I am a literary giant in Russia

Chapter 69 Epilepsy

To be honest, on the way to meet Dostoevsky, Mikhail had been trying to control his excitement and was trying to prepare himself mentally. But despite this, he was still worried that he would appear too excited and make the young Dostoevsky feel confused.

After all, it must be said that Dostoevsky is indeed one of Mikhail's favorite writers. Now that he has the opportunity to meet his idol, even if he is facing a young version of the pretentious Dostoevsky, Mikhail still finds it difficult to control his emotions.

But at this moment, looking at Lao Tuo who was even more excited than himself, Mikhail really didn't dare to move.

Being too excited was not a good thing for Dostoevsky, who was extremely sensitive.

If historical research is correct, Dostoevsky suffered from epilepsy at an early age due to genetic and brain dysfunction, which plagued him for the rest of his life.

It seems that the first onset of the disease occurred when his father died at the age of eighteen. At the age of thirty-nine, Lao Tuo began to record in detail the time and conditions of each of his epileptic seizures. Until his death at the age of fifty-nine, he recorded a total of one hundred and two seizures, each of which was often accompanied by typical symptoms such as loss of consciousness and limb convulsions.

Such a high frequency of seizures made epilepsy almost a part of his life. It was in this ecstatic state that Lao Tuo often experienced a short and intense state of "religious ecstasy", which he described as "the ultimate happiness of being in harmony with the universe", and he was even willing to exchange ten years of his life for a few seconds of experience.

This experience is also frequently reflected in his works, such as Prince Myshkin in "The Idiot", Kirillov in "The Devils", and so on.

To be honest, Lao Tuo faced an extremely cruel reality on the one hand and an extreme spiritual experience on the other. When these two things are combined, it is not difficult to understand why his ideological and political tendencies were what they were.

However, when it comes to literature, "correctness" may be one of its evaluation criteria, but it will never be its only evaluation criterion.

After all, judging from ideological and political inclinations alone, Dostoevsky was a half-conservative. Trotsky first lived a ridiculous life as an aristocrat for half of his life, and when he was old he was still half-conservative, but this does not affect them becoming two insurmountable peaks in the history of human literature.

All we can say is that since humans are complex, literature must be complex as well. Any attempt to "simplify" humans and literature will only end up moving further away from humans and literature.

Back to the present, Mikhail smiled and shook hands with the thin blond young man in front of him for a long time. Only after he finally calmed down did Mikhail withdraw his hand and said seriously, "This is such a remarkable work that we have to bother you at this time."

"I never thought you would say that."

Looking at the young man before him who was almost identical to his imagination, young Dostoevsky finally regained the ability to speak: "No one's praise could make me happier than your praise! I almost suspect I am dreaming now."

Looking at the series of reactions of the blond young man after his arrival, Mikhail finally realized that he was indeed a little famous now, otherwise he would not have caused such a big reaction from Lao Tuo.

Nekrasov and Grigorovich, who were standing nearby, didn't find this scene strange at all, and seemed to think it was quite normal. When they finally had a chance to speak, they all started to express their opinions on the work "Poor People".

As they spoke, they couldn't help but raise their voices. Young Dostoevsky was infected by their passion and began to exchange his thoughts and opinions with them.

We talked about poetry, discussed truth, and discussed the situation at the time. Well, we must discuss the situation.

At the same time, Gogol was also discussed, and "The Inspector General" and "Dead Souls" were quoted, but the main topic was still Mikhail and Belinsky. When talking about Mikhail, people mainly quoted his works and his legendary experience of becoming famous.

Speaking of Belinsky, Nekrasov couldn't help but reveal his admiration and affection for Belinsky during the conversation, and he said with great confidence: "I will send your novel to him today, and you will see what kind of character he is! And I can assure you that his attitude towards your work will definitely not be inferior to his attitude towards Mikhail's work!"

Of course, Mikhail also joined in the conversation throughout the conversation. Although he did not speak very often, in Dostoevsky's view, every time he spoke, he went straight to the point, and his views immediately distinguished him from others.

The conciseness and sharpness of his speech are no less impressive than his novels!
Although this thin blond young man was talking to Nekrasov and the others, his eyes would still look at Mikhail from time to time. Mikhail could only smile at the young old man with a rather strange feeling.

By the way, although they were still shouting so late, a lean camel is bigger than a horse, and Lao Tuo still has his brother to rely on. Therefore, even if he has no job, Lao Tuo does live better than Mikhail, so no one interrupts their conversation.

Mikhail: “.”

It turned out that it was my fault that Nekrasov and Demi were so restrained last time.
Although there were still many things they could talk about, time was of the essence. After they had expressed all their excitement at once, they slowly stopped talking as they became slightly aware of something.

At the end, it was Nekrasov, still a little excited, who spoke up: "Okay, now you go to sleep, sleep, we will leave now, and you can come to us in a few days. I think we still have a lot to talk about."

Since the conversation had reached this point, although the blond young man was indeed a little reluctant and even wished that this moment could last forever, he finally nodded seriously and said, "I understand. I look forward to tomorrow."

Before leaving, Mikhail walked towards Lao Tuo again and said with a smile: "This meeting was really a bit hasty. I look forward to seeing you at the next party."

Well, it should be at someone else's party, cough cough
Mikhail thought so, but after hearing this, the young old man couldn't help but start to fantasize.
After seeing Lao Tuo's expression, Mikhail suddenly understood something.

Well, should I suggest to Belinsky that we change the name of our Hungry Writers Club to the Fantasy Writers Club?
(End of this chapter)