Pushkin, Alexander (1799–1837), Russian national poet and a major writer of fairy tales. In his versified fairy tales he used some common plots, as in The Tale of the Dead Princess and the Seven Heroes (1833), a version of ‘Snow White’, or in The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish (1833), a well‐known tale of the Brothers Grimm. However, unlike the Grimms, Pushkin lets the woman benefit from the wish‐granting, while the man remains poor and oppressed, thus emphasizing social injustice. The Tale of Tsar Saltan (1831) is based on a popular Slavic chapbook, but it also has many recognizable elements from European fairy tales. In The Tale of the Golden Cockerel (1834), Pushkin retold the story of the Arab astrologer from the Alhambra by Washington Irving, making it into a biting political satire of Tsarist Russia. The Tale of the Priest and Balda, his Hired Hand (1830, pub. 1840), the plot of which is also found in the Brothers Grimm, is another example of his satirical use of the fairy tale; the tale was banned owing to its disrespectful portrayal of the clergy and published posthumously with many alterations: for instance, the priest was changed into a merchant.
Foreign sources notwithstanding, Pushkin's fairy tales have very tangible details of Russian settings, historical and social context. They also have brilliant characterizations, unusual for traditional fairy tales. The language, often imitating folk songs or ballads, is distinctly colloquial and abounds in poetical figures. Many punchlines from the fairy tales have entered the treasury of Russian proverbs. Although the fairy tales were not primarily addressed to children, they have been widely used in schoolbook texts, thus becoming a notable part of the national heritage. The significance of Pushkin for the Russian fairy‐tale tradition cannot be overestimated.
Bibliography
- Debreczeny, Paul, The Other Pushkin: A Study of Alexander Pushkin's Prose Fiction (1983).
- Edmunds, Catherine J., ‘Pushkin and Gogol as Sources for the Librettos of the Fantastic Fairy Tale Operas of Rimskij‐Korsakov’ (Diss., Harvard University, 1985).
- Eimermacher, Karl, “‘Aspekte des literarischen Marchens in Russland’”, in Klaus‐Dieter Seemann (ed.), Beiträge zur russischen Volksdichtung (1987).
— Maria Nikolajeva
