The Story Of The Fatal Duel Which Killed Russia's Greatest Poet
Love, Death And Poetry In Imperial Russia
In the late afternoon of 27 January 1837, the greatest writer in the whole of Russia, Alexander Pushkin, climbed into a sleigh and rode out into the snowy wastes surrounding St Petersburg to fight an illegal duel. His opponent was Baron George d'Anthes, a French cavalry officer in the pay of the Tsar's army. At stake lay the honour of Pushkin's wife, Natalya Goncharova, the most beautiful woman in all St Petersburg.
Forty-eight hours later, Pushkin died in agony, and a nation mourned.
Vitale has unearthed a mass of fascinating written material about this famous love triangle - journals, letters, scraps of gossip by those in their circle - that brings the indulgent world of 1830s St Petersburg, with its salons and imperial balls, vividly into focus.
