Eugene Onegin: Realism in Russian Literature

Eugene Onegin

• The novel covers events from 1819 to 1825, including the reign of Alexander I and the Decembrist uprising.
• The time of action and creation of the novel almost coincide, reflecting the important events of the first quarter of the 19th century.

Structure and Features

• Each chapter can be the last one or have a continuation, with an open structure in time.
• The novel is rightly considered the best literary creation of the 19th century, with its poems gathering in motley chapters.
• The author emphasizes the novel's encyclopedic nature, reflecting Russian life and society.

Plot

• The poem opens with Eugene Onegin's lamentations about his uncle's illness and his subsequent journey to Petersburg.
• The first chapter tells about Onegin's origin, family, and life before receiving the sad news.
• Onegin inherits his uncle's property and becomes friends with his neighbor Lensky, a passionate romantic poet.
• Tatyana falls in love with Onegin and writes him a frank letter, but he rejects it, leading to a duel with Lensky that ends in Lensky's death.

Themes and Style

• The novel is a real encyclopedia of the life of a 19th-century Russian man, tracing the stylistic features of realism.
• The poem depicts different strata of the Russian population, showcasing the author's growing experience as a creator.
• The novel reveals the dramatic fate of the nobility intelligentsia against the backdrop of Russian life.

History of Creation

• Pushkin worked on the novel for more than seven years, considering it a magnificent creation and a feat.
• The novel was written in verse, with Pushkin deciding to give up romanticism as the leading creative principle.
• The original idea presupposed the existence of nine chapters, but one chapter had to be deleted due to political issues.