The Queen of Spades

by Alexander Pushkin · first published 1834

The Queen of Spades (Russian: «Пиковая дама», romanized: Pikovaya dama) is an 1834 novella with supernatural elements by Alexander Pushkin, about human avarice. Written in autumn 1833 in Boldino, it was first published in the literary magazine Biblioteka dlya chteniya in March 1834. The story served as basis for the operas The Queen of Spades (1890) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, La dame de pique (1850) by Fromental Halévy and Pique Dame (1864) by Franz von Suppé, and numerous films.

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