This article is a substantially revised version of a paper 1 read at a Pushkin symposium sponsored by the George Washington University in Washington, D.C., 14 February 1987. The epigram is from D. S. Merezhkovskii, "Pushkin" in Vechnie sputniki, Polnoe svbranie sochinenii, 17 vols. (St. Petersburg and Moscow, 1911) 13:302.

1. “Le premier homme, qui, ayant enclos un terrain, s'avisa de dire ceci est à moi … fut le vrai fondateur de la société civile” (Discours sur l'inégité de Vinegalile parmis les hommes).

2. I am accepting here Pushkin's own account, as related to both Viazemskii and Pogodin, of how, having learned in Mikhailovskoe of the death of Alexander I, he had planned in early December of 1825 totravel to St. Petersburg. Encountering a series of bad omens before his departure, however, the notoriouslysuperstitious poet changed his mind. ( Veresaev, V. V., Pushkin v zhizni [Moscow and Leningrad, 1932] I: 191–192 Google Scholar).

3. S. A. Sobolevskii, “Tainstvennye primety v zhizni Pushkina,” Russkii arkhiv (\810), 1328–1386, quoted in Veresaev, Pushkin v zhizni, 65–66.

4. Even Nicholas's suspected interest in Pushkin's wife did not prevent the poet from expressing aslate as 1836 his “sincere attachment” to his sovereign (see The Letters of Alexander Pushkin, ed. J. ThomasShaw, 3 vols. (Bloomington and Philadelphia, 1963) 3: 780.

5. Not that gratitude was the only motive prompting Ibragim to return to Russia. Suspecting that theardor of his Parisian mistress would soon cool, he had already contemplated making a break with her—andwith France.

6. See Pushkin, A. S., Polnoe sobranie sochinenii, 10 vols. (Moscow, 1964) 6: 751 Google Scholar.

7. Lest I be accused of presenting a slanted portrait here I should add that, although Silvio bears aforeign name, he appears in other respects to be Russian and that the rebellion in which he perishes is directedagainst the Ottoman not the Russian Empire.

8. A literalist might choose to argue that Burmin in point of fact marries Maria Gavrilovna in themiddle of “Metel',” and that we have no unequivocal proof that Dunia has become Minskii's lawful wife atthe end of “Stantsionnyi smotritel'.” It cannot be denied, however, that the denouement of both tales implies—or proclaims outright—a happily united couple.

9. A History of Russian Literature, ed., Francis Whitfield (New York, 1958), 97.

10. Gregg, Richard, “The Nature of Nature and the Nature of Eugene in The Bronze Horseman ,” Slavic and East European Journal 21, no. 2 (1977): 167–179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

11. In the introduction Pushkin repeatedly emphasizes that the site of Russia's future capital city wasinhabited by Finns.

12. Those narratives that fail to exhibit the syndrome in question tend to fall into two distinct categories: on the one hand, the humorous or parodic works (Graf Nulin, Domik v Kolomne, Ruslan i Liudmila), on the other hand, the narrative fragments (;Roman v pis'makh, Roslavlev, lstoria sela Goriukhina). Of theformer one may say what has already been said about Povesti Belkina, namely, that their comic format is notconsonant with the tragic spirit that informs the theme of the “dark rebel.” Concerning the latter it is temptingto speculate that one of the reasons why they remained unfinished was precisely the absence of that theme which, as we have seen, proved to be so stimulating to Pushkin's narrative imagination

13. In stanza 6 of chapter 2 Pushkin describes Lenskii's arrival thus: “V svoiu derevniu v tu zhepom / Pomeshchik novyi priskakal / 1 stol’ zhe strogomu razboru / V sosedstve povod podaval.” In thetwelfth stanza of the same chapter, however, this alleged hostility of the neighbors has vanished: “Bogat, khorosh soboiu, Lenskii / Vezde byl priniat kak zhenikh.” Similarly, concerning his marital plans we aretold in stanza 13: “No Lenskii, ne imev, konechno, / Okhoty uzy braka nest'.” In stanzas 20–22, however, we learn that, far from being opposed to marriage, he is engaged to his childhood sweetheart, Ol'ga. In eachcase the earlier affirmation may be related to the unconventional image of Lenskii, the later qualification (orcontradiction) with Lenskii the conformist.

14. It is true that Pushkin offers us other “futures” for Lenskii had he lived. But the gouty cuckold is the last possibility mentioned, and as any polemicist knows when a series of options or choices are proposedto an audience the final one carries the most weight.

15. Merimée, Prosper, “Alexandre Pouchkine,” Portraits historiques et littéraires (Paris, 1894), 330 Google Scholar.

16. Not, of course, that Tatiana has suppressed her “dark” side entirely. Indeed the passionate andangry accents that repeatedly rise to the surface in her last speech represent a kind of temporary resurrectionof the earlier Tatiana.

17. I have argued this point at length elsewhere (Gregg, “Nature of Nature “). Suffice it to note herethat Pushkin explicitly says of his heroine that she is the epitome of comme ilfaut (8, 14: 13), that she likes the “oligarchical” social order of St. Petersburg high society (8, 7: 1–4), that indeed she has become its “legislator” (8, 6: 9–10).

18. This initial “black” image of Pugachev is in fact underscored by repetition: “Vdrug ia videl chto-tochernoe. ‘Ei, iamshchik!’ zakrichal ia, smotri: chto-to tarn cherneetsia” (Polnoe sobranie sochinenii 6: 407).

19. Although the two terms overlap, they are not of course identical. All of Povesti Belkina containparodic elements but all are not comic. Conversely, the skazki are certainly humorous in spirit, but it wouldbe a serious distortion to call them parodies.

20. The brief episode at the end of chapter 1 of Evgenii Onegin in which Pushkin himself is introducedcontains no portrait of the poet. Nor, it seems to me, can the lyrical persona projected in the many autobiographicaldigressions of the novel add up to a portrait of the historical Pushkin.

21. It is interesting to compare this poem, with its veiled allusion to the fallen Decembrists, to “Arion” and “Vo glubine sibirskikh rud,” both written in 1827. The earlier poems look forward to a continuedaffirmation of Decembrist ideals; the later poem is backward looking.

22. Pushkin's implicit approval of Ibragim's resolve is put in the mouth of the French regent, who, having expressed regret at the hero's decision, adds, “No, vprochem, vy pravy” (Polnoe sobranie sochinenii6: 18).