PUSHKIN by David Magarshack. 320 pages. Grove. $7.50.
Poetry is what is lost in translation. Robert Frost
In the case of Alexander Pushkin, not only his poetry but his whole essence seems to be lost in translation. Russiansfrom schoolchildren to arcane criticsstill devour Pushkin's poems, plays and stories. His work is viewed at home as the headwater of the great streams in Russian literature. Tolstoy admitted that the idea for Anna Karenina flowed from an unfinished Pushkin story. Dostoevsky once said: "If Pushkin had not existed, there would have been no talented writers to follow."...
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