Yevgeny Viktorovich Zharinov is a well-known Russian writer, literary critic, publicist, and translator. Professor of world literature at the philological faculty of Moscow state pedagogical University.Eugene Zharinov's new book is dedicated to the era of romanticism, a controversial moment in the history of human culture. The craze for mysticism and spiritualism was combined with the rapid development of science and medicine, industry, and mass thinking. Romanticism revealed to mankind the secret of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, introduced them to dinosaurs, gave them a tin can, and revealed the dark genius of Napoleon. Goya, Byron, Hoffman, Chopin, Nietzsche – this is an incomplete list of geniuses born during the romantic era. This book is about his influence on the development of world culture.