The Godfather of the Steppes

First published in 1836, this novella shows Alexander Pushkin’s mastery of almost any form. The following year — after a miraculously productive short period — he died in a duel over the alleged adultery of his wife with the adopted son of the Dutch ambassador.

Evocative, swashbuckling, romantic and sentimental, The Captain’s Daughter centres on the peasant rebellion, 1773-75, of the Cossack Yemelyan Pugachov. Pushkin had already written A History of the Pugachov Rebellion published in 1834 in two volumes, one describing the events, the second consisting of the source materials. A bear for work, in the year he was reading and travelling to inform himself about Pugachov, Pushkin also wrote three of his greatest works — the poems published as Stone Island, The Queen of Spades and The Bronze Horseman. Amazingly, Tsar Nicholas I, who permitted the publication of this subversive work and ordered a government loan to underwrite the costs, accepted from Pushkin a confidential addendum, which stated, ‘All the common people were with Pugachov Only the nobility was openly on the side of the government.