Alexander Griboyedov - Woe from wit. A gift book in a leather cover. "Woe from Wit" is a work written by Alexander Griboyedov. He was a talented diplomat, a subtle composer, but became famous primarily as a playwright. His "Woe from Wit" remains the pinnacle of poetic drama in Russia even now. The plot centers on a young nobleman Alexander Chatsky, who returns from Europe to his beloved Sophia after a three-year separation. However, he does not expect a warm welcome either from her or from the entire reactionary Moscow society. The work, which Griboyedov completed in 1824, turned out to be so bold in its satirical depiction of Russian society that its first full publication took place only thirty-eight years later. By that time, it had already earned the high praise of its contemporaries. "Half of the poems should become a proverb," Alexander Pushkin predicted. And so it turned out: many phrases from the work live in the Russian language even now.