Salamandra [The Salamander, 1841] is, in length, more novella than short story. It has, as Neil Cornwell says, “a curious bi-partite structure, termed by Odoevsky a ‘dilogy’ (as compared to the more common ‘trilogy’ form)” (Introduction: The Salamander, 6). The first part, entitled “Iuzhnyi bereg Finliandii v nachale XVIII stoletiia” [“The Southern Shore of Finland at the Beginning of the Eighteenth Century”], dedicated to Countess Emilia Musina-Pushkina, was published separately and overlaps with the historical novel genre, drawing heavily too on Finnish folklore. The second part, now called “El’sa” [“Elsa”], dedicated to Count V.A. Sollogub, was also published in 1841 and reads more like a Gothic tale, complete with alchemy, villainy, “a rousing finale”, and “a mysterious connection” (6) with the first part. The overall title of The Salamander (originally the title of “Elsa”) was...
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Citation: Sucur, Slobodan. "Salamandra". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 02 March 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=16243, accessed 05 December 2025.]
