Pushkin's Historical Imagination FROM THE PUBLISHER
This book explores the historical insights of Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837), Russia's most celebrated poet and arguably its greatest thinker. Svetlana Evdokimova examines for the first time the full range of Pushkin's fictional and nonfictional writings on the subject of history - writings that have strongly influenced Russians' views of themselves and their past. Through new readings of his drama Boris Godunov; such narrative poems as Poltava, The Bronze Horseman, and Count Nulin; prose fiction, including The Captain's Daughter and The Blackamoor of Peter the Great; lyrical poems; and a variety of nonfictional texts, the author presents Pushkin not only as a progenitor of Russian national mythology but also as an original historical and political thinker.
FROM THE CRITICS
Library Journal
Alexander Pushkin's writings on history, both fiction and nonfiction, are the subject of this scholarly monograph. Evdokimova's (Slavic languages, Brown) intention is to "delineate the poet's continuously shifting perspective on specific historical events and on the nature of historical processes." She believes Pushkin desired not to create a philosophical theory but to remain an observer and challenge established formulas, especially his own. Part 1 examines Pushkin's attempts to establish the connection between historical development and national identity. Part 2 further develops the notion of national and cultural context as a dominant element in Pushkin's historical and artistic vision. Part 3 covers Pushkin's approach to history, especially in reference to Peter the Great. Through a careful study of works like Boris Gudunov, The Bronze Horsemen, Count Nunlin, and Blackamoor of Peter the Great, Evdokimova sees Pushkin as the originator of Russian mythology and an original thinker of the Romantic era. This is a scholarly work, but it is never pedantic. Recommended for academic collections and the informed lay reader.--Ronald Ratliff, Chapman H.S. Lib., KS
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