Novels, Tales, Journeys

by Alexander Pushkin

Puskin's masterpieces in prose, in sparkling new translations by the award-winning Pevear and Volokhonsky.

The father of Russian literature, Pushkin is beloved not only for his poetry but also for his brilliant stories, which range from dramatic narratives of love, obsession and betrayal to lively comic tales, and from satirical epistolary tales to imaginative historical fiction. This volume includes all Pushkin's prose in brilliant new translations, including his masterpieces 'The Queen of Spades', 'The Tales of the Late Ivan Petrovich Belkin' and 'The Captain's Daughter'.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Short Stories, Russia, Russian Literature, Literature, Poetry

512 pages, Paperback

Published December 7, 2017

About the author

Works 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.

Reviews

[J.M. Hushour · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although Pushkin will always be revered more for his poetry, and rightfully so, his fiction is hardly anything to sniff at. He has a refreshing folksy-simplicity and a startling lack of metaphor. Most of the stories are straight-forward and ever-hurtling, born by a momentum that's almost Brothers Grimmian. Of them all, the "Tales of Belkin" and "The Captain's Daughter" stand out, though the others, especially the weird "Queen of Spades" aren't shoddy in the slightest. There's something almost Londonian or Hemingwayan to his direct, spiteless prose, which makes it nice to read, stripped as it is of the pretensions of the imagination.

[Raquel · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ★★★☆☆

«[…] the multifarious receptivity he had come to admire in Shakespeare—his “negative capability,” as Keats called it. Sinyavsky intensifies Keats’s paradox: “Emptiness is Pushkin’s content. Without it he would not be full, he would not be, just as there is no fire without air, no breathing in without breathing out.” Impersonality, openness, and lightness are the essential qualities of his prose.»

Novels, Tales, Journeys… is an English-translated anthology of the complete prose works of Russian writer Alexander Pushkin, broadly recognised as the greatest Russian poet and the founder of modern Russian literature.

As being an anthology, I found tricky how to rate and review it accordingly: I have read it in just one month and some fragments didn’t captivate me at all (like Kirdjali or Journey to Arzrum), while others were simply perfect (The History of the Village of Goryukhino, Roslavlev, or Queen of Spades, among others*) and I discovered some new favourite themes and archetypes (like the Robin Hood/antihero from Dubrovsky, or the female characters from A Novel in Letters and At the Corner of a Little Square, that will later appear in great novels like Anna Karenina) within Russian literature.

My only advice to fully enjoy this worth-translated edition is that if you are interested in reading it, do it slowly or/and read first the novels/short stories that appeal you the most. And if it would be your first approach to Pushkin’s works, I think it is better to search for an anthology of Russian tales before reading this volume.

«People believe only in fame and do not understand that there might be among them some Napoleon, who has never commanded a single company of chasseurs, or another Descartes, who has not published a single line in the Moscow Telegraph. However, our respect for fame may well come from vanity: our own voice, too, goes into the making of fame.»

- - - -
* Complete list of the works read and their ratings:
The Tales of the Late Ivan Petrovich Belkin (five short stories, 1831) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Roslavlev (unfinished novel, 1836) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The History of the Village of Goryukhino (unfinished short story, 1837) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Egyptian Nights (unfinished short story, 1837) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Queen of Spades (short story, 1834) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Moor of Peter the Great (unfinished novel, 1824) ⭐️⭐️
Kirdjali (short story, 1834) ⭐️
Journey to Arzrum (travel sketches, non-fic, 1836) ⭐️
Dubrovsky (unfinished novel, 1841) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Captain’s Daughter (novel, 1836) ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Fragments and Sketches:
The Guests Were Arriving at the Dacha ⭐️⭐️⭐️
A Novel in Letters ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
At the Corner of a Little Square ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Notes of a Young Man ⭐️⭐️
My Fate is Decided. I Am Getting Married… ⭐️⭐️
A Romance at the Caucasian Waters ⭐️⭐️⭐️
A Russian Pelham ⭐️⭐️
We Were Spending the Evening at the Dacha ⭐️⭐️⭐️
A Story from Roman Life ⭐️
Maria Schoning ⭐️⭐️

- - - -
Read for the two-month period dedicated to Alexander Pushkin from the #téconrusos reading challenge organised on bookstagram by @téconlibros.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection had its highs and lows - but mostly highs! - along with a lot of unfinished fragments with a ton of potential. There's plenty of drama and humor, and I really enjoyed the whole thing, but I have to admit that I embarked on this journey for "The Queen of Spades" alone. Several years ago, I randomly listened to the entire Tchaikovsky opera version over the radio, and I fell in love with the story. I wondered about the original short story that inspired it, but I never tracked it down, and I just cannot tell you my delight at finally reading it now. It's great! It's got mysterious card tricks! Ghostly revelations! Madness! Cranky old Russian countesses outmatching money-grubbing young military engineers! Whirlwind seductions and fateful revenge!

(I am also pleased to report that Lizaveta gets a much less tragic ending here than she does via opera.)

[Anne-Marie Archer]

DNF. The stories were just...fine. They all had pretty similar twists at the end though, so I started to get a little bored. I'm going to move on. Maybe I'll come back and read a few more stories later.

[Billie Pritchett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837) was a genius who not only birthed modern Russian literature, he did it before the age of 20. Famously throughout his life, because of his radical politics, he was censored by his government, sought life outside the cities, and eventually met and fell in love with a society woman. But fate was not done with our dear Pushkin. He suspected his wife of infidelity, challenged the alleged adulterer to a duel, and was shot down at the age of 37. From his spilled blood sprang the likes of Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and all the other so-called Russian masters whom memory reveres while our dear Pushkin is left lying in the snow.

Thank goodness for Novels, Tales, Journeys: The Complete Prose of Alexander Pushkin and the book's translators, Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, who had previously translated new editions of Anna Karenina, War and Peace, and The Brothers Karamazov.

So what to expect from Pushkin? His stories and short novels move along at a good clip, and every moving part is necessary to what tend to be mystery stories of sorts. For me to tell you what those mysteries are here would be to spoil the fun for you. But I will highlight a few of the outstanding works you'll find in this volume.

First is an unfinished novel called The Moor of Peter the Great. One of Peter the Great's most trusted confidantes, a Moor, travels to Paris to serve as diplomat, but overstays his time as a functionary, so Peter sees it, Peter unaware that the Moor has fallen in love with one of the women from French high society. But Peter, loving his friend the Moor and valuing his freedom above all, permits him to stay. The romance becomes serious between the Moor and the woman, and while I won't say what happens, it looks as though we only have about a fifth of what would have been the novel here. It would have been interesting to see how it would have developed.

Next is a story called "The Shot," which is about a duel that had taken place in the past between two men, but with there being no firm resolution, the two men vow that they will pick up the duel again one day. And pick it up they do, many years later. Our protagonist has been waiting for this moment for a long time, and when it comes, he is shaken to the core... It is interesting to remind again here that Pushkin himself died in a duel. As expected, he imbues these two men's situation with the utmost gravity.

Dubrovsky! Dubrovsky is another of Pushkin's unfinished novels, but never mind that here, because there is enough of the book to have a satisfying resolution. I will only let you in on the setup, because all of the other twists and turns that happen after are quite surprising and fun. There is a cruel landlord named Troekurov. He abuses his peasants, he pays off the police, and the neighboring landlords are in fear of him, lest they swindle them out of their land. Troekurov permits one and only one neighboring landlord to speak plain with him, and that is his friend Dubrovsky, a petty landlord, a property owner, to be sure, but the property is not of much value to Troekurov. Well, one day Dubrovsky is insulted not by Troekurov but by one Troekurov's servants. Dubrovsky demands an apology but proud T. says no, and doesn't stop there: he allows his peasants to cut down the trees on Dubrovsky's property. D. ties up T.'s peasants, and D. becomes irate and discovers a way to swindle T. out of all his land. Read the tale for more. It's wonderful.

Three other outstanding works are the novellas The Queen of Spades, Egyptian Nights, and The Captain's Daughter. As much as I would love to let you know about them, I'm tired of writing, and besides, literary criticism is often a pale reflection of the literature itself, which in this case, goodness, I hope you read this.

[Jaylia3 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this collection of beautifully written fiction it’s easy to see why Pushkin was held in such high regard by later Russian authors, including Tolstoy. According to a letter quoted in the Introduction one of the included stories, “The Guests were arriving at the Dacha”, helped inspire Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. Several of my favorite pieces, notably “Roslavlev” and “We Were Spending the Night at the Dacha”, reminded me of salon scenes in War and Peace. I also greatly enjoyed “The Moor of Peter the Great”, a fictionalized account of the life of Pushkin’s African great-grandfather.

The only caveat about this collection is that many of the works are unfinished, and it’s a big disappointment coming to the abrupt end of a story you really wish would continue. But they are still well worth reading and I’m glad to have even fragments by an author as talented and perceptive as Pushkin.

I read an advanced review copy of the book supplied to me at no cost or obligation by the publisher. Review opinions are mine.

I had never tried Pushkin before so I can’t compare this translation with any other, but I have read several Russian novels rendered into English by the same husband and wife team, Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky and I’ve always enjoyed their versions. I especially appreciate their endnotes, which often add to my understanding and appreciation of whatever story I’m reading.

[Kumasama · Rating 4 out of 5]

*Score: 8.5/10*

This is a great collection having all the prose of Pushkin. He is a legend when it comes to Russian poetry, but his prose is also very strong. This collects his one novella, The Captain's Daughter, as well as a bunch of other short stories, and some fragments and thoughts and a bit of history and travel memoirs. Throughout this collection, the reader goes into a historically rich understanding of Russia in the phase of 1750 to 1850 approximately (primarily the years 1810 to 1830).

The writing is superb, with excellent control of pace, drama, and characterization. I suspect if there were more and longer stories I would have considered him an all time favorite, as the trend for me in this collection was very clear, the longer the story, the more I liked it and got invested into it. The novella, The Captain's Daughter is absolutely breathtaking in its scope, atmosphere, and rich Russian historical information. The charcter chemistry was beautiful. It traces a teenage boy as he is sent to outposts on border for army, and his interactions with the rebel Pugachev (a real historical figure), as well as his host family's daughter.

There were other highlights, such as the travel memoir (A Journey to Arzurm) which showcases contrast of nature against war as they head to conquer the city of Arzurm in the Russo Turkish war. Also I liked a longer story called Duborvsky, which is about rivalry of two land owners and how ego impacts a long lasting friendship. The Stationmaster was a beautiful story about a father and a daughter, and then the Coffin Maker was Pushkin's take on a whimsical ghost tale.

Some of the very short works were a bit boring, and if those were filtered I think this collection would be much better, but I understand the purpose here is to have all of Pushkin's Prose in one place. Overall this is highly recommended if you are into Russian history and literature.

[M.J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic collection of Pushkin's prose and the translation is so accessible! Favorite stories were 'The Moor of Peter the Great' - a fictionalized story of his great grandfather originally from Africa, who is part of French and Russian aristocratic society, yet constantly feels like an outsider (still a very relevant experience of people of color in certain circles today!)

Other favorite stories include 'Dubrovsky', sort of a Count of Monte Cristo-esque storyline, and 'The Captain's Daughter,' a very inventive and epic tale. Honor, fate, karma, and love were all strong themes throughout many of the stories included and I was constantly fascinated by how well Pushkin described the inner most thoughts and intentions of both his female and male characters.

Traveling throughout the post-Soviet Union, Ukraine, Moldova, Russia, etc. I saw many tributes to Pushkin....street names, statues, museums, and rightly so. He truly is, as they say, the father of Russian literature. And bravo to the translators for helping to bring the stories alive from Russian and French to English!

[Joshua Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really great collection. I always tend to enjoy the longer stories – in this case the Captain’s Daughter and Dubrovsky were my favorites. But the short story The Queen of Spades is a gem, and probably the best of the poet Pushkin’s prose works.

[Moon Rose (M.R.) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I must admit that my memory isn't good. It is no longer as sharp as before. Details would usually fly away from my mind like a pile of dust scattered by the wind. I may not remember the names, places and incidents anymore, no particulars for that matter, but nevertheless what it leaves is engraved and imprinted in my heart, an indelible impression, usually associated with a feeling that mere expression could not convey. Without words, they are marked in seeming eternity like a word written in stone.

And no other form has given me such lasting impressions than the 19th century Russian Literature. From the epic narratives of whirling ideas of Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy, incomparable masters, who can raise the soul from an indefinite stupor. From the beautifully written prose of Chekhov to the sarcastic humor of Gogol, from Turgenev and the likes, they all seemed to have something in common, which make them at par from all their contemporary writers at that time as the Russian writer of the 19th century seemed an adept in exploring the subtleties of the human heart.

Alexander Pushkin, on the other hand, is a complete surprise. Since he was well known more as a poet than a novelist, or an author who preferred writing in verse, I never had an inkling to read his works as stories for me is better suited to be read in prose. This book, Novels, Tales, Journeys: The Complete Prose of Alexander Pushkin as translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky is as remarkable as its successors. The collection on its own can be deemed as an achievement in proclaiming the authority of the Russians, whatever it is they possessed in truly telling a very good story. It is a precursor, a peek to the great predecessors to come that will not just emulate the elements already present in Pushkin's style, but will enrich and enliven it with their own profound and insightful conjectures as Pushkin's talent appears like a burning torch with a brightness that has been passed down and spreads like a vicious virus that contaminated the Russian intelligentsia as in a wildfire. Even just a whiff of this can also invade an avid reader's imagination with intoxication and a feeling that is insurmountable by any words of description.

The novellas and the short stories, though less in magnitude, often terse in texture and no philosophical digressions, are also flowing with the same captivation as a full length Russian novel, drowning the unknowing reader in the deep pool of pure narration. From The Captain's Daughter, to The Queen of Spades, to The Tales of the Late Ivan Petrovich Belkin, which comprises the most wonderful short stories like my favorites the poignant The Station Master and the playful The Young Lady Peasant, even the unfinished The Moor of Peter the Great and Dubrovsky, are all impregnated with the same unadulterated form of storytelling that churns with suspenseful anticipation, forcing the reader to unconsciously keep turning the pages with utter breathlessness...

This impression brought by this personal immersion in Pushkin's world is already etched in my memory. I may soon forget all its details, but the meaning will never be lost as I know that the feeling associated with the wisdom garnered by reading him will always remain, forever untouched by the frailty of the human mind.

[Pat Rolston · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first exposure to Pushkin the beloved father of Russian poetry and story telling. His style as a writer of fiction translates as straightforward and is amazingly contemporary in documenting the historical perspective regarding the mythology,humanity, and soul of Russia. This book is wonderful in capturing his classic stories to his poetry and a must for anyone with the slightest interest in Mother Russia.

[Will Slocum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though Pushkin is known for his poetry, this collection of prose is wonderful. Folksy, and often straightforward in descriptions, Pushkin has a knack for opening up the inner thoughts of his characters to the reader. Standouts to me were “Dubrovsky” and “The Captains Daughter.” With Pushkin I feel I am able to get a glimpse into the soul of who Russia was, and possibly still is.

[Claudia Putnam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Feels a little wrong to give Pushkin only four stars, but this is mainly a reaction to the anthology rather than to Pushkin's prose. I would not, myself, have gathered all of this stuff for translation. Most of it is fragmentary--abandoned work. Therefore, neither meant for nor ready for prime time. Of interest to scholars, of course, but scholars working on Pushkin at this level would/should be fluent in Russian and not in need of translations.

A shorter anthology including the Travels to Arzrum, Captain's Daughter, Dobrovsky (although considered unfinished, the piece ends in a place that IMO does work), and the Belkin pieces, I think. Otherwise, the rest is frustrating--intriguing openings that fizzle out just as we are hooked.

In contrast to the memoir, the fiction provides a marvelous look at what Pevear characterizes as the invisibility of Pushkin's personality in the prose. Sometimes a narrator intrudes, but it isn't Pushkin. You also get a ringside look at one of the first attempts--perhaps the first serious attempt--to create what we think of as Russian literature. As someone said--Ilya Kaminsky, I think--before Pushkin: darkness. Tolstoy, according to Pevear's introduction to War & Peace, said that each Russian author has wholesale reinvented the novel. Has had to do so, because the tradition of the novel, of any real literature, was so lacking in Russia.

You can see Pushkin grappling with this problem, as with the problem of history, as the problem of lineage, in these works. Perhaps more visibly than with the other Russian greats.

[Jason Furman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful to have a complete collection of Pushkin's prose--including all the incomplete writings and fragments. While the published ones are the best (Tales of Belkin, The Queen of Spades and The Captain's Daughter), everything Pushkin wrote is various combinations of direct, vivid, insightful, funny, satirical, suspenseful and perceptive. The Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky translations are controversial with many but no issues jumped out with me and the accurate and completeness outweigh any downsides, especially when many of these are only available in very dated translations.

If you have not read Pushkin before, however, would start with the ones listed above and then sample from the rest.

[Fernando Pestana da Costa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume collects all works in prose of the famous Russian poet. Some are unfinished texts, others have been part of Pushkin's beloved published works since ever. I enjoyed the book overall, but I particularly liked "The tales of the Late Ivan Petrovich Belkin", "The Queen of Spades", and I delighted myself with the masterpiece "The Captain's Daughter", and with the narration of Pushkin's involvement with military actions in the Caucasus and in the war against the Ottoman Empire in the delightful "Journey to Arzrum".

[Andrew Alox · Rating 5 out of 5]

I put the finished book on the shelf a changed person from when I went into it. It might sound like a ridiculous statement, but coming from an education system where we were taught to write in a particular way, "penalised" for not following the structure. Pushkin liberated the mind through doing about every, single, thing we were disuaded from doing, yet creating vividly smooth and provoking stories...
I think it is inspiring in the sense that you realise that as long as it's coherent, you simply need to put your mind onto paper. My favourite was the Young Lady Peasant.

[Brenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

wow Pushkin is great. guess my lil bro's got good taste

faves were The Captain's Daughter, Journey to Arzrum. I loved the fragments. it's so rare you get to see the works in progress of renowned authors

[Andrew Cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Certainly if all of Russian Literature came out from Gogol's Overcoat, then Pushkin delivered to Gogol the needle and the thread.

Pushkin's prose works were much more raw and un-refined compared to the later Tolstoy or Doestoevsky works, but it also contained a playfulness that the author realized he was being read much of the time, which adds a more modern realist flair.

This lovely collection allowed me to skip and jump around quite a bit! My favorites were numerous as many of the stories were so short as to be read in a quick sitting. I'm thinking specifically of The Tales of Late Ivan Petrovich Belkin, The Coffin-Maker and The Stationmaster. Here Pushkin poses the tales as if he is relating them to you, instead of actually yarn-ing them himself. This wonderful collection contains many less heralded works but nonetheless wonderful stories.

Capping the collection is his longer novella The Captain's Daughter which may be Russia's first novel (a novella, but still) is a feature of early prose storytelling. Pushkin's story develops a morality and establishes an honor amonst his noble character Grinyov. Grand and yet intimate, I can see this exact work show up throughout the rest of Russian Literature. From Tolstoy's Hadji Murad to even Andrey Platonov. If you want to start reading Russian Lit at one place, start here.

And then his shorter works Egyptian Nights and Queen of Spades show his magnificence in just a few pages. These two display Pushkin at his true genius. Queen of Spades shows hints of the dis-reality that Gogol used so well. A story that can't possilby be true, yet we must believe in it.
At the same time, my favorite in the entire collection was Egyptian Nights. Pushkin uses 10 pages to create an entire Russian aristocratic scene and stage, much like a director would set-design his theater specifically to introduce us to Cleopatra's bedchamber. At this point Pushkin delivers his real intention of displaying a magical, terrifying, and yet tender 2-page poem wrapped in love&death together.

Facinating, Spectacular, and Genius. Pushkin

[Sara! · Rating 4 out of 5]

Novels, Tales, Journeys: The Complete Prose of Alexander Pushkin

You can’t talk about Russian literature without talking Pushkin. One of the greatest Russian writers, of whom I didn’t learn until the last five or so years. (Sorry!!)

I’d read and very much enjoyed Evgeny Onegin and was interested to give his prose a read. This lovely collection translated by Pevear/Volokhonsky did the hard job of collecting it ALL - even the fragments. Thanks, guys! If you don’t know P+V, please google a photo. They are the sweetest looking power couple ever.

The swashbuckling “Dubrovsky” kept me on the edge of my seat. “The Captain’s Daughter” was rich and rewarding. “The Moor of Peter the Great”, while unfinished, drew me in.

Pushkin captures his time and society so well. One feels as if she is walking through the drawing rooms of Petersburg and Moscow. I am enjoying exploring earlier 19th century Russian literature. Apart from Gogol and Lermontov, my knowledge of the earlier half of the century is a little hazy, so any recommendations are so welcome. “Гoре от ума” comes in the mail soon!

The condition of this book is a bit rough, but it was stuffed in many bags, read in the bath, on the beach, on the plane. It was well-loved.

#Пушкин #Капитанскаядочка

[Karl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, I loved this. Beyond recognizing the name I was completely unfamiliar with Pushkin's work, poetry or prose and, in honesty, bought the book because it was pretty and I've never been disappointed by Russian lit.

I'm sure some are frustrated by the fragmentary and sometimes non-sequiter nature of the unfinished works, but these were some of my favorites, like sneaking a glance into the window of a parlor or ballroom and picking up just enough information to spend the rest of the night postulating, theorizing, and expanding upon in your mind. They also fit perfectly alongside Pushkin's abrupt and hilarious asides in his longer stories - my favorite of which is from the story The Blizzard and reads

"

But let us return to the good people at Nenaradovo and see what is happening there.

Nothing.

"

I appreciate that this is a complete collection, but I wish someone had told me how boring A Journey to Arzrum was going to be so I wouldn't have saved it for last.

Finally, this is the second Russian to English translation I've read by Richard Pevar and Larissa Volokhonsky and I'm very eager to read more from them. Maybe The Master and Margarita?

[Ned Netherwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was a child, our neighbors had a cat called Pushkin. I have no recollection of ever seeing the cat but I can still hear in my memory the soft call of a woman's voice from behind the stone wall and hedges, calling musically "Push-kin".

It's a name that embedded into my brain and I don't know how soon I connected it to the Russian writer. Was it something my Mother observed to me or I found out later in life?

My wife and son desperately wanted to get a kitten and I was initially resistant then all at once I remembered the neighbors cat and told them they could get a kitten on the condition of me naming it and this was a non-negotiable.

They loved the name and then a shame hit me. I had read Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky and Gogol but never Pushkin so I ordered this book and it got here before the kitten.

I mention the chain of events because I suspect without them I would never have read this astounding collection. The vivid worlds painted here I suspect will stay with me as long as memory persists. Even the little fragments included at the end are wonderful and hint at how much we lost by his untimely death.

[Kasper · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very entertaining, although at times exasperating read. The reason behind the exasperation is no real fault of Pushkin's (beyond challenging that one guy to the duel I suppose); the problem is that the majority of the works in this book were never actually finished, so often just when the stories are getting good they abruptly end.

Another thing is because so many of these were unfinished a lot of recurring themes pop-up again and again, even complete lines of dialogue/prose are reused from one tale to the next. Presumably some of these works would never have been published and Pushkin was just trying to find the right place for these (Cleopatra comes up a lot for example). Pushkin is also the most dated great Russian writer I've read (although not in the The Captain's Daughter), in that, he makes so many casual references to St. Petersburg or Russian life at the time he was writing that to understand one simply has no choice but to consult the endnotes, which can get a bit annoying seeing that one has to do it very often.

Some particular stand-outs were The Queen of Spades and The Captain's Daughter which may very well be the two best things I've read (for the first time) this year. The Tales of Ivan Belkin weren't quite at the level of those two, but they were great nonetheless. The best unfinished work by far in my opinion was Dubrovsky, and although I highly doubt the "ending" it has is what Pushkin actually intended, it works well enough that I wasn't let down by it. Overall, the highs outweigh the lows by far and I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in literary fiction.

[Tommie Whitener · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read only the two classic stories, The Captain's Daughter and Queen of Spades. They were both good but lacked some of the subtleties today's best authors include in their short stories. I think we've come a long way since Pushkin was writing in the late eighteenth century.
In The Captain's Daughter, of note was the most clever way Pushkin involved his protagonist in Pugachev's Rebellion, even making the two almost buddies at one point.
In The Queen of Spades, Pushkin anticipates modern magical realism when the protagonist believes he has been told which cards will win. Spoiler: the Queen of Spades is not one of them.

[CarelesSpine · Rating 3 out of 5]

As hit or miss as any collection of varied works, but gives a good overview of Pushkin’s style outside of his verse. The stories here fall into three categories— upper-class satires, adventure tales, and travel journals. The adventure stories (notably the longest inclusion here, the full novel “The Captain’s Daughter”) were my favorite and gave an interesting exaggerated insight into Russia’s complex caste system and numerous wars/skirmishes in the mid-1800s.

Not something I’ll want to return to any time soon, but interesting to see the foundation of modern Russian literature and how influential all of his interests and style were to be on the next generation of writers.

[Dylan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really elegant and surprisingly funny. Pushkin struggles a bit with sentence pacing while in the first person, but the rest of the stories have an easy flowing feeling of romantic adventure about them that was honestly heartwarming and charming.
My personal ranking for the stories included:
1. Dubrovsky
2. The Tales of the Late Ivan Belkin
3. The Moor of Peter the Great
4. Egyptian Nights
5. The Captain's Daughter
6. Fragments and Sketches
7. Roslavlev
8. The Queen of Spades
9. The History of the Village of Goryukhino
10. Journey to Arzrum

[John Stults · Rating 5 out of 5]

good translation very good material worth rereading

I found this difficult to put down and unlike most collections of short fiction this one had no stinkers. All were very good and worth rereading. If you have not read Pushkin this is a good place to start. I highly recommend this collection.

[Ned Olson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pushkin seems much more the upbeat adventurous type than other Russian authors I've read in translation, yet he also feels so decidedly Russian. This translation was very readable in English. A nice introduction for me to yet another fascinating Russian writer.

[Batya K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Writing a good translation of Russia's most celebrated literary figure is a nearly impossible task, but Pevear & Volokhonsky achieve perhaps as ably as anyone ever could. For the non-Russian speaker, there is no reason to ever read another translation of Pushkin.

[Tatiana Yudovina]

Only read The Captain’s Daughter from this collection with my 13 y.o. It is possibly my favorite piece of Pushkin’s prose that shines even in this mediocre translation. The epigraph, for example, is just plain wrong.

[David C Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mostly a poet, Pushkin’s prose is interesting even if a lot of these are partial/unfinished texts for stories, romances a la Walter Scott, novels etc. I liked the Russian rural “tales.” There’s also a nice vein of satire/humor.