Eugene Onegin (Penguin Classics) [Mass Market Paperback]

Alexander Pushkin (Author), Charles Johnston (Translator), John Bayley (Preface), Michael Basker (Introduction)

Book Description

Series: Penguin Classics | Publication Date: April 29, 2003

This novel in verse, said to be the parent of all Russian novels, is a tragic story of innocence, love and friendship. Eugene Onegin, an aristocrat, much like Pushkin and his peers in his attitude and habits, is bored. He visits the countryside where the young and passionate Tatyana falls in love with him. In a touching letter she confesses her love but is cruelly rejected. Years later, it is Onegin's turn to be rejected by Tatyana.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, the Russian poet and author was born in Moscow in 1799. He was exiled for his liberal views on serfdom and autocracy, but this exile allowed him the freedom and the time to write some of his greatest works. He died in 1837 when he was fatally wounded in a dual. Charles Johnston was a translator and poet. He died in 1986. Michael Basker teaches Russian at Bristol University. John Bayley has published many books including studies of Tolstoy and Pushkin.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics; Revised edition (April 29, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140448039
• ISBN-13: 978-0140448030
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.8 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #400,208 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Verse Classic from Russia's Foremost Poet, June 11, 2007

By 

David Siska-salkin (CO, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Eugene Onegin (Penguin Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)

Eugene Onegin, capably translated by Charles Johnston is a simply amazing piece of literature. Possibly Pushkin's most well known work, it maintains enormous influence in Russia today, with Pushkin often considered to be the 'Russian Shakespeare'. Any fan of Russian literature should take the time to read this or any of Pushkin's other works, as so many of the great Russian writers that are so well known were inspired and influenced by this great poet's work.

The novel is written in verse format, in a style that has come to be known as the "Onegin Stanza". This 14 line format allows for a range of emotions and reading experience over the course of the novel. Sometimes light and playful, other times deadly serious, the verse format of the novel adds a lyrical readability to the novel, while at the same time making the many shifts in subject potentially disconcerting. These shifts in focus (to literary conventions and precedents, women's feet, and various other confessions and tidbits) along with the novel's scope of focus and time make it many times complicated to understand. However, this is one of the novel's great achievements as it provides insight and exploration in a wide range of topics, while maintaining a literary self-awareness. The guiding plot is thoughtful, surprising and enjoyable as it (again) explores a vast range of life experiences, hinging on a couple of vicissitudes.

The Penguin edition with its introduction and further reading recommendations is helpful in understanding the role that this novel has had in Russian culture as well as critical studies. The notes are helpful throughout the novel - the fact that they are not denoted in the text and are instead attributed to each stanza makes it easy to read the notes either concurrent with the novel or as a nice addition after having completed the novel.

Eugene Onegin is truly deserving of all the praise and attention that it has received over the years - I highly recommend it as a literary experience that will not be soon forgotten.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Great Father-Poet of Russian Literature, February 14, 2008

By 

Tebes "Buchlieber" (Niagara Region, ON) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eugene Onegin (Penguin Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)

For those who can read the original Russian, I'm sure this English translation would be surprising to them. A poem-novel...written in Russian by the great Pushkin, known for his short stories, plays and poetry...this book is the beginning of our understanding of Russian literature in the 19th century. The hero is Byronic in nature but the landscape, the time, the mood is distinctly Russian. This novel set the tone for Lermontov, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and to a certain extent, the writings of Akmahtova in the 20th century.

I would consider this translation above others. It's the first version I read and the only one I want to read (I've made comparisons to other versions and still find this the most emotionally satisfying...the feelings, the intensity of mood, the beauty, the passion...I'm sure if Byron were alive today, he would read this one...and if Pushkin were alive and read modern English, perhaps this one too.)

Well worth your currency to pick this one up, for yourself and/or those with a love of Dostoevsky or Lermontov.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nice translation, much more enjoyable than Nabokov's, March 29, 2011

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C. Robertson "VermontadowhatIwanta" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Eugene Onegin (Penguin Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)

My Russian is fairly good and I was reading Onegin in Russian side by side with Nabokov's translation. I understand what Nabokov's point was in making a literal, literal, literal translation and killing both rhyme and form but the result, for my taste, is a murder of Onegin, just painful gibberish. I understand that Nabokov was a rare and subtle linguist of the first water, but still... No matter how you rationalize it, Nabokov's translation is (as someone I know once described her ugliest undergarments) a passion killer.

Now I found Charles Johnson's translation; it is a pleasure to read and a great help. This translation is much more human that Nabakov's. Nabakov scornfully described such non-literal translations as Johnson's in his own scholarly treatment. Well, to each his own. I know some will be ripped to hear Nabokov's work disrespected, but there you are.

The layered meanings and word play that are the true beauty of this classic can only be found and understood in Russian. Few, if any, students of Russian will get half of the meaning or beauty without a decent translation to guide them, and I am certainly not one of them.

Fortunately for me, I read Onegin each night with my wife, who is Russian, and that is best of all.