Chapter 43 The Father of Russian Literature - Pushkin

My name will be spread far and wide, as long as there is only one poet in this world under the moonlight. My name will be spread throughout great Russia, All the languages ​​of her peoples call me. I will be loved by the people and they will remember me long The kind feelings that my poems arouse, Remember I sing the praises of liberty in these cruel times, And call for mercy for the fallen. — Pushkin "If life deceives you, don't be melancholy, and don't be angry! When you don't like it, restrain yourself temporarily, believe it, and the day of happiness will come." Seeing this well-known poem will remind you of Pushkin, the ancestor of Russian literature.Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (1799-1837) was born into an ancient noble family.In his youth, he interacted with some future Decembrists, influenced by bourgeois enlightenment thoughts, and formed a progressive thought against autocratic serfdom. In 1820, he was exiled to South Russia because of his political poems which offended the government.

After graduating from Huangcun School, Pushkin began to write some political poems against tyranny and praising freedom. The most famous one is "To Chadayev", which is full of thoughts of resisting tyranny and confidence in winning. Pushkin's political poems have a positive romantic spirit and a clear and fresh lyrical style, which embodies the political enthusiasm of the Decembrists who pursue bourgeois freedom and equality.Some political poems show the tragic picture of the Russian countryside under the serf system, full of sympathy for the suffering of the people. After Pushkin was exiled in South Russia, he had more frequent contacts with the Decembrists.During this period, he wrote many romantic lyric poems, which reflected the anxiety of progressive aristocratic youths in the 1920s looking for a way out of society.The long poem "Gypsy Gypsy" describes the noble young man A Lege who is not tolerated by the government, joins the wandering team of the Gypsy Gypsy people, and becomes the husband of the real concubine of the Gypsy Gypsy girl.He found out that his wife had another new love, killed his wife and her lover, and was spurned by the gypsy people.In the first half of this long poem, the author describes that Alego indignantly criticizes the hypocrisy of urban civilization and the worship of money, and lives a free life among the gypsy people.The second half is about the conflict between Alego and the Gypsy people.In the long poem, the poet Gypsy's free life is compared with a civilized society, and the old Gypsy's morality is compared with Alego's egoism.But at the end of the long poem, the poet pointed out that the unfettered life of the gypsy people is not free and happy.

Later, Pushkin also published "Belkin's Collection of Novels" (1832), in which "The Postmaster" is the first work in Russian literature to describe "little people". His daughter was kidnapped by a hussar.The author writes the protagonist as a poor, submissive person, and expresses deep sympathy for him, which reflects the author's humanitarian thought. The poetic novel "Evgeny Onegin" is the representative work of Pushkin's eight years of painstaking efforts.The novel describes that Onegin, an aristocratic young man at that time, felt that the upper class life was empty and boring, so he came to the countryside.He rejected the love of Tatyana, the daughter of a provincial landowner, and killed his best friend Lensky in a duel.He returned to Petersburg after roaming around the country, and met Tatyana, who had become a social lady, and he pursued her, but was rejected.

Onegin is the first typical example of "superfluous man" in Russian literature.He was influenced by enlightenment thoughts, loved Byron's poems praising freedom and individual liberation, and was interested in the application of science and technology in agriculture.He, too, had passionate dreams of new changes in Russia.But Russia in his eyes is full of ignorance and backwardness.But Onegin, who grew up in an aristocratic environment, was far away from the people and could not see the hope of social change.As a result, enthusiasm fades away, dreams are shattered, and one indulges in balls, theatre, wine, and beautiful women to fill the emptiness within oneself.Onegin despised Russian aristocratic society, but was powerless to break with it.Herzen said: "Onegin is an idler, because he never does anything, he is a superfluous person within the scope of his situation." "Superfluous people" are typically products of the times.These aristocratic intellectuals have a certain ability to criticize society, but they are doomed to accomplish nothing if they stay away from the people.Pushkin's work actually condemned the autocratic serfdom society.

This poetic novel mainly describes the life of the upper class in Russia in the 1920s. It expresses Russian national customs and satirizes all kinds of urban aristocrats and rural landowners. Sex, established the direction of Russian critical realism literature. The historical novel "The Captain's Daughter" is Pushkin's last important work. The nobleman Grinev took his servant Saverich to serve in the army.He was riding in a carriage, encountered a snowstorm, lost his way, and was taken to an inn by a stranger.At the hotel, Grinev saw that the stranger was cold, so he gave him one of his rabbit fur coats.This man was Pugachev.After Grinev arrived in Orenburg, he fell in love with Maria, the daughter of Captain Mironov.Soon, Pugachev's rebel army captured the fortress and killed the captain.After Pugachev's uprising failed, Grinev was arrested and imprisoned for collaborating with the enemy. Maria explained the truth to Tsar Catherine, and Grinev was released.

The novel reproduces the historical events of Pugachev's uprising through the first-person narration, taking Glinev's personal fate as a clue.He praised Pugachev, the leader of the peasant uprising, and portrayed him as a hero who is confident, optimistic, amiable, and passionate about freedom, so he is deeply supported by the people.At the same time, he also condemned the tyranny and brutality of the tsar. Pushkin was a figure who lived in the aristocratic revolutionary stage of the Russian liberation movement.His creation not only reflected the progressive aristocratic intellectuals' strong pursuit of bourgeois freedom, equality, and fraternity, but also reflected their own class limitations.From the perspective of artistic achievements, Pushkin's creation has made great contributions to the formation of Russian national literature, the establishment of realism and the enrichment and improvement of literary language.