ABSTRACT
The position and the rights of nobility had changed over time. It is difficult to know now how serious the threat of Alexander Pushkin’s exile to Siberia really was. Pushkin attempted to work simultaneously on both his legal and his illegal means of escape. Meanwhile, the wait had become interminable: his friends continued to delay the favors he asked of them; nothing occurred as scheduled. Pushkin himself complained of an aneurysm of the heart (un anevrisme de coeur), while his mother wrote that he had “an aneurysm in the leg.” While the illness was feigned, the story Pushkin had concocted to support it appeared convincing. Pushkin had referred to the ailment previously, while still in the south. For the “higher authorities,” as Pushkin had dubbed the government, it was uncommon to withhold leave for individuals to travel abroad for treatment. Whether the disease was real or fraudulent rarely mattered, as illnesses were easier to invent than for physicians to disprove.
