Chapter 11

THE QUEEN OF SPADES

THE QUEEN OF SPADES

BY ALEXANDER SERGEIEVITCH POUSHKIN

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Alexander Poushkin (born 1799, died 1837) was the greatest genius among the Russian poets. Though born of a noble family, thick lips and crisp, curly hair showed his descent from an Abyssinian negro slave ancestor on his mother’s side. As a poet his work has been compared with that of Byron, of which he was frankly a close student. Chronologically he comes first in the list of Russian prose writers, a list that includes Gogol, Turgenev, Dostoievski, and Tolstoi. “The Queen of Spades” is one of the best and most characteristic of his short stories.

Alexander Poushkin (born 1799, died 1837) was the greatest genius among the Russian poets. Though born of a noble family, thick lips and crisp, curly hair showed his descent from an Abyssinian negro slave ancestor on his mother’s side. As a poet his work has been compared with that of Byron, of which he was frankly a close student. Chronologically he comes first in the list of Russian prose writers, a list that includes Gogol, Turgenev, Dostoievski, and Tolstoi. “The Queen of Spades” is one of the best and most characteristic of his short stories.

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