| dc.description.abstract | Though Russian literature is becoming
increasingly popular among English-speaking
literary scholars, and even more so, among
literary scholars of African background, Pushkin,
the founder of Russian literature is not well known
among these scholars. Naturally, the names
of great nineteenth century Russian writers are
associated with some of the most famous works by
these writers. The name 'Nikolai Gogol', for
example, recalls to mind The Inspector-General
while 'Leo Tolstoy' recalls to mind War and Peace.
On the other hand, though students or critics may
be familiar with the name of Pushkin, they do not
associate this name with any particular literary
work. To the Russians, however, none of all the
universally acknowledged Russian writers has surpassed
Alexander Sergeyeevich Pushkin in fame or
popularity, for the Russians owe all the development
of their literature to this Afro-Russian
artist.
Many critics of Russian literature writing
in the English language no doubt appreciate the
role that Pushkin played in developing Russian
literature: but in their critical works, none
of them devotes enough time and space to criticism
and appreciation of Pushkin's works. In most of
the critical works, Pushkin is given only a
chapter in which either a summary of his life
is given or a few general remarks about his works
are made. This is what is to be found, for
instance, in O.S. Mirsky's A History of Russian
Literature, Janko Lavrin's A Panorama of Russian
Literature, Boris Brasol's The Mighty Three and
John Fennel's Nineteenth Century Russian Literature,
to mention only a few. None of the critics has
isolated either particular works by Pushkin or
particular themes in his works for an indepth
study. As a result, Pushkin, in the works of
these critics, remains as "one of the Russian
writers"; he is not elevated to the level of
the literary inspirer that he actually was.
But in view of Pushkin's great contribution to
the development of Russian literature and in view
of his undying popularity among the Russians, the
study of Russian literature among the English
literary scholars, not only remains inadequate
vii
but also lacks any real foundation since Pushkin
is not given his due attention in criticism.
This thesis aims at bringing Pushkin to
the fore-front of Russian literary study by
introducing him through a thematic study of
three of his works. In doing this, the thesis
fulfills~ther important function: it brings
out those qualities of Pushkin which made him
popular with his contemporaries and which made
the tzarist regime consider him dangerous to the
existing socio-political establishment.
The thesis examines the writer's interpretation
of the concepts of love, honesty and freedom,
as illustrated in his works, The Negro of
Peter The Great, The Captain's Daughter and Eugene
Onegin. The thesis takes into consideration all
that this thematic study reveals about Pushkin,
and assesses his contribution not only to Russian
literature but to universal literature.
By the end of the thesis, I have tried to
bring out the link between Pushkin's own life and
viii
his artistic career. In this way, the thesis
introduces Pushkin both as a man and as a writer.
The thesis also demonstrates the fact that Pushkin
owed his popularity to the fact that he was highly
conversant with the moral, social and political
traditions of the Russians, and he was able to
handle his literary subject most competently.
Since he used simple language and a literary style
which made it easy for people to reach his works,
and since he tackled sensitive social and political
subjects, he was not popular with the tzarist
regime. Above all, I attempt to show that although
Pushkin has been mainly seen as a writer for the
Russians, his role in literature goes beyond the
national boundaries of Russia. Pushkin, as an
artist, was concerned with problems which not only
the Russians were faced with, but also those that
confronted man at all times. | en |
