Published for the first time in Russian, one of the most famous works of the famous English writer and critic William Hazlitt (1778-1830) “Table Talk” (1821) consists of thirty-three essays on a variety of topics (about great and small, about the past and the future, about the ignorance of scientists, about genius and common sense, about the picturesque and the ideal, about the fear of death, about travel, etc.). Hazlitt’s originality as an essayist is manifested in his amazing ability to comprehensively study the subject under consideration, each time to find something in the ordinary. something new, unexpected, to admire the familiar, to express an original thought about things worn out to the point of banality. He never falls into a moralizing tone, into abstruse reasoning; his philosophy is the philosophy of an ordinary person, distracted from everyday life, who saw behind the dullness of life's routine the colorful world of reality and art. The writer is of particular interest to the person, his life, character traits, abilities and talents, advantages and disadvantages; nature as the basis of being and the main criterion for artistic creativity; social phenomena; art and literature - and Hazlitt sometimes interprets everything in such a way that it completely brings down or forces us to critically reconsider our long-established ideas about the world. The author of the essays concludes his deep, often paradoxical thoughts in statements that are laconic in form, but capacious in content, included in the “golden fund” of aphorisms. Heinrich Heine, who followed his literary method in his "Travel Pictures". Two volumes of Haslitt’s works were kept in Pushkin’s library, and on some pages “sharp fingernail marks” are visible... In addition to “Table Talks”, this edition includes essays from other collections of the writer: about Shakespearean characters - Hamlet and King Lear, about outstanding writers who lived at the same time as Hazlitt - Lord Byron and Sir Walter Scott, as well as some others. The publication is equipped with scientific articles (about the life and work of Hazlitt, about his aesthetic views and about one of his essays); detailed notes that help reveal the author’s extraordinary erudition in the field of literature and art; indexes of names, literary and artistic works; illustrations. CONTENTS: TABLE TALKSI. About the enjoyment of painting. Per. S.L.Sukhareva (9).II. About the enjoyment of painting (End). Per. S.L. Sukhareva (19).III. About the past and the future. Per. S.S.Shik (29).IV. Genius and common sense. Per. S.S.Shik (39).V. Genius and common sense (End). Per. S.S.Shik (51).VI. Portrait of Cobbett. Per. S.S.Shik (60).VII. About obsession with one idea. Per. N.Ya.Dyakonova (70).VIII. About the ignorance of scientists. Per. I.B. Komarova (81).IX. Indian jugglers. Per. T.B. Kadachigova (90).X. About those who live their own lives. Per. N.Ya.Dyakonova (103).XI. Thought and action. Per. N.Ya.Dyakonova (115).XII. About making wills. Per. N.V.Ekimova (127).XIII. About some contradictions in the Lectures of Sir Joshua Reynolds. Per. M.V.Kurennaya (137).XIV. Continuing the conversation we started. Per. M.V.Kurennaya (148).XV. Paradox and banality. Per. N.Ya.Dyakonova (165).XVI. Vulgarity and affectation. Per. N.Ya.Dyakonova (177).XVII. Landscape by Nicolas Poussin. Per. N.Ya.Dyakonova (190).XVIII. Milton's Sonnets. Per. N.Ya.Dyakonova (196).XIX. About travel. Per. S.S.Shik (203).XX. Coffee shop politicians. Per. S.S.Shik (212).XXI. About the literary aristocracy. Per. N.Ya.Dyakonova (228).XXII. About criticism. Per. N.Ya.Dyakonova (239).XXIII. About great and small. Per. N.Ya.Dyakonova (253).XXIV. About the simplicity of the syllable. Per. N.Ya.Dyakonova (269).XXV. About delicacy of character. Per. N.Ya.Dyakonova (276).XXVI. Why do we like everything distant? Per. N.Ya.Dyakonova (284).XXVII. About corporate associations. Per. N.Ya.Dyakonova (293).XXVIII. Should an actor sit in a box? Per. N.Ya.Dyakonova (302).XXIX. On the dangers of mental superiority. Per. N.Ya.Dyakonova (310).XXX. Patronage and praise. Per. N.Ya.Dyakonova (320).XXXI. On understanding character traits. Per. N.Ya.Dyakonova (335).XXII. About the picturesque and ideal (Excerpt). Per. N.Ya.Dyakonova (350).ХХХIII. About the fear of death. Per. N.Ya.Dyakonova (355).ADDITIONS:Hamlet. Per. S.L. Sukhareva (367).Lyr. Per. S.L. Sukhareva (374). About poetry in general. Per. N.Ya.Dyakonova (394).Sir Walter Scott. Per. N.Ya.Dyakonova (412).Lord Byron. Per. N.Ya.Dyakonova (424).About reason and imagination. Per. M.V. Kurennaya (435). About the joys of hatred. Per. M.V. Kurennaya (448). Farewell to the art of essays. Per. L.A. Sifurova (459). APPENDICES: N.Ya. Dyakonova. Romantic essays by William Hazlitt (469). A.Yu. Zinoviev. “Turn into anything”: Aesthetic views of William Hazlitt (485). A.A. Lipinskaya. Compositional features of W. Hazlitt’s essay “On travel" (519). Notes. Comp. A.A. Lipinskaya (523). Main dates of the life and work of William Hazlitt (633). Index of names. Comp. A.A. Lipinskaya and L.A. Sifurova (638). Index of literary works. Comp. L.A.Sifurova (667).Index of works of fine art. Comp. L.A. Sifurova (673).List of illustrations (676).