Poor Liza

Karamzin’s tale “Bednaya Liza” (1792; “Poor Liza”), about a village girl who commits suicide after a tragic love affair, soon became the most celebrated work of the Russian sentimental school.

…the very popular story “Bednaya Liza” (1792; “Poor Liza”), a tale of lovers separated because they belong to different social classes, which seems cloying to the modern reader. Appointed imperial historiographer, Karamzin later wrote the 12-volume Istoriya gosudarstva rossiyskogo (1818–26; “History of the Russian State”), which is a landmark…