Description

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The story of Don Juan first appeared in writing in seventeenth-century Spain, reaching Russia about a century later. Its real impact, however, was delayed until Russia’s most famous poet, Alexander Pushkin, put his own, unique, and uniquely inspirational, spin on the tale. Published in 1830, TheStone Guest is now recognized, with other Pushkin masterpieces, as part of the Russian literary canon. Alexander Burry traces the influence of Pushkin’s brilliant innovations to the legend, which he shows have proven repeatedly fruitful through successive ages of Russian literature, from the Realist to the Silver Age, Soviet, and contemporary periods. Burry shows that, rather than creating a simple retelling of an originally religious tale about a sinful, consummate seducer, Pushkin offered open-ended scenes, re-envisioned and complicated characters, and new motifs that became recursive and productive parts of Russian literature, in ways that even Pushkin himself could never have predicted.

About the Author

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Alexander Burry, an associate professor of Slavic and East European languages and cultures at The Ohio State University, is also the author of Multi-mediated Dostoevsky: Transposing Novels into Opera, Film, and Drama.

Praise For…

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“This clearly framed, beautifully written study offers insightful new perspectives on Pushkin and the writers who derived creative energy from his Stone Guest. Illuminating cultural, social, and political changes in Russia from a novel perspective, Burry takes the reader on an invigorating exploration of the Don Juan legend in its Russian instantiations.”—Olga Peters Hasty, Princeton University

"Alexander Burry shows Pushkin’s version of the Don Juan story as a decisive inspiration for later Russian writers. They picked up where Pushkin left off, often trying to resolve questions that he left productively open. Deeply researched and lucidly written, this study proves that, yet again, tracing the afterlife of a Pushkin text can be revelatory."—Stephanie Sandler, Harvard University

"The methodical literary analysis illuminates an overlooked strand in the fiction of the Russian greats. . . . This should pique the interest of Russian literature specialists.”—Publishers Weekly

“Engaging. . . . Written in a very readable and accessible style, Burry’s book offers a wealth of interesting information about some lesser-known works, and it also compels us to look at some of the most canonical and familiar texts of Russian literature with fresh eyes.”—The Russian Review

“Endeavors, first, to set Pushkin’s Don Juan apart from many other important iterations and, next, to trace the impact of Pushkin’s play on the subsequent 200 years of Russian belles lettres. It is a monumental task. Burry not only handles it admirably, but he does so by drawing out two especially potent themes unique to Pushkin’s Don Juan that remain very topical today. . . . A must read for students of the Russian literary tradition.”—CHOICE