The new book by the famous writer Yuri Polyakov “Beyond Inspiration” is a unique publication. The author not only lets the reader into his creative laboratory, but also reveals secrets that word artists usually do not share with outsiders. Before us are not just fascinating stories and pictures of literary morals, but also a kind of diary of creative introspection, which the famous prose writer and playwright has been keeping throughout his life. We get a rare opportunity to trace how, from life's losses and gains, love experiences, political and literary struggles, works crystallized that became bestsellers, the favorite reading of millions of people. This book, like everything that came from the pen of the “grotesque realist” Polyakov, is written brightly, aphoristically, cheerfully, although not without sadness about the imperfections of our world.