Ruslan and Ludmila was published in 1820, when Pushkin was twenty years old. It made him instantly famous: a long narrative poem in six cantos, drawing on Russian fairy-tale traditions rather than the classical mythology favored by the literary establishment. The knight Ruslan must rescue his bride Ludmila — abducted from their wedding feast by the sorcerer Chernomor — overcoming rival knights, enchanted gardens, a severed head that guards a magic sword, and various supernatural obstacles.
The poem is deliberately playful: Pushkin adopts the ironic, conversational tone of Ariosto and Byron, constantly interrupting the narrative with authorial asides, mock-heroic commentary, and self-aware humor. The fairy-tale material is treated with affectionate irreverence rather than earnest solemnity: Ludmila is not a passive princess but a spirited young woman who resists her captor with intelligence; Ruslan is brave but not particularly clever; and the villain Chernomor is comic as well as threatening.
The poem’s significance extends beyond its literary quality: by drawing on Russian folklore rather than Greco-Roman mythology, Pushkin declared the independence of Russian literature from Western European models. Russian writers could create from their own traditions, in their own idiom, without apology.
Collecting Ruslan and Ludmila
First edition (St. Petersburg, 1820): Russian-language, extremely rare.
Market values:
- Original Russian editions: Museum pieces
- Fine illustrated editions: $30–$100 depending on illustrator