About the book: year / “You and I sincerely love literature. But in the life of each of us there is a period when we do not want, but must love her,” this is how Russian playwright, screenwriter and novelist Valery Pecheykin begins his collection of essays. His (un)school essays are imbued with a sincere love for the classic works of Russian literature and the desire to prove that they are actually very cool. A half-joking, half-ironic conversation on serious topics: why Gogol is creepy, how Griboedov ruined parties, who will win: Tolstoy or Shakespeare? In the end, which author adheres to the lazy cat philosophy and why Kafka is actually a great Russian writer? Valery Pecheykin is a bright phenomenon in the Russian-language book world: he is a playwright, screenwriter, writer, columnist for GQ, S7, Forbes, Kommersant Lifestyle publications, laureate of the Debut Prize in the Drama category for the play “Falcons”, laureate of the “Five Evenings” competition in memory of A. M. Volodin for the play “My Moscow”. A collection of his lectures on Russian literature “Pushkin, help!” – no less striking phenomenon of our time. The two main qualities of Pecheykin’s essay, wit and courage, allow us to look at classic works from the school literature curriculum from a new and unexpected angle.