In the following excerpt, Debreczeny gives an overview of Pushkin's "The Stationmaster," focusing on Pushkin's use of parody, sentimental imagery, and poetical devices.

"The Stationmaster," by far the most successful of Belkin's tales, is narrated by Titular Councillor A.G.N. Older than Belkin, he claims to have, "in the course of twenty years, traversed Russia in all directions" at the time of the telling—a claim incongruous with other information given on the same page. He informs us that in 1816—the time of his first meeting with the stationmaster—he was of low rank and was "young and hotheaded," which implies that he had just begun his career. We know, on the other hand, that Belkin retired in 1823, and that the Tales represented his first literary efforts, written probably no later than 1824 or 1825. A.G.N., therefore, could not have been traveling around...