Eugene Onegin and Other Poems

by Alexander Pushkin, Charles Johnston (Translator)

Eugene Onegin (1833) is a comedy of manners, written in exquisitely crafted verse, about two young members of the Russian gentry, the eponymous hero and the girl Tatyana, who don't quite connect. It is also the greatest masterpiece of Russian literature—the source of the human archetypes and the attitudes that define and govern the towering fictional creations of nineteenth-century Russia and one of the most celebrated poems of the world. Before Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837) wrote Eugene Onegin, his nation's literature was a parochial one; after he wrote it, due in no small part to its power and influence, the Russian tradition became one of the central traditions of Western civilization.

Genres: Poetry, Russia, Classics, Russian Literature, Literature, Fiction, Historical Fiction

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1832

About the author

Works of Russian writer Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin include the verse novel Eugene Onegin (1831), the play Boris Godunov (1831), and many narrative and lyrical poems and short stories.

See also:
Russian: Александр Сергеевич Пушкин
French: Alexandre Pouchkine
Norwegian: Aleksander Pusjkin
Spanish:Aleksandr Pushkin

People consider this author the greatest poet and the founder of modern literature. Pushkin pioneered the use of vernacular speech in his poems, creating a style of storytelling—mixing drama, romance, and satire—associated ever with greatly influential later literature.

Pushkin published his first poem at the age of 15 years in 1814, and the literary establishment widely recognized him before the time of his graduation from the imperial lyceum in Tsarskoe Selo. Social reform gradually committed Pushkin, who emerged as a spokesman for literary radicals and in the early 1820s clashed with the government, which sent him into exile in southern Russia. Under the strict surveillance of government censors and unable to travel or publish at will, he wrote his most famous drama but ably published it not until years later. People published his verse serially from 1825 to 1832.

Pushkin and his wife Natalya Goncharova, whom he married in 1831, later became regulars of court society. In 1837, while falling into ever greater debt amidst rumors that his wife started conducting a scandalous affair, Pushkin challenged her alleged lover, Georges d'Anthès, to a duel. Pushkin was mortally wounded and died two days later.

Because of his liberal political views and influence on generations of Russian rebels, Pushkin was portrayed by Bolsheviks as an opponent to bourgeois literature and culture and a predecessor of Soviet literature and poetry. Tsarskoe Selo was renamed after him.

Reviews

[morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

shakespeare walked so pushkin could run

[Yasmin · Rating 4 out of 5]

As to be expected I watched a film version of this first. It was years ago so my memories of the film are abstract, which is just as well. Inexplicably I thought this was meant to be a novel and not a poem, most film adaptions are taken from books. I can't actually imagine what it must be like to adapt a poem into a screenplay. Be that as it may the poem is well worth the read. I liked it very much. It may not suit everyone's tastes, keep in mind this style of writing poetry doesn't exist any more and if you're not used to it you may feel like you're getting lost somewhere along the way, however, if you do feel like you're off the path Pushkin will set you right. Spoiler alert (if you've not watched the film either) there is no happy ending. If you have read Pushkin before you're in familiar territory and if you haven't well there is no loss there as you may find yourself wanting to read more Pushkin. When first embarking on the tale of Eugene Onegin (interchangeably with Evgeny) you think he is nothing more than a spoilt brat who really needs to get out more rather than sulk at home because he is fed with the society of rich and mindless. If you have read 19th century literature before one knows of Onegin's kind before, you may find him in Balzac only not quite so morose and he may or may not have a happy ending. As it is Onegin has too much time on his hands and too much money and good looks, he bores easily. But then curiously enough he has very odd moments of humanity and tenderness. Much to his own folly. Yes if he had stayed cold hearted and cynical he might have easily killed himself or bored himself to death. If he had been more tender none of the dramatic things that happened would have happened to him and then perhaps we wouldn't have a tale. Well those things did happen and eventually Onegin went away, he went traveling and he went mad, which incidentally I don't think is in the 1999 film. At this point being spurned by the woman who loves him and then he loves there is no surprises that he went away and became mad. Indeed if she had agreed to run away with him we would have been almost...shocked. I suppose if she had done that then perhaps it would have been required to have had two bodies as opposed to one. But the narrator liked her too much for that, even though if you read between the lines, she may have all but died in body. Unless instead she becomes more like her sister Olga, she would soon enough get over her upset. But I think the romance in us is required to think that she died all but in body. However, that may still beg the question did he love her because of her newly acquired status or was it because she reminded him of his youth lost? But it would seem at nearer the beginning at least Eugene was not interested in accumulating more wealth although he didn't squander what he had into debts. That leaves the question possibly unanswered? There is much to this poem and even more when you think about it after. Satire, humour, mystery, crudeness and it rambles a bit in places. The satire is such subtleness that you're not quite sure whom it is Pushkin is poking fun at. Read it and see for yourself.

[Walter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alexander Pushkin is without a doubt the most influential writer in Russian literature, with just about every great Russian novelist and poet who came after him in his debt. Pushkin is to Russian literature what Shakespeare is to English literature, what Dante is to Italian literature and what Homer was to the literature of the Ancient Greeks. Eugene Onegin is undoubtedly Pushkin's masterpiece.

I read the Johnston translation which is actually in rhyming verse in English in the same stanza format as Pushkin used. While I was reading, I had to ask myself, surely this can't be even close to the Russian, because in order to manipulate the words and moods of English grammar, Johnston must have changed a lot from the Russian. Some day, if I am persistent enough to learn Russian, perhaps I could read Onegin in the original and be able to comment on how faithful this version is. But, having conceded that I have read something that is probably a far cry from the original, I must say that it was enjoyable.

The story is about Eugene Onegin, a studly Russian nobleman who meets the young St. Petersburg ladies Olga and Tatiana, the latter of the two falls in love with Onegin. Onegin has somewhat mutual feelings for her, but he gets carried away by his position in society and has no time for romance. Onegin and Olga's beau Vladimir have a falling out and Onegin kills Vladimir in a duel (ironic, since Pushkin himself was killed in a duel). From there the story spirals out of control, the characters scatter to the four winds, and Tatyiana marries into an important noble family and shows up Onegin in the end.

The actual storyline only takes up a small part of the narrative, as Onegin is as much a commentary on Russian society in the 1830s as it is a story about lost love. If you are not used to reading verse, it may be distracting to you to read it at first, but stick with it as it is worth hanging on. By the end of the story you will be glad that you did, as it is ultimately stirring and moving.

I would recommend Eugene Onegin to anyone with an interest in Russian literature.

[Pages & Cup · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my second attempt at reading this novel in verse. I read the Charles Johnston translation the first time (this edition) and had to stop midway through the book. I switched to the James E. Falen edition (I found it free online), and devoured it. I read the Falen edition while listening to the audio recording narrated by Stephen Fry. It was the perfect combination to take me into the new reading year.

[māris šteinbergs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oņegins ir cienīgs Hamleta pretinieks

[A.J. McMahon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eugene Onegin just blew me away when I first read it several years ago. It is a work of literature which is credited with being the foundation of Russian Literature; before it there was nothing of any major standing, but after it of course came all the rest of them: Gogol, Chekhov, Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Solzenitsyn, etc. Pushkin was the shoulders which they all stood on, and this poem was the beginning of it all. I went on to read the Tales of Belkin and the Captain's Daughter, which were great, but Eugene Onegin stands alone. I don't want to give any spoiler alerts, but suffice it to say that it contains the prototypical Russian gloominess and dark night of the soul kind of stuff. When I was writing my own novel (The Last Suitor by A. J. McMahon which has just been published), I found Eugene Onegin to be an inspiration for me largely because of how Pushkin takes the most ordinary details of everyday life and uses it as material with which to fashion the most extraordinary dreamscape. It is all everyday yet at the same time it is magical. The use of language, the interaction between the characters, the action of jumping into a sled and speeding along watching the flakes of snow flying, the pain of friendship betrayed and the misunderstandings between lovers, all form a unified coherent whole that just sweeps the reader along from beginning to end. This work of literature is one of the greats. Nothing remains to be said.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

We did it! The widely referenced, seminal novel-in-verse work in Russian literature. Initially, I kept thinking of a Yevgeny Yevtushenko quote:

"Translation is like a woman. If it is beautiful, it is not faithful. If it is faithful, it is most certainly not beautiful."

This translation is *beautiful*, which initially made me wonder whether I was missing something. I was regretting not being able to read this in its original Russian.

But then my experience was transformed by the joy of reading it aloud with someone else, and then I realised it doesn't actually matter, it works.

It was one of the greatest experiences of my life. I think poetry should be read aloud, always.

[Margie Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's often said that only those who know Russian can fully enjoy Alexander Pushkin's masterpiece, Eugene Onegin. They may be right. But until the time when you or I can read the original, I recommend Charles Johnston's translation, published in 1977 by Viking Press. For a non-Russian speaker like myself, it gives a sense of the beauty and originality of the phrasing. Written in the form of a poem, Onegin is at once playful and deeply serious; Johnston captures the humour, the irony, and the pathos of the story. He also, in his translation, has cast the narrative in what is known as the Onegin stanza, a form of sonnet invented by Pushkin and substantially different from the traditional Shakespearean and Petrarchan sonnets.

I'm not a poet and if you want to learn more about this verse form, you can go online and check it out. Apart from stating that the Onegin stanza is almost impossible to accomplish in English, I'll say no more about it. Except that Johnston seems to have done it, and done it astonishingly well.

Pushkin's story is deceptively simple: Eugene Onegin, a handsome, worldly young man, adept at seducing young women and casting them aside, grows jaded and bored with high society, and retreats to an estate in the country left to him by his uncle. While there he makes friends with a neighbour, a good-looking young poet named Vladimir Lensky who embodies all the youthful ideals Eugene has discarded. Lensky is romantic and naive and deeply in love with Olga Larin, the beautiful but rather thoughtless daughter of a local landowner. Onegin, curious to get a glimpse of the girl, accompanies him to dinner at the Larin home. While there he notices Olga's older sister, Tatyana, and suggests to his friend that while Olga is pretty but essentially shallow, her sister is more interesting.

At 17, Tatyana is shy, quiet, and reserved, and capable of an intensity of feeling that rivals any poet. From an early age she's devoured romantic novels, especially those by Samuel Richardson and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and when she meets Eugene Onegin she sees in him the embodiment of the dark, brooding Romantic hero. After waiting in vain to see or hear from him again, she writes him a letter in which she declares her passion. He doesn't respond and so she writes to him again, and then again. When they do finally meet up, he lets her know politely but in no uncertain terms that he's not in love with her and marriage between them will never happen. He also, rather condescendingly, gives her some advice about keeping her emotions under control in the future.

Tatanya is devastated. She can't sleep, can't eat . . . her whole being is focused on Eugene, to the exclusion of any other possible suitors. One night she dreams that a large black bear chases her, then carries her into a house full of monsters having a party. The host of the party is Onegin, who appears as a kind of demon. Olga and Lensky enter the room and Onegin, furious, picks up a carving knife and appears to kill Lensky. She awakes anxious and uneasy and searches a book for answers but receives none. Several days later Lensky invites Onegin to attend Tatyana's name-day celebration, insisting it will be a small affair, just a few family and friends. It turns out to be a large, noisy party, with half the county in attendance. Angry at Lensky for tricking him into coming, Onegin decides to take his revenge by flirting with Olga and monopolizing her for the entire night. Believing he's been gravely insulted, Lensky challenges his friend to a duel; Eugene, who now regrets his actions, feels compelled to respond in kind. They meet at the appointed place, raise their pistols, and shoot. Lensky falls to the ground; by the time Eugene rushes to his side, the young poet is dead. After a brief period of mourning, Olga marries a cavalry man and Tatyana, still brooding over Eugene, is persuaded to travel to Moscow to stay with an aunt. There she's brought to one social event after another, with the aim of finding her a husband. She hates the city and pines for the natural beauty of the countryside. As for Eugene, he's overcome with guilt and remorse over Lensky's death, and has left the country.

When he next sees Tatyana, she's a composed, sophisticated young matron, married to a fat, older military man and living in St. Petersburg. There seems to be almost nothing left of the shy, vulnerable country girl he once rejected. Now it's his turn to fall in love . . . and his turn to be rejected. He writes to her, but she doesn't reply - writes again, and again. Just as Tatyana wrote to him. He spend the winter in seclusion, reading his books. As spring appears, he goes to her home and finds her in tears, reading his letters. Now she confesses that she loves him as much as she ever did, but she will not allow him to ruin her. She is married, and plans to stay that way. And there Pushkin leaves them - Tatyana, mature and strong within herself, Eugene Onegin alone and distraught.

Tatyana Larin is probably the best-loved character in Russian literature. She feels very real, much like Jane Austen's Elizabeth Bennet - a strong, complicated young woman who refuses to fit into a mould. Pushkin, I think, adored her, the way a writer comes to love a character he's created who lives life on her own terms. He's reported to have said to a friend, while writing the end of Onegin: "Do you know, my Tatiana has rejected my Eugene. I never expected it of her." Don't you love that?

As for Eugene Onegin, he and Pushkin have much in common - educated, articulate, and wealthy - but Onegin is essentially hollow at the core, something that could never be said about the author. In an unhappy twist of fate, Pushkin’s own life ended when he fought a duel with his brother-in-law over his wife’s affections. He was 37.

[Yulia Kazachkova · Rating 5 out of 5]

Не брала в руки Пушкина со школы. What a glorious comeback…

[kareta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Онегин >>>> Печорин

[Nick Traynor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a wonderful experience reading aloud the venerable Pushkin's masterpiece with my best friend, and now I can't imagine having read it silently. Reading poetry aloud with someone is surely one of the most beautiful things one can do.

I thought the story itself was somewhat simplistic, and with poetry I always find it difficult to tell exactly what is happening. The translation was particularly skillful though and I have a great appreciation now for the rhyming style of the so-called 'Pushkin sonnet'.

Two poems were appended to the main story: the original, abandoned 8th chapter; and the thoroughly influential poem The Bronze Horseman. I appreciated these two additions as I thought they worked nicely with the other text.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy Pushkin. I first became acquainted with Eugene Onegin through the opera and pursued the book. It's actually a long poem, but very witty and learned. If you don't like poetry, don't even try it.
But if you like "novels" of manners, wry wit, and the culture of Russia (Pushkin is Russia's National Poet), read it.

Since I haven't read any other editions (and I don't know Russian), I can't say how well this is translated, but the language is breezy and easy to read. Only occasionally do you find yourself falling into the "poetry" trap when you start looking for the rhymes and reading in a sing-song.

[Dasha Telushko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Совершенно предсказуемый, не изменившийся Евгений Онегин, чьим именем назван роман, не был для меня главным героем. Куда важнее и интереснее была для меня история Татьяны. Девушка, выросшая на французских романах влюбляется в образ, сама отрезвляет себя, побывав в его доме и полистав его книги. Она способна трезвым взглядом увидеть истинного Евгения. Ему же она интересна стала только изменившись. Характерная, несущая свою ценность взрослая Татьяна, жена генерала - это уже цепляет дэнди. Будто желая испортить ей жизнь, потешить самолюбие, осознавая невозможность брака с ней, Евгений решает признаться ей в чувствах, но преданность и долг для Татьяны превыше всего.
Роман выходил в журнале по одной главе и особое удовольствие видеть как Пушкин с каждой публикацией вплетает в него имена критиков, конкурентов. Как отвечает он им, давая отпор.
Мне жаль, что декабристские главы не были опубликованы. Было бы интересно читать как собирательный образ предвестника революции - Евгений все таки отправится в ссылку, где возможно, встретиться с мужем Татьяны - генералом и вступит в противостояние. И какой в ссылке за мужем могла бы стать Татьяна.

[bipolar_kitty]

"...how proudly, how divinely gleaming, she treads our earth..."

"...how fearful, too, is my obsession to clasp your knees, and at your feet to sob out prayer, complaint, confession, and every plea that lips can treat; meanwhile with a dissembler's duty to cool my glances and my tongue, to talk as if with heart unwrung, and look serenely on your beauty!...But so it is: I'm in no state to battle further with my passion; I'm yours, in a predestined fashion, and I surrender to my fate."

"So glut yourselves until you're sated on this unstable life, my friends!"

Surprised at how much I liked it, such an interesting and funny yet sad story.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story is not very involved, girl loves boy but boy rejects girl. Later boy loves girl but she rejects him. The translation is very good, keeping the rhythm of the original verse and keeping a lot of the playfulness that is reportedly in the original Russian.
This edition only had Onegin, but I couldn't find an edition that had the same translation by Charles Johnson without the "other poems"

[Sasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Читала книгу в 9-м классе в русской школе, но как-то тогда она мне совсем не зашла.. а сейчас перечитала и реально вчиталась

Сюжет тоже мне сейчас подходящий и я почувствовала все эмоции снова.

Еще, мне показалось иронично, как сам Пушкин пишет о дуэли …

5 звёзд прочитала за две ночи в поезде

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my GOD, I’m in love!! Now I’m off to read the Nabokov translation. (I chose the Charles Johnston translation after YEARS of deliberation over which one to start with. Lucky thing too, as this was the translation offered as part of the beautiful pocket poet series which I enjoy)

[LESLIELBERRY · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised that I liked this. First time I have read Pushkin. It was a page-turner for me because I couldn't wait to find out what happened between Tatyana and Eugene. Unfortunately, he was really a jerk. And the last poem "The Bronze Horseman" showed what can become of people like that.

[Tanya Wing · Rating 5 out of 5]

listened on tape читает Смоктуновский

[Kali · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5⭐

[Chrissy Haynes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always has and always will break my heart penetrating the depth of my soul...

[Jordan Coismain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect book of poems to bring with you on the go. The story was very interesting and I enjoyed the change in poets every few chapters.

[Chelsea · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this as part of a reading challenge...this book was the "classic I never got around to reading." Quite honestly, I had to force myself through much of it. I found Pushkin's wanderings rather annoying, as I'd rather not hear about his foot fetish or how he's such a great poet. I truly enjoyed the ACTUAL plot, when he stuck to it, but there were far too many unnecessary asides along the way. What's more, I often stumbled over the meter of the translation, as the words seemed to be picked for their number of syllables and not for their natural flow.

While the title of this version includes the term "and other poems," there are only two extra poems after Eugene Onegin. Surprise, surprise, Pushkin names the main character of each Eugene (or Evgeny, in the original Russian), because he just really likes that name, okay? He again impregnates the text with egotistical ramblings the reader could do without. He even tosses in a smattering of Russian Nationalism, just for fun.

I'm a little confused as to why this is such an important text, but I guess now I'll have a frame of reference when people gush about its merits.

[James Violand · Rating 4 out of 5]

The great Russian poet. As I've indicated in other translations: there is always something missing from the original. Despite this, Pushkin's brilliance comes through. A St. Petersburg playboy inherits an estate in the country, attracts the attention of a beauty who falls in love with him. He refuses her. Later, the shoes on the other foot and the beauty attracts him and refuses to accept his advances vowing fidelity to her husband. Yeah, it's been done before, but the poetry is priceless.

[Melody · Rating 3 out of 5]

"What happened? Though his eyes were reading,
his thoughts were on a distant goal"
-- Alexander Pushkin, Eugene Onegin, Ch. 8, XXXVI

Out of the mouth of Pushkin himself - though my eyes were reading, my thoughts were on a distant goal (namely, the end of the book) - and that pretty much sums it up. For me, this book is more important than enjoyable. But then I've never been able to find poetry very enjoyable so this comes as little surprise. For the lover of prose, try Pushkin's Tales of Belkin.

[Sylvie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this in preparation for the ballet. It's a classic of Russian literature, but I wasn't sure if I would be into reading a classic novel in verse, especially a translated one. (I read the Modern Library version by Charles Johnson, which is influenced by Nabokov’s controversial translation in the 1960s, but tries to preserve the unique stanza form of the original). I quite enjoyed this story—there are many humorous bits that make it seem quite modern as well as passages that are remarkably beautiful in their poetry.

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Forced myself to start this because we were going to St. Petersburg, and then was entranced by the rapid changes of mood and tone. I'm sure I missed most of the allusions, but it was delightful and thought-provoking all the same.

[Milena Uzunova · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reread the poem again with another look. But the feeling that remains is the same. Pushkin is one of my favorite authors. Time is different, but the same morals...and heartaches. Found myself in Tatiana.

[Aras · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://electric-pages.livejournal.com...

[Anna]

Read his poetry in Russian as a kid; as every Russian does as a kid.