Universally acknowledged as Russia's greatest poet, Pushkin wrote with the rich, prolific creative powers of a Mozart or a Shakespeare. His prose spans a remarkable range, from satires to epistolary tales, from light comedies to romantic adventures in the manner of Sir Walter Scott, from travel narratives to historical fiction. The haunting dream world of "The Queen of Spades" draws on his own experiences with high-stakes society gambling. The five short stories of The Tales of the Late Ivan Petrovich Belkin are deceptively light as they reveal astonishing human depths, and his short novel, The Captain's Daughter, a love story set during the Cossack rebellion against Catherine the Great, has been called the most perfect book in Russian literature. By turns daringly dramatic and sparklingly comic, written in the exquisite cadences of a master, Novels, Tales, Journeys captures the essence of nineteenth-century Russia--and gives us, in one comprehensive volume, the work with which Pushkin laid the foundations of his country's great prose tradition.

The moor of Peter the Great -- The tales of the late Ivan Petrovich Belkin. The shot ; The blizzard ; The coffin-maker ; The stationmaster ; The young lady peasant -- The history of the village of Goryukhino -- Roslavlev -- Dubrovsky -- The queen of spades -- Kirdjali -- Egyptian nights -- The captain's daughter -- Journey to Arzrum -- Fragments and sketches -- The guests were arriving at the dacha -- A novel in letters -- At the corner of a little square -- Notes of a young man -- My fate is decided. I am getting married -- A romance at the Caucasian waters -- A Russian Pelham -- We were spending the night at the dacha -- A story from Roman life -- Maria Schoning.