This book contains the major prose works of Aleksandr Pushkin, which include "The Tales of the Late Ivan Petrovich Belkin", "Dubrovskii", "The Queen of Spades", "The Captain's Daughter", and "A History of Pugachev". Also included in the book are many unfinished stories and fragments, which provide some glimpse into what Pushkin was thinking in between the years that he wrote his masterpieces.

Pushkin's stories range from melancholy to humorous to psychological and yet they are all written in a clear, and crisp style that is easy to grasp. Unlike Pushkin's poetry, little is lost in the translation of his prose works from Russian to English and thus we can fully appreciate his genius.

Although all of Pushkin's prose works are excellent, but one that continues to remain in my memory for some reason is "Egyptian Nights". Here the two main characters are Charskii, the nobleman who upholds the aesthetic and personal nature of poetry writing, and the greedy Italian improvisator, who lives by giving public shows and is able to deliver a poem (and quite astonishing at that) on any topic at a moment's notice - but for a fee. Is it possible that Charskii and the Italian both represent different facets of Pushkin's own personality? Anyway, I thought the story ending was erotic and exotic...

Even if you are not interested in Russian literature or in Russian culture in general, I would daresay that you would find it hard to put this collection of stories down after you started reading them.

The only problem that I had was with the publisher. I wish that they had provided a bookcover, because the paint on the outside of the hardcover kept coming off onto my hands!

If you want to sincerely have a happy, fulfilling marriage to a Russian lady then you better not be complacent either.  Study the Pimsleur language lessons, read all the books you can, study Russian history and culture, read their literature.  The works of Pushkin alone are rewarding for any scholar with or without the motive of a beautiful Russian bride!

English Literature has its Shakespeare, American its Melville, German its Goethe, and Russian Literature, well, it has Alexander Pushkin. Although there are a lot of well-known and frequently-read writers from the 19th century Russia, like Gogol, Tolstoi or Dostoyevski, Pushkin is supposed to be the one who started the movement which made Russian Literature part of World Literature.

Pushkin is known as a poet (his novel "Eugen Onegin", written in verses, is the crown of his art), not as a dramatist or a novelist. As a citizen of the former Soviet Union, I know from my own experience that school children have to learn his poetry by heart from the very beginning of their school career. Even if his prose couldn't reach the importance of his poetry, it could still establish some reputation because of its uniqueness. This collection unites his greatest works in prose. Since the stories vary in kind and quality, I decided to write a short comment on some of them hoping that the review will be more helpful this way.

DUBROVSKII (5 STARS): This is a story about a young man desperate to take revenge on the man who killed his father. As a wanted criminal, Dubrovskii assumes the identity of a French teacher at his enemy's and lures for the possibility to hold his word and to kill the man he hates the most. Making his plans, he didn't expect to fall in love with the daughter of his victim. Since their love is mutual, he must decide what is more important for him, his love or his revenge... This story is the most famous of Pushkin's works. It takes place in Russia of the 18th century with its problems and victories. "Dubrovskii" portrays the struggle of different classes, of the new society influenced by the Western world and the old Russian rule that doesn't accept any changes without a battle.

THE QUEEN OF SPADES (2 STARS): This is probably the only story in this collection I didn't like at all. It presents us a young officer seeking the gambling trick of an old lady that would make him rich overnight. It's no surprise that he fails and loses everything including his mind. The story is quite predictable and offers moral views that rather belong into a children's book than a work of fiction for adults.

THE CAPTAIN'S DAUGHTER (4 STARS): This is Pushkin's only story that reaches the length of a novel. Its background is Pugachev's revolt that took place in the late 18th century. The main character is the somewhat naive young man falling in love with the daughter of his commanding officer who gets killed during the revolt. He struggles to save her from the bandits and almost loses his life doing it. The story shows us Pushkin's turn towards Romantic period in literature and his ways of looking at the past of his country. "The Captain's Daughter" can be easily called a historical novel containing some critisicm of society. The negative point about it was the feeling that the plot is somehow constructed, artificial beyond artistic liberties. The parallels to "Dubrovskii" are obvious though they don't minimize the pleasure of reading.

This volume presents us Pushkin's prose (there are more stories than commented on above). As told before, some of it is excellent, some isn't. Nevertheless I rate this book with 5 stars because it unites works by Alexander Pushkin that MUST be read by someone who is interested in him.

Pushkin is to Russian speakers what Shakespeare is to English speakers. His influence on the prose and poetry of the language is second to no one and writing influences Russian literature to this day. Amazingly Pushkin only lived until the age of 38. Even now you can visit his gravesite (as I did) and still see teenage girls weeping and putting flowers on his grave.

This edition of the complete prose of Pushkin is truly excellent. The Queen of Spades and the Captain's Daughter are included are and are worth the price alone.

The translators, Arndt and Debreczeny, do a fine job in translating Pushkin's prose, while the stories are set up in chronological order so the reader can see Pushkin's growth as a prose writer. In fact this was the volume of Pushkin writings in English I took with me while living in Russia for a short while.

Very readable and a worthwhile introduction to the greatest of Russian writers.

What makes this book so beautiful is that word "Complete". In one handy reference you can enjoy all of Pushkin's prose. Mr. Debreczeny's translation of Pushkin's work is hearty. I believe it's nearly as close as we can come to feeling the work outside of really knowing Russian.

That would be amazing for me: to know Russian and read Pushkin in the language that he raised high in the face of the patrician encroachment of French that had relegated Russian to servant status. Each language must have a unique and valuable propriety in it's innermost meanings, and in reading this work (plus knowing something of Russian culture), I believe you can feel that unique Russian "thing" even through this translation.

You have about fifteen pieces plus Pushkin's own pre-work/research and some fragments. Mr. Debreczeny has arranged them such that you walk through the development of Pushkin as a prose writer. Early on, he did have quite a disdain for prose in comparison to poetry. To paraphrase Debreczeny, Pushkin's first serious writing treated prose as a necessary evil, writing with technical correctness but approaching parody of itself with strict adherence to the concept of prose as a sterile, low medium for expression.

I the later works, you will see the layering of complex themes and characters into prose that for me felt like driving a standard shift with power-assisted steering -- You get just enough resistance to feel the road and keep you engaged and thinking. Also, you just plain enjoy the ride.

Mr. Debreczeny is an excellent guide in his commentary and in his translation.

Pushkin greatest renoun is based on his poetry. But I like his short stories very much. They are crisp, intriguing, and educational. These stories are a treasure of Russian literature. They combine mystery and realism, persuasive language and simplicity--all trademarks of Pushkin's genius.

Pushkin is Mozart of Russian verse, prose and drama. That sounds like banality to any Russian but may help a person outside of our literary tradition to deal with the Russia's greatest writer.

Small, less than handsome misfit in a constant and direct dialog with the Muses. A man whose social, financial and matrimonial achievements are no match to his art.

His talents bloomed in the Lyceum, he was hailed by the most prominent poet of Russian Classicism - Gavrila Derzhavin, who had appointed the youngster his poetical heir.

But Pushkin made only a few contributions to the genre - he was a devoted romantic, a Byronite. Mermaids, gypsies and noble robber brothers were the inhabitants of his adolescent poems.

Drinking bouts with local Hussar officers were toppled by the boy's passionate odes to Liberty. Alexander was a celebrity guest.

The guest he remained. The officers - The Decembrists - rebelled against the tsar. Puskin was not invited. The conspirators felt that "the son of the Muses" is fond of the revolutionary rhetorics, not the cause.

Later, asked by the triumphant monarch does he regret his absence in rebellious ranks on that fateful December day, Pushkin confirmed his affinity with his hanged friends. He wanted to be taking seriously, he was ready to suffer. But the tsar was only amused and let Alexander go.

Pushkin soared high in empirea, the verse of unbelievable beauty and clarity was streaming from his quill, but his everyday life was dominated by gambling, drinking and chasing the known libertines. Yearning to be accepted socially he offered his friendship to unworthy and very often had to contend with their condescending attitude. He was not the first socially awkward creator in human history but that understanding did nothing to lessen the pain.

In his final years Pushkin decided to settle down, to accept the responsibilities, to marry, to get the position in the tsar's court.

Natalia Goncharova, the first beauty of Petersburg, consented to marry him - her family was impoverished, Alexander - insistent. He was given the court rank - kamerjunker, nearly the lowest in the hierarchy, fit for a very young man making his very first steps in the court. He was insulted but the wife's acclaimed beauty compensated for that and the other disapointments. They all envy him - the lucky man!

There was never enough money to put that gem in a proper setting. The beauty was expecting her due. If Alexander is incapable there are others.

Art remained the only consolation. Once he woke up in the middle of the night, put on a light and fevereshly scribbled the newborn lines. He read them to the wife. - Don't you ever do that to me again! - said the sleepy beauty.

His art is not able to conquer that perfection, the beauty of verse is nothing to the beauty of flesh.

Pushkin is made fun of, proclaimed a cuckold. His life is nearing the end.

In his last year the tortured genius writes Captain's Daughter. No mermaids here, no gypsies. It's clarity and restrained beauty is unsurpassed in our literature.

A son of old officer Petr Andreevich Grinev turns seventeen. He is enlisted as a toddler in a prestigeous regiment in Petersburg, now he is an officer already. He has no extensive education - just the basic ideas of nobility and some knowledge of French. His name is telling - Petr means a stone, father's name - a man, a male. The father wants to keep the son unspoiled - Petr is refused his ticket to the Petersburg. He goes to the steppes instead, to the fortress in the middle of nowhere.

On the way he gets drunk, loses money, suffers from hangover, abuses his old servant - with no harm to his inner integrity.

He begins to enjoy the simple life in the fortress, captain's daughter is aware if his feelings and seems to feel the same way. Short and ugly comrade-in-arms, Alexei Shvabrin envies him and speaks dirty of the girl. Duel puts Petr in a bed. The love flourishes.

All that a prelude to the Russian rebellion, "senseless and merciless".

The fortress is taken, the captain is hanged, his wife lies naked and dead in a dirt. Petr's life is spared on impostor's whim. Masha, the captain's daughter, is hidden in the local priest's house. Shvabrin is appointed the fortress commander and has the girl who rejected him in his power.

All will end well. The young lovers are ready to sacrifice, their love will conquer all, the empress Ekaterina is merciful - just like her adversary "emperor" Pugachev.

Like a drowning man gasping for air Pushkin had to get in contact with the qualities his life is so utterlly lacking - integrity, loyalty,love accepted and given back. He had experienced all that in Captain's Daughter.

No matter what happens Petr Grinev is true to his nature - the quality respected by friends and enemies. He is always ready to do the right thing - no matter what's the price. There are things more important than life. Or love.

Puskin's life is over, he is not respected, not loved by the woman he chose. So he escapes in art, lives another life, the dream of life he never had.

Less talented writer would have succumbed to the pure escapism, but Alexander Pushkin is a genius, what we have instead is a timeless masterpiece, clear and restrained, very modern prose, the characters we care about. No one succeed in imitating that style.

Puskin is not very well known in the West. The verse is so Russian it defies a translation, the prose is deceptively simple - it's very different from "prophetic" writings of Dostoevsky or Tolstoy, the export variant of The Great Late Russian Literature. The reader used to contemplating "the mysterious Russian soul" will be disappointed.

I am reluctant to recommend that book to a Western reader.But Pushkin is one of the reasons I still live here.