Everyday Life of Pushkin's Odessa

Cities, like people, carve out a place for themselves in the past and present, becoming part of the Great History. From what moment did Odessa enter domestic culture? What earned it the love of some and the dislike or even hatred of others? Who found refuge there, and whom did it reject? On the pages of the new book by historian and writer Olga Eliseeva, readers will meet not only the hot-headed, exiled poet, but also a series of other notable figures — from the pirate Lambro Kachioni and the thieving brave de Ribas to the benefactor of Southern Russia, Governor-General Vorontsov. The conflict between the latter and Pushkin, which gave rise to many legends, is shown through the eyes of contemporaries, who were not yet burdened by knowledge of the greatness and genius of the young poet. And Odessa itself is presented not only as a real city but also as an embodiment of an artistic world populated by many prototypes of Pushkin's heroes. Moreover, it is depicted as a knot of the sharpest international and domestic political contradictions — between Russia and Turkey, Greece, Italy, and Poland, between the guardians of the Empire and its opponents, the Decembrists, between freedom-loving writers and emissaries of secret societies.