ABSTRACT
The story of Alexander Pushkin’s exile, described in hundreds of books, still holds mysteries. According to a well-known theory first expressed by Pyotr Bartenev in the last century, Pushkin had some remarkably good luck upon his arrival in Yekaterinoslav. Passing through at the same time was the respectable Rayevsky family, who agreed to take Pushkin along to the Caucasus and then the Crimea. In Pushkin scholarship this is traditionally represented as a lucky twist of fate. Nikolay Rayevsky, a friend of Chaadayev’s and a cavalry captain in a Life Guards hussar regiment, was two years younger than Pushkin. They had known each other since their years together at the Lyceum. They had become especially close during the difficult months of Pushkin’s surveillance and threatened punishment. Pushkin was formally being transferred to his new sinecure as a supernumerary official in the chancellery of General Inzov, chief administrator and chairman of the Committee on Foreign Settlers in the southern border of Russia.
