Pushkin was a master of Russian literature, and his works had a profound influence on later generations of writers. We will take a look at how his literature was passed down and developed.
If you have studied Russian and never read Pushkin’s works, it is like entering a treasure island and returning empty-handed. In this way, Pushkin is a treasure island of Russian literature. His poems and prose are beautiful.
Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin (1799-1837) is undoubtedly the greatest Russian national poet. Ivan Goncharov said that Pushkin was the “father of Russian art”, while Mikhail Lomonosov was the “father of Russian science”. Literature is an art that uses language as a means of expression. Pushkin refined the living words of the people and created literary words capable of highly artistic expression, fresh and flexible. He also left numerous masterpieces, including “Eugene Onegin,” and laid the foundation for Russian realist literature. Nikolai Gogol, Mikhail Lermontov, and all the literature of the Russian Empire that followed cannot be considered without the influence of Pushkin.
Pushkin began as a poet, but his mature realism led him inevitably to prose. The 19th century was the “era of the novel,” and, as Belinsky said, the genre of “prose fiction” was a demand of the times.
The five prose novels under the title “Povesti Belkina” were written in the fall of 1830, when Pushkin was 30 years old. This autumn is known as the “Borodino Autumn”. In just three months at his estate in Vorozhino, Pushkin completed many masterpieces that will go down in Russian literature, including novels, about 30 lyrical poems, and other short stories. Such a prodigious output is unparalleled not only in Russian literature, but also in the history of world literature.
“Povesti Belkina” was written by a fictional character named Ivan Petrovich Belkin and published anonymously in 1831. Three years later, in 1834, it was published under Pushkin’s name.
This “Povesti Belkina” was the first novelistic exploration of Russian literature. Pushkin’s attitude towards this novelistic exploration is interesting from today’s point of view. He sought the world of the novel in his own world of tragedy, or in its extension, or in its variations, or in its caricature. As a result, the works he produced are scattered across a wide range of genres, from tragic to comic, depending on how much they relate to the world of tragedy. This is a remarkable feature of this collection of short stories. Among them, “The Shot” is clearly a work that stays in the world of Pushkin’s tragedy. In particular, “The Postmaster” is an important work in the history of literature. Attempts to depict the image of a “little man” had been made before Pushkin. For example, the sentimental and pastoral novel “Poor Liza” by Karamzin. Pushkin was the first to depict the image of an abused human being with great artistic integrity, without any sentimentality or pretense. Gogol once said, “This story marked the beginning of realism in Russian literature. The image of the human character of the postmaster in this work became the model for the protagonist of Nikolai Gogol’s “The Overcoat” and for Zhemskin in Dostoyevsky’s “The Poor People”.
“The Blizzard” and “The Undertaker” have a light touch of humor that softens the tragic color of the play. The former has the flavor of a parody of “Eugene Onegin,” while the latter is a clever reworking of the theme of the short, light tragedy “The Fatal Drink.” In “The Blizzard,” Tatyana Larina of “Eugene Onegin,” who was a fusion of obedience, passion, humility, and romantic reverie, is transformed into Maria Gavrilovna, a girl who simply pretends to be the heroine of a romantic novel and becomes the object of “a little mockery of the human world. In addition, the tense theme of “The Fatal Drink,” which cleverly captures the fear of death in the midst of despair and pleasure, is incorporated into the life of “The Undertaker,” who routinely crosses the line between life and death, and is transformed into a bright and humorous song. “The Country Lady” can be regarded as a pastoral, youthful play with a subtle flavor. The ingenious idea of the young men and women who pretend to be Byron to return to their innocent selves through the act of pretending is a parody of Pushkin’s talent as a parodist. It was the Symbolist critic Mikhail Osipovich Gershenzon who interpreted the brief mention of “The Postmaster” as a scathing parody of the famous parable of the prodigal son in the Bible. In other words, it is the story of the self-destruction of a father who still sees his daughter, who has entered a happy marriage, with a biblical perspective.
When this collection of short stories was published a year after its completion, literary circles were very cold. It is natural that the Russian literary circles of that time, which still had a lingering affection for the French classical school and were already influenced by German idealistic philosophy, could not appreciate the fun of the novel. The author probably anticipated this and hid it behind the publisher’s note. In other words, this is the reason why the work was given the title “Povesti Belkina”, and at the same time it can be seen as a hidden reference to Pushkin’s own credo of making simplicity and drive the first priorities of a storyteller. In any case, it cannot be denied that these works are undoubtedly the epitome of Pushkin’s prose style, characterized by simplicity and absolute extremes of expression, often leaving traces of the writer’s passionate poetic sensibility, representing the beauty of lava that has not yet cooled.
