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," in the words of the writer V. Odoyevsky, he 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, in the family of a military advisor, an amateur poet, and a cultured lady, the granddaughter of Hannibal (the African Abram Hannibal was a servant and pupil of Peter I, and later a general), from an old, not wealthy noble family. He began writing poetry while still at the Lyceum - a privileged educational institution for noble children, and at 15, at an open examination, he made a sensation by reciting his "Memories in Tsarskoye Selo" and earning the enthusiastic approval of the living classic - Gavriil Derzhavin. Pushkin was not deprived of glory during his life: the press called him a genius and "the first Russian poet," he was favored by Emperor Nicholas I, and each of his creations became an event for the reading public, but the work of a civil servant (Pushkin served as titular counselor) and censorship restrictions constrained his talent. However, the concentration of what he created in his 37 years of life is astonishing: these are both piercing poems, and a great novel in verse, and charming tales, and brilliant prose, and of course, beautiful poems. A remarkable feature of Pushkin's creativity is the vivid poetic power and accuracy of images alongside brevity. "The Tales of Belkin" (1830) is Pushkin's first completed prose work, 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, awaiting his journey to his fiancée: the road to the outside was closed due to cholera quarantines. However, this involuntary confinement became one of the most productive periods of his life.