The Prisoner of the Caucasus (poem)

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The Prisoner of the Caucasus
Author	Alexander Pushkin
Original title	Кавказскій плѣнникъ
Translator	Roger Clarke
Language	Russian
Genre	Narrative poem
Publication date	1822
Publication place	Russian Empire
Media type	Print

The Prisoner of the Caucasus (Russian: Кавка́зский пле́нник Kavkázskiy plénnik),^[a] also translated as Captive of the Caucasus, is a narrative poem written by Alexander Pushkin in 1820–21 and published in 1822. Dedicated to his friend General Nikolay Raevsky, it was inspired by the poet's time spent in Pyatigorsk during his southern exile.^[1]

The poem is about a Byronic Russian officer who is disillusioned with elite life and decides to escape by seeking adventure in the Caucasus. He is captured by Circassian tribesmen but then saved by a beautiful Circassian woman. Despite its Romantic and Orientalist themes, Pushkin's use of academic footnotes and reliable ethnographic material gave it credibility in its day.^[2] It was highly influential on popular perceptions of the Caucasus in its time.^[3] The poem remains one of Pushkin's most famous works and is often referenced in Russian popular culture, for example, in the title of the Soviet comedy Kidnapping, Caucasian Style, which is titled Kavkazskaya plennitsa (The female prisoner of the Caucasus) in Russian.^[4]

English translations

Roger Clarke, as "A Prisoner in the Caucasus" in Eugene Onegin & Other Stories, London: Wordsworth Editions, 2005, ISBN 978-1840221367.

Notes

^ Written Кавказскій плѣнникъ in pre-reform Russian orthography

References

^ Layton, Susan (1995). Russian Literature and Empire: Conquest of the Caucasus from Pushkin to Tolstoy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 26. ISBN 978-0521444439.
^ Layton, p. 28
^ King, Charles (2008). The Ghost of Freedom: A History of the Caucasus. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 110-112. ISBN 978-0195177756.
^ "Russian Film: 'Кавказская Пленница' – 'Kidnapping, Caucasian Style'". Ruslanguage School. Retrieved 15 April 2017.

External links

The text of The Prisoner of the Caucasus at Russian Wikisource

v t e Alexander Pushkin
Narrative poems	Ruslan and Ludmila (1820) The Prisoner of the Caucasus (1820–1822) The Gabrieliad (1821) The Fountain of Bakhchisaray (1823) The Gypsies (1827) Poltava (1829) Tazit (1829–1830, unfinished) The Bronze Horseman (1833)
Short poems	"Ode to Liberty" (1817) "I Loved You" (1830) "To the Slanderers of Russia" (1831)
Verse fairy tales	The Tale of the Priest and of His Workman Balda (1830) The Tale of Tsar Saltan (1831) The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish (1833) The Tale of the Dead Princess and the Seven Knights (1833) The Tale of the Golden Cockerel (1834)
Verse novel	Eugene Onegin (1833)
Prose	The Moor of Peter the Great (1827–1828) The Tales of the Late Ivan Petrovich Belkin (1830) "The Shot" "The Blizzard" Dubrovsky (1833) The Queen of Spades (1834) A Journey to Arzrum (1835–1836) The Captain's Daughter (1836)
Plays	Boris Godunov (1825) The Little Tragedies (1830) A Feast in Time of Plague Mozart and Salieri The Stone Guest
People	Natalia Pushkina (wife) Anton Delvig Abram Petrovich Gannibal (great-grandfather) Georges-Charles de Heeckeren d'Anthès Anna Petrovna Kern Pyotr Pletnyov Vasily Pushkin (uncle) Pyotr Vyazemsky
Related	Amadeus film Dostoyevsky Speech Literaturnaya Gazeta Mikhaylovskoye Museum Reserve Pushkin House Pushkin Is Our Everything Pushkin Museum Pushkin Prize Pushkin studies Pushkinskaya Square Sovremennik Demolition of monuments in Ukraine

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English translations

See also

Notes

References

External links