My favorite writer (Alexander Pushkin)
Life and Times Aleksandr Pushkin (1799-1837), the greatest Russian poet of the 19th century, established the modern Russian literary idiom in such works as Boris Godunov (1831) and his masterpiece Eugene[ju:dgin] Onegin (1823-31). His efforts to break with literary classicism and to present a panorama of Russian society profoundly influenced the novels of Turgenev and Tolstoi. Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, b. June 6 (N.S.), 1799, d. Feb. 10 (N.S.), 1837, was Russia's greatest poet. His use of the vernacular(народный) as the language of poetry freed Russian writing from the constraints(принуждения) of tradition and set new literary standards for novelists and poets, and his preference for subjects from history and folklore brought fresh vitality(жизнеспособность) to Russian literature. Born in Moscow, Pushkin was descended (происходить) from a family of cultured but impoverished(обеднять) aristocrats. He was taught by his family to love literature, and from an early age he showed great promise as a poet. Pushkin studied at the Lyceum[lai`siem] in the town of Tsarskoye Selo, later renamed Pushkin, and after graduating (1817), was appointed to a post at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the capital city of Saint(seint) Petersburg. Here Pushkin indulged[in`duldg] (давать себе волю) in the glittering(блестеть) social life available to a well-born Russian youth of his day--the life he would eventually satirize [seteraiz](высмеивать) in Eugene Onegin (1823-31), a verse (стихи) novel that describes a shallow(мель), pleasure-loving man's insensitivity(нечувствительность) to the love of a noble woman. Despite(несмотря на) the somewhat (кое-что) frivolous [friveles](легкомысленный) nature of his social pursuits(преследования), Pushkin remained deeply committed(предавать) to social reform and gained the reputation of spokesman(представитель) for literary radicals(корень). As a result he angered the government and was transferred from the capital, first to Kishinev (1820-23) and then to Odessa (1823-24). Pushkin again clashed (сталкиваться) with his superiors(настоятели) in Odessa and was again exiled(изгнан), this time to his mother's rural(сельский) estate(имение). In 1826 he was recalled to Moscow under the tsar's protection, but his relations with the government remained strained (напряженный) throughout his life. He married Natalia Goncharova, a society beauty, in 1831. His wife's social ambitions caused Pushkin to become involved in a reckless(безрассудный) social life, put him deeply in debt, and eventually killed him. Early in 1837 he was forced to fight a duel to defend Natalia's reputation and was mortally(смертельно) wounded. Pushkin's early writing is mainly in the 18th-century classical tradition of light, frivolous verse. The verse fairy tale Ruslan and Ludmila (1820) is his first major attempt to use colloquial (разговорный) speech and themes from Russian folklore. This work and other exotic narratives(повести) written at that time were very much influenced by romanticism, the movement that was beginning to dominate(преобладать) contemporary(современный) English poetry. Pushkin was particularly drawn(искаженный) to the verse(поэзия) of Lord Byron, whose style he emulated in such poems as The Prisoner of the Caucasus(ko:keses) (1822), The Robber Brothers (1827), and Eugene Onegin. In Onegin, however, the Byronic hero has been changed by Pushkin into a tragic figure. He disdains(презирать) the love offered him by a naive and awkward(неуклюжий)[okwed] provincial girl, only to fall in love with her later when he meets her in Saint Petersburg, now a poised(парить), married woman prominent(известный) in society. Although she still loves him, the heroine[heroin] remains faithful to her husband and rejects (отвергать) Onegin. The plot is simple, but Pushkin has used it to convey(выражать) his poignant(острый) central theme: the relentless[rilentlis](безжалостный) passage of time and the irrevocable [i`revekebl](неотменяемый) nature of past actions. Pushkin's deep regard for his compatriots(соотечественник), his interest in history, and his distaste(отвращение) for the rigid(жесткий) class structure of his society, are evident(очевидный) in most of his mature(зрелый) work. In Wasteland [weistland](пустошь) Sower[soe](сеялка) of True Freedom, a political tract(трактат) published in 1823, he deplores[diploz](оплакивать) the cruelties of serfdom [sefdem](крепостное право) and warns prophetically[pre`fetikli](пророческий) that reform is necessary to avert [evet](отводить) revolution. Several of his major[meidge] dramas recall great Russian heroes of the past, notably(исключительно) Boris Godunov (1831; Eng. trans., 1899), Poltava (1828-29; Eng. trans., 1899), and The Bronze[bronz] Horseman (1837; Eng. trans., 1899), which depicts(изображать) the legendary[ledgendary] Peter the Great. In later years Pushkin frequently wrote prose. Two of his most widely read works are the novel The Captain's Daughter (1834; Eng. trans., 1846) and the short story "The Queen of Spades"(пики) (1834; Eng. trans., 1894). Pushkin's inventive use of language, the subtle[satl](нежный) blending(смеcь) of sense and sound in his lyrics, and the classic simplicity[simplisiti](простота) with which he expresses emotion combine to make his poetry unique. His has remained the single most important influence on Russian literature since the 19th century, and his work has been admired by such Russian masters as Dostoyevsky, Tolstoi, and Chekhov. His writing has, in addition, provided fertile(плодородный) ground for Russian composers, notably(особенно) Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov.