
Yevgeny Onegin
Description
<b>'Timeless insight into the human heart' - <em>Guardian</em></b>
<b>'An immortal and unequalled poem' - Fyodor Dostoyevksy</b>
<b>The greatest work by the founder of modern Russian literature - a timeless story of vanity and love, in a startlingly modern translation</b>
The aristocratic Yevgeny Onegin has come into his inheritance, leaving the glamour of St Petersburg's social life to take up residence at his uncle's country estate. Master of the nonchalant bow, the aristocratic Onegin is the very model of a social butterfly - a fickle dandy, liked by all for his wit and easy ways.
When the shy and passionate Tatyana falls in love with him, Onegin condescendingly rejects her, and instead diverts himself by flirting with her sister, Olga - with terrible consequences. One of the greatest works in all Russian literature, <em>Yevgeny Onegin</em> is a timeless story of vanity, innocence and love.
<b>Part of the Pushkin Press Classics series: timeless storytelling by icons of literature, hand-picked from around the globe.</b>
Translated by Anthony Briggs</b>
Alexander Pushkin was born in 1799. He published his first poem when he was a teenager, and in 1820 his first long poem - <em>Ruslan and Lyudmila</em> - made him famous. His work, including the novel-in-verse <em>Yevgeny Onegin</em>, the poem <em>The Bronze Horseman</em>, the play <em>Boris Godunov</em> and the short story 'The Queen of Spades', has secured his place as one of the greatest writers, in any language, ever to have lived. He died aged just 37, having been wounded in a duel - Pushkin's 29th - by his brother-in-law.
Reviews / Votes
What makes Onegin great is its timeless insight into the human heart: its vanities, its follies, its disasters... the book itself is a thing of beauty * Nick Lezard, Guardian * Now that the BBC's adaptation of War and Peace is over, fill the void with another gem of Russian literature * Canary Wharf magazine * Anthony Briggs's translations have an incomparable modernity, lightness of touch and joy in language * Euro Lit Network *More details
Persons
Anthony Briggs is one of the world's leading authorities on the work of Pushkin. He is the author of Alexander Pushkin: A Critical Study and editor of Alexander Pushkin: A Celebration of Russia's Best-Loved Writer. He is an acclaimed translator from Russian, whose translations include Tolstoy's War and Peace, The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Resurrection, as well as The Queen of Spades, a collection of Pushkin's writings published by Pushkin Press.
Content
Translator's Note 19
Previous English Translations of Yevgeny Onegin 45
Yevgeny Onegin 47
Chapter One 53
Chapter Two 81
Chapter Three 103
Chapter Four 129
Chapter Five 151
Chapter Six 173
Chapter Seven 195
Chapter Eight 223