Russian fiction was born in the age of Pushkin and in a remarkably short period of time the Russian novel became on of the glories of world literature. This book tells part of the story of how this happened. Of course, Pushkin, Gogol and Lermontov are the primary figures of the Romantic era, and Mr. Mersereau devotes many pages to them. But it is the context of their works which is the main subject of this history—the entire development of Russian prose from the star of the 19th century until 1852. This background makes the appearance of such masterpieces as Dead Souls, A Hero of Our Time, The Captain’s Daughter, and The Queen of Spades more understandable, but none the less amazing.