The Tales of Belkin

Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin 1799-1837 - the greatest Russian poet and prose writer. In Russian literature, Pushkin stands apart: the sun of our poetry, according to the writer V. Odoevsky, was the first to lay the foundations of realism in Russian... literature and transformed the language so much that the works of the 19th century are read as contemporary. Alexander Sergeyevich was born in Moscow, into the family of a military adviser, an amateur poet and a socialite, the granddaughter of Hannibal, the African Abram Hannibal, who was a servant and student of Peter I, and later a general, from an old noble but poor family. He began writing poetry while still in the Lyceum - a privileged educational institution for noble children, and at the age of 15, at an open examination, made a splash by reading his Memories in Tsarskoye Selo and earning the enthusiastic approval of a living classic - Gavrila Derzhavin. Pushkin was not overlooked by fame during his lifetime: he was called a genius in the press and the first Russian poet, he was favored by Emperor Nicholas I, every work of his became an event for the reading public, but as a civil servant, Pushkin served as titular adviser, and censorship restrictions constrained his talent. However, the concentration of work created during his 37 years of life is astounding: it includes piercing poems, a great novel in verse, delightful tales, brilliant prose, and, of course, beautiful poems. A remarkable quality of Pushkin's work is the vivid poetic power and precision of images alongside brevity. The Tales of Belkin 1830 - the first prose work of Pushkin, completed, published and, alas, not successful. It was written in just over 40 days in the village of Bolshoye Boldino in the autumn of 1830, where Pushkin languished, waiting to go to his fiancée: the road was closed due to cholera quarantines. However, this involuntary imprisonment became one of the most productive periods in his creativity. This period is known as the Boldino Autumn: during this time, Little Tragedies, the final chapters of Eugene Onegin, The Tale of the Priest and His Worker Balda, The History of the Village of Goryukhino, The House in Kolomna, and about 30 poems were born. Belkin is listed on the cover of the first edition as the author, but he is a fictional character, as are the five stories created in different genres: gothic, sentimentalism and realism.