7 great Russian writers who suffered from gambling addiction: Pushkin, Mayakovsky and not only them

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The World Health Organization recognized gambling addiction as a disease just a few years ago, but people have suffered from this addiction for quite some time. Today, doctors help patients fight addiction with the help of medications and psychotherapy, but this does not always bring the desired results. What can we say about the past centuries, when gambling addiction was considered rather a pampering that did not require outside interference.

Alexander Pushkin

The genius poet played cards with enthusiasm and passion, sometimes losing all his fees, which, by the way, were by no means small. In those days, in fact, many were playing, but not everyone could afford to lose such amounts. To reproaches and reproaches, he replied that he would rather rather die than not play. His name and surname appeared in the list of gamblers compiled by the police, at number 36, he almost lost the second chapter of the novel "Eugene Onegin" at cards, and after the tragic death of the poet, at the behest of Nicholas I, his debt, which totaled more than 100 thousand rubles, was paid from the state treasury.

Mikhail Lermontov

Another Russian poet often played, however, it never came to the loss of the entire fortune. Perhaps only because he had a lot of money. But his passion for risk often led him to the very duels for which he became famous. An excerpt from Masquerade also speaks volumes: “Are you a man or a demon? I AM? - Player!"

Fedor Dostoevsky

The life of the great writer was like an endless run in a circle. He played a lot, almost constantly, and after a big loss he was tormented by thoughts about how to pay back gambling debts. But these same thoughts did not allow him to write, inspiration left him, and he calmed down in only one way: playing roulette. The story of the writing of the story "The Gambler" is widely known. Then, during a vacation in Baden-Baden, Fyodor Mikhailovich lost to such an extent that he was forced to deprive all cash of Polina Suslova, with whom he had been friends for a long time. The writer was so crushed by this shame that he decided to sign an essentially predatory treaty. The publisher gave him only a month to write a new book. If at the same time he violated the terms, then all rights to future works were transferred to the publishing house for a nine-year period. The "Gambler" was ready after 26 days of continuous labor. And all this time Dostoevsky had to fight the temptation to go to the gambling table.

Nikolay Nekrasov

The Russian poet seems to have inherited a passion for the game. He was a player in the fifth generation, and this vicious chronicle was started by his great-great-grandfather, who lost 7 thousand souls, played by his great-grandfather, grandfather, father and, finally, the poet himself, who was addicted to cards quite early. By the way, his passion brought a very good income, because Nekrasov most often won. True, they talked about some kind of dishonest formula that allowed him to always leave the card table with a profit, but there is no reliable information about this, although many friends turned their backs on him allegedly because of this. The card winnings allowed the poet not only to feel great, but also to maintain the Sovremennik magazine. The poet also won his last muse, Zinaida Nikolaevna, at cards.

Lev Tolstoy

Lev Nikolayevich was no stranger to addiction, but at the same time the writer was distinguished by extreme decency in the game, never deceived his colleagues, regularly repaid debts, although he also often asked for a delay. In his youth, he did not know how to stop playing at all and even lost one of the buildings in Yasnaya Polyana, which was dismantled and transported to a neighboring site, where a more successful player lived. An important role in the fact that Leo Tolstoy did not lose completely was played by his wife Sofya Andreevna, who knew how to stop his playing spree at least occasionally. And also a passion for literary works turned out to be much stronger than a card addiction. As soon as Lev Nikolayevich began to write a lot, he almost stopped playing.

Ivan Krylov

At one time, the fabulist refused the offer of Catherine II to study abroad, deciding to become a professional card player. Thus, he allegedly developed his mathematical abilities and tried to find a formula for the game that would allow him to never lose. After unsuccessful attempts, he was completely disappointed and replaced his passion for cards with a love for delicious food.

Vladimir Mayakovsky

It is known that Mayakovsky had his own miniature roulette, brought from Paris, but he usually played it without bets, solely for the opportunity to feel the inconstancy of success. However, even under such conditions, rarely did anyone agree to fight the poet because of his aggressive manner of playing. The poet's own loss upset excessively, and therefore he either began to accuse the other players of cheating, or even started a fight. In the game, he was not as lucky as he would have liked, and he was saved from ruin only by playing without money, for forfeits. He could portray a bullfighter or bring a cow into the yard as a task, and after that he was still offended and rushed to sort things out.

It seems that the constant companion of talent is not loneliness at all, as Faina Ranevskaya once argued, but a bright individuality that distinguishes geniuses from other people. That's why information about the presence of very strange habits among recognized classics of literature no longer surprising, but very interesting. Some writers had strangeness exclusively about the creative process, while others influenced their entire lives.