“The Undertaker” by Alexander Pushkin #48

The profession of being an undertaker is seldom glorified, especially in the case of Adrian Prokhorov. Not only does he deal with one of the most dreadful facts of life, that being death, he is a gloomy individual and rarely opened his mouth, except in the cases where scolding of his daughters was necessary. That being the case, he must have been surprised when one of his neighbors, a Mr. Gottlieb Schultz,  invited him and his daughters to have dinner with them. This is along with many others, most of which are business owners such as Mr. Schultz. During the course of the evening, the multitude of people begin proposing toasts of good health to all around, including those for whom they work, their customers. But what what do you do when those for whom you work are not alive, but rather dead? Why doesn’t Adrian Prokhorov have a banquet for his customers, a banquet for the dead?

If yesterday’s story was creepy on a psychological level, this one is more on a physical level. Once the buildup is complete the climax definitely shook me quite a bit, which was surely the author’s goal, and so that is well done. The only problem I really have with this work is that it ends so quickly. Before I knew it, the major scene was done and gone, never to return again. I guess you could say that I wish there was an extra page or two to give this piece a little bit more punch. I guess that is just one of the things that goes with the territory, sometimes you want more, yet there is no more to get. Like water falling through your fingers. I want to read “The Queen of Spades” from this author now. You can find this story in The Complete Prose Tales of Alexandr Sergeyevitch Pushkin.

Content Advisory: Blood and Gore, Drunkenness