Pushkin's Short Stories Review

By Jessica Gregory - Monday 29 May 2023

Having now decided to study Ab Initio Russian alongside German at university, it's become very important that my supercurricular surrounds not one, but both languages.

This, by no means, expects me to be reading Russian fluently by the time I begin my course at whichever university. However, it makes sense to start reading some translations of Russian literature.

Hopefully, the more I read, the more familiar I will become with the style of translations, so that, should it come up in an interview, I can use some knowledge from my supercurricular activities. Additionally, getting an idea of what Russian literature is like should be helpful when I begin my course, and, with luck, inspire an interest to read more.

Several people have recommended the Queen of Spades by Pushkin to me throughout my life, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity to give it a read. And they were right.

This short story is excellent, and one I struggled to put down. Not only is it brilliantly written, but the text is so easy to read, that it would not be difficult to finish within an hour.

One of my greatest loves of the story is the development of the characters (I'll talk more about this in The Stationmaster later). In such a short space of time, Pushkin excellently establishes the lives and personalities of the central characters to this book.

The best relationship from the reader's perspective has to be that of Lizaveta Ivanova and the Countess. Pushkin addresses this in such a way that our sympathies immediately extend towards Lizaveta, as we learn how dedicated she is to her role, serving someone as demanding as the Countess.

However, the storyline is also flawlessly adapted and moves at a rapid pace (as would be expected for a short story), so that you don't want to put the book down. The plot is engaging, and, although the conclusion is brief, it's perfect for the reader to find out what happened to the beloved characters in this story.

The ending is brilliant, and although I don't want to give any spoilers, it definitely is worth a read just for this.

My only trouble with the story, if any, is how abruptly it ends, although this does match the pace of the rest of the text.

When I bought The Queen of Spades, it was actually part of a wider collection of Pushkin's work. I read the other short story that featured in it, called The Stationmaster.

The story opens with a direct address on the reader, which immediately makes you feel greatly immersed in the story.

The characters in this text, similarly to The Queen of Spades, are brilliantly developed, so that you can imagine the events taking place. This also therefore pays a tribute to Pushkin's writing style, as he cleverly grants the reader a story with vivid descriptions in the space of only twenty pages.

The plot is also fast-moving, and in this case, is told as a second-hand tale of a young girl. Throughout the story, we can see several passages of time: first meeting the stationmaster; hearing Dunya's story; and, when the stationmaster has died.

The story consists of heartache between a father and daughter, and thus, Pushkin allows the reader to extend their sympathies to the stationmaster in this text.

However, the bittersweet ending that Pushkin creates gives the reader a sense of hope and positivity amidst the sadness .

It also means that, although the stationmaster may never know what happened, the reader can infer what happens to Dunya, which gives a wonderful insight into the story.

Overall, it would be fair to say that I've enjoyed reading these short stories by Pushkin, and I have began to become familiar with his style of writing (albeit as a translation).

Also in the collection I have bought are a plethora of poems he has written, and I plan to publish another blog post about that soon.

I feel that reading not only Russian stories, but also poetry will give me a deeper understanding of the literature, and so I hope to read more of this over summer.