Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Eugene Onegin by Aleksandr Sergeevich Pushkin, Charles Johnston, Johnston Payley ISBN: 0-14-044394-0 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: December, 1979 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.62 (8 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A masterpiece
Comment: When Russians ask you who your favorite poet is they will often add a "Besides Pushkin, of course." Pushkin has an iconic status in Russia that is maybe unparalleled in the English speaking world. Shakespeare probably comes the closest. Eugene Onegin is a masterpiece and the genius of it's creator is apparent. It is alwasy difficult, however, to read poetry in translation. Others have spoken of the translation difficulties already. As a non-Russian speaker, I won't comment on them except to say that, at some points, the difficulties encountered in translation are obvious and frustrating. Professors have told me, however, that this translation is about as good as they come. Like any other work of genius, Eugen Onegin needs a careful reading. Each layer, and there are many, proves more rewarding then the next. Pushkin is often funny, passionate and has a pretty keen sense of satire. I would advise everybody to read this. Pushkin is doubly important as background to Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy. He began the Russian literary tradition.
Rating: 3
Summary: Quite a good translation of a supreme masterpiece
Comment: Nearly every Russian sees Pushkin as their country's greatest writer. This perception, however, is not shared by many foreigners. The problem, of course, is translation. Pushkin's verse is supremely elegant, witty and musical. Few, if any, great poets are harder to translate.
Charles Johnston's version is not at all bad, and conveys much of Pushkin's wit - though not his lyricism. James Falen's version (Oxford World's Classics) is better still. And Stanley Mitchells's version of the first chapter, published in the journal "Modern Poetry in Translation" vol 11, is truly outstanding. I enjoyed it every bit as much as the original - something I would never have believed possible. This journal is well worth seeking out in libraries!
Rating: 5
Summary: Great Russian Poetry
Comment: Eugene Onegin is a masterpiece. It is supposedly the precursor to the great 19th century Russian novels, and this is plain to see. Onegin prefigures the 'superfluous man'. He does not live for an idea, like some of Dostoyevsky's characters, nor does he live content with an idea, like some of Tolstoy's. Onegin simply exists, and it gives him a perspective on life which is overly rationalistic: one sees it in his rejection of a certain lover's letter, his toying with others, and in the cold and calm manner in which he raises his gun during the duel. But the story soon snaps him out of it, but only when it is too late. My attitude to him was largely ambivalent, and I warmed more to Lensky. (Actually, the narrator is an interesting character in himself). The poem skips along beautifully and the rhyme is quite seductive. Lovers of poetry and of Russian literature should enjoy this immensely.
 |
Title: Dead Souls : A Novel by Nikolai Gogol ISBN: 0679776443 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 25 March, 1997 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
 |
Title: The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov ISBN: 0679760806 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 19 March, 1996 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
 |
Title: The Devils : The Possessed by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, David Magarshack, Fyodor M. Dostoevsky ISBN: 0140440356 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: February, 1954 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
 |
Title: A Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Lermontov ISBN: 0679413278 Publisher: Everyman's Library Pub. Date: 30 June, 1992 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
 |
Title: Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett ISBN: 0802130348 Publisher: Grove Press Pub. Date: August, 1997 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
