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¶ … tales of Ivan Belkin by Alexander Pushkin
Though it is Alexander Pushkin's first attempt at prose fiction, The Tales of Ivan Belkin are five distinct and separately complete masterpieces. These pieces would serve as the inaugural pieces to a decade that would see prose overcome poetry as the dominant Russian literary medium. Supposedly written by a young landlord, Ivan Belkin, and posthumously published by a "mysterious" editor, these five stories tell the tales of the interesting individuals that Ivan came into contact with during his time as a landlord.
One of the most interesting overall features of this collection is the fact that the stories are all delivered through a third-party point-of-view since the author, Belkin, is telling the stories of other people. There are even places where the story is coming from a fourth party, such as the end of the first tale, "The Shot," where the fate of Silvio is told to the retired soldier by Silvio's rival, and then told to Belkin by the soldier. This fourth party narration occurs again during "The Postmaster" when the tale is told to Belkin by a stuffy civil servant who was acquainted with the postmaster about whom the story is about. The effect of this third and fourth party narration is extremely effective to deliver a strong sense of the social connectedness that underlies all of the tales. And though each of the five tales could stand on their own, their presentation together allows the reader to understand how seemingly unrelated things can often been connected in the most unexpected ways.
Through Belkin Pushkin creates a world without villains, where reconciliation and affection are evident even after the death of the characters and the author himself. The tales serve as a tribute to the sincerity, earthiness and warmth of the Russian rural communities without being overwhelmingly sentimental.
Works Cited
Pushkin, Aleksandr. Tales of the Late Ivan Petrovich Belkin. Bristol: Bristol Classical
Press, 1994.
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