Alexander Pushkin, the “Sun of Russian Poetry,” is credited with transforming old-fashioned Russian into a rich, modern, and vibrant language. According to Dostoevsky, “Pushkin came to Russia as a new guiding light, a brilliant illumination of our dark ways.” Nikolai Gogol wrote that “To move from Pushkin to anything else is like moving from a sunny day into a dark cellar.”
Pushkin was born in Moscow in 1799. One of his great-grandfathers, Abram Gannibal, captured from Saharan Africa at about the age of seven by Ottoman slave traders, was taken to Constantinople to the court of the Ottoman Sultan, and in 1704 was ransomed by Russian agents and brought to Russia as a gift for Peter the Great. The tsar freed him and made him his protégé. He became the tsar’s godson and rose to the rank of Major-General. Pushkin was very proud of his ancestry and often referenced his “African blood” in his poetry and letters.
In his youth, Pushkin first lived in the damp climate of St. Petersburg, an environment notorious for respiratory illnesses. There he suffered from frequent colds and febrile illnesses and may have even had rheumatic fever. He showed extraordinary literary talent, publishing his first poem at age 14. His education at the prestigious Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum exposed him to liberal political ideas that criticized autocracy and celebrated liberty. He became a frequent target of government censors and was once exiled to southern Russia. Often forced into quarantine because of epidemics of cholera, typhus, and smallpox, he famously survived the 1830–1831 cholera outbreak by isolating himself at his estate.
His most famous work was the narrative poem Eugene Onegin (1833), the story of the jaded aristocrat who rejects a young woman’s love and later tries to win her back. His other major works were Ruslan and Ludmila (1820), The Queen of Spades (1834), and the dramatic historical play Boris Godunov, all of which became the subjects of celebrated operas. He also wrote lyric poetry, including famous love poems.
A sensitive, moody, and emotional individual, Pushkin was prone to impulsive decisions and intense personal conflicts. In some ways, his life was as dramatic as his stories. He was involved in many dueling challenges over the course of his lifetime, mostly resolved before pistols were drawn. Tragically, his marriage to the beautiful Natalia Goncharova led to rivalry with Georges d’Anthès, a French officer serving in the Russian Chevalier Guard Regiment. The two ended up fighting in a duel in 1837 just outside St. Petersburg.
D’Anthès fired the first shot. The bullet entered Pushkin’s right side, penetrated the pelvic bone, passed through the iliac region, and lodged near the sacrum. It likely perforated the bowel, causing bleeding and infection, septic peritonitis, and hemorrhagic shock. He experienced intense, worsening pain and circulatory collapse. Tsar Nicholas I sent his personal physician, Dr. Nikolai Arendt, along with several other prominent practitioners of the day, including Dr. Vladimir Dal, himself a noted writer. But their treatment options were limited. They administered castor oil, applied ice packs, and tried to keep him comfortable, but he died on January 29, 1837.
His death was regarded as a national tragedy and a reminder of how thin the line between survival and catastrophe has always been. He was greatly mourned and is remembered to this day as the greatest Russian poet and founder of modern Russian literature.