Notes from the Madhouse: Ward No. Six

People call the insane mentally ill, and all of Russian literature—whether poetry or prose—is obsessed with studying sick souls, with all their wonderful surges and disgusting flaws.

Great poets and writers themselves experienced nervous breakdowns and psychological crises, and sometimes even teetered on the edge of madness. Their life experience allowed them to describe quite accurately the suffering of a person crushed by heavy thoughts, dried up by fears and anxieties, tormented by inner contradictions. The authors of the stories we offer you did not set out to depict the characters’ madness or to show the everyday life of psychiatric hospitals. No—each human tragedy, for them, was a search for answers to eternal questions. How not to become a victim of obsessive ideas and illusions that destroy consciousness? What helps to tame the demons raging in one’s head? Should one trust the inner voice without question? Is it possible not to go insane from everyday routine and constant failures? The writers’ thoughts—deep and clear—are as relevant today as never before.

In the works of Tolstoy, Gogol, Chekhov, and others, harsh, granite-marble realism coexists with subtle irony and light, weightless fantasies. Just like in real life. That’s why each story in this collection can replace for a modern listener a many-hour course in psychotherapy.

Contents:

Leonid Andreev "Ghosts"

Nikolay Gogol "Notes of a Madman"

Dmitry Tsenzor "Nightmare"

Leo Tolstoy "Notes of a Madman"

Mikhail Artsybashev "Laughter"

Anton Chekhov "Ward No. 6"