The Image of the East in A. S. Pushkin’s Journey to Arzrum

The East has always held a special place in Russian culture and literature, serving as both a source of inspiration and a site of complex historical and cultural interactions. This article aims to analyze how Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin portrays the East through the lens of his personal experience in Eastern Anatolia in his work A Journey to Arzrum during the 1829 Campaign. Unlike romanticized depictions of the East, Pushkin presents a more realistic and critical view, grounded in concrete details. This approach allows readers to grasp the complexity and multifaceted nature of Eastern culture, which the poet seeks to convey. The study employs contextual analysis and a comparative-historical method to compare traditional notions of the East with the image presented by Pushkin. The focus of the analysis lies in the descriptions of the city of Arzrum, the roads, local life, and the culture of the region. The findings reveal that Journey to Arzrum occupies a significant place in Pushkin’s body of work, blending elements of travel writing, artistic perspective, and documentary narration. It reflects shifts in his worldview and his desire to depict the East more authentically. The work demonstrates how the poet’s personal experience becomes a foundation for rethinking the theme of the East in Russian literature.