Alexander Pushkin

Александр Сергеевич Пушкин

Presents Pushkin's poetic Russian classic about the heartless fop who is the object of an ardent young woman's selfless love.

A Novel in Verse

Eugene Onegin

In the 1820s, Eugene Onegin is a bored St. Petersburg dandy, whose life consists of balls, concerts, parties, and nothing more. Upon the death of a wealthy uncle, he inherits a substantial fortune and a landed estate. When he moves to the country, he strikes up a friendship with his neighbor, a starry-eyed young poet named Vladimir Lensky. Lensky takes Onegin to dine with the family of his fiancée, the sociable but rather thoughtless Olga Larina. At this meeting, he also catches a glimpse of Olga's sister Tatyana. A quiet, precocious romantic, and the exact opposite of Olga, Tatyana becomes intensely drawn to Onegin. Soon after, she bares her soul to Onegin in a letter professing her love. Contrary to her expectations, Onegin does not write back. When they meet in person, he rejects her advances politely but dismissively and condescendingly. This famous speech is often referred to as Onegin's Sermon: he admits that the letter was touching, but says that he would quickly grow bored with marriage and can only offer Tatyana friendship; he coldly advises more emotional control in the future, lest another man take advantage of her innocence. Later, Lensky mischievously invites Onegin to Tatyana's name day celebration, promising a small gathering with just Tatyana, Olga, and their parents. When Onegin arrives, he finds instead a boisterous country ball, a rural parody of and contrast to the society balls of St. Petersburg of which he has grown tired. Onegin is irritated with the guests who gossip about him and Tatyana, and with Lensky for persuading him to come. He decides to avenge himself by dancing and flirting with Olga. Olga is insensitive to her fiancé and apparently attracted to Onegin. Earnest and inexperienced, Lensky is wounded to the core and challenges Onegin to fight a duel; Onegin reluctantly accepts, feeling compelled by social convention. During the duel, Onegin unwillingly kills Lensky. Afterwards, he quits his country estate, traveling abroad to deaden his feelings of remorse. Tatyana visits Onegin's mansion, where she looks through his books and his notes in the margins, and begins to question whether Onegin's character is merely a collage of different literary heroes, and if there is, in fact, no "real Onegin". Tatyana, still brokenhearted by the loss of Onegin, is convinced by her parents to live with her aunt in Moscow to find a suitor. Several years pass, and the scene shifts to St. Petersburg. Onegin has come to attend the most prominent balls and interact with the leaders of old Russian society. He sees the most beautiful woman, who captures the attention of all and is central to society's whirl, and he realizes that it is the same Tatyana whose love he had once spurned. Now she is married to an aged prince (a general). Upon seeing Tatyana again, he becomes obsessed with winning her affection, despite her being married. His attempts are rebuffed. He writes her several letters, but receives no reply. Eventually, Onegin manages to see Tatyana and offers her the opportunity to finally elope after they have become reacquainted. She recalls the days when they might have been happy, but concludes that that time has passed. Onegin repeats his love for her. Faltering for a moment, she admits that she still loves him, but she will not allow him to ruin her and declares her determination to remain faithful to her husband. She leaves him regretting his bitter destiny. This Ultimate Book Club edition also includes footnotes and discussion questions for the perfect book club gathering. This modern minimalist design will look sleek on a coffee table or bookshelf and a great way to get your classic novel collection started.

The Ultimate Book Club Edition

Linda

Grabbed and captured my heart at such a young age like only Pushkin knows how...

 is too full of references to Russian history, literature and Pushkin's contemporary events for me to understand and – to some extent – enjoy.

I could feel the satire as effectively pungent when I 

 detect it, but most times I was utterly lost. The fact that this edition decided to put all the notes at the end of the book instead of at the bottom of the page certainly didn't help. It was incredibly bothersome to keep turning pages back and forth.

Stanley Mitchell's introduction was, however, incredibly insightful and absolutely lovely to read... perhaps I even found it more interesting than the novel itself, considering it actually gave me some context surrounding the opus and its author, both foreign to me, a first-time reader. Although I still wonder why these types of literary analyses are always put at the beginning of the book, when in truth they're so much more comprehensible and pleasant to read after having finished the original work.

Unfortunately for me, Onegin is too full of references to Russian history, literature and Pushkin's contemporary events for me to understand and – to some extent – enjoy.
I could feel the satire as effectively pungent when I did detect it, but most times I was utterly lost. The fact that this edition decided to put all the notes at the end of the book instead of at the bottom of the page certainly didn't help. It was incredibly bothersome to keep turning pages back and forth.

Stanley Mitchell's introduction was, however, incredibly insightful and absolutely lovely to read... perhaps I even found it more interesting than the novel itself, considering it actually gave me some context surrounding the opus and its author, both foreign to me, a first-time reader. Although I still wonder why these types of literary analyses are always put at the beginning of the book, when in truth they're so much more comprehensible and pleasant to read after having finished the original work.

Eugene Onegin was Pushkin's own favourite work, and it shows him attempting to transform himself from romantic poet into realistic novelist. 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. The introduction examines several ways of reading the novel, and the text is richly annotated.

I think this might have been my first time reading something in verse? Not my favorite experience. But this was interesting. Eugene fumbled a baddie fr 

paola montepiedra

When the world-weary dandy Eugene Onegin moves from St Petersburg to take up residence in the country estate he has inherited, he strikes up an unlikely friendship with his neighbour, the poet Vladimir Lensky. Coldly rejecting the amorous advances of Tatyana and cynically courting her sister Olga – Lensky's fiancée – Onegin finds himself dragged into a tragedy of his own making. Eugene Onegin – presented here in a sparkling translation by Roger Clarke, along with extensive notes and commentary – was the founding text of modern Russian literature, marking a clean break from the high-flown classical style of its predecessors and introducing the quintessentially Russian hero and heroine, which would remain the archetypes for novelists throughout the nineteenth century.

Ilse

I really loved this book and Pushkin’s writing! The characters truly came alive on the pages, and the settings were described with just the right level of detail to allow me to imagine myself in it. I savoured each chapter, but at the end just had to know what would happen and as such went on somewhat of a reading binge

Where I normally hate it when authors talk directly to their reader (as it often brings you out of the immersion of the story) here I didn’t mind it at all, and liked getting a little insight into Alexander Pushkin and his dream to become a poet. Definitely a book I’d recommend to others!

Eugene Onegin A Novel in Verse

Reviews

Highlights