Customer Reviews

Captain's Daughter and Other Stories (Everyman's Library (Cloth))

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Pushkin is Mozart of Russian verse, prose and drama. That sounds like banality to any Russian but may help a person outside of our literary tradition to deal with the Russia's greatest writer.

Small, less than handsome misfit in a constant and direct dialog with the Muses. A man whose social, financial and matrimonial achievements are no match to his art.

His talents bloomed in the Lyceum, he was hailed by the most prominent poet of Russian Classicism - Gavrila Derzhavin, who had appointed the youngster his poetical heir.

But Pushkin made only a few contributions to the genre - he was a devoted romantic, a Byronite. Mermaids, gypsies and noble robber brothers were the inhabitants of his adolescent poems.

Drinking bouts with local Hussar officers were toppled by the boy's passionate odes to Liberty. Alexander was a celebrity guest.

The guest he remained. The officers - The Decembrists - rebelled against the tsar. Puskin was not invited. The conspirators felt that "the son of the Muses" is fond of the revolutionary rhetorics, not the cause.

Later, asked by the triumphant monarch does he regret his absence in rebellious ranks on that fateful December day, Pushkin confirmed his affinity with his hanged friends. He wanted to be taking seriously, he was ready to suffer. But the tsar was only amused and let Alexander go.

Pushkin soared high in empirea, the verse of unbelievable beauty and clarity was streaming from his quill, but his everyday life was dominated by gambling, drinking and chasing the known libertines. Yearning to be accepted socially he offered his friendship to unworthy and very often had to contend with their condescending attitude. He was not the first socially awkward creator in human history but that understanding did nothing to lessen the pain.

In his final years Pushkin decided to settle down, to accept the responsibilities, to marry, to get the position in the tsar's court.

Natalia Goncharova, the first beauty of Petersburg, consented to marry him - her family was impoverished, Alexander - insistent. He was given the court rank - kamerjunker, nearly the lowest in the hierarchy, fit for a very young man making his very first steps in the court. He was insulted but the wife's acclaimed beauty compensated for that and the other disapointments. They all envy him - the lucky man!

There was never enough money to put that gem in a proper setting. The beauty was expecting her due. If Alexander is incapable there are others.

Art remained the only consolation. Once he woke up in the middle of the night, put on a light and fevereshly scribbled the newborn lines. He read them to the wife. - Don't you ever do that to me again! - said the sleepy beauty.

His art is not able to conquer that perfection, the beauty of verse is nothing to the beauty of flesh.

Pushkin is made fun of, proclaimed a cuckold. His life is nearing the end.

In his last year the tortured genius writes Captain's Daughter. No mermaids here, no gypsies. It's clarity and restrained beauty is unsurpassed in our literature.

A son of old officer Petr Andreevich Grinev turns seventeen. He is enlisted as a toddler in a prestigeous regiment in Petersburg, now he is an officer already. He has no extensive education - just the basic ideas of nobility and some knowledge of French. His name is telling - Petr means a stone, father's name - a man, a male. The father wants to keep the son unspoiled - Petr is refused his ticket to the Petersburg. He goes to the steppes instead, to the fortress in the middle of nowhere.

On the way he gets drunk, loses money, suffers from hangover, abuses his old servant - with no harm to his inner integrity.

He begins to enjoy the simple life in the fortress, captain's daughter is aware if his feelings and seems to feel the same way. Short and ugly comrade-in-arms, Alexei Shvabrin envies him and speaks dirty of the girl. Duel puts Petr in a bed. The love flourishes.

All that a prelude to the Russian rebellion, "senseless and merciless".

The fortress is taken, the captain is hanged, his wife lies naked and dead in a dirt. Petr's life is spared on impostor's whim. Masha, the captain's daughter, is hidden in the local priest's house. Shvabrin is appointed the fortress commander and has the girl who rejected him in his power.

All will end well. The young lovers are ready to sacrifice, their love will conquer all, the empress Ekaterina is merciful - just like her adversary "emperor" Pugachev.

Like a drowning man gasping for air Pushkin had to get in contact with the qualities his life is so utterlly lacking - integrity, loyalty,love accepted and given back. He had experienced all that in Captain's Daughter.

No matter what happens Petr Grinev is true to his nature - the quality respected by friends and enemies. He is always ready to do the right thing - no matter what's the price. There are things more important than life. Or love.

Puskin's life is over, he is not respected, not loved by the woman he chose. So he escapes in art, lives another life, the dream of life he never had.

Less talented writer would have succumbed to the pure escapism, but Alexander Pushkin is a genius, what we have instead is a timeless masterpiece, clear and restrained, very modern prose, the characters we care about. No one succeed in imitating that style.

Puskin is not very well known in the West. The verse is so Russian it defies a translation, the prose is deceptively simple - it's very different from "prophetic" writings of Dostoevsky or Tolstoy, the export variant of The Great Late Russian Literature. The reader used to contemplating "the mysterious Russian soul" will be disappointed.

I am reluctant to recommend that book to a Western reader.But Pushkin is one of the reasons I still live here.

If you are interested in delving into the fascinating world of Russian literature, look no farther for your starting point than Pushkin.
Writing from a perspective of one who knew how the Russian gentry and aristocracy lived, Pushkin had the great ability to weave into his narrative firsthand accounts of living as a member of the upper class.
The Captain's Daughter presents us with the young officer Grinyov, who is sent to be an officer, as his father was, in a far-flung regiment on the frontier. Here Grinyov, and his faithful servant, have an interesting adventure with fellow officers, ruffians and locals. I wont give away the ending, however, the twists and turns keep you turning the pages. All the while, Grinyov's character remains true to form, upholding the ideals of his upbringing.
Fabulous read...and a quick one at that.

This is a collection of fictional narratives by "the first truly original Russian novelist."

The best of the collection is "The Captain's Daughter". It is an historical novel of 140 pages that grew out of Pushkin's research and writing of "History of the Pugachov Rebellion". In "The Captain's Daughter", young Pyotr Grinyov comes to manhood and pursues marriage of the daughter of the commander of the Belogorsky Fortress amidst the turmoil and bloodshed of the Cossack rebellion led by Yemelyan Pugachov in 1773 and 1774, during the reign of Catherine II. The novel is patterned after the Waverley novels of Sir Walter Scott and it may surpass its model. The story is told in a light-hearted manner, often with boisterous high humor. The action, of which there is plenty, proceeds at an almost breakneck pace. Some of the characters are stock in nature, but several are distinctive and memorable (especially Grinyov's manservant, Savelyich). Along the way the reader absorbs quite a lot of Russia of that era. It is not great literature, but it is a thoroughly enjoyable tale, even for a modern audience.

The remaining stories in this book are somewhat uneven in quality. Five of them were published together in 1831 as "The Tales of the Late Ivan Petrovich Belkin". These actually are parodies of different fictional styles or devices then current, and as such they are more skillful pieces of prose writing than might be thought based on a superficial reading. (The best of these, to my mind, is "The Shot".) The volume also contains the "The Queen of Spades", which is a minor landmark in Russian literature and the basis for Tchaikovsky's opera. Most of these other stories also are told with propulsive energy. In most there is an element of the supernatural, and in most an act of deception or disguise is at or near the center of the plot. Again, while they are not great literature, for the most part they wear well - better than the vast majority of stories written in English in the 1830s.

This collection, with the same cover illustration by Edward Gorey, was first published by Vintage Books in 1957. May it stay in print for another half century.

Pushkin, of course, is the master of Russian literature. While Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, etc, are more well-recognized in the West as 'seminal figures' of Russian literature, it is Pushkin who truly embodies Russian storytelling.

The translation of "The Captain's Daughter" (a novella, 140 pp) was excellent. Were this collection rated on the novella alone, it would easily get five stars.

However, the rest of the stories in the collection (about another 150 pp) suffered, unfortunately, from stilted and occasionally confused translating. A shame, too, because Pushkin's stories are really meant to be simple and easily understood.

Much like a Russian O. Henry, Pushkin generally thrives on the ironic. His storytelling is spartan: only the most basic details are provided, but each story is heartfelt, simple, and quite beautiful.

There is a strong selection of stories in this collection, and overall, the storytelling is very good. The translation could be improved, but is fairly readable; it's a shame that the translation can weight down the flow of Pushkin's stories.

I have read so much of Pushkin's writing that I was delighted to find this little treasure of short stories. They are all engrossing, particularly the title story. Loved it so much I sent my daughter a copy and she loved reading it as well. Highly recommended to anyone and a NOT TO BE MISSED work for any Pushkin fan. As usual, one wishes one could read it in Russian and avoid the translation idiosyncracies, but that is life.

Pushkin is the Godfather of Russian literature. _The Captain's Daughter and other Other Stories_ is a decent representation of his writing style, but I found the stories much less interesting than his poetry. With that said, the title piece is by far the strongest of the collection. The story is full of high drama, love, intrigue and betrayal, as the main character struggles to maintain his sense of honor and dignity. It was a bit over the top for me, but no one writes about human emotion with the depth that Pushkin does. For that alone, _The Captain's Daughter_ is worth the read. Skip the other stories. In the final analysis, I highly recommend it.

Pushkin greatest renoun is based on his poetry. But I like his short stories very much. They are crisp, intriguing, and educational. These stories are a treasure of Russian literature. They combine mystery and realism, persuasive language and simplicity--all trademarks of Pushkin's genius.

A nice sample of Pushkin's fiction talent, which is just as fun to read as his poetry.

The book itself is old, but in wonderful condition. There are no pages missing, and the antique texture makes me like the book even more. Thanks!!