Eugene Onegin: A Novel in Verse, by Alexander Pushkin

[Andrea]

For the week 15 challenge, a book set in the past, I selected Eugene Onegin: A Novel in Verse. The first complete edition of this serialized story appeared in 1833, but the strong themes within the tale, and perhaps a bit of "poetic lie-sense" by the translator, gave this novel an air of timelessness.

Pushkin serves as the narrator in this tragic account of a young dandy, Eugene Onegin. This dapper fellow actively engages in the upper circles of society until boredom and inheritance leads him to the countryside. There, too, he quickly falls victim to ennui but revives after befriending Vladimir Lensky.

The two men spend time together, and Lensky reveals his deep feelings for the younger Larin daughter, Olga. Eugene eventually meets the Larin girls and draws the attention of the older daughter, Tatyana. Will the friends become brothers?

I have not read much Russian literature, so I was not sure what to expect when my daughter suggested this read. Ever the trooper, I dove into it and found it quite refreshing. Pushkin pulls no punches. His genuine reflections concerning human behavior, without regard to the political thought and social conventions of the time, were astounding.

[Jovana]

I read this book (which, in my edition, is technically called Yevgeny Onegin) for the 2018 challenge, week 15: A book with an unique format/writing structure.

I gave it 3 stars. That doesn't seem low, but for me and Russian lit, it is. I wrote a review of my thoughts.

Here's my TBR for the 2018 challenge.

[MN]

I read this for the ATY 2019 topic 24: 4 books inspired by the wedding rhyme: Book #2 Something new - new because I hadn't read any Pushkin before. I enjoyed it but also felt I was missing a lot. My reaction was only bolstered by comments in the translator's notes on Pushkin's innovation, poetic ability and manipulation of language, none of which I picked up on, I'm afraid, and particuarly not his use of language. (I read the second of James Falen's translations.) I probably need a great deal more knowledge of the literary context in which Pushkin wrote, to get at least an inkling of these elements.