Publisher Alexander Pushkin. Literary Income of Pushkin

The role of Pushkin in the evolution of Russian literary life remains completely unclear, and his name has hopelessly dropped out of the history of the emergence of professional writers in our Motherland. Meanwhile, his role here is colossal. The... literary fee — like a salary — was established by Pushkin. By providing the material side of literary work, Pushkin gave many of his contemporaries the physical opportunity to create. Literary work, freeing writers from the tedious necessity of toiling in some office, ensured their freedom and independence. This book, which first appeared in a modest edition back in the thirties at the publishing house 'Academia', details how Pushkin the entrepreneur acted, what schemes he devised, how he negotiated with publishers and booksellers, where he succeeded and where he was groundlessly seduced by the desire for enrichment. 'Soon after returning from exile, Pushkin hosted a lavish dinner at the Dominica restaurant. The enterprising hussar, Count Zavadovsky, sarcastically remarked on this: — However, Alexander Sergeyevich, it seems, your wallet is quite stuffed. — But I am richer than you, — the poet retorted, — you sometimes have to live frugally and wait for money from the village, while I have a constant income from the thirty-six letters of the Russian alphabet.'