Alexander Pushkin's View of Goethe

Abstract

T HE PROBLEM of Alexander Pushkin's approach to Goethe, and the degree and nature of his dependence on Goethe for themes and inspiration, has been and continues to be debated by Russian literary scholars, and has not been altogether neglected by scholars in the West.l Non-Russian contributions, however, tend to slight the rich biographical materials which Russian research on Pushkin has made available, and do not pay sufficient attention to the general cultural background against which Pushkin's attitude toward the German poet must be viewed for proper perspective. As a boy and impressionable youth, Pushkin moved in a cultural environment that was, by and large, indifferent if not actually hostile to German art and letters and, in particular, to literary products from the pens of the Sturm und Drang authors which were just then beginning to reach the Russian public. A vivid picture of this prevailing attitude in the circles in which Pushkin's family played a prominent role