Queen of Spades

A fine and haunting short story. Card games and cheating fate.

Loved it - great ending. Karma !!!!

A short story form Pushkin about a gambler, the `winning cards` and a revenge beyond the grave.

One night, while playing cards, a group of idle young officers are entertained by the stories of their colleague Tomsky. He tells them a legend about his grandmother, the Countess X, who as a young woman lost a great deal of money at cards at Versailles. When her husband refused to pay her debts,

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she sought out the aid of her friend, the Count of Saint-Germain, who told her a secret technique by which, with only three cards, she could be sure of winning back her money. The officers are delighted by this story, but none more so than young Hermann. His financial caution has prevented him from ever joining in with the gambling, but if he could be sure of winning... why, he could set himself up for life! As time passes, the idea grows on Hermann and gradually he becomes obsessed with it. If only he could find a way to get into the Countess's presence! And then he spots the virtuous Lizaveta Ivanovna, the Countess's ward, sitting sewing in her window, and a cunning plan begins to take shape in his mind.

This is another classic short story and, like Gogol's Nose (below), inspired an opera. Written in 1833, it's a delicious blend of unscrupulous ambition, avarice, immortality and eerie ghost story, and its message is clear: you get what you deserve. I hadn't read any Pushkin before and was delighted by his witty turn of phrase. For example, when asked why he doesn't play cards, Hermann explains that he is 'not in a position to risk the necessary in the hope of acquiring the superfluous'. And, when Lizaveta shyly asks Tomsky about Hermann, the young officer ebulliently replies: 'he has the profile of a Napoleon and the soul of a Mephistopheles. I think there must be at least three crimes on his conscience'. It was a real pleasure and I'll have to seek out some more of his work. Maybe one day, when I'm feeling brave, it'll be time for Eugene Onegin...

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An entertaining short story with twists and turns to hold your interest.

Well I enjoyed this work, and appreciate that Pushkin can write so straightforwardly, I think many critics overate the significance of the work. While indeed it is a story of the travails of greed, I personally thought the work

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was quite simplistic.

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