Pushkin: The Man and His Age

Traces the life of the revered Russian poet and national hero, who died of wounds from a duel at thirty-seven

Apparently no English-language biography of Pushkin is currently in print, so Edmonds fills the void with this high-quality, compact life that introduces us to the poet's tempestuous story. As we all know, it ended in a duel, which would be an empty tragedy but for Edmonds' insights into Pushkin's personality. A bon vivant, a gambler, imbued with the vaulting exhilaration about living that fills his works, Pushkin was also embedded in the social swirl of the Russian nobility that stickled for honor and slights thereto: the duel that killed him wasn't the only challenge of his life. He otherwise soaked up the zeitgeist of early 1800s Russia, sharing in the educated class' liberal hopes for Alexander I, stifled in the crushing of the Decembrist revolt, many of whose figures were friends of Pushkin. The author's strength is keeping his plan on the rails: he decided against digressions into "definitive biog" territory that tracks down every triviality and literary criticism, though he kept enough verse excerpts (in original and translation) to convey the flavor of Pushkin's art and life. An appealing work that meets many a library's need. Gilbert Taylor

Given Pushkin's (1799-1837) dramatic life and his near-miraculous literary output, the dearth of biographical literature in English is surprising. Edmonds (classics, Oxford) presents us with a competent?if sometimes dry?rendering of the life of Russia's greatest poet and novelist, whose own story seems plucked from the verses of Eugene Onegin (1833), his greatest epic poem. Born to the nobility, Pushkin squandered much of his money on cards. Politically liberal, he narrowly escaped the wrath of the czar, who felt that it was Pushkin's verse that contributed to the explosive sentiments behind the ill-fated Decembrist revolt in 1825. Pushkin's most productive years were spent in exile. The strength of Edmonds's biography is its literary analysis of the poems. Quoting both from the original Russian and translations, Edmonds puts the poems into the larger context of Pushkin's life and times, yet does not overdo it. An important addition to Pushkin scholarship. Strongly recommended.?Diane Gardner Premo, SILS, SUNY at Buffalo
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