Pushkin

     If you were to ask someone (other than a Russian!) who was the greatest Russian writer of the 19th Century, more than likely the response would be "Dostoevsky!"  Fyodor Dostoevsky and his complex psychological novels have really caught the fancy of readers, especially outside of Russia.  Tolstoy would also receive a nod, especially since to this day his War and Peace is considered in most literary circles to be the greatest novel ever written.  However, it is Dostoevsky, with his "tortured soul" characters who seem to receive the most attention.  Once in a while Ivan Turgenev might sneak-in, especially with his novel Fathers and Sons.  Unfortunately, what some consider to be his greatest work, Sportsman's Sketches, i.e., Hunter's Album (and a half a dozen other names) is rarely mentioned when discussing great Russian works of literature.  I have always wondered why there were so many names (translated titles) used for this work.  This collection of short stories in Russian is titled Zapiski Ohotnika, which simply and accurately translates in English to Hunter's Notes.  In Russian, zapiski means notes and ohotnik is hunter (ohotnika is possessive).  Why the various English translations are titled differently has always been a puzzle to me.  But, I am getting off the subject here, so back to the main topic.
     A check of any reading list of various college literature classes will show that Dostoevsky pops up very often in short story or even novella form like The Notes from the Underground.  Tolstoy too appears in short story form, but Turgenev very rarely, and Alexander Pushkin, almost never.  Today, it would probably be almost impossible to get the students to read a full length novel like Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment of around 500 pages or Tolstoy's War and Peace of about 1200 pages!  But back in the prehistoric era, when I went to school, students did read those monumental works.  But regardless of current trends in reading, Pushkin is someone that is not read widely outside of Russia.  Ask a Russian who the greatest 19th Russian writer was, and you would get an unequivocal response, "Pushkin!"
     Alexander Pushkin is considered to be the father of modern Russian literature.  He was a fascinating character and an extremely talented writer both of prose and poetry.  Born in 1799 of aristocratic background, had he lived in America, he would have been identified as an African-American.  Pushkin's maternal great grandfather was African.  He was bought in Africa as a slave and brought to Russia by a European merchant who presented the little boy to the Russian Tsar, Peter the Great, as a gift.  Peter did not want a slave, instead he officially adopted the little black boy and made him his son and part of Russian royalty.  Hannibal, as he was called, grew up in privileged surroundings and married a minor Russian princess and his great granddaughter was Alexander Pushkin's mother.  Although Pushkin's mother showed no physical characteristics of her African heritage, Alexander definitely had negro features.  He had a dark complexion and kinky hair and thick lips.  He clearly showed his African heritage, although he was only 1/8th black!
     Alexander was a difficult child, always getting into trouble.  His behavior problems continued through the school years, but he also showed his literary talent at a very young age when he began to publish poetry when he was still a teenager.  Pushkin burst into fame with the writing of Boris Godunov, a theatrical drama.  But it was his novel in verse, Eugene Onegin that gained him fame internationally.  The novel in verse had a fairly simple story line, a young man, Eugene Onegin, meets a young girl but pays scant attention to her, she is (he thinks) too young for him.  The girl falls madly in love with him, but he rebuffs her rather cruelly.  Years later he meets her again and is struck by her beauty and is completely under her spell.  However, the girl, Tatiana, remembers how he had told her she was not for him and how she had suffered.  So she pays him back in kind.  A simple story, but it caught the fancy of readers and Pushkin's writing managed to convey all of the feelings, the nuances that existed in that relationship.  He showed his true mastery of the language. The name Tatiana (diminutive is Tanya) became so popular that more girls were named Tatiana for the next several years than any other name in Russia!  It was only many years later that another girl's name became extremely popular, that of Natalia/Natasha of Tolstoy's War and Peace!
     If anything, Pushkin led a colorful life.  His financial state fluctuated as he made money with his writing but also spent it almost before he earned it.  He married a beautiful woman, but the marriage was rocky and his wife was somewhat flighty!  Alexander was hot tempered and very jealous.  During his lifetime it is said that he was involved in more than two dozen duels.  His final duel was with a man that he accused of trying to seduce his wife.  He was shot in that duel and died as a result of the wound at the age of 38.
     Ask any Russian, and they will tell you that Alexander Pushkin was the greatest Russian writer that ever lived, although their own favorite might be someone else.  So, do yourself a favor.  Next time you feel like reading something different, pick up a work by Pushkin, a poem, a short story, or even a novel.  You won't regret it, and it will open up a whole new world for you.