The Blizzard

"The Blizzard" (or The Snow Storm) (, Metél' ) is the second of five short stories that constitute The Belkin Tales by Alexander Pushkin. The manuscript for the story was originally completed October 20, 1830. It was intended to be the last of The Belkin Tales to be published, but Pushkin decided to push the story to the front of the volume. The novella, so comical and at the same time so dramatic, is considered to be one of the masterpieces of Russian literature. Plot The plot concerns the relationships of an aristocratic young woman named Maria Gavrilovna (Gavrilovna is a patronymic, not a surname) and the unusual coincidences that accompany them. The following is copied from the program notes by Ledbetter (see sources): In 1811, a seventeen-year-old girl, Maria Gavrilovna, falls in love with a young officer, Vladimir Nikolayevich. Her parents disapprove of the relationship, which continues into the winter through correspondence. Finally they decide to elope, marry quickly, and then throw themselves at the feet of her parents to beg forgiveness (confident that a marriage entered into the Russian Orthodox Church would be regarded as eternal and unbreakable).