Pushkin was thoroughly steeped in French classicism along with the rest of the Russian aristocracy of the period, but he composed Onegin under the Romantic and Anglicizing influence of Byron, Sterne, and Shakespeare. As Flaubert famously said when the Russian-speaking Mérimée pressed some French translations of Pushkin upon him, “Your poet’s flat.”īut there is nothing flat about Eugene Onegin, a verse novel written between 18. So fun, in fact, that I wonder why people go on about the “Pushkin problem”-the supposed problem that non-Russian readers do not understand the esteem in which the poet is held by Russians, especially as compared to other “national” poets or writers (Greece’s Homer, Italy’s Dante, Spain’s Cervantes, England’s Shakespeare, Germany’s Goethe, America’s Whitman, etc.). This new translation seeks to retain both the literal sense and the poetic music of the original, and capture the poem's spontaneity and wit.Well, this is a fun book. Eugene Onegin was Pushkin's own favourite work, and it shows him attempting to transform himself from a romantic poet into a realistic novelist. Engaging, full of suspense, and varied in tone, it also portrays a large cast of other characters and offers the listener many literary, philosophical, and autobiographical digressions, often in a highly satirical vein. Set in 1820s imperial Russia, Pushkin's novel in verse follows the emotions and destiny of three men - Onegin the bored fop, Lensky the minor elegiast, and a stylized Pushkin himself - and the fates and affections of three women - Tatyana the provincial beauty, her sister Olga, and Pushkin's mercurial Muse. It was Pushkin's own favourite work, and this new translation conveys the literal sense and the poetic music of the original.Įugene Onegin is the master work of the poet whom Russians regard as the fountainhead of their literature.
Set in 1820s Russia, Pushkin's novel in verse follows the fates of three men and three women. Eugene Onegin is the master work of the poet whom Russians regard as the fountainhead of their literature.
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