Customer Reviews

Eugene Onegin: A Novel in Verse, Vol. 2

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Since Nabokov's literal translation of Eugene Onegin--volume one--takes little notice of sound, the result, standing by itself, leaves a lot to be desired. That's what the nearly four hundred page commentary--volume two--is for. Carrying water for Pushkin's music, it stands somewhere between a labor of love and belabored penance.

"An attempt has been made," writes Nabokov, in its forward--"by a discussion of the actual melody of this or that line, to explain the enchantment of [Pushkin's] poetry." That's something to think over, if you plan on buying either of these volumes: Pushkin's enchantment is explained by the commentary, rather than demonstrated by the poem.

Nabokov's is a translation apart, divided by a separate set of covers. To understand the whole of it, one's required to physically swap back and forth between the slick rush of poetry, and the slow burn of scholarly prose, creating a problem for equilibrium. Though peculiar, often absorbing, and always informative, the reading's simply exhausting, which is rather wasteful to say, since the commentary, and the translation too, for that matter--as parts--are very fine. (But these are the limits of my patience, not yours.)

Recommended for big fans of Nabokov, and those ironman readers out there.

I'm a Russian Language and Literature major in Yonsei Univ. in Korea. Having lived in Moscow for around 3 years, I'd heard there a lot about Pushkin and read many of his famous works. The most prestigious of his, however, must be "Onegin." It's a great mixture of verse and prose in its form. If possible, try to read this in Russian, as well. This long poetical prose was written for 8 years and the ending rhyme perfectly matches for the entire line until the very end. Compared to others, it is definitely a conspicuous and brilliant one. "Onegin" can be the author himself or yourself. The love between Onegin and TaTyana is neither the cheap kind of love that often appears in any books nor the tragic one that is intended to squeze your tears. As a literature, this book covers not only love between passionate youth, but also a large range of literary works in it, which can tell us about the contemporary literature current and its atmosphere. Calling Onegin "My friend", Pushkin, the author, shows the probability and likelihood of the work. Finally, I'm just sorry that the title has been changed into English. The original name must be "Yevgeni Onegin(¬¦¬Ó¬Ô¬Ö¬ß¬Ú¬Û ¬°¬ß¬Ö¬Ô¬Ú¬ß)." If you are a literature major or intersted in it, I'd like to recommand you read this. You can't help but loving the two lovers and may reread it, especially the two correspondences through a long period of time. Only with readng this book, you'll also learn a huge area of the contemporary literature of the 19th century from the books mentioned in "Onegin" that take part as its subtext. Enjoy yourself!

Even though I had read Eugene Onegin several times it had always been by the proverbial seat of my pants. But when my reading group decided to delve into this classic I decided it was a good time to get some more info and background on it.
McNab did not disappoint. He filled in a number of holes that would have been difficult for us to have figured out. I certainly didn't read all of it but I dug in whenever I (or we) had a question. It was pretty helpful and, as expected, interesting.

Vladimir Nabokov is one of the great authors of the 20th century, both as a craftsman and stylist in the novel form. He even succeed in grand poetry (Pale Fire), so one would think that his literal translation of Oneigin would be a welcome publication. It's not. First, Nabokov strips Onegin of all poetics, which he admits is his intent. He believes the poem is better understood from a transliteral (almost interlinear) reading than from a poetic reconstruction. This attempt may please, and I stress "may," those who, unfamiliar with Russian, and who want such a bland diet of lackluster prose. But there are so many excellent translations of Onegin that are beautiful and captivating in themselves, I'm not sure there's much need for such a literal, word-for-word, transcription. Perhaps this book belongs on the shelf along with other translations of Onegin, but it's not one I'll return to in the near future.

You will find here an ingenous legacy...I mean the translation as a gift, and a bridge, a well done bridge between old Russia and America. Nabokov's creative translation is something more than ...being Aleksandr Sergeevich Pushkin for a while. This a not little chance to get a green card to the treasury of the russian country. This is simple a ticket to Russia for everybody, and of first class, which think that the more You read the more You are happy...until the last page.

i like this book. it helps a lot. and looks good on the shelf to boot.