Eugene Onegin in Catching up on Classics (and lots more!)

Nov 06, 2010 Laura rated it it was amazing

Shelves: poetry, audio-books, fiction-19th-century, russian-fiction, e-books, 1001-books-you-must-read-before-you, read-2013

From BBC Radio 4 - 15 Minute Drama:
Adapted by Duncan Macmillan.

Drama based on one of Russia's best loved poems, and the life of the man who wrote it. As Alexander Pushkin prepares to fight a duel, his wife begs him to tell her his most famous story, Eugene Onegin. Onegin is the darling of St. Petersburg. He is young, handsome and bored. But a trip to the countryside is about to change his life forever.

Directed by Abigail le Fleming

Free download at Gutenberg Project
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Mar 25, 2009 Suvi rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: poetry, _europe-eastern, 1800s

Since I wasn't familiar with novels in verse before now, I was a bit uneasy at first (especially since I thought this was a regular novel), but in the end I got used to it and judged it as an ok form. The thing I had problems with, was that despite the pretty nature descriptions I had difficulties in coming to terms with the characters. It wasn't that they weren't interesting. They were, especially Eugene himself in all his cynical glory, but he like the others were too superficial for my taste. Since I wasn't familiar with novels in verse before now, I was a bit uneasy at first (especially since I thought this was a regular novel), but in the end I got used to it and judged it as an ok form. The thing I had problems with, was that despite the pretty nature descriptions I had difficulties in coming to terms with the characters. It wasn't that they weren't interesting. They were, especially Eugene himself in all his cynical glory, but he like the others were too superficial for my taste. Mere reflections of what might have been. Tatyana for example seems mostly just an ideal image of a sacrificing woman, who, when left disappointed, decides to just settle in a life which she can't feel any passion towards, but which she feels is right. The verses don't give that much room for delving either into the story or the characters, in which a regular novel would have had entirely different chances.

The role of writing and especially reading delighted a dusty bookworm like me. The most interesting thing in the novel was, however, Puškin's stylistic device of breaking the barrier between author and reader by occasionally referring to himself. The reader is not only being talked to, but attention is drawn to the author's own world view, feelings, and views on women (or their feet) among other things. Puškin hints at his own life and work in such manner, that it's in danger of alienating the story itself. Overall it works, though, because it brings certain depth and biographical material to the work, inspiring me to read more about the author (a classic case of being more interested about the person than about the works, I think).

The translator of my Finnish edition notes, that what Peter the Great is to history, Puškin is to literature. I can't comment on that, since my knowledge of Russian literature is pretty weak, but maybe at this stage it was only a good thing to familiarize myself with the "fountainhead of Russian literature", because later I can then compare his influence on such authors as Gogol and Dostoyevsky(hopefully the themes are utilized at a deeper level, though).

The Russian reviews here on Goodreads are interesting views on the importance of Onegin in their culture. At this point this just seemed a bit too light for my own taste, mainly just an introduction to 19th century Russian society and its literary culture. Pretty and thought provoking novel, but didn't rock my world. ...more

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Aug 27, 2023 Ketutar Jensen rated it liked it · review of another edition

Well... rather uneven. It's an epic poem, which means it can be rather difficult to take in, though I didn't find it difficult. I think the choice made it harder for Alexander to express certain things. He had to stay in verse and rhyme :-D
Also, the... mood, nature, style of the work varied a lot. It is a bit difficult to define, like Romeo and Juliet. It is satirical, and I laughed out loud several times, but in the end it is rather sad. Another unhappy Russian woman.
It is ridiculous when one ...more

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May 29, 2013 Trisha rated it really liked it

Shelves: classics, drama

What a fantastic novel! I first fell in love with the film starring Ray Finnes and Liv Tyler, and did not realize that it was based on a Russian novel. The book was just as great as the movie: when the world-weary and cynical Eugene Onegin moves from St. Petersburg to the country estate he has inherited, he strikes up a friendship with his neighbor, the poet Vladimir Lansky. Onegin coldly rejects the romantic advances of Tatyana, but courts her sister, Olga - Lensky's fiancé, out of boredom. By ...more

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