ALEXANDER PUSHKIN (1799-1837), for whom Russians feel a reverence we can barely imagine, is called the father of Russian literature, its first romantic. His blazing tales of love and passion ignited ...the Russian soul. Pushkin's best-known poem, The Bronze Horseman, is named for the imposing equestrian statue of Peter the Great, founder of the city, which faces the Neva at Peter's Square. The poem is set during one of St. Petersburg's devastating floods. Pushkin's fervid, hallucinatory writing evokes a dreamscape suffused by ardour, despair and tyranny. Pushkin's study is full of such clues. On the desk is a gilded bronze inkwell, an African sailor in gold trousers leaning jauntily on an anchor. This gift from a friend recalls Pushkin's great- grandfather, Abraham Hannibal, who was from Eritrea, Abyssinia or Cameroon, depending on your source, but was certainly a young African slave, a gift to Peter the Great. The populist czar freed him and became his godfather, raising and educating Hannibal, who became a distinguished engineer. "Thank you for the Moor," Pushkin wrote his friend, and gave it pride of place. Black & White Photo: Dmitry Lovetsky, The Associated Press / The Alexander Column in Palace Square stands in front of the Winter Palace of St. Petersburg.; Black & White Photo: Marcie Gauntlett, CanWest News Service / The Bronze Horseman in St. Peter's Square inspired a Pushkin poem.; Black & White Photo: Russians revere writer Alexander Pushkin in a way we can barely imagine.
