Can the Non-Russian World Evaluate Pushkin?
It is a well-known fact that foreigners are mystified by Russians’ attitude to Pushkin: why is he loved by them so passionately, so ardently? Why is Pushkin “everything we have?” Compatriots of the greatest Russian poet are equally puzzled by the foreigner’s attitude to him: why don’t they appreciate our unrivalled genius? Why is Russia presented by Tolstoy, Chekhov, Dostoevsky at the international level? The paper is an attempt to describe and comprehend this situation. The reasons hampering both the comprehension and appreciation of Pushkin’s literary works may be summed up as follows: 1) the “untranslatability” of his poems into foreign languages (the most popular opinion), 2) his Russianness, his soul, mentality, national character (the main reason) which results in a conflict of cultures. The conflict may be eased by commentaries, but not resolved. Pushkin is a genius who embodies the Russian soul that cannot be “understood by intellect”.