Pushkin, Alexander

The Russian author Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin was born in Moscow to one of the oldest noble families in Russia with roots in the 12th century. They had lost their wealth by the time Pushkin was born, but on the other hand there was plenty of cultural capital. His father was well read and the owner of an extensive French library, which the son became acquainted with from an early age. This was where he picked up the style that became his own – his clear and succinct idiom. Pushkin's matrilineal great grandfather was an Ethiopian prince who was brought to Russia as a slave and given to Peter the Great. He lived to become Governor of Reval, a major general and a nobleman of the Russian Empire. All his life, Pushkin was acutely aware of his foreign appearance.