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Alexander Pushkinwas born into the Russian nobility in Moscow in 1799. Educated by French tutors while learning Russian from the household serfs, he began publishing poems in his early teens and soon gained widespread recognition, especially for his use of vernacular. At 18 he received a government appointment in St. Petersburg and threw himself into cultural life, including associating with radical intellectuals. He published his first major work, the long poemRusian and Ludmila, in 1820, shortly before being banished from the capital for writing political poems such asOde to Liberty.In 1825 some friends were involved in the Decembrist uprising, and Pushkin's restrictions were tightened. Yet he wrote some of his greatest work in exile, including his playBoris Godunovand his novel-in-verseEugene Onegin. Finally pardoned by the Tsar, he married Natalya Goncharova in 1831. They became regulars of court society, which soon impoverished Pushkin, and in 1837, scandalous rumors about Natalya prompted him to challenge an alleged paramour to a duel. Wounded, Pushkin died two days later. Fearing a public outpouring at his funeral, the government removed his body in the night, to be buried at his family's distant estate. Josh Billingsis a fiction writer and translator who lives in Maine. He is also the translator of the Melville House edition ofThe Duel, by Aleksandr Kuprin.
I wanted them all, even those I'd already read. --Ron Rosenbaum, The New York Observer Small wonders. --Time Out London [F]irst-rate...astutely selected and attractively packaged...indisputably great works. --Adam Begley, The New York Observer I've always been haunted by Bartleby, the proto-slacker. But it's the handsomely minimalist cover of the Melville House edition that gets me here, one of many in the small publisher's fine 'Art of the Novella' series. --The New Yorker The Art of the Novella series is sort of an anti-Kindle. What these singular, distinctive titles celebrate is book-ness. They're slim enough to be portable but showy enough to be conspicuously consumed--tiny little objects that demand to be loved for the commodities they are. --KQED (NPR San Francisco) Some like it short, and if you're one of them, Melville House, an independent publisher based in Brooklyn, has a line of books for you... elegant-looking paperback editions ...a good read in a small package. --The Wall Street Journal
