Clarity, precision, conciseness, and a rejection of stylistic embellishment—these are the hallmarks of Pushkin’s prose; yet, beneath this outward simplicity lies such a wealth of meaning that literary scholars have spent nearly two centuries deciphering his masterpieces. He turned to prose—a medium he had once dismissed as ‘despicable’—only in the late 1820s, having already achieved fame and acclaim as a poet.