Pushkin

by T.J. Binyon

Pushkin is Russia's greatest and best-loved poet: a romantic, enigmatic figure who, during a brief but turbulent life, changed Russian literature forever with his vital and passionate verse. Many of his works -- including The Bronze Horseman, The Queen of Spades, and his extraordinary novel in verse, Eugene Onegin -- have become classics of world literature and are as exhilarating to read today as they were when first published. Now we have the first full biography in 60 years of this literary legend. Born in Moscow in 1799, he was descended on one side from an ancient noble family, on the other from a black African slave of Peter the Great. At the age of 20 he was expelled from St. Petersburg for his satirical writings. He remained in internal exile, under the direct supervision of the Emperor, for the next seven years, and throughout his life attracted official disapproval for his political and religious beliefs -- and for his many love affairs. In 1831 despite mounting debts from ga