In 1833 Alexander Pushkin began to explore the topic of madness, a subject little explored in Russian literature before his time. The works he produced on the theme are three of his greatest masterpieces: the prose novella The Queen of Spades, the narrative poem The Bronze Horseman, and the lyric "God Grant That I Not Lose My Mind." Gary Rosenshield presents a new interpretation of Pushkin’s genius through an examination of his various representations of madness.
    Pushkin brilliantly explored both the destructive and creative sides of madness, a strange fusion of violence and insight. In this study, Rosenshield illustrates the surprising valorization of madness in The Queen of Spades and "God Grant That I Not Lose My Mind" and analyzes The Bronze Horseman’s confrontation with the legacy of Peter the Great, a cornerstone figure of Russian history. Drawing on themes of madness in western literature, Rosenshield situates Pushkin in a greater framework with such luminaries as Shakespeare, Sophocles, Cervantes, and Dostoevsky providing an insightful and absorbing study of Russia’s greatest writer.

• Contents 
• Preface
• Introduction: Madness and Contexualization
• PART ONE: 
• The Queen of Spades
• 1. 
• Choosing the Right Card: Madness, Gambling, and the Imagination
• 2. 
• Madness and Psychoanalysis
• PART TWO: 
• “God Grant That I Not Lose My Mind”
• 3. 
• Freedom and the Prison House of Madness
• PART THREE: 
• The Bronze Horseman
• 4. 
• Madness and the Common Man
• 5. 
• Madness and the River
• 6. 
• Madness and the Tsar
• 7. 
• Madness, Narrator, and Author
• Conclusion: Deconstructing The Bronze Horseman: Dostoevsky, The Double, and the Pushkinian Legacy on Madness
• Notes
• Index

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