The Power and Genius of Alexander Pushkin’s The Queen of Spades

The Power and Genius of Alexander Pushkin’s The Queen of Spades

In Alexander Pushkin’s “The Queen of Spades,” many aspects of the short story have made for considerable debate among scholars. Pushkin fills an integral role in Russian literary history, and there are abundant research sources to use in analyzing and interpreting his texts. Pushkin is often referred to as the Father of Modern Russian Literature, but until just recently much of the criticism on Pushkin focused on Pushkin himself as the author, the innovative simplicity in his prose, or the political relationship between Pushkin and the Russian aristocracy. Pushkin’s personal life was often the subject of public debate among his readers and the Russian aristocracy, forcing him into a some what reclusive state. His prose was innovative, but, in the early research, very few bothered to interpret why the style was so effective. What about the words made Pushkin different? It did not seem to matter as long as the aristocracy was satisfied.

Finally, much of the early information available on Pushkin had nothing to do with his writing. During Pushkin’s time, the domination of the Russian nobility over publications was so great, the ultimate beauty and depth to Pushkin’s writing was over looked in order to expose censorship and political manipulation. These early attempts at criticism and investigation fall short of exposing the true power and genius in Pushkin’s writing.

Another problem with much of the available literature on Pushkin and his texts is inconsistency in interpretations. Scholars do not research sufficiently and are often vague in communicating their ideas to the reader. The purpose of the given work is often confusing enough to the aud...

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