Alexander Pushkin was a Russian short-story writer, poet, dramatist, and novelist who lived and worked in the 19th century. He is now considered to be the founder of modern Russian literature.
Pushkin was born into a wealthy noble family. He attended a prestigious school as a young man and published his first poem when he was 15 years old. His career was largely traditional for a man of his status, working in the foreign service office in St. Petersburg. He wrote politically subversive poetry in the early years of his career and the government forced him into exile in 1820. He lived in what is now known as Ukraine until 1825 when the Tzar Nicholas I pardoned him. Upon reentry into...