Eugene Onegin Study Guide

Alexander Pushkin was born at the end of the 18th century in Moscow, where his parents were members of the Russian nobility. His parents frequently left him in the care of his nurses and French tutors, and as a result, Pushkin mostly spoke French until he was 10 years old, only learning Russian through household serfs and his nanny. Pushkin published his first poem at age 15 and was already building a reputation as a writer when he graduated from the Imperial Lyceum, one of the most prestigious schools in St. Petersburg. His first major work was the long poem Ruslan and Ludmila, an epic fairy tale published in 1820. Perhaps his best-known work is Eugene Onegin, which he published serially, with the first volume released in 1825 and a completed edition published in 1833. In 1831, he married Natalia Goncharova, a Moscow heiress, with whom he had four children. Despite Pushkin’s literary fame, by the end of his life, he had fallen into debt. He died at age 37 in a duel with Georges d’Anthès, whom Pushkin believed was having an affair with his wife. He remains one of the most popular Russian writers.

Eugene Onegin is set in a period of Russian history that is roughly contemporary to when Pushkin was writing it. One historical event specifically mentioned in the book is the Napoleonic Wars, which took place shortly before the start of Eugene Onegin. Napoleon attempted to invade Russia in 1812. After fierce fighting and many casualties, he ultimately retreated, leaving Russia victorious. This conflict went on to have major implications for European history, weakening Napoleon and ultimately leading to his downfall. It also helped establish Russia as a major world power. Eugene Onegin also references Europe’s increasingly influence on Russian culture, particularly among Russia’s upper classes. This was the result of policies by Peter the Great and later Catherine the Great to modernize Russia and make it more similar to Western European countries. This period of reform is known as the Russian Enlightenment. Eugene Onegin takes place after this Enlightenment. Although Emperor Alexander I took some steps to begin abolishing the system of serfdom in Russia (in which unfree peasants were bound to noble landlords in a system similar to slavery), serfdom is still present during Eugene Onegin and would not be fully abolished in Russia until 1861.

Eugene Onegin is one of the foundational works of Russian literature, influencing many of the novels and poems that followed it. Although it is generally considered a Romantic novel and not a work of realism, its ideas about Russian culture and identity went on to influence a whole generation of Russian writers who did strive for realism, including Russian author of Ukrainian origin Nikolai Gogol (Dead Souls), Fyodor Dostoevsky (Crime and Punishment), and Leo Tolstoy (War and Peace). More recent authors influenced by the novel include Vladimir Nabokov (Lolita), who translated an influential English-language version of Eugene Onegin, and Elif Batuman, whose novel Either/Or follows a protagonist who reads Eugene Onegin. The story of Eugene Onegin has also been adapted in several forms, perhaps most famously into an opera by Tchaikovsky, but also into ballets, plays, musicals, and films. Pushkin himself references many of his influences within the text of Eugene Onegin itself. His Romantic, sometimes-autobiographical style takes influence from Lord Byron (Don Juan), while his focus on the complexities of love and marriage can be traced back to Samuel Richardson (Pamela). The concept of telling a long story in verse has ancient roots, and nearly every epic poem takes some influence from Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, perhaps the two most noteworthy works in the genre.