I first read the complete works of Pushkin’s prose decades ago, but as this handsome little book from the USSR in 1974 came as the second volume to his poetry and I was long overdue to revisit them, I couldn’t resist. Included are The Tales of the Late Ivan Petrovich (five short stories and the introduction, ‘From the Editor’), The Queen of Spades, and The Captain’s Daughter. This edition also includes many photographs, drawings, and other artwork to add color and context to Pushkin’s writing. As with all of his other work, Pushkin writes with such grace and intelligence that he’s a joy to read.

The Queen of Spades, about a man conniving to get a secret from an elderly lady about a card sequence she can foretell in a game of chance, is brilliant. The character sketch of the old woman is piercing and universal, and how Pushkin has the man making his way to her bedroom late at night by pretending to be in love with her granddaughter is cleverly told.

The Captain’s Daughter, a love story set during the time of Pugachev’s Rebellion (1773-75), is also wonderful. A young man is sent off to Orenburg accompanied by his servant, is taken advantage of along the way, falls into soldierly life on the frontier, and then falls in love with the captain’s daughter, which is a great story on its own, and then Pushkin adds in a dramatization involving Pugachev. There are blizzards, battles, betrayal, and a duel … I suppose it gets a little melodramatic but the characters are very well drawn and the writing is concise. This edition also included an appendix with a chapter that Pushkin omitted from the final work when he had it published it in 1836.

Of the Tales, the highlight is probably The Undertaker, with its ghoulish skeletons coming to life. I can imagine this story and the improbable coincidences in the others had the eerie effect episodes of The Twilight Zone might have had in the 1950’s. ( )