Description - The Queen of Spades and Other Stories by Nonna Shulga
The collection includes such A. Pushkin's stories: "The Queen of Spades", "Dubrovsky", "Tales by Late Ivan Petrovich Belkin".The hero of the story and the world-known opera "The Queen of Spades" was obsessed by the desire to get rich. Learning from his friends, card players, about the secret of the fatal three cards, he used love of the pure girl Eliza, who lived in the house of the rich old woman, the countess, as her pupil. The countess knew this secret. But his actions caused her death and his going mad. In the second novel of the first part, Dubrovsky, falling in love with the daughter of his enemy, refused from the revenge for the death of his father and loss of the estate. Becoming the robber of rich landowners, he managed to get to the house of his enemy as Masha's teacher of French. Masha also loved him. Having promised the girl to help her in avoiding the marriage with an old prince, he was late due to some circumstances. But Masha refused his help, being already the wife of the prince.Belkin's tales in second part of the collection were the first prosaic works by Alexander Pushkin, published in 1831 in Tsarskoye Selo by the invented name of the retired officer, who after the retirement led the modest life of a village landowner. In the foreword to the tales, Pushkin described the way, by which he managed to present them to the reader. He got them, as if by the permission of I. P. Belkin's close friend and neighbor, who had saved them after Belkin's death. The invented storyteller wrote them in his estate. Different episodes from the life of the people, living in this place and told the author by them, served him as the sources of the stories. Pushkin used the names of some villages, both real and invented. The storyteller described the life of simple people, both local peasants, and landowners, their love affairs, the way of life, relations between the parents and children. The tales are interesting by their plots, sometimes intricate, but always captivating. In the story "The gentle peasant girl" (Барышня-крестьянка) the reader admires the lively character and humor of the heroine. In the story "The snowstorm" (Метель) we learn what fatal role in the fates of the main heroes this event of nature had played. The story "The shot" (Выстрел) describes the episode from the life of young officers in one of the regiments of Russia. The author touches upon such notions, as the officers' honor, courage, and dignity. In the last tale (Станционный смотритель) Ivan Petrovich tells the author the story of his friend's misfortune, caused by the travelling philanderer's temptation of his daughter.
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