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Tales of Belkin and Other Prose Writings
Alexander Pushkin was Russia's first true literary genius. Best known for his poetry, he also wrote sparkling prose that revealed his national culture with elegance and understated humour. Here, his gift for portraying the Russian people is fully revealed. "The Tales of Belkin", his first prose masterpiece, presents a series of interlinked stories narrated by a good-hearted Russian squire - among them "The Shot", in which a duel is revisited after many years, and the grotesque "The Undertaker". Elsewhere, works such as the novel-fragment "Roslavlev" and the "Egyptian Nights", the tale of an Italian balladeer seeking an audience in St. Petersberg, demonstrate the wide range of Pushkin's fiction. "A Journey to Arzrum", the final piece in this collection, offers an autobiographical account of Pushkin's own experiences during the 1829 war between Russia and Turkey, and remains one of the greatest of all pieces of journalistic adventure writing.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1836
About the author
Alexander Pushkin
1,576 books3,106 followersWorks of Russian writer Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin include the verse novel
Eugene Onegin
(1831), the play
Boris Godunov
(1831), and many narrative and lyrical poems and short stories.
See also:
Russian: Александр Сергеевич Пушкин
French: Alexandre Pouchkine
Norwegian: Aleksander Pusjkin
Spanish:Aleksandr Pushkin
People consider this author the greatest poet and the founder of modern literature. Pushkin pioneered the use of vernacular speech in his poems, creating a style of storytelling—mixing drama, romance, and satire—associated ever with greatly influential later literature.
Pushkin published his first poem at the age of 15 years in 1814, and the literary establishment widely recognized him before the time of his graduation from the imperial lyceum in Tsarskoe Selo. Social reform gradually committed Pushkin, who emerged as a spokesman for literary radicals and in the early 1820s clashed with the government, which sent him into exile in southern Russia. Under the strict surveillance of government censors and unable to travel or publish at will, he wrote his most famous drama but ably published it not until years later. People published his verse serially from 1825 to 1832.
Pushkin and his wife Natalya Goncharova, whom he married in 1831, later became regulars of court society. In 1837, while falling into ever greater debt amidst rumors that his wife started conducting a scandalous affair, Pushkin challenged her alleged lover, Georges d'Anthès, to a duel. Pushkin was mortally wounded and died two days later.
Because of his liberal political views and influence on generations of Russian rebels, Pushkin was portrayed by Bolsheviks as an opponent to bourgeois literature and culture and a predecessor of Soviet literature and poetry. Tsarskoe Selo was renamed after him.
See also:
Russian: Александр Сергеевич Пушкин
French: Alexandre Pouchkine
Norwegian: Aleksander Pusjkin
Spanish:Aleksandr Pushkin
People consider this author the greatest poet and the founder of modern literature. Pushkin pioneered the use of vernacular speech in his poems, creating a style of storytelling—mixing drama, romance, and satire—associated ever with greatly influential later literature.
Pushkin published his first poem at the age of 15 years in 1814, and the literary establishment widely recognized him before the time of his graduation from the imperial lyceum in Tsarskoe Selo. Social reform gradually committed Pushkin, who emerged as a spokesman for literary radicals and in the early 1820s clashed with the government, which sent him into exile in southern Russia. Under the strict surveillance of government censors and unable to travel or publish at will, he wrote his most famous drama but ably published it not until years later. People published his verse serially from 1825 to 1832.
Pushkin and his wife Natalya Goncharova, whom he married in 1831, later became regulars of court society. In 1837, while falling into ever greater debt amidst rumors that his wife started conducting a scandalous affair, Pushkin challenged her alleged lover, Georges d'Anthès, to a duel. Pushkin was mortally wounded and died two days later.
Because of his liberal political views and influence on generations of Russian rebels, Pushkin was portrayed by Bolsheviks as an opponent to bourgeois literature and culture and a predecessor of Soviet literature and poetry. Tsarskoe Selo was renamed after him.
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November 21, 2019My crossing of the Caucasus mountains was memorable for the fact that near Kobi I was overtaken by a storm during the night.
That line is from the travel diary at the end of this book. In it, Alexander Pushkin records his journey from Moscow to join his regiment at Arzrum on the Turkish front in 1829. I enjoyed his descriptions of the journey very much, especially because of the many parallels with Mikhail Lermontov's account of a traveller of the same period in the same region which I'd read recently.
There were other echoes of Lermontov's writing in the stories in this book, especially in the first of the Belkin tales, called 'The Shot'. That story concerns a former hussar called Silvio whose skill with pistols is incomparable. But even so he is mysteriously reluctant to be drawn into a duel. He reminded me of Lermontov's Hero of Our Time, Grigory Pechorin. Like Pechorin, Silvio's moral code is very hard to fathom. However, he is admired by those around him although Pushkin himself doesn't seem to admire him, or that was how I understood the story, feeling that the author intended us to see Silvio as a pathetic figure. Lermontov, on the other hand, seemed to present his Pechorin as a figure to be admired, or at least to be sympathised with.
But perhaps comparing Silvio and Pechorin is a mistake because it's generally thought that Lermontov's hero is closer to Pushkin's more famous duelist character, Eugene Onegin, and there are definite similarities. Both are desperately bored, and their boredom leads them to provoke others in order to feel more alive themselves. But where Onegin can't easily deal with the consequences of his actions, Pechorin goes blithely on his way.
There are other parallels between Pushkin's and Lermontov's books. I'd been intrigued by how Lermontov inserted stories within stories, some of them contained in papers that had come into his narrator's possession. 'Tales of Belkin' is constructed in a similar way. First there's an editor who presents us with a collection of stories that came into his posession via Ivan Petrovich Belkin's heirs. The editor, whose initials are A. P., tells us that he heard from a friend of Belkin that the stories were copied down from people in the district where Belkin lived. That friend also claims Belkin had written stories of his own invention, and even a novel, though unfortunately that didn't survive. I'll let you hear the destiny of the novel in the friend's own words:
Besides the tales which you are good enough to mention in your letter, Ivan Petrovich left a large number of manuscripts, some of which are in my possession and some of which were used by his housekeeper for various domestic needs. Thus all the windows in her wing of the house were pasted over last winter with the first part of a novel which he never completed.
The friend goes on to report that in the autumn of 1828, Ivan Petrovich caught a catarrhal chill which developed into a fever, and he died despite the untiring ministrations of our local doctor, a highly skilled gentleman, especially in the treatment of deep-rooted ailments such as corns and the like.
Besides Belkin's five tales, this edition includes a history of Belkin's village of Guryukhino, and three unrelated stories, one of which is the unfinished 'Roslavlev'.
That story is interesting for several reasons, but especially because the narrator is a young woman when normally Pushkin's narrators are male. Her voice is quite convincing.
The young woman tells us that she has picked up her pen in order to right certain wrongs perpetrated against her friend Polina. It seems a famous writer called Zagoskin wrote an historical novel called 'Roslavlev or the Russians in 1812', about the same Polina.
Pushkin is having fun here as there really was such a writer and such a book. Needless to say Pushkin didn't approve of Zagoskin's novel.
Another aspect of this story I enjoyed was that French writer Madame de Staël appears in it on one of her visits to Moscow.
Ladies and gentlemen gathered to stare at her and were, for the most part, displeased with her. What they saw was a fat, fifty-year-old woman, dressed too youthfully for her years. They did not like her tone, her speeches seemed far too long and her sleeves far too short....She was sitting in the place of honour, elbows on the table, furling and unfurling a roll of paper with her pretty fingers. She seemed in low spirits; on several occasions she started to speak but could not get into the conversation. Our wits ate and drank their fill, and appeared more satisfied with the Prince’s fish soup than with Madame de Staël’s conversation. The ladies behaved stiffly. They and the others only rarely broke the silence, convinced of the insignificance of their thoughts and inhibited in the presence of the European celebrity.
Apart from the frequent mentions of Madame de Staël's novel, Corinne, and the theme of intellectually gifted women such as the narrator and her friend Polina, this story is of interest for the way it describes the sudden reaction against everything French which Moscow society experienced when news came of Napoleon's troops drawing near the city in 1812. It seems people immediately emptied their boxes of French snuff and started to take Russian; some people burnt French pamphlets by the dozen; some renounced Château Lafite and took to sour cabbage soup. Everyone vowed to give up speaking French; everyone raved about Pozharsky and Minin and started to preach about the people’s war while preparing to depart for their Saratov estates with hired horses.
Pushkin does satire very well.
This collection of prose ends with the travel diary I mentioned at the beginning of the review. Unfortunately, it is not very long—I could have read many more pages of Pushkin's travel inspired thoughts.
‘What mountain is that?’ I asked, stretching myself, and I received the reply, ‘That’s Ararat.’ How powerful an effect a few vowels can have! I glanced at the biblical mountain, and I saw the ark moored to its summit in the hope of life’s renewal–and the raven and the dove flying forth from it, symbols of punishment and reconciliation.
That line is from the travel diary at the end of this book. In it, Alexander Pushkin records his journey from Moscow to join his regiment at Arzrum on the Turkish front in 1829. I enjoyed his descriptions of the journey very much, especially because of the many parallels with Mikhail Lermontov's account of a traveller of the same period in the same region which I'd read recently.
There were other echoes of Lermontov's writing in the stories in this book, especially in the first of the Belkin tales, called 'The Shot'. That story concerns a former hussar called Silvio whose skill with pistols is incomparable. But even so he is mysteriously reluctant to be drawn into a duel. He reminded me of Lermontov's Hero of Our Time, Grigory Pechorin. Like Pechorin, Silvio's moral code is very hard to fathom. However, he is admired by those around him although Pushkin himself doesn't seem to admire him, or that was how I understood the story, feeling that the author intended us to see Silvio as a pathetic figure. Lermontov, on the other hand, seemed to present his Pechorin as a figure to be admired, or at least to be sympathised with.
But perhaps comparing Silvio and Pechorin is a mistake because it's generally thought that Lermontov's hero is closer to Pushkin's more famous duelist character, Eugene Onegin, and there are definite similarities. Both are desperately bored, and their boredom leads them to provoke others in order to feel more alive themselves. But where Onegin can't easily deal with the consequences of his actions, Pechorin goes blithely on his way.
There are other parallels between Pushkin's and Lermontov's books. I'd been intrigued by how Lermontov inserted stories within stories, some of them contained in papers that had come into his narrator's possession. 'Tales of Belkin' is constructed in a similar way. First there's an editor who presents us with a collection of stories that came into his posession via Ivan Petrovich Belkin's heirs. The editor, whose initials are A. P., tells us that he heard from a friend of Belkin that the stories were copied down from people in the district where Belkin lived. That friend also claims Belkin had written stories of his own invention, and even a novel, though unfortunately that didn't survive. I'll let you hear the destiny of the novel in the friend's own words:
Besides the tales which you are good enough to mention in your letter, Ivan Petrovich left a large number of manuscripts, some of which are in my possession and some of which were used by his housekeeper for various domestic needs. Thus all the windows in her wing of the house were pasted over last winter with the first part of a novel which he never completed.
The friend goes on to report that in the autumn of 1828, Ivan Petrovich caught a catarrhal chill which developed into a fever, and he died despite the untiring ministrations of our local doctor, a highly skilled gentleman, especially in the treatment of deep-rooted ailments such as corns and the like.
Besides Belkin's five tales, this edition includes a history of Belkin's village of Guryukhino, and three unrelated stories, one of which is the unfinished 'Roslavlev'.
That story is interesting for several reasons, but especially because the narrator is a young woman when normally Pushkin's narrators are male. Her voice is quite convincing.
The young woman tells us that she has picked up her pen in order to right certain wrongs perpetrated against her friend Polina. It seems a famous writer called Zagoskin wrote an historical novel called 'Roslavlev or the Russians in 1812', about the same Polina.
Pushkin is having fun here as there really was such a writer and such a book. Needless to say Pushkin didn't approve of Zagoskin's novel.
Another aspect of this story I enjoyed was that French writer Madame de Staël appears in it on one of her visits to Moscow.
Ladies and gentlemen gathered to stare at her and were, for the most part, displeased with her. What they saw was a fat, fifty-year-old woman, dressed too youthfully for her years. They did not like her tone, her speeches seemed far too long and her sleeves far too short....She was sitting in the place of honour, elbows on the table, furling and unfurling a roll of paper with her pretty fingers. She seemed in low spirits; on several occasions she started to speak but could not get into the conversation. Our wits ate and drank their fill, and appeared more satisfied with the Prince’s fish soup than with Madame de Staël’s conversation. The ladies behaved stiffly. They and the others only rarely broke the silence, convinced of the insignificance of their thoughts and inhibited in the presence of the European celebrity.
Apart from the frequent mentions of Madame de Staël's novel, Corinne, and the theme of intellectually gifted women such as the narrator and her friend Polina, this story is of interest for the way it describes the sudden reaction against everything French which Moscow society experienced when news came of Napoleon's troops drawing near the city in 1812. It seems people immediately emptied their boxes of French snuff and started to take Russian; some people burnt French pamphlets by the dozen; some renounced Château Lafite and took to sour cabbage soup. Everyone vowed to give up speaking French; everyone raved about Pozharsky and Minin and started to preach about the people’s war while preparing to depart for their Saratov estates with hired horses.
Pushkin does satire very well.
This collection of prose ends with the travel diary I mentioned at the beginning of the review. Unfortunately, it is not very long—I could have read many more pages of Pushkin's travel inspired thoughts.
‘What mountain is that?’ I asked, stretching myself, and I received the reply, ‘That’s Ararat.’ How powerful an effect a few vowels can have! I glanced at the biblical mountain, and I saw the ark moored to its summit in the hope of life’s renewal–and the raven and the dove flying forth from it, symbols of punishment and reconciliation.
July 21, 2020
"Moral commonplaces are amazingly useful when we can find little in ourselves with which to justify our actions."
Tales of Belkin and Other Prose Writings is mostly a disarming and amusing collection of short stories. What's surprising was how much I enjoyed the stories involving romantic conquests and satirical dramas involving peasantry life (in stories 'The Blizzard', 'The Undertaker', 'The Postmaster', and 'The Squire's Daughter'). Pushkin's prose conveys erudition in their lighthearted coincidences and humorous parodies. More so in rare times where it tickles the ridiculous indulgence of the upper classes and pokes fun with the entitlement and arrogance of men (in the story 'Roslavlev' one female character said in disdain: "There is no doubt that Russian women are better educated, read more, and think more than the men, who are busy with God knows what.") However, the latter stories prove to be a bore and a challenge. My limited knowledge of the Russo-Turkish war made my attention drift and leave now and then that I couldn't care less how it all ended. But the title should have been a giveaway. The Tales of Belkin is a staple of Russian short stories, I dare say, next to Chekhov's whilst the other prose writings are of an acquired taste.
Tales of Belkin and Other Prose Writings is mostly a disarming and amusing collection of short stories. What's surprising was how much I enjoyed the stories involving romantic conquests and satirical dramas involving peasantry life (in stories 'The Blizzard', 'The Undertaker', 'The Postmaster', and 'The Squire's Daughter'). Pushkin's prose conveys erudition in their lighthearted coincidences and humorous parodies. More so in rare times where it tickles the ridiculous indulgence of the upper classes and pokes fun with the entitlement and arrogance of men (in the story 'Roslavlev' one female character said in disdain: "There is no doubt that Russian women are better educated, read more, and think more than the men, who are busy with God knows what.") However, the latter stories prove to be a bore and a challenge. My limited knowledge of the Russo-Turkish war made my attention drift and leave now and then that I couldn't care less how it all ended. But the title should have been a giveaway. The Tales of Belkin is a staple of Russian short stories, I dare say, next to Chekhov's whilst the other prose writings are of an acquired taste.
February 4, 2013
I would like to think that anyone who's read Pushkin would agree that his prose are quite elegant, his characters have this quality of being so veridical, in short reading Pushkin is an absolute delight.
November 15, 2020
These are entertaining and well-written stories, but I found this book ultimately rather disappointing. The short stories remind me of Guy de Maupassant: there's a similar feeling of sitting around the campfire and being told a good yarn by a skilled raconteur. Given Pushkin's fame, I was expecting a level of artistry and philosophical profundity comparable to Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Chekhov, Turgenev and others. Instead, I found the stories engaging and illuminating, but nothing earth-shattering. If you're a big fan of Russian literature, however, this book is still worth a read.
June 9, 2024
When I was 15 years old or so, I read Pushkin's story 'The Queen of Spades'. I remember nothing about it apart from the fact I enjoyed it. Many many years later I have read some more of his prose and again I enjoyed the experience. The five 'Tales of Belkin' in this volume are entertaining. They feature duels, accidental weddings, ghosts and romantic escapades, etc, and they are linked by a very unobtrusive framing device. My favourite was 'The Undertaker'.
Of the other stories in the book, I liked 'Kirdzhali' a lot. It is very short and pithy. 'Egyptian Nights' was wonderful and had the potential to be a true masterpiece but it turns out to be an incomplete fragment that breaks off suddenly. The true masterpiece in this volume is the one example of Pushkin's non-fiction, a war memoir, namely 'A Journey to Azrum at the time of the 1829 Campaign', which fully engaged my attention.
Of the other stories in the book, I liked 'Kirdzhali' a lot. It is very short and pithy. 'Egyptian Nights' was wonderful and had the potential to be a true masterpiece but it turns out to be an incomplete fragment that breaks off suddenly. The true masterpiece in this volume is the one example of Pushkin's non-fiction, a war memoir, namely 'A Journey to Azrum at the time of the 1829 Campaign', which fully engaged my attention.
February 20, 2008
Suggested to me by Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy in his Diaries (one mess of a romp themselves). These charming stories are an old-school treat. Ah, when stories were stories -- and a real look at old Mother Russia, they are, too. Pushkin is known as a poet, but if you haven't sampled his prose, this is the book to remedy that.
November 17, 2017
These are absolutely fantastic short stories written by the greatest poet who ever lived. Pushkin's prose flows easily and beautifully and is a joy to read through and through.
February 13, 2020
¡Me han gustado mucho!
Pushkin mola.
Pushkin mola.
September 2, 2020
Sepilihan prosa by Alexander Pushkin..
Buku dengan 281 halaman terdiri dari 6 cerita singkat yaitu badai salju,pengurus pemakaman,kepala stasiun pos,putri sang tuan tanah,ratu sekop dan putri sang kapten... Dari keseluruhan cerita saya suka sekali..pushkin menceritakan setiap kisah dengan karakter berbeda,latar belakang cerita dan kondisi yang variatif...jadi setiap ceritanya memiliki kesan2 yang berbeda..akan tetapi peran2 dalam kisah2 tsb pushkin selalu menggambarkan karakter pria sebagai laki2 yang gentleman dan sosok wanita yang lemah lembut namun berkarakter kuat.. Mungkin itulah perjalanan beberapa cerita pendeknya sampai di novel fenomenalnya eugene onegin yang lebih matang dan mendalam..walaupun menurut selera saya, cerita singkat di dalam sepilihan prosa ini sudah termasuk kisah yang berat dan mendalam...bukan kisah yg sederhana. Pushkin menceritakan dengan indah dan serius dengan alur cerita yang tidak bisa ditebak.. Kisahnya itu luas,menceritakan kehidupan desa,kehidupan politik,gaya hidup dan lain2 ... Jadi pantas betul pushkin menjadi pelopor sastrawan modern..memang karya2nya penuh sentuhan dan gambaran yang luas mengenai kehidupan yang saya rasa pushkin sendiri mengamati dan mengalaminya..karena sosoknya sebagai bangsawan dan suka traveling peka terhadap sekitar... Saya paling suka kisah putri sang tuan tanah karena ada unsur komedinya dan yang paling berkesan adalah kisah ratu sekop yang menurut saya ada unsur horror psychologynya begitu cerdas ... Jadi untuk sepilihan prosa ini saya berikan 4 🌟...
Buku dengan 281 halaman terdiri dari 6 cerita singkat yaitu badai salju,pengurus pemakaman,kepala stasiun pos,putri sang tuan tanah,ratu sekop dan putri sang kapten... Dari keseluruhan cerita saya suka sekali..pushkin menceritakan setiap kisah dengan karakter berbeda,latar belakang cerita dan kondisi yang variatif...jadi setiap ceritanya memiliki kesan2 yang berbeda..akan tetapi peran2 dalam kisah2 tsb pushkin selalu menggambarkan karakter pria sebagai laki2 yang gentleman dan sosok wanita yang lemah lembut namun berkarakter kuat.. Mungkin itulah perjalanan beberapa cerita pendeknya sampai di novel fenomenalnya eugene onegin yang lebih matang dan mendalam..walaupun menurut selera saya, cerita singkat di dalam sepilihan prosa ini sudah termasuk kisah yang berat dan mendalam...bukan kisah yg sederhana. Pushkin menceritakan dengan indah dan serius dengan alur cerita yang tidak bisa ditebak.. Kisahnya itu luas,menceritakan kehidupan desa,kehidupan politik,gaya hidup dan lain2 ... Jadi pantas betul pushkin menjadi pelopor sastrawan modern..memang karya2nya penuh sentuhan dan gambaran yang luas mengenai kehidupan yang saya rasa pushkin sendiri mengamati dan mengalaminya..karena sosoknya sebagai bangsawan dan suka traveling peka terhadap sekitar... Saya paling suka kisah putri sang tuan tanah karena ada unsur komedinya dan yang paling berkesan adalah kisah ratu sekop yang menurut saya ada unsur horror psychologynya begitu cerdas ... Jadi untuk sepilihan prosa ini saya berikan 4 🌟...
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May 23, 2023Died in a duel at 38, believing his wife was unfaithful (which she was not)--when he could have kept brilliantly writing.
July 7, 2008
I'm probably being really very harsh on a bona-fide literary genius, but I just didn't really enjoy it that much. Some of the stories in t were quite "nice" and there was a decent enough level of wit in the book. It's just that it didn't really do all that much for me. Can't say that it was the best writing that I've ever read.
However, I have read elsewhere that if you really want to get a feel for the greatness of Pushkin's writing you should read his poetry in the original Russian (apparently it doesn't translate that well...some of the nuance lost maybe?)
Sorry Mr P...I'm afraid I'll never love you!
However, I have read elsewhere that if you really want to get a feel for the greatness of Pushkin's writing you should read his poetry in the original Russian (apparently it doesn't translate that well...some of the nuance lost maybe?)
Sorry Mr P...I'm afraid I'll never love you!
April 18, 2007
dastanhaye in ketab kheili ghashange,vali chizi ke adamo mote'ajeb mikone ine ke too zamani naveshte shodeh ke too iran ,zabane monshiane va ajib gharibe ghajar be kar mirafte.adam in barash kheili ajibe ke cheghadr in neveshteha be zabane alane ma nazdik va hess ha va matalebesh gahbele darke.nemidoonam tarjomeye farsish too bazar peida mishe ya na.
September 11, 2013
Pushkin was an incredible writer and an innovator in literature, but the context of these stories doesn't make up for the fact that they didn't stick with me or that the humor in them wasn't exactly timeless.
The stories are very demonstrative from a writer's perspective, but I wouldn't read anything from this collection for pleasure, other than "The Shot" or "The Postmaster".
The stories are very demonstrative from a writer's perspective, but I wouldn't read anything from this collection for pleasure, other than "The Shot" or "The Postmaster".
November 13, 2012
Hmm, it's probably wrong to comment on an untested translation of a book that I read in Russian. The rating goes for the original, and I will update this if I manage to take a glance at the translation.
May 11, 2010
I didn't read this. I just read Tales of Belkin. It reminded me why I so love Russian literature: so full of heart and passion and imagination.
March 2, 2012
I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/10485378
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/10485378
May 11, 2021
Clear and direct prose, surely a model for Tolstoy and Hemingway.
Be sure to read "Eugene Onegin" and in James E. Falen's translation.
Be sure to read "Eugene Onegin" and in James E. Falen's translation.
January 6, 2021
You might say Pushkin died because of his own doing, foolish enough to participate in a duel because of honor unsatisfied, no matter reasons, but you cannot deny the humanity in this literary genius. His compassion for the Russian country people, commoners, foreign immigrants, artists down in the dump, shines in "Tales of Belkin" (five different stories told by people who know Ivan Petrovich Belkin, the landowner that recently passed away). All five stories in "Tales of Belkin" paint you a vivid picture of the Russian people. "The Shot" deals with the complicated history of duelling among men (face each other in a direct gun battle to resolve personal conflicts), and preserving male honor through that deadly cultural practice in the 19th century Russian society, the very practice that took Pushkin's life. "The Blizzard" with its plot twists and surprising ending, is, I think, a masterpiece. It tells you a lot about young adult romance and social as well as religious constraints of the time. "The Undertaker" (funeral director) is a bout a businessman being visited and accused by his deceased clients in his dream, reminds me a bit of Scrooge in Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" but, like all the tales in this prose collection, it does not directly point to a moral lesson. "Egyptian Nights" tells the story of an Italian artist exiled in Russia and encountering a common type of people in Pushkin's works, the dandy man (or the superfluous man). "Roslavlev" introduces you to a strong and unusual female character caught in the Russian nationalist sentiment during the French - Russia war, the French invasion of Russia in 1812. The awakening and maturing of the main character's political thoughts can also be seen and analyzed in today's context totally fine. These stories are told without complicated psychological dialogues, no verbose or intense descriptive narration, no pomposity or smug, just beautiful, poetic and as empathetic to a commoner and fellow human being as they can. So, just read and feel the warm heart of this giant figure in Russian literature. Pushkin is not just a genius love poet but these short prose stories explain why he laid the foundation for Russian literature.
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February 8, 2024Настоящият сборник е смиряващо припомняне за мощта на един велик поет в прозата. Семпли, кратки и точни, разказите впечатляват със стила и въздействието си. Чудесно начало за всички, които искат да пишат, и абсолютна необходимост за любителите на руска литература. Толстой, Чехов и Достоевски дължат успеха си именно на иновациите, които руският Шекспир прилага в прозата, както и на изобретяването на човешкия дух, както Харолд Блум би се изразил. В допълнение историите са чист поглед към живота на благородниците и простолюдието от онази епоха и предоставят достатъчно приключенски сюжет и романтично вълнение, за да задоволят вкуса на по-непретенциозните читатели.
„Когато си помисля, че това се случи през моя живот и че доживях кроткото царуване на император Александър, не мога да не се чудя на бързите успехи на просветата и на разпространението на началата на човеколюбието. Млади човече! Ако моите записки попаднат в ръцете ти, спомни си, че най-добрите и най-трайните промени са ония, които стават чрез подобрението на нравите, без всякакви насилствени сътресения.”
„Когато си помисля, че това се случи през моя живот и че доживях кроткото царуване на император Александър, не мога да не се чудя на бързите успехи на просветата и на разпространението на началата на човеколюбието. Млади човече! Ако моите записки попаднат в ръцете ти, спомни си, че най-добрите и най-трайните промени са ония, които стават чрез подобрението на нравите, без всякакви насилствени сътресения.”
August 7, 2019
I find rating this collection by Pushkin is difficult. One the one hand, I thought the stories were charming...good character portrayals and elegant description of setting....that give you a sense of a perspective on Russian life and culture. However, it did not pass the "longevity" test for me: that is, am I still thinking about these characters long after? There is a romance to the stories; a kind of serendipity that gets to the heart of human nature and what we want, the way life takes you someplace you are destined to go. I don't think I really got to the heart of Pushkin though: why his work is so beloved and uniquely important. Perhaps another of his works would do that.
January 29, 2024
Czytałam inne wydanie gdzie były tylko Opowieści Biełkina, ale w przyszłości postaram się również nadrobić zawarte w tej wersji książki historie.
Jeśli chodzi o Opowieści Biełkina, najbardziej urzekło mnie chyba opowiadanie Poczmistrz. Bardzo wrażliwe, gdzieś tam dotknęło moje serce. Zamieć i Panna włościanka dosyć urocze, mocno czuć ten romantyzm. Wystrzał to całkiem intrygująca historia człowieka władanego przez obsesje zemsty (nie spodziewałam się takiego początku ngl) a Trumniarz - krótka powiastka z elementami gotyckimi, dosyć zabawna, pokazująca równość wszystkich ludzi wobec śmierci. Co mogę więcej powiedzieć, Puszkin delivered and did not disappoint. Opowieści Biełkina - 5/5
Jeśli chodzi o Opowieści Biełkina, najbardziej urzekło mnie chyba opowiadanie Poczmistrz. Bardzo wrażliwe, gdzieś tam dotknęło moje serce. Zamieć i Panna włościanka dosyć urocze, mocno czuć ten romantyzm. Wystrzał to całkiem intrygująca historia człowieka władanego przez obsesje zemsty (nie spodziewałam się takiego początku ngl) a Trumniarz - krótka powiastka z elementami gotyckimi, dosyć zabawna, pokazująca równość wszystkich ludzi wobec śmierci. Co mogę więcej powiedzieć, Puszkin delivered and did not disappoint. Opowieści Biełkina - 5/5
May 22, 2021
Givet att även läsa pushkin som avslut till de ryska böcker jag tänkte läsa. Efter att ha läst om det enorma inflytande pushkin haft på rysk litteratur förväntade jag mig något mer storartat. Men här är en samling simpla historier som ibland faller platt på grund av hur tydligt berättandet är. Jag vet vad som kommer hända 5 sidor innan berättelsen är slut. Välskriven, men som bok betraktat räckte inte pushkins uppburenhet.
Kanske hade jag fel inställning, får förmodligen återkomma och kanske på svenska. Värt att nämna är att i förordet står det just att pushkin är svår att översätta.
Kanske hade jag fel inställning, får förmodligen återkomma och kanske på svenska. Värt att nämna är att i förordet står det just att pushkin är svår att översätta.
July 23, 2017
Maybe it was a bad translation that I couldnt identify the greatness of the work. Or maybe it was the lack of context around the time and place, that I couldnt relate to the humor used. Overall, a decent read and I am going to definitely read this again after I read more of his works. Maybe I am missing something here!
Want to read
October 10, 2020***WHO SUCKED ME IN***
Bookish Topics on YouTube in their video published on 23 sept. 2020
"Love"
I always wanted to read a Russian author but I'm very much not into tragedies or bleak stories. She told that Alexander Pushkin has a great writing style but also this book had stories in them that have a happy end!
Bookish Topics on YouTube in their video published on 23 sept. 2020
"Love"
I always wanted to read a Russian author but I'm very much not into tragedies or bleak stories. She told that Alexander Pushkin has a great writing style but also this book had stories in them that have a happy end!
July 10, 2021
An overall good collection of works. I particularly liked The Tales of Belkin, The Captains Daughter, and Dubrovsky. Each kind of offers the same thing: concise prose with personality. I remember reading the Pushkin's prose writings were the inspiration for Tolstoy to write War and Peace, and the influence is noticeable. Definitely recommend this collection. Even the less memorable pieces are good and provide some entertainment. Just overall nice prose.
February 9, 2020
The Tales of Belkin themselves are charming. The other bits may have lost something in translation.
May 21, 2020
My old times favorite!
January 22, 2021
selalu membutuhkan waktu lama untuk membaca buku realistis, gaya penulisan yang depressed dan penuh keputusasaan membuat saya tidak bisa menyelesaikannya dalam waktu cepat.
April 11, 2022
You know it happened and I’m not angry but nothing crazy
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