Eugene Onegin

Eugene Onegin (1823-31) is an eight-chapter novel in sonnets. The sonnet form employed is Pushkin’s own devising, which he uses to modulate Mozart-like, between tragic profundity and sparkling humour, from exquisite lyrical descriptions of nature to devastating satire, all within a twinkling of the proverbial eyelid. The story and plot are simple, not unlike those of Pride and Prejudice, but with the ending left open. All Russian literature after Pushkin is influenced one way or another by Eugene Onegin, which is one of the most dazzling works of nineteenth-century European literature.