The Tales of Ivan Belkin

The Tales of the Late Ivan Petrovich Belkin were written at the village of Boldino during the months of September and October, 1830. Pushkin’s three-month residence in this village, the famous “Boldino autumn,” is considered the most productive epoch in his life. As well as The Tales of Belkin, Pushkin wrote during those three months his “Little Tragedies,” “The Small House at Kolomna,” “The History of the Village of Goryukhino,” a score of shorter poems, a series of critical and polemical essays, and finsihed his long poem, Evgeni Onegin. With The Tales of Belkin Pushkin started what was a new epoch in Russian literature, introducing into Russian prose realistic and democratic trends. For the first time the common man, his everyday life, his tastes, joys and sufferings, the essential tragedy of his existence in a world of social injustice, were shown in literature. For the first time simple, clear narrative was substituted for high-flown description, far-fetched comparisons, and pompous metaphors quite alien to Russian speech, while colloquial dialogue and opular idiom acquired immense significance, lending freshness and resilience to the language.