The Queen of Spades has long been acknowledged as one of the world's greatest short stories, in which Pushkin explores the nature of obsession. The Tales of Belkin are witty parodies of sentimentalism, while Peter the Great's Blackamoor is an early experiment with recreating the past. The Captain's Daughter is a novel-length masterpiece which combines historical fiction in the manner of Sir Walter Scott with the devices of the Russian fairy-tale. The Introduction provides close readings of the stories and places them in their European literary context.

    TABLE OF CONTENTS: The Captain's Daughter, The Tales of Belkin, The Shot, The Snowstorm, The Undertaker, The Postmaster, Mistress Into Maid, The Queen of Spades, Kirdjali, The Negro of Peter the Great

    Simple's trials and triumphs, alongside his faithful mentor, Terence O'Brien, Mirror Marryat's personal experience, from the hand-to-hand combat of cutting-out missions to the devastating hurricane off St. Pierre and the mutiny aboard the "Rattlesnake". "Peter Simple" is a towering tale from the great age of sail, filled with keen wit, vivid characters, and gripping adventure.

    Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.