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since all of the russians i've talked to so far (especially folks from st.petersburg) agree that he is the single most important author in russian literature... and i am aware of his merits as far as the development of the russian literary language goes, but i'd like to hear your personal impressions and so on...
I am not Russian, but I am really informed in Russian literature. He is not the best writer, but he is considered to be a father of Russian modern literature.
Well, I'm not Russian either, but I speak russian very well. Pushkin is like Shakespeare, -"NOT COMPARABLE". It's not just about his poetry. His stories are great, they're very different.
My favorite is Lermontov -know most of his poems by heart. Love Chekov, Gogol, A.Blok, Yesenin, Nekrasov, Ribakov...
well, i'm aware of what you said, but i'm just wondering WHY. and it's a valid question, i think. and that goes for shakespeare as well. when you consider his works, he is neither original in choosing the themes of his works, nor does his style differ from those of his contemporaries. why is shakespeare SHAKESPEARE? or pushkin PUSHKIN?
Because of what they contributed to their country, what they gave to the people of their countries, what they wrote about, what they do to be heard and how do they differ from other poets.
For example, Pushkin wrote fairy-tales for children, which was almost the first attempt to create a children's reading, he reacted at what happened in his country and his reaction was always expressed through the poetry and prose, he wasn't afraid to meet his friends though it was against the law, he was a very intelligent person, his wife was the most beautiful woman in the court and he praised her in his poems. This is at least everything I know about him, but it's enough for me to love him.
As for Shakespear, I believe he was the first who wrote the tragedy, since the comedy was almost the only genre at those days in England, and in his delightful plays and poems with his extravagant style he praised the everlasting love (only think of what did Romeo and Juliette do, and ask if it was Love or just a childish maximalism?), the perpetual values, the friendship...
Like Molier in France, like Cervantes in Spain...
Well, I'm Russian. I can't say I adore his poems or books, but I really respect Pushkin because he had laid a basis to the further development of the Russian literature.
I'm Russian too and here is my 2 cents. I can't imagine anybody who grew up in Russia that could not say at least 5-10 lines from one of his poems. You can ask 100 or 1000 people on the street and every single person would tell you at least something. Most will remember opening lines of "Ruslan and Ludmila" (У лукоморья дуб зеленый), others some part from "Eugene Onegin".
I was born and raised in St. Petersburg, just a few miles away from Tsarkoe Selo where so many things related to Pushkin very closely. His poems are in my blood. His IS the greatest poet.
It is always difficult fully to appreciate poetry in a foreign language, especially when to a non native it is so strange as Russian. I would venture to surmise that no modern European tongue has been able fairly to represent the beauty of Pushkin's verse, to make foreigners feel him as Russians feel him, in any such measure as the Germans succeeded with Shakespeare, as Bayard Taylor with Goethe or as Ludwig Fulda with Rostand.