Shortly before Aleksandr Griboedov's death, Aleksandr Pushkin said, “He is one of the smartest people in Russia.” When the news of Griboedov's death reached him, Pushkin added that Griboedov had truly “accomplished something. After all, he wrote Gore ot uma” (Woe from Wit, finished between 1823 and 1824). In his Puteshestvie v Arzrum ( Journey to Arzrum, 1836)—with his visit to Griboedov's grave in the summer of 1829 on the road from Tiflis (Tbilisi) to Kars fresh in his mind—Pushkin summed up his thoughts on the fate of his friend:

His abilities as a statesman remained unutilized; his talent as a poet remained unrecognized; even his cool and brilliant courage for a time remained suspect. Several friends knew his worth and saw his skeptical smile—that silly, unbearable smile—when they happened to speak of him as an extraordinary person.

Indeed, Pushkin's judgment of Griboedov conveys the most essential elements of...