The Golden Cockerel

by Alexander Pushkin

Book Overview

Just Like New, as shown. Cover not quite crisp so like new. Fast shipping usually same day. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385262523
• ISBN13: 9780385262521
• Release Date: October 1990
• Publisher: Doubleday Books
• Length: 111 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 9.2" x 11.4"

Customer Reviews

lovely folk tales

This wonderful book contains four stories by Russia's great Aleksandr Pushkin, brilliantly illustrated by Boris Zvorykin. Originally published as a limited edition in France, in 1925, it has been translated from the French by Jessie Wood, with good reproductions of the brightly colored illustrations, which resemble illuminated manuscripts, and have much intricate detail.It also includes a lengthy introduction by the noted dancer Rudolf Nureyev, who gives an overview of Pushkin's life, and his influence on the ballet, with many stories that became the basis for works performed by Diaghilev's Ballets Russes (like "The Golden Cockerel", or as it is better known, "Le Coq d'Or"), and of course opera, with the likes of Eugene Onegin, and Boris Godunov.The first story is "The Golden Cockerel", about a magical creature who is given to the Tsar for protection, but has dire consequences; # 2 is "The Tale of the Tsar Sultan", and is the longest of the stories, about a simple peasant girl who marries the Tsar, her jealous relatives, and her hero son, who saves the life of a swan that later turns into a princess. # 3 is "The Dead Princess and the Seven Heros", which one will recognize as a version of "Snow White", and # 4 is "The Tale of the Golden Fish", about a man with an avaricious wife, and the fish that grants him many favors.These stories all have a moral to them, and the evil ones get their dues; it is also written in a style that would take some maturity, so this would be recommended for a child old enough to appreciate Pushkin's language, and the complexity of Zvorykin's art.

The Golden Cockerel Crows Superiority

This collection of Russian Fairy Tales is not for bed-time stories. The tales contained within this book are wonderfully true to the stories passed down from the old world. The violent images within most of the tales hold true to those found in the original tales. Refreshing and invigorating, there's very little "once upon a time" in Russia, and the illustrations and characters make this book a must-have conversation piece.