Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction
1. Vologda to St. Petersburg
2. War and Peace
3. The City and the Country
4. Back to War
5. The Return of Odysseus
6. Arzamas and the Essays
7. To Italy
8. Into the Dark
Index

Konstantin Batyushkov was one of the great poets of the Golden Age of Russian literature. Peter France interweaves Batyushkov's life and writings, presenting masterful new translations of his work with the compelling story of Batyushkov's career as a soldier, diplomat, and poet and his tragic decline into mental illness at the age of thirty-four.

Konstantin Batyushkov (1787-1855) was a celebrated Russian poet and essayist. He served in three campaigns of the Napoleonic wars and was posted to Naples on diplomatic service before succumbing to incurable mental illness in 1822.
Peter France is honorary fellow and professor emeritus at the University of Edinburgh. He has translated French and Russian prose texts as well as the works of many Russian poets, most recently Lermontov, Baratynsky, Mandelstam, and Aygi.