About the book: 1989 / The novel "The Sorcerer on the Sukharev Tower" (fragment published in 1840) about Field Marshal Y. V. Bruce, who was reputed to be a warlock, remained unfinished. Perhaps this was facilitated by the unusual epistolary form (a fragment of the novel represents four letters from famous historical figures), which did not give the opportunity for the writer’s favorite subjective-lyrical style of narration to emerge and fettered him. However, this only chapter of the failed novel, written vividly and captivatingly, deserves the reader’s attention, as, for example, does its fragment of Pushkin’s unfinished novel “Arap of Peter the Great” deserve».