Yevgeny Onegin: Alexander Pushkin

The greatest work by the founder of modern Russian literature – a timeless story of vanity and love, in a startlingly modern translation
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, Yevgeny Onegin is a timeless story of vanity, innocence and love.
Part of the Pushkin Press Classics series: timeless storytelling by icons of literature, hand-picked from around the globe.
Translated by Anthony Briggs

Alexander Pushkin was born in 1799. He published his first poem when he was a teenager, and in 1820 his first long poem – Ruslan and Lyudmila – made him famous. His work, including the novel-in-verse Yevgeny Onegin, the poem The Bronze Horseman, the play Boris Godunov 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.