RUSSIA Pushkin

Proof that I am not Russian is that I do not share the almost religious reverence for Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin (1799-1837), generally considered Russia's greatest poet, of whom John Gehl forwards this bio: Pushkin wrote in a wide variety of poetic and prose styles, but is most admired for his masterpiece, the verse-novel Eugene Onegin, whichTchaikovsky made into an opera. In his early years he displayed a mastery of lyric poetry and produced a number of plays in verse. In the late 1820's, he began to write in prose, turning out short stories, novellas, and novels. He also showed his superior talent as a literary critic, letter writer, and Russian folklorist and historian.

Pushkin was born in Moscow into a family of impoverished aristocrats who nevertheless saw to his education. Raised in a cultured home environment, Pushkin graduated from the lyceum in 1817. He then found a post at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in St. Petersburg, where as a well-born Russian youth he was able to enjoy the glittering social life available to the privileged classes in Russia's capital city. He would eventually satirize that life for its shallow pleasures and social insensitivities in his great verse novel, Eugene Onegin. Pushkin gradually became committed to social reform and stepped forth as a spokesman for literary radicals. This angered the government, and led to his transfer from the capital -- first to Kishinev in 1820 and then in 1823 to Odessa, where he again clashed with his superiors who sent him into exile at his mother's rural estate. Despite continuing strained relations with the government, in 1826 Pushkin was recalled to Moscow under the protection of the new czar, Nicholas I. In 1831 he married Natalia Goncharova, a beautiful socialite, whose social ambitions forced him into great indebtedness (and in 1837 caused his death in a duel fought in defense of her reputation).

Pushkin's early death was felt as a national tragedy by the entire Russian intellectual community, and a number of great Russian writers have made his death the subject of poems. Even as a student, he was viewed as the great poetic genius of the nation, and critics today generally agree that Pushkin has remained the single most important influence on Russian iterature since the 19th century. His work has been admired by such Russian masters as Dostoyevsky, Tolstoi, and Chekhov. His writing has, in addition, provided fertile ground for Russian composers, notably Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov.

See http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0192838997/newsscancom/ref=nos im for Pushkin's "Eugene Onegin"