Pushkin A Biography

The Washington Post

Binyon's careful account of the Anthès affair makes for exciting reading. — Michael Dirda

Publishers Weekly

This work won the Samuel Johnson nonfiction prize in Britain, and it's easy to see why: it's a fascinating treatment of an equally fascinating subject. By chronicling Pushkin's literary successes and his personal failures, Binyon draws a compelling portrait of the writer and his milieu. One of Russia's most celebrated authors, Pushkin (1799-1837) lived a life as captivating as his poems and stories. In fact, as British academic Binyon (Murder Will Out) shows in this landmark work, Pushkin interspersed snippets of his brief life in such work as Eugene Onegin and The Bronze Horseman. Displaying a broad knowledge of primary source material, Binyon details Pushkin's life, which has all the suspense of a good novel. A known womanizer in his early adult years (he was especially fond of married women), Pushkin later married and settled down. But his past came back to bite him when a man tried to seduce his wife. Although Binyon argues convincingly that the suitor was unsuccessful, the incident prompted a duel that caused Pushkin's death in his late 30s. While his life was full of controversyhe was accused of being both too reactionary and too liberalit was not particularly happy. Even while he was churning out his masterpieces, he was prone to two weaknesses: depression and debt. This is a must-read for students of Pushkin and for those interested in 19th-century Russia and literary history. (Oct. 20) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

This first major biography of Russia's venerated poet in 60 years has already won Britain's 2003 Samuel Johnson Prize for nonfiction-for a good reason. Covering details of Pushkin's life with precision and empathy, Binyon (Russian literature, Oxford Univ.; Murder Will Out) demonstrates an impressive depth of scholarship and delivers a riveting narrative of the poet's short but dramatic life. Born in Moscow in 1799, Pushkin evinced both brilliance and notoriety at a tender age. As the biography reveals, his political views and rebellious temper were a continual source of trouble, inviting criticism and condemnation his entire life and eventually ending it in 1837 when he was fatally wounded in a duel with George D'Anthes. What emerges is a complex figure whose many masterpieces, among them Eugene Onegin and Boris Godunov, secured his place as Russia's greatest poet. Binyon's text is nicely complemented by Pushkin's drawings of family and friends. A stunning achievement, this thorough biography is sure to become the definitive account of Pushkin's life for years to come and will appeal to the scholar and general reader alike. Highly recommended. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 6/1/03.]-Ron Ratliff, Kansas State Univ., Manhattan Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Russia’s answer to Shakespeare and Goethe is transformed from iconic to all-too-human status in this deliberately paced biography. Descended from faded gentry—a maternal ancestor was a black slave imported from the Turkish court who rose to become a general in the Russian army—Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837) was early regarded as equally talented and troubled. Cosmopolitan, witty, and affectionate, he was also improvident, rakish, and hypersensitive, as likely to start an erotic letter or a self-destructive quarrel as a stanza of beautiful verses. As versatile as he was mercurial, Pushkin created masterpieces in many genres: lyric poetry, short fiction, historical tragedy (Boris Godunov), even the novel in verse (Eugene Onegin). In politics, he began as an early champion of liberty who was exiled to southern Russia by Tsar Alexander I, only later to become an ambivalent "junior gentleman of the chamber" for Nicholas I, a spectrum that resulted in his posthumous adoption by successive tsarist, communist, and post-communist regimes. Binyon (Russian Literature/Oxford) whirls us through this restless soul’s visits to country houses, salons, theaters, court balls, gentlemen’s clubs, and brothels. At times, the level of detail is numbing; readers come close to knowing the name of all Pushkin’s lovers and the value of every misbegotten transaction. Conversely, anyone wishing to understand the extent of his contribution to Russian literature is advised to look elsewhere, since Binyon stints on critical analysis. Nevertheless, he slowly amasses such a wealth of evidence, particularly from the extensive correspondence of Pushkin and contemporaries, to bolster his suggestion that his subjectmay have suffered from manic depression. Binyon also painstakingly reveals the tangled financial and emotional circumstances that compelled the poet into a fatal duel with a French émigré officer who was obsessed with Pushkin’s beautiful younger wife. The meteoric arc of a literary titan’s life, narrated with a Greek tragedian’s attention to his fatal flaws. (16 pp. of photos and 76 illustrations in text) Agent: Gillon Aitken/Gillon Aitken Associates, UK