The text of the book convinces of the psychological veracity of expression necessary for any novel and its pictorial brightness. However, it is worth giving two or three examples in advance. About the young, enthusiastic wife of Knyazhnin Ivan Andreevich Gordin writes: "As usual, the Krylov lovers from a distance from their timid desires, deduced a daring conclusion that he enjoys the deep and partly secret location of Katerina Alexandrovna." One can also note the light metaphorical depiction of Gordin's prose, his specific vision of the world. Here are a few details: "a small violin with a convex nape," "a narrow sand muzzle of a pistol," the moon during the day - like a glass mark on a tablecloth... Even from these small examples, it is clear in which direction Gordin's book deviates from other biographies of the great fabulist. For example, from the book of N. L. Stepanov, published in the ZhZL series and of a historical and monographic nature, or from the book of I. V. Sergeev "Ivan Andreevich Krylov," intended for a young reader... We are always interested not only in the canonical texts of classical works, not only encyclopedic data on the biographies of their creators, but the atmosphere itself, in which these works, realities and paints of the era were created, which are saturated with books known to all of us from a young age.