ading,/ the glare, the fumes in which I live. . . . " It took him a long while to come to such a conclusion, however, and, until that time seems to have had a good enough time parading and masquerading himself. We cannot take Pushkin's criticism of aristocratic society seriously. He is not a pessimist, despite his critical insights into that society. His criticism does not seem impassioned. He cannot really be called an optimist either, however, at least not on the basis of this novel. His silly and presumptuous farewell to the reader is less optimistic than giddy. He seems to be most optimistic that the reader longs for every word that might find its way from his pen to the paper.
If Eugene seems to fit right in with the artificia
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