A review by atelierofbooks
The Tales of Belkin by Alexander Pushkin

5.0

"The other day, after my work, I picked up this volume of Pushkin and as always (for the seventh time, I think) read it from cover to cover, unable to tear myself away, as if I were reading it for the first time. More than that, it was as if it dispelled all my doubts. Never have I admired Pushkin so much, nor anyone else for that matter. The Shot, Egyptian Nights, The Captain’s Daughter!!!" - Leo Tolstoy

Tolstoy used three exclamation marks, so I can too. This book!!!

For me, classic Russian literature is not exactly fun to read. It's beautiful and provoking but not what I would call a good time. So I was really surprised at this witty and fun collection of short stories that made me feel...I guess, genuine delight. Which sounds like such an old fashioned way to describe something but its true, I was really delighted. Because I knew nothing about this going into it and I was caught off guard by how it made me laugh out loud and gasp at all the little enchanting surprises. It really is devilishly clever and satisfying to read.

I especially loved The Shot, The Blizzard, and The Young Lady Peasant. But I have to give a special shout-out to The Stationmaster because it highlights what I most like about Pushkin; the way he writes women. Guess what? Terrible things don't happen to women in his stories, even when they do things like run away from home with strange men. (This is, incidentally, the quality I most like about Jane Austen too).

These aren't morality tales trying to scare proper behavior into girls. They aren't bitter stories written by a jaded writer who has been burned by his relationships with women. So much of classic fiction is women either reaping the tragic consequences of poor choices or being objects of love/desire/temptation for men. And the characterization stops there. Pushkin writes a woman's inner voice sparingly, but when he does it's actually really relatable. He gives them agency and writes them like his men. That is, like people. And I really love the way he writes men too, because that's who he knew best. Maybe the reason why his male characters have such widely varying fates, foibles, and personalities is because he's never self-inserting, he's just writing what he observed of men and their nature.

In the Pevear and Volokhonsky translation I read, Pushkin's prose is really like crystal; so fresh and clean, deceptively light until it you realize how multifaceted it is. And for those who say these are 'just' fun stories...well yeah. “Emptiness is Pushkin’s content. Without it he would not be full, he would not be, just as there is no fire without air, no breathing in without breathing out.” - Andrei Sinyavsky.