Pride and Prejudice was published today in 1813, and has since gone on to become one of the best-loved literary classics of all time. Jane Austen’s era saw a great deal of classic works written throughout Europe too, and many of the Continent’s landmark cities were home to some of the greats of Western literature. So, for all you fine lovers of wordage and verbosity we’ll be looking at a poet, a playwright and a novelist over three articles, whose legacies live on in European capitals that you can visit on river cruises.
Moscow – Alexander Pushkin
“I’ve lived to bury my desires
And see my dreams corrode with rust;
Now all that’s left are fruitless fires
That burn my empty heart to dust.”
The very essence of Russian literary aristocracy, Pushkin wrote novels, poems and plays that have since earned him recognition as Russia’s greatest poet. He began his career aged just fifteen, and by the time he’d graduated he was already garnering a reputation for his literary work.
Pushkin was a son of Moscow but spent much of his youth in St Petersburg – where many of Russia’s European influences had gathered. He wrote Eugene Onegin entirely in verse, and the work is still one of the world’s foremost publications of its kind. Enjoying great success even during his lifetime, many of Pushkin’s works are recognised as literary classics not only in Russia, but around the world.
Pushkin’s greatest legacy, coupled with his literary talent, was his ability to court controversy. His most famous play, Boris Godunov, was written while Pushkin was under watch by the careful eye of the special police. His first famous work was the poem Ruslan and Lyudmila, which also met with a great deal of controversy at the time – especially since he had already been exiled to the south of the country for his political ideals. He left no room for doubt when it came to his thoughts on the Tsar, and the poverty and brutality he’d witnessed in Russia. Works like his Ode to Liberty even helped to fuel the fires of revolutionary thought in the century to come: “Let me sing to the world of Liberty, and shame the scum that sit on thrones”.
Visitors to Moscow on river cruises can visit the Alexander Pushkin Monument, a statue standing in the centre of the Pushkinskaya Square – in the heart of a city where the poet’s thoughts took root, and helped pave the way for revolution. If you’re looking for river cruises to slightly warmer climes, however, why not find out what Porto in Portugal has to offer in our latest blog article?
Main image courtesy of T. Tom. Article images: portrait by Vasily Tropinin. Second image courtesy of L. Anastasiya.