Eugene Onegin: A Novel in Verse (Oxford World's Classics) by Alexander Pushkin

Eugene Onegin: A Novel in Verse (Oxford World's Classics) Reviews

• 
  David Lavie

  As a native Russian speaker, I can say that this is far and away the most true to the original translation of Pushkin's great masterpiece – in every sense. It is gloriously fluent, idiomatic, and, miraculously, manages to convey the joyous, playful, seemingly effortless, Mozartian rhythm of the original while neither sacrificing precision of register nor contorting the English language to serve the needs of meter, prosody, or rhyme.
  
  James Falen was born to translate Eugene Onegin into English, and deserves the highest praise for this towering achievement.
• 
  boston

  Sparkling translation with a brief but illuminating introduction. I compared a few translations and decided to go with the one that sounded like American English, and I was not disappointed, it flowed and danced with great charm and wit. I don't read Russian so have no basis to really judge, but comparing it to the Nabokov translation, which is supposed to be very literal (and doesn't rhyme), I got the sense that this one is as faithful to the original as one could hope. I wish there were notes they were not extensive, and I couldn't figure out why some foreign/obscure terms deserved a note and not others. But a joy to read in any case.
• 
  J. Edgar Mihelic, MA, MBA

  I went through a phase in my early 20s where I read most of Dostoevsky that was in translation, and that led me to Gogol and Tolstoy and Turgenev – all the Russian greats that were part of the cultural canon but were not taught to me as an English major. If there is a blind spot in how we arranged the curriculum for English majors about 20 years ago, it was good that the English language canon had been opened, but bad in that it kept out anything that was only available in translation.
  
  Anyway, those greats of prose all mentioned Pushkin as the master poet of the Russian language, but somehow, I hadn’t read his work. Overall, Onegin is one of those comedy of manners that are sort of alien to the reader so you have to go to notes to get references, It’s not bad, but it does ask of the reader to keep track of the culture and time and then all the characters than a contemporary work grounded in the current time and place do. It is worth reading, but to me it was worthwhile as a historical and cultural touchstone than the enjoyment of the thing itself.
• 
  Leisa Hart

  Finding the right translation to any work of world literature is a pain. This translation by James Falen was excellent! It was easy to follow what was happening, I was fully entranced, and the book left an impression on me.
  
  To be honest, I'd never actually finished a "novel in verse" or any kind of long, epic poem prior to picking this up. They always bored or confused me. But this flowed so well! I didn't even notice it was a poem. I just enjoyed the story and the flow of the language.
  
  The introduction was also well done (if not a little dry but aren't all introductions to great books a little dry?). It gave me a couple themes to keep in mind while reading, some cultural/historical context, and didn't go on too long. Kudos to James Falen!
• 
  Nancy H. Whatley

  This is the first time with my many orders that I have to give a very poor review. I received the book today and there is a very strong odor of what I assume is some kind of deodorizing agent. I’m quite sensitive to chemical odors and I regret that I won’t be able to use this book. The odor is very objectionable. I actually hadn’t realized that I had ordered a used book and I feel that the previous owner was likely trying to ‘freshen ‘ it up. For most persons this would most likely be fine. I do always appreciate all of the many items I’ve received from and your excellent service. I’d love to get a refund, but I think the fault is mine and I shouldn’t have expected this order to be as perfect as if new.
• 
  H. Miller

  I hadn’t given much thought until recently how tricky it is to translate poetry from one language to another. There are so many considerations beyond just matching word meanings! After looking at many versions, some truly terrible, I chose this one. I showed this edition to my children’s Russian teacher, and, like another native speaking reviewer, she is feels that it is a faithful translation. This book will be studied alongside a beautiful Russian edition: Пушкин. Евгений Онегин
  Originally I was looking for a dual language edition, but am not disappointed to use these two together.
• 
  Customer

  I really loved reading this translation of Eugene Onegin. Many lines were so well articulated that I had to speak them aloud, just to see if they sounded as good not in my head (they did). Beautiful stuff.
  
  I'd recommend this version for a first time reader. I tried reading two other versions before this one, and this one is blows them out of the water. It's a lot fun than other translations, and the copious footnotes help one stay clear on the poem.
• 
  Anon

  Eugene Onegin, a classic of world literature, comparable in stature to King Lear in the UK, the Divine Comedy in Italy and Don Quixote in Spain, need not be commented on. The real question is, which translation should you buy? The brief answer is either the Falen translation or Anthony Briggs' translation, and preferably both.
  
  The five star rating of this article refers to James Falen's Oxford World's Classics translation (but Briggs' translation deserves five stars too). In chronological order, it is the 8th major translation of the poem into English. Its chief merit is the unforced fluency of the verse, and this is the most important point to make. Where liberties are taken with the feminine rhymes, the translator's success is mixed. 'Adherents/interference' is acceptable because of the shared long vowel sound; whereas, 'worry/necessary', at least to my ear, is rather strained. This is really my only criticism of Falen's translation, and it is not sufficiently problematic to dock a star.
  
  To turn to the Briggs translation, again the verse runs smoothly. An obvious difference is that Briggs uses feminine half rhymes frequently. Often these are inventive and original (e.g. 'probity/nobody' and 'patience/Ancients'). You will not find any 'worry/necessary' like pairings in the Briggs translation. Also, Briggs has a particularly good introduction.
  
  Without wishing to criticize too harshly the Mitchell translation, my advice is to steer clear of it. This is because the approximate rhyming, whilst good in places (e.g. 'service/impervious') falls down too often (e.g. 'live/love').
  
  I should also avoid the Charles Johnston translation (despite the fact that Vikram Seth thinks highly of it). This is because he makes too frequent recourse to feminine rhymes ending in tion, which becomes monotonous, and to present participle rhymes, which has the same unfortunate effect.
  
  If, after reading Eugene Onegin in either the Falen or the Briggs translation or both, you wish to read a contemporary Onegin stanza novel, I recommend Vikram Seth's 'The Golden Gate' (published 1986) and Brad Walker's 'Adam and Rosamond' (published 2019). The former is far better known; however, the latter, it seems to me, is accomplished.
• 
  L. Wilson

  If, like me, you're attempting to read the original in Russian, then Nabokov's literal translation is invaluable, but, if you can't read Russian, then this is as close as you'll get to really appreciating the feel and flow of Pushkin's stanzas in Eugene Onegin.
  
  I highly recommend.
• 
  MR D.

  Extremely difficult to translate poetry from one language to another so all translations must lose something. I do not know Russian so can have little idea of the impression Pushkin makes on his readers for whom Russian is their native tongue. This is, however, a must read for anyone who loves Tchaikovsky's operatic version of this story and wants to get closer to the literary source.
• 
  Alex

  I'm very glad to get this famous novel in a brilliant translation by James E.Falen. It is a special pleasure for a Russian to read it in English written so pleasant and perfect. So what can I say , I just want to read it again! Thank you so much!
• 
  Kindle Customer jacksprat

  I loved the poetry of this book. I bought the DVD with Ralph Fiennes playing the part of Onegin and it is the most beautifully produced film I have ever watched. I could relate to the characters in the book after watching it.