Yuri Lotman's fundamental monograph is considered a classic of Pushkin studies. In it, Lotman not only managed to outline all the main stages of the poet's personal and creative development and place the main episodes of his life in the context of the historical and political events of the 19th century, but also proposed the concept of ‘life-building,’ according to which Pushkin himself shaped his biography according to the laws of a complete work of art. For his works on Pushkin, Yuri Lotman was awarded the Pushkin Prize of the Russian Academy of Sciences.