Chapter 26 postscript

This book collects all the novels of the great Russian writer Pushkin.Among them, several works have already been translated into my country, but some seem to be translated into Chinese for the first time.The translator did not think what he could do, and translated them all into this volume. His subjective wish was to provide readers with a relatively complete volume. This book is translated based on the fifth volume of "The Complete Works of Pushkin" published by the Soviet State Literature and Art Publishing House in 1960, with reference to other editions.The various versions of "The Complete Works of Pushkin" published by the Soviet Union have detailed and simplified annotations, and the arrangement is similar.The novels in each edition of the complete works are collected in one volume (or the fifth volume, or the sixth volume), and the arrangement style is mostly divided into two parts: the first part is called "fiction", and the second part is called "unfinished works". , fragments and sketches." However, unfinished works are also included in the first part, for example, "Peter the Great's Black Slave" is clearly an unfinished novel, but it is placed in the first part -- try to figure out its intention , probably because although this kind of work is not finished, it has more text and has begun to take shape.As a result of this situation, the cataloging of the first part of this volume of the novel varies in the various editions.For example, the fifth volume of the complete works of the 1960 edition of the Literary and Art Press did not include the article "Letter Fiction", while the sixth volume of the 1950 edition of the Complete Works of the Academy of Sciences Press did.The translator thought that this article had more text and the work had begun to take shape, so he translated it and included it in this book.Another example is the article "Travel to Alzrum during the march in 1829", which was included in the fifth volume of the complete works of the 1960 edition of Literary and Art Press, but not included in the sixth volume of the complete works of the 1950 edition of the Academy of Sciences Press.The translator thought that this article was not a novel but a travelogue, so he didn't translate it.Except for the slight difference in the collection of these two articles, the collection and arrangement order of the other articles are roughly the same, and the translators translated them in turn.As for the part of "fragments and sketches", only two of them were selected and translated as supplements, and the rest were omitted.Two articles were translated, one is "Guests Gathering in the Villa", because Leo Tolstoy was inspired by this article when he was writing, and this article has been cited more than once in our country's literary review articles over the years.The translator translated this article and wanted to provide it to readers as a piece of information.The second is "We spent a night in the villa...", because this article is a companion article with "Egyptian Night", I translated this article for readers to compare and read.

Next, the translator would like to briefly provide some information on the creation of each article. "The Black Slave of Peter the Great" is a novel.Pushkin started writing in July 1827. In 1829, two fragments of this novel were published in the anthology "Flowers of the North".It is a pity that Pushkin died young.The novel was not finished, and even the title of the book was not confirmed. The title of "Peter the Great's Black Slave" was added by others after his death. This is a historical novel, in which Pushkin wants to reproduce the entire historical era in which the talented Peter the Great used "iron will" to transform Russia.There is a central character in the novel, which is the black Ibrahim—in fact, Pushkin’s great-grandfather Hannibal.

Abram Hanniba (1697-1781), the son of a chieftain in Abyssinia (now Ethiopia), was captured by the Turks and sent to Constantinople.A Russian envoy bought him as a gift to Peter the Great.Peter loved him very much, adopted him as an adopted son, sent him to study in France, and later made him a nobleman.He was a military engineer with outstanding achievements, was promoted to marshal, and lived to the advanced age of eighty-four before his death. Abram Hannibal was married twice.The second wife gave birth to a son named Osip, and Osip's daughter Nadezhda was Pushkin's biological mother.Pushkin was fascinated by this strange and dramatic family history from an early age.He refers to himself as "African" several times in his poems.He never forgot to artistically reproduce this family history. At the beginning of 1825, he wrote in a letter to his brother: "You should suggest that Ryleyev (Decembrist poet-translator's note) should use our great-grandfather as the son of Peter the Great in his new long poem. His entourage described it. His black face played a wonderful role in the entire Poltava battle." Regarding the material of this ancestor, Pushkin learned from the ancestor's son, Pushkin's uncle Peter.This man lived in his old age near the village of Mikhailovskoye, Pushkin's estate.The poet visited the old man and collected materials about the ancestors.Those materials were written in German by his uncle and grandfather.

Judging from the chapters that have been written, there are several discrepancies between the novel and the historical facts, either because Pushkin did not figure it out clearly, or he deliberately changed it. —He insisted that Hannibal was "black," but he wasn't, he was an Arab. — Hannibal married not a daughter of a great Russian nobleman, but a Greek woman named Yevdokia.The marriage was not during Peter the Great's lifetime, but after his death, during the reign of Empress Anna.Therefore, it is impossible to talk about the matchmaking of the emperor as described in the novel.

——Hanniba's first wife was unfaithful to him, had an affair, and gave birth to him a white boy (the opposite of the French countess who gave birth to a black boy in the novel), and he finally sent his wife to the monastery.This post-marriage plot Pushkin had not had time to write. There are some others that do not match the historical facts. It can be seen from this that Pushkin is not writing a biography, not sticking to historical facts, but writing a novel, always with the task of typicalizing art in mind. "Letter Fiction" was written in 1829.Pushkin also intended to write it as a novel.The novel also has no title.After the poet's death, others had to give it a general name of "Letter Fiction".The novel was published in 1857.Since the publication of Rousseau's "New Heloise", epistolary novels have become quite popular in Europe.Pushkin has mastered the art of epistolary, and this article has a legacy of sentimentalism.

The full name of "Belkin's Novels" is "The Dead Ivan Petrovich Belkin's Novels", which was written in the village of Polkino in 1830.Pushkin had a particularly productive autumn of the year, which biographers call "Polkino's autumn." See the dates recorded in his manuscripts: "The Coffin Master" - September 9, "The Postmaster" - On September 14, "Miss Village Girl"-September 20, "Shooting"-October 12 and 14, "Blizzard"-October 20.During this period, Pushkin also wrote many poems alternately. This collection of stories was published in October 1831.Pushkin was worried that the response would not be good, so he fictionalized an author, Belkin, and wrote "A Brief Introduction to the Publisher", and made up a lot about this person's life experience, which can be described as well-intentioned.The results were predictable: "Readers treated them with indifference, and publications even more indifferently," some even called it "parody."But Pushkin was not swayed by stupid prejudices.An interesting conversation is quoted below, which is enough to prove Pushkin's self-awareness of his talent.One of his acquaintances, Miller, asked him: "Who is this Belkin?" Pushkin replied: "No matter who he is, no matter where he is, anyway, writing novels should be like him: simple, concise, and clear."

"Shooting" is based on real people and real events. In Kishnyov in 1822, Pushkin himself dueled with an officer named Zopov.Pushkin was eating a handful of cherries for breakfast when his opponent shot him.Zopov fired first and missed.Pushkin left without firing a shot, and without making peace with his opponent.This fact is only cited in the novel, as for the character of the characters and Pushkin himself is very different. The article "The Postmaster" is of great significance. Pushkin puts forward the theme of "little people" here, which is a precedent for Gogory's "Overcoat" and humanitarian works sympathizing with the weak in nineteenth-century Russian literature.

"Research on the Origin and Development of Goliusino Village" was written in 1830.After the poet's death, the novel was published in Modern Man in 1837 after extensive abridgement and distortion by the censorship.The idea of ​​anti-serfdom in the novel is very obvious, and the author also drew up an outline, which mentioned peasant riots. The character of Belkin, the image of a storyteller, is not visible in the various chapters of "Belkin's Novels", but it is quite distinct in the article "A Study of the Origin of Goliusino Village".This is a landowner with underdeveloped intelligence. He sees the world through his eyes and conducts "research" through his "historical" and "research obsessive" mind, but the result shows the misery of the peasant masses under the serfdom. The picture reflects the history of the decline of the Russian countryside for decades.

"Roslavlev" was written in 1831.Pushkin published the beginning of the novel in Modern Man in 1836. In 1830 Chagoskin's novel "Roslavlev, or The Russian of 1812" was published, which promoted official great-power chauvinism.Pushkin followed the title of his book, which has the nature of a polemic with Chagoskin. Dubrovsky was written between October 1832 and February 1833.After Pushkin's death, the novel was published for the first time in the complete collection of the first edition in 1841, and the censorship made many deletions and distortions. The plot of "Dubrovsky" is based on real events.Pushkin's friend Nashkin told him one thing: "A Belarusian nobleman named Ostrovsky had a lawsuit with his neighbor over land ownership. The lawsuit failed and he was expelled from his home. So he led the The serfs under him robbed, first to avenge the jury, and then to rob other landowners." Na Xiaokin met this man, who was in prison at the time.

Dubrovsky, the robber chieftain in the novel, is still essentially a noble young master.His "rebellion" was entirely out of personal motives, and he had nothing in common with his serfs in terms of thoughts and feelings.He "robbed the rich" instead of "helping the poor". Even if he looked at his personal motives, he gave up revenge when he encountered beauty in revenge.However, Belinsky pointed out: "The ancient way of life of the Russian nobles represented by Troyegulov is surprisingly real." Perhaps the true value of the novel lies here. "The Queen of Spades" was written in November 1833 and published in "Reading Library" in 1834.

The image of the old countess in the novel has its prototype, and she is Golitsyn, the mother of Governor of Moscow Golitsyn.Her grandson told Pushkin that once he lost money in a bet and asked his grandmother for money to pay off the debt, but the grandmother didn't give the money and told him the secret of the three cards. He went into the casino again, played the three cards, and won back. "The Queen of Spades" portrays the vivid image of the individualistic adventurer Gehrman, revealing his ugly soul very deeply and powerfully, but the author did not make extensive psychological analysis, the work is very dramatic but without artificial drama Effect.This shows Pushkin's concise, lively and graceful style.Dostoevsky said: "In front of Pushkin, we are all dwarfs, and there is no genius like him among us! How powerful and beautiful his fantasy is! Not long ago I read his "The Queen of Spades" ", this is fantasy!... He dissected the hair, traced all the behaviors, all the pains and all the hopes of Gehrman, and at the end, he was suddenly defeated." "Kirshari" was written in 1834 and published in "Reading Library" in the same year. The content of the novel is related to the uprising of the Greek people against the tyranny of Turkey in 1821.Bandit Kirshari took part in the uprising.Pushkin wrote this hero as elusive and heroic, expressing his deep sympathy.Kirshali is a real person. "Egyptian Night" was written in 1835 and published in Modern Man in 1837 after the poet's death.Many people in the history of European literature and art have described the dramatic life experience of the ancient Egyptian queen Cleopatra. She also attracted Pushkin and made him write this topic many times. In 1824 he wrote a short poem "Kleapetra" (included in this article).The excerpt "We spent a night in the villa..." which was selected and translated in this episode also describes the Egyptian queen. There are two centers in the article "Egyptian Night".One is a story about an ancient Egyptian queen described in poetry, and the other is an image of Italian improviser and Charsky in prose.This article is quite unique in art, and the two centers are written without a sense of separation. It can be said to be seamless and integrated.The queen of ancient Egypt, with just a few strokes, her obstinate and licentious character is quite vividly written.The two poets, in terms of background and personality, are diametrically opposed, but they met by chance and hit it off right away.Everything is written in a poetic way, especially the scene of the two poets forgetting the machine and wandering in their minds when they are composing poems. "The Captain's Daughter" is Pushkin's most important and longest novel. The leader of the Russian peasant uprising, Emilyan Pugachev (1741-1775) and the uprising he led (1773-1775) had long attracted Pushkin.About this person, he later wrote two books: one is the historical work "History of Pugachev", and the other is the novel "The Captain's Daughter".To write these two books, Pushkin delved into many historical materials and archives, collecting folklore and songs about the uprising. In 1833, he went to Orenburg and the Urals to look for the participants and witnesses of the Pugachev uprising, talked with them, and collected a lot of materials.Therefore, his "History of Pugachev" is full and reliable, which can be called a reliable history, but the great poet is also a good history material. "The Captain's Daughter", as a realistic novel, is also based on rich and real materials. This novel has been brewing for several years. It was conceived in 1833, and it was not finished until October 1836. It was published in "Modern Man" in the same year.Because of the censorship, the chapter on the peasant uprising in Grignyov's village was not allowed to be published, and it was not until 1880 that this chapter appeared to readers for the first time.This is the "Abridged Chapter" in this book. The two characters in the novel, Grignyov and Shivabrin, are each based on two real-life characters.One named Basha Lin was captured by Pugachev, escaped later, and joined the tsarist army to attack Pugachev.The other was Shivanich, who was born in a noble family and took refuge in Pugachev.As for the love story in the book and the relationship between Griniyov and Pugachev, they are all fabricated by the author. Pushkin does not approve of the peasant uprising, and his aristocratic position is clearly revealed in the novel.However, he couldn't hide his deep sympathy for Pugachev, and, in his writing, the leader of the peasant uprising is indeed worthy of being an all-powerful hero. The sense of feeling - both vivid and convincing.From here, we can see the brilliance of Pushkin's artistic genius. "The Villa where the Guests Gather" was written between 1828 and 1830. "We Spent One Night at the Villa" was written in 1835.These two articles are only included as fragments or sketches in the Russian version of the complete work. The previous article introduced a bit of information in turn.As for the status and achievements of Pushkin's novels in the history of literature, we will not discuss them, because that is not the job of translators.The translator here just wants to express a little emotion: Pushkin once put forward the concept of "naked simplicity", and he not only vigorously advocated it, but also practiced it personally.His crystal-clear style has been tempered, and he has indeed reached this level, as evidenced by the chapters in this book.If readers can't see it, then it's only because the translator is incompetent, unable to convey the spirit of the original work, and never be faithful, expressive, and elegant. In the process of translating this book, I received strong support from Professor Shaanzhi. Four articles, "Peter the Great's Black Slave", "Egyptian Night", "Letter Fiction" and "Guests Gathered at the Villa", had been handed over to her for review.I would like to express my deep gratitude to Professor Sha Anzhi. translator October 1982