One of the most accomplished poets of the 19th century, Konstantin Nikolaevich Batyushkov (1787–1855) occupies a special place in the history of Russian literature as the immediate and closest predecessor of Pushkin. In an everyday sense, fate turned out to be extremely cruel to him: he did not make a career, although he was a brave officer; he was unable to arrange his personal life, although he passionately dreamed of love, and his creative biography ended, as they say, on takeoff. Joys and good fortune generally passed him by, and even more often he himself ran away from them, turning his life into an endless series of troubles and misfortunes. How it all ended is well known: Batyushkov spent the last thirty-odd years in an unconscious state, completely losing his mind and actually dropping out of the list of the living.

these famous lines were written by Pushkin under the impression of his last meeting with a madman poet... In the book offered to the attention of readers, Batyushkov’s biography is presented in the most complete form to date; all the latest observations and findings of researchers studying the life and work of the poet are taken into account. Among other things, the author set as her goal the correction of long-standing mistakes and numerous myths arising around the figure of this brilliant and deeply unhappy man.