On Pushkin's Liberty

This article tries to trace the origin of Pushkin's liberal idea and illustrates its spiritual essence by placing it into the history developing line of the European liberty tradition from the cultural background of the Russian pursuit of the Western modem civilization. The author thinks that Pushkin's liberal idea has two origins: On the one hand, he inherited the mental legacy of Radishev; On the other hand, he benefited more from French liberal thinker, Benjamin Constant. In his creational works,Pushkin expresses his political outpoint of liberty to overrun dictatorial system and establish constitutional monarchy. Similar to Constant,however, he emphasizes lawful liberty and opposes all forms of tyranny,no matter whether they are on the behalf of the dictator or the people.Nevertheless, the full implications of Pushkin's liberty ideas are muchbeyond all these mentioned. According to Pushkin, liberty is not only a political creed, but also a certain individual sense of life. He is keen on combating the ceasing and paralyzing of the Russian culture with liberal personality full of passion and reativity, as a result, his pursuit of liberty embodies a strong critical spirit, which is both a social criticism against Russian monarchy and a reflection of Russian cultural spirit. In this term,the liberty expressed by Pushkin is consistent with modem liberal concept. It is the outcome of the introduction of modem liberal viewpoint into Russia and the figurative expression in literature. It is through Pushkin's creation that liberal ideas fully reach the heart and soul of Russian people.