CHISINAU, Moldova -- Count Vorontsov, governor general at Odessa in 1823, was clearly annoyed with Alexander Pushkin, a young subordinate, who was having a love affair with Vorontsov's wife. Vorontsov decided that as a punishment Pushkin should be sent away to prepare a lengthy report on the effects of locusts in Bessarabia.
Pushkin resigned. In his official report to St. Petersburg, Vorontsov was scathing of his former employee. He wrote, " . . . he was surrounded by a society of political and literary fanatics, whose praises might turn his head and make him believe he was a great writer, whereas he was only a feeble imitation of Lord Byron, an original not much to be commended."
Today, while one can perhaps understand Vorontsov's anguish, his literary assessment seems as wide of the mark as one can get. Pushkin is considered a central figure in Russian literature -- in the pantheon with Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky but conceivably their superior in terms of expressing the Russian soul. And, as a universal figure, Pushkin's renown straddles borders. For example, on both sides of the Moldovan-Transdniestrian fault line, there remain roads and parks named in his honor.