often did not recognize him and gave him money. In general, Chekhov had a hooligan character. Once he handed a policeman a pickled cucumber wrapped in paper, saying that it was a bomb.
There are many writers. For example, his plays and stories made Chekhov one of the most filmed authors in the world. On at the moment directors made almost 300 films based on his works.
"Antonovka"
Followed him everywhere real army fangirls When Chekhov moved to Yalta in 1898, many of his fans immediately followed to Crimea. Local journalists wrote that the ladies were guarding the writer on the embankment, only to see their idol again, to try to somehow attract his attention. Newspapers even dubbed the girls with the nickname "Antonovka".
An interesting fact about the writer Chekhov is that he often wrote under a pseudonym. In total, he had about 50 of them. For example, Antosha Chekhonte, Man without a Spleen, Nut No. 9, Champagne, Akaki Tarantulov and many others.
Chekhov's grandfather was a serf who managed to buy himself and his family freedom. The writer himself refused title of nobility, which was assigned to him by Nicholas II in 1899. There are so many interesting factors about the biography of the writer, whose photo is in this article.
Leo Tolstoy often shocked those around him. One day he dressed as a beggar and went to his serfs to find out about their problems. They recognized him and became afraid, never admitting to anything. Disillusioned with understanding the Russian soul, Tolstoy began making boots, which he gave to all his relatives and friends.
An interesting fact about the Russian writer is that Tolstoy was interested in religion so seriously that some contemporaries even believed that he had gone crazy. At the same time, the count himself explained his passion for mowing and plowing by his habit of being on the move all the time. If he never went for a walk all day, then by the evening he became irritable.
There is also an interesting fact about the writer’s books. His handwriting was very illegible, and in addition, his drafts contained a whole system of additions and signs that only his wife Sofya Andreevna could understand. His wife rewrote his novel War and Peace by hand several times. Surprisingly, when the famous Italian psychiatrist Lombroso saw Tolstoy’s handwriting, he said that only a prostitute with psychopathic tendencies could write like that.
The Last Journey
It is known that Tolstoy was a vegetarian, which in his time was considered strange and unnatural. At 82, Tolstoy decided to go wandering, leaving his wife and children on the estate. IN farewell letter he admitted to his wife that he was no longer able to live in luxury, he wanted to spend last days in silence. He set off to wander without any purpose, accompanied only by his doctor Dušan Makovicki. Having stopped at Optina Pustyn, he went to his niece to the south, from where he intended to get to the Caucasus. He failed to complete the journey. Tolstoy caught a cold and died in the small house of the head of the railway station called Astapovo.
Many interesting facts about writers can be gleaned by studying the biography of Dostoevsky. Fyodor Mikhailovich began to show strangeness since childhood. He had a reserved character, and his vivid imagination only alienated him from his peers. Classmates often called him a “fool,” and while studying at an engineering school, simply called him an “idiot.”
An interesting fact about the writer is that in adulthood he was prone to seizures and excessive excitability. As it turned out later, he suffered from epilepsy. Specific mental changes were manifested in his excessive pettiness, pedantry, irritability, resentment, numerous fears, attacks of melancholy and even angry mood.
As a child, the sadistic inclinations of the writer, who loved to whip frogs with a nut whip, still manifested themselves. Many prominent psychiatrists were interested in the Russian writer. Galant noted that his psychopathy was most strongly expressed in the area of psychosexual experiences, and Sigmund Freud argued that the desire for perversion could lead to crimes or sadomasochism.
Obsession with the game
Dostoevsky was obsessed with the game. He lost a lot of money at billiards and often met cheaters. Another oddity of his was his disturbing suspiciousness. For example, the writer never drank tea, preferring ordinary warm water, and the color of the tea leaves horrified him. Like Gogol, he was worried that he might plunge into lethargic sleep and be buried alive. In this regard, he insisted that his funeral take place no earlier than five days after his supposed death.
It is noteworthy and surprising that Dostoevsky, who was actively treated for his numerous illnesses, never sought help for epilepsy. The writer sought help from doctors because of problems with the intestines, lungs, and somatic disorders, but did not consider epilepsy as a disease. At the same time, the attacks were very difficult for them to endure, but he believed that only thanks to these mental disorders his creative potential never runs out.
While telling interesting facts about writers and poets, we need to remember about the great fabulist Ivan Krylov. Besides literature, his main passion was food. Despite his obesity, he was the first to head to the dining room as soon as the footman announced that the table was set.
Krylov began dinner with a huge plate of pies, followed by three plates of fish soup, veal cutlets, fried turkey, cucumbers, plums and cloudberries. I ate it all with apples, and at the end I had a Strasbourg pate made from butter, goose liver and truffles. Having finished several plates, I drank kvass and finished the meal with two glasses of coffee with plenty of cream.
Many of his acquaintances recalled that the main bliss in life for Krylov lay precisely in food. At the same time, by the way, it is not true that the fabulist died from volvulus due to overeating. In reality, death was due to extensive pneumonia.
The prose writer Kuprin also surprised many. For example, few people know that he preferred to work completely naked. At the same time, he was famous for his incredible instincts. His friends even joked that he was more of an animal than a man. And ladies were often offended when Kuprin began to persistently sniff them. One day, the writer amazed a noble French perfumer with his flair by describing in detail all the components of the fragrance he had made.
They say that one of their most famous works(the story “The Duel”) it was no accident that the writer ended it so suddenly. Instead of a logical ending, the ending is a short report. His wife demanded that he hand over the manuscript and did not let him out of the office. Kuprin really wanted to drink, so he finished the piece in a hurry.
Poets and writers for some - crazy geniuses, for others - they do not represent anything special, but only become annoying in schools with their poems, stories and biographies. But some people don’t even realize how interesting many personalities are beyond their creativity. What about the most unusual and unknown interesting facts about writers and poets?
A.S. Pushkin is “our everything,” I hope everyone remembers this. The line “let’s drink out of grief” immediately comes to mind; where is the mug? - these words are partly true, although the most favorite drink was sweet lemonade!
In the process of creating the work, the writer refreshed himself not with a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, but with a glass of lemonade, the poet especially loved it at night.
Surprisingly, before the duel with Dantes, Pushkin went into a pastry shop and drank a glass of aromatic lemonade with great pleasure.
Gogol's eccentricities
Oh, how many myths there are around the author of the famous “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka”. Contemporaries confirmed some of the writer’s oddities. Gogol slept sitting, loved to do needlework (sewed scarves and vests), wrote all his brilliant works only standing!
For example, as a child I loved to roll bread balls, for which I usually got slapped on the wrist. And Gogol calmed his nerves by rolling balls all his life! Nikolai Berg, remembering the writer, said that Gogol constantly walked from corner to corner or wrote, while at the same time rolling balls of bread (precisely wheat). And the writer also threw rolled balls into kvass for his friends!
The Amazing Habits of Chekhov
But Chekhov, calming his nerves, did not roll balls, but used a hammer to smash crushed stone into dust, which was then used to sprinkle garden paths. The writer could spend hours breaking rubble without distraction!
Deep psychologist Dostoevsky
By the way, the characters of all the characters in Dostoevsky’s works were copied from real people. Dostoevsky constantly made new acquaintances, starting conversations even with random passers-by.
Contemporaries note that when the writer was immersed in writing works, he became so carried away that he forgot to eat. He walked around the room all day, saying sentences out loud. One day while writing famous novel Dostoevsky wandered from corner to corner and talked to himself about Raskolnikov’s attitude towards the old pawnbroker and his motive. The footman got scared when he accidentally overheard the conversation and decided that Dostoevsky was going to kill someone.
Religious philosopher Leo Tolstoy
Here you can make a huge list of the eccentricities and oddities of the author of Anna Karenina, War and Peace and much, much more.
Firstly, as an 82-year-old man, he ran away from his wonderful wife, who could spend hours copying his works into clear copy. And all because of a discrepancy in views, which emerged only after 48 years of marriage.
Secondly, Leo Tolstoy was a vegetarian. Thirdly, the writer lost the family estate at cards. Fourth, Leo Tolstoy denied everything material goods, constantly communicated with peasants and valued physical labor. The writer said about himself that if he doesn’t work at least a little in the yard a day, he will be very irritable. He also loved to do handicrafts, especially sewing boots for relatives, friends and even strangers.
Vladimir Nabokov and his butterflies
Entomology was a huge passion for Nabokov; he could spend hours running around the area looking for beautiful butterflies.
One of the funniest photographs of Nabokov with a butterfly net. But still main love For Nabokov, the craft of writing remained. The author's principle of writing texts is interesting. The works were written on 3-by-5-inch cards, which were then used to create a book. The cards had to have pointed ends, straight lines and an elastic band.
Mystical letters of Evgeny Petrov (Kataev)
The main hobby of the co-author satirical works“Twelve Chairs”, “Golden Calf”, etc. there was collecting stamps, but even here it’s not so simple. Petrov sent letters to invented addresses to cities that did not exist on the world map. First he chose a real country, and then fantasized about what city was missing there, who would live there, etc. You may ask: why did he do this?
After long travels around the world, the letter was returned, crowned with numerous stamps marked “Addressee not found.” But one day Petrov received a response from New Zealand; everything matched: the address, the name, and even the situation described by the domestic writer. Petrov wrote in a letter that he condoled the death of a certain Uncle Pete, and asked how his wife and daughter were doing. The addressee replied that he missed Petrov, remembered the days spent with him in New Zealand, his wife and daughter also said hello and hoped to see him soon. One would think that someone was playing a joke, but the interlocutor attached a photograph that showed a large man hugging Petrov!
The poor satirist got so excited that he ended up in the hospital with pneumonia. He had absolutely no idea who the person in the photo was and had never been to New Zealand! This story was adapted into the plot of the 2012 film “The Envelope.”
