Customer Reviews

The Queen of Spades and Other Stories : A New Translation

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I had been happy to read about a supposedly unabridged and very inexpensive edition of "Queen of Spades" and the Belkin tales, as (as a college instructor) I often assign "Queen of Spades" in courses on opera or Petersburg, or in which one would not neces sarily need the student to order a whole compilation of Pushkin's fiction, such as Norton's very solid COMPLETE PROSE TALES.

However, this edition is *far* from unabridged. The editor has taken it upon himself to cut not only ALL the epigraphs from ALL t he stories (an absurd economy which distorts the tone of these parodic stories) but also fails to provide the two-page "From the Editor" frame without which the purpose of the Belkin tales is obscured.

I would not recommend this edition even to the casua l reader who wished to get the true flavor of Pushkin's Sternean, self-referential prose works. 'eo

From what I can learn this present volume ISBN 0192839543 from 1999 replaces ISBN 0192832131 from 1997.That volume is almost identical but is just 273 pages versus the present. I am not clear on all the changes but the books contains similar material and identical covers.

Roughly, here is the contents:

Introduction

Bibliography

Life of Pushkin

Milestones of the Pugachev Uprising

The Puskin Stories:

Tales of the Late Ivan Petrovich Belkin

- The Shot, 12 pages

- The Snowstorm, 12 pages

- The Undertaker, 7 pages

- The Stationmaster, 12 pages

- The Lady Peasant, 18 pages

The Queen of Spades, 29 pages

The Captain's Daughter: a novella, 108 pages

Peter The Great's Blackamoor, 35 pages, an unfinshed work.

Then summary Notes.

Comments:

The book contains a very long introduction to the works and has many notes at the end. In reading just the present book, you will receive a good idea of the general works of Pushkin - abbreviated - and a lot of detail on the present works.

The stories are excellent, well written, and one is instantly converted to being a Pushkin fan. I am not a literary expert but I have read works by Gogol, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, etc, and clearly one sees the connection in style and subject matter. It is easy to see how Tolstoy drew inspiration from these works.

The stories are grounded mostly in realism and 18th and 19th century historical events although there are romantic touches and Queen of Spades has elements of the supernatural.

Overall, these are excellent stories that bring a smile to one's face.

This book is a nice (don't forget cheap) adaptation and translation of Russia's most celebrated author, A.S.Pushkin. I imagine that other editions (hardcover and so on) are extremely expensive, so this book is a good introduction into the works of a classic and exceptionally talented writer. I have read much of Pushkin in Russian language, so I can honestly say that this book is true to the originals and it is worth spending your $3 on. NOTE: To people, who know that Pushkin is considered greatest RUSSIAN (emphasis on "russian") writer and expect to find real Russia in his writings: you won't find much of it here, for the fact that Pushkin wrote mainly about his upper-class contemporaries, who (pretty much like Pushkin himself) lost touch with real Russia, hence the revolution awhile later... If you want to feel some of Pushkin's russian spirit, you should try reading his poetry instead of the short stories.

Many critics have commented on the short, somewhat tragic life of Alexander Pushkin. He was an outstanding poet as well as a short story writer later on. This Dover edition of one of his most famous short story, along with several others, is an economical and excellent way to get yourself acquainted with one of the earlier Russian masters of literature. The short stories are memorable for their simplicity in style and tone, yet poignant and emotional.

This Dover Thrift edition - The Queen of Spades and Other Stories - offers an enjoyable introduction to Alexander Pushkin, an early nineteenth century Russian poet and writer. This collection includes Pushkin's popular The Queen of Spades and his five short stories published under the title The Tales of the Late P. Belkin. The translation was by T. Keane, originally published in 1894 by G. Bell & Sons, London.

The Queen of Spades is a haunting story of one man's obsession with gambling. Hermann, German by birth but a young officer in the Russian military, is notable among his fellow officers in St. Petersburg for his restraint: "He has never had a card in his hand in his life; he never in his life had a wager, and yet he sits here till five o'clock in the morning watching our play". Hermann becomes intrigued with a tale of a closely held secret, one that reveals a bidding sequence that always wins.

Unlike the title story, the other five stories have settings in rural Russia at great distance from cosmopolitan Moscow and St. Petersburg. Apparently Pushkin originally published these stories under a pseudonym. P. Belkin, supposedly a somewhat mysterious individual that liked to collect tales.

An Amateur Peasant Girl: The wealthy landowner Ivan Petrovitch Berestoff, feuds with his nearest neighbor, Gregory Ivanovitch Mouromsky. Unknown to either, Mouromsky's daughter, Lizaveta Gregorievna, while dressed as a peasant girl, has attracted the attention of Berestoff's son, leading to considerable confusion.

The Shot: In a formal Russian duel one duelist, chosen by chance, fires first from a fixed distance at the other. If the first duelist misses his opponent (or does not critically wound him), the second duelist now fires. In this tale the second duelist, a superb marksman, holds his fire, but with the understanding that at some future time he will return and kill his opponent.

The Snowstorm: This highly contrived story is singularly Russian. Love, chance, and honor ultimately mitigate the unexpected consequences of a senseless prank by a young military officer.

The Postmaster: This story is perhaps less contrived, and yet it still relies heavily on coincidences. The postmaster is not a postman, but is one that manages a way station for resting horses and travelers.

The Coffin Maker: In what appears to be a dream, an undertaker is harassed by his previous clients, now all dead and buried, who return to his home for festivities. The ending is somewhat ambiguous.

Oringially, I found this book on a display in my local library under the corner "classics" section, a rotating display to catch one's interests. Indeed it did becasue I found an author I knew little about. I had heard of Pushkin and he being considered the paragon of Russian poetry. Although I love to read a variety of subjects, I really don't care for any type of poetry (except for epic tales like the Aeneid, Oddessey and Beowulf etc...) and usually stick to prose writing. That's why I found this amusing, a collection of short stories by Pushkin.

Needless to say, I checked it out and was enthralled by the first "short story" entitled "The Negro of Peter the Great". I was stumped and a little surprised at the title but was curious and started reading. The first page swept me in and definitely kept my attention. By the end I was dissapointed because it was obviously unfinished, I then turned to the intro and found out it was originally a novel Puskin was working on at his early, untimely, stupid death. I was upset because I personally felt this indeed might have been one of the most interesting and maybe, if finished, greatest novels of the Russian language and litterature in general.

"Dubrovsky", which is, actually a novella, "Queen of Spades" and "The Captain's daughter" were also quite good but I reiterate the point that to me, feels that "The Negro of Peter the Great" is indeed, one of the greatest tragedies of lost litterature. I liked it so much, I went out and bought a copy for my personal library.

If someone comes to me and asks what I think true Russian

spirit is, I would say, "duel" is. Russian duel is very reckless

and even absurd because the percentage of survival is only 50%.

Each load their gun and go to the opposite end and they shoot

from distance in turn until either one is shot.

In the book, German,the main character, is a half-bood of

Russian and Germany. Due to his birth,mixed with German blood,

he is usually very realistic and doesn't believe in magic or

tricks. In numerous gatherings German never participates in the

card games but always watches people play. When he hears that

an old woman knows how to win the game he sniffs and ignores

it. But ironically it is he who arrives at the gate of her

house. However, it is not his intention but he himself is

dragged by some magical power.

As quite an ordinary and poor man, German believes in

diligence and reason, but not fantasy or fate. That's why he

never participates in any games. Their game is like a duel. The

players say some number and they take cards until either of

them get to reach the number and he wins. Then a new game

starts as if they already forgot about the former game. Usually

the loser loses a huge sum of money, which means that the

winner becomes enormous rich. In other words, the game actually

changes their lives in totally different ways.

Everyone who has read this book would never forget the last

scene of the Queen of Spades. Perhaps she really does say so,

or he only dreams or imagins. No one knows except Pushkin.

Bytheway, he is not telling something moral to persuade or

teach us. All he shows is something like Matrix, I guess. Maybe

the whole story is just a trick or magic or some parts are. The

judgement is up to the reader. We all are German in a way.