Vices of geniuses: 10 Russian writers and poets who suffered from addictions and bad habits

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

Emotional instability often leads to the emergence of all sorts of addictions and addictions. The creation of works of genius has always been associated with tremendous mental stress, a kind of "living" of the life collisions of their heroes, the search for inspiration in external and not always useful sources. Some tried to relax with alcohol, while others looked for more serious remedies.

Ivan Krylov

The fabulist seemed to have collected in himself a whole bunch of vices. He visited the bathhouse only twice a year, without bothering himself with hygiene procedures, he drank any alcohol and in large quantities, and food became a real passion for him. His ability to absorb food in huge portions was legendary. At a time, he could well eat so much that would be enough for at least five people. If the dinner was not ready at home on time, Ivan Krylov was terribly annoyed and went to the cellar, where he swiftly devoured a whole pork leg with a bite of cabbage, which left a half barrel, washed down his impromptu supper with four mugs of kvass. It was rumored that he died of overeating, although the true cause of death of the fabulist was bilateral pneumonia.

Sergey Yesenin

The poet's love for alcoholic beverages has been known for a long time. After drinking too much, he became violent and almost uncontrollable, often giving up his hands. While in America, the poet managed to get drunk to epileptic seizures.

Sergei Yesenin did not pass by the fashion for the use of cocaine that reigned at that time. Creative personalities considered it almost obligatory for themselves to try what was in fashion. Galina Benislavskaya, journalist, personal secretary and friend of Yesenin, claimed that he had only tried cocaine, and even then already in America, under Isadora Duncan. Lunacharsky also claimed that Sergei Yesenin used cocaine. And the presence of a large number of cocaine friends in the poet's environment speaks volumes.

Vladimir Mayakovsky

Vladimir Mayakovsky, the mouthpiece of the revolution, did not escape his addiction to cocaine. The poet's contemporaries argued that he was always in a state of light drug intoxication, drawing his inspiration from him and giving out uneven, prancing rhymes, subsequently systematized into a specific poetic style.

In life, the poet was shy, even shy, and in public he suddenly turned into a cheeky and arrogant person, capable of being rude and unceremoniously upsetting anyone. Frequent mood swings, a tendency to depression are also the consequences of the effects of cocaine on the nervous system. The longest novel in the poet's life was with cocaine and led, as a result, to very sad consequences.

Igor Severyanin

The fashion for cocaine and Igor Severyanin did not leave indifferent. Only Zinaida Gippius spoke openly about this, but it was not a secret for anyone. At the beginning of the twentieth century, even those who resold theater tickets along with a pass to the temple of art offered buyers cocaine.

Michael Bulgakov

The writer described in detail his feelings from the use of morphine in the story of the same name. It all started with a simple injection to relieve an allergy to an anti-diphtheria vaccine. However, at that moment he still managed to cope with the addiction. The writer's first wife, Tatyana Lappa, slowly, step by step, won her husband away from this passion of his. She reduced the dosage, diluted the dosage with distilled water, then replaced it with opium. In 1918, the writer stopped taking drugs completely.

And in 1924, doctors attributed morphine to him as a pain reliever for severe kidney disease. Since then, morphine has always been present in his life. even traces of this drug were found on the manuscript of The Master and Margarita. Mikhail Bulgakov also tried cocaine and described its action in the same story "Morphine".

Alexander Blok

The poet's addiction to alcohol, the use of cocaine and morphine were not a secret for his contemporaries. Addictions undermined his already excellent health, and the actions he performed while intoxicated shocked the public. He made noise, beat dishes and poured threats against others. Alexander Blok was especially fond of the "Baltic cocktail": a fiery mixture of vodka and cocaine.

Mikhail Sholokhov

Chronic alcoholism became the cause of death of the most talented writer. Two or even three bottles of cognac a day have become his usual dose. As a result, the writer developed cirrhosis of the liver, hypertension and atherosclerosis, which killed Mikhail Sholokhov.

Joseph Brodsky

The poet was not at all a chronic alcoholic, but he could have consumed about four hundred grams of vodka at dinner. Joseph Brodsky loved whiskey and vodka infused with cilantro. However, smoking became the real passion of the genius poet. He literally did not let the cigarette out of his mouth, not giving up tobacco even after four heart attacks.

Alexander Fadeev

The writer was distinguished by an excessive passion for drinking. He could not drink for a month, and then went into binge drinking for two or three weeks. It was alcoholism that they tried to explain the suicide of Alexander Fadeev in 1956. However, its reasons were much deeper. There is a lack of understanding on the part of the authorities, and disappointment in their own work, and unsuccessful attempts to convey the truth to people.

Sergey Dovlatov

The writer himself understood the fatality of his passion for drinking, but he could not cope with the habit. By his own admission, he was constantly thinking about vodka, day and night. Even the admonitions of the doctors did not help him to fight off the addiction.

Writers, poets, and indeed any famous personalities are no different from ordinary people, they have their weaknesses, Peter I and Joseph Stalin ruled a huge country, modern stars gather whole stadiums, but they could not get rid of their obsessive phobias.