Pushkin - by Yuri Lotman (Paperback)

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

This volume presents a chronological biography of Alexander Pushkin, often held to be Russia's national poet and writer. Lotman pays special attention to the development of Pushkin's social and political thought throughout the poet's life, painting a picture of the poet as having been deeply in tune with and even involved in the most pressing socio-political challenges of his age, such as the issue of constitutional monarchy and revolution through his association with various members of the Decembrist movement, the issue of serfdom, and his struggle for personal, creative, and financial freedom as a writer who was under constant public scrutiny and state surveillance. Lotman also fascinatingly describes the deliberate measures Pushkin undertook in his own life to shape the public's perception of him, essentially treating his life and personal mythology as a work of art in itself.

Review Quotes

"[T]his brief biography is a masterpiece. It is well worth reading not only for its portrait of Russia's greatest poet but also for its jargon-free method of depicting a life in terms of literary roles. Few young people today pay much attention to literature, but their sense of self seems to be shaped in much the same way by the heroes and heroines of films and the actors and actresses who play them."

-- Gary Saul Morson, The New Criterion

"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

"This scholarly work is not a typical biography, although Pushkin's entire life is covered, nor is it narrative nonfiction. The focus is on how his life and times impacted Pushkin and how he developed as an artist. I read it slowly, challenged by details of history new to me. It is a rewarding read, and an inspirational story."

-- A. Bekofske, The Literate Quilter

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.