Pushkin - by Yuri Lotman (Hardcover)

About the Book

Yuri Lotman's biography of Pushkin is a classic work of Soviet literary scholarship, presenting an image of Russia's national poet as a complex figure caught up in the trials and contradictions of his age, who, during his own lifetime, took a pioneering approach to the shaping of his own public biography, much as he did with regards to his works.

Book Synopsis

Yuri Lotman's biography of Pushkin is a classic work of Soviet literary scholarship, presenting an image of Russia's national poet as a complex figure caught up in the trials and contradictions of his age, who, during his own lifetime, took a pioneering approach to the shaping of his own public biography, much as he did with regards to his works.

Review Quotes

"This biography is an accessible point of entry for newcomers to the scholarly achievement of Yuri Lotman, and it is an invaluable, endlessly insightful biography of Pushkin on its own terms. How lucky we are to have it now in English. And the magisterial introduction by David Bethea caps it off brilliantly."

- Stephanie Sandler, Harvard University

"It often happens that we learn about great writers in a curious order of "life and works," as if the unruly mess of their lives has to end before they are finally free to start working on their masterpieces. Yuri Lotman's "Pushkin: A Writer's Biography" flouts any such convenient dichotomies. It follows the man who lived his life to write and who had the courage to turn all that life threw at him (exiles, duels, debts, isolation during a pandemic) into an excuse to work more. Lotman's unique ability to convey complex ideas with clear elegance of style is perfectly matched in Ilya Nemirovsky's translation."

-- Daria Khitrova, Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures, Harvard University

"In his illuminating preface to this excellent English translation, David Bethea notes that the native element, for both the biographer and his subject, is poetry: signs, codes, symmetries, boundaries one can consciously transgress, and closure that one must celebrate. Lotman's miniature masterwork, first published in 1981, focuses on Pushkin's relentless self-creation in shifting, unfree sociopolitical contexts. The book was designed as a guide for school teachers. Every page reminds us how glorious it is to be Lotman's student."

-- Caryl Emerson, Princeton University

About the Author

Yuri Lotman was an eminent Soviet literary scholar and cultural historian. Lotman was the cornerstone of a storied faculty at the University of Tartu. Perhaps most widely known today for his pioneering theoretical work in semiotics, Lotman was also a renowned Pushkin scholar and historian of 19th century Russia.

Ilya Nemirovsky was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. He is currently a PhD candidate in English at Harvard University.