We started to learn Onegin today. As I saw the website, I noticed that this story is really long and the translation from Russian to English seems so complicated. However, i heard about it before, and hopefully there is some chinese version to help me understand this great book.
- Eugene Onegin is a novel in verse written by Alexander Pushkin published between 1825 and 1832.
- It is a classic of Russian literature, and its eponymous protagonist has served as the model for superfluous men.
- Almost the entire work is made up of 389 stanzas of iambic tetrameter with the unusual rhyme scheme "AbAbCCddEffEgg", where the uppercase letters represent feminine rhymeswhile the lowercase letters represent masculine rhymes. This form has come to be known as the "Onegin stanza" or the "Pushkin sonnet."
Four main characters:
Eugene Onegin: A dandy from Saint Petersburg, about twenty-six years old. He is good at socializing and educated. But he is also a arrogant, selfish and world-weary cynic.
Vladimir Lensky: A young poet, about eighteen years old. He is a very romantic and naive dreamer. He was killed by Onegin in a fight from Olga.
Tatyana Larina: She is a shy and quiet girl, but also the passionate landowner's daughter. She loves Onegin and writes letter to him. However, she get rejected at the beginning.
Olga Larina: A beautiful and romantic girl, but also a vapid coquette.
I think this novel is strongly related to the author himself, and I consider the Onegin as the reflection of Pushkin. Onegin is a guy from the Russian upper class, however although he is cultured and really good at socializing, he still has the common problem shared by most of the upper class people, arrogant and selfish. Also, both of Onegin and Pushkin are world-weary. They are tired of the life they had before, and try to change. Additionally, both of them are the loser in the love. Onegin finally could not be with Tatyana, the girl he truly loves, while Pushkin's marriage was the miserable.
Book 1:The first part of the novel mainly introduces the main character Eugene Onegin. Onegin is an educated man form St. Petersburg and very world-weary. He is really good at socializing and very popular among the upper class society. He lives in a luxurious way however, he gets bored with this country life.
Book 2: He meets Lensky, a young romantic poet engaged to Olga. Then the author introduces Olga’s sister, Tatiana. Tatiana is a shy, emotionless, beautiful and smart young woman.
Book 3: After Onegin meets Tatiana, Tatiana believes that she falls in love with Onegin. So she writes a letter to Onegin, and wishes him to answer that. However, things do not happen in the way she expects. Onegin does not reply anything, and Tatiana is so depressed.
Book 4: Onegin does not want to marriage and love right now, but he does love the way that Tatiana expresses her love. Also, the beauty and honesty attract him very much. However, Onegin does not think he is ready now, since in his opinion, the marriage is dreary and depressing and it absolutely does not fit the way he lives.
Book 5: Later Lensky invites Onegin to Tatiana’s name day celebration and try to make Onegin and Tatiana o be together. However, Onegin was late to the party, and even after he arrives there, he starts flirt with Lensky’s girl, Olga, Lensky is so mad that he has to use a duel to end this. So he decides to fight with Onegin. In the end, Onegin unwillingly kills Lensky who is his best friend.
Book 6: Onegin could not forget the death of Lensky even 16 years have been passed. By an accidental chance, Onegin meet Tatiana in a dance. He notices that Tatiana has become the wife of a duke.
Book 7; Onegin finally finds out that Onegin is the true love he has been looking for so long. Therefore, he falls in love with Tatiana like a child, and tries to get her favor. However, although Tatiana still loves Onegin, she could not betray her husband. So she chooses to reject Onegin and leaves away sadly.
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