[Jun8]

Sometimes it does come in handy, case in point, Sophia Tolstaya (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophia_Tolstaya):

“ Sophia acted as copyist of War and Peace, copying and editing the manuscript seven times from beginning to end at home at night by candlelight after the children and servants had gone to bed, using an inkwell pen and sometimes requiring a magnifying glass to read her husband's notes.”

Stop and think about that: WaP in Russian is 1225 pages. Seven times!

[richiebful1]

That seems to be extremely common in that time period. Fyodor Dostoevsky got married to his stenographer, Anna Dostoevskaya (neé Snitkina).

The story of Fyodor's proposal (excerpted from Wikipedia) is pure gold:

In the Memoirs, Anna describes how Dostoevsky began his marriage proposal by outlining the plot of an imaginary new novel, as if he needed her advice on female psychology. In the story an old painter makes a proposal to a young girl whose name is Anya. Dostoevsky asked if it was possible for a girl so young and different in personality to fall in love with the painter. Anna answered that it was quite possible. Then he told Anna: "Put yourself in her place for a moment. Imagine I am the painter, I confessed to you and asked you to be my wife. What would you answer?" Anna said: "I would answer that I love you and I will love you forever".

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Dostoevskaya