It is no coincidence that they all - Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Blok, Gorky, Sinyavsky, and Brodsky - speak of him, for Alexander Pushkin is the beginning and perfection of Russian literature, the archetype of the poet to whom all refer in order to define their own position. Svetlana Geier, who has set a standard as a translator of Russian literature over more than three decades, brings together essays by these greats of Russian literature in this reader, giving us a close look at one of the most important lines of tradition in Russian intellectual life.