Creativity of the Decembrist poets. Theme and artistic originality of K. F. Ryleev’s lyrics. A. S. Pushkin. "Eugene Onegin". Creative history of the work Years of creation of the novel Eugene Onegin

The plot of "Eugene Onegin"

Description of the novel “Eugene Onegin”

The ruler is weak and crafty
The bald dandy, the enemy of labor
Accidentally warmed by fame
He ruled over us then
…………………….

The lyric-epic novel in verse “Eugene Onegin” is considered a masterpiece of Russian literature. According to Belinsky, this work is an “encyclopedia of Russian life” of that time, and it significantly influenced the growth of self-awareness of Russian high society on the eve of the Decembrist uprising.

Everyone knows who wrote this novel - the great Russian poet Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. This article will describe the history of the creation of the novel “Eugene Onegin”, a summary of the chapters, and also the characteristics of the characters.

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History of creation

First of all, let us briefly describe the history of the creation of “Eugene Onegin”. To write this work from Pushkin it took more than seven years. He, in his own words, decided to undertake a “feat” and, imitating Byron’s “Don Juan”, in the period 1823-1831. was closely involved in creating a novel in verse. Alexander Sergeevich decided to write a realistic work, abandoning romanticism as the fundamental creative method.

Initially, Pushkin decided to create a novel of 9 chapters. Later, the chapter “Onegin’s Travels” was excluded from the main text, excerpts from which were included in the main text as an appendix. The novel tells about the dramatic destinies of Russian nobles of that time.

And although the plot of "Eugene Onegin" is quite simple - here love story described– nevertheless, this work reflects the entire Russian reality of the first quarter of the 19th century. It succinctly, but quite clearly, shows the morals, fashions and values ​​of secular Petersburg, lordly Moscow and serf villages.

Important! To write a novel in verse by Pushkin used a special “Onegin stanza”, which includes 14 lines of iambic tetrameter. True, an exception was made for letters from Larina and Evgeniy.

At the beginning of the story, Pushkin addresses the reader with a brief description of his work.

Chapter first

In Chapter 1, the reader meets a young nobleman, resident of St. Petersburg, Evgeny Onegin. His father was often in debt, loving to live large, which later led to ruin.

However, the young man received a fairly tolerable education for a representative of the high society of that time. In other words, Evgeniy acquired superficial knowledge in many subjects. He knew French and etiquette. Onegin was taught dancing and even a little Latin.

All this was more than enough for the young man to be a welcome guest at numerous balls and receptions.

Pushkin describes in detail one day of Eugene Onegin, letting the reader understand that all the hero’s days were exclusively of the same type. The young man woke up around noon so that, having put himself in perfect appearance, he could go for a walk along the boulevard. In the evenings he visited theaters or luxurious salons, from where he returned before dark.

The young man preferred exclusively short love affairs, mostly with married ladies, with whom, by the way, he quickly became fed up. He became bored in society. Evgeniy sat down to write a novel, but he lacked the zeal.

Important! It was the melancholy and boredom that turned the hero into a real cynic.

The young man was delighted with the new environment, but rural life also soon bored him, and the hero again plunged into the blues.

Chapter two

Evgeny naturally considers his neighbor-landowners boring, and therefore avoids their company. This is not surprising, because the newly-made heir was known as quite an eccentric - he replaced corvee with quitrent.

To have some fun Onegin became friends with Lensky. Who is Lensky? - This is a young romantic eighteen-year-old gentleman who has just returned to his estate. What was Lensky's name in the novel? – Pushkin gave him the beautiful Russian name Vladimir.

Evgeny Onegin and Vladimir Lensky “became inseparable,” despite completely different worldviews. The “admirer of Kant” read his verses to his newly-made comrade and tried to talk with him on philosophical topics. Onegin listened to Lensky, but refrained from criticism, believing that life itself would subsequently do this for him.

Vladimir was in love with his neighbor Olga Dmitrievna Larina, a sweet and cheerful girl who lived with her mother Polina and sister Tatyana. Unlike my sister, Tatyana was thoughtful and reasonable. She loved to read a lot, help the poor and pray. The Larins were distinguished by their hospitality. In this family, it was customary to adhere to Russian customs and traditions in everything.

Chapter Three

Vladimir told his friend every day about the Larins, so that Evgeniy, in the end, himself wanted to make acquaintance with them. Arriving at Lensky’s fiancee, Onegin was surprised that his friend chose Olga, and not Tatyana, who was distinguished by her spiritual qualities.

There was a rumor among the neighbors that Evgeny had designs on Tatiana. Larina was delighted because she herself was fascinated by Onegin. The girl became even sadder and more thoughtful. She imagined her chosen one as the hero of the novels she had read, dreaming about him alone with nature. In the end, the young princess’s longing for love resulted in a letter addressed to her lover. After three days Onegin came to the Larins for an explanation with Tatyana.

This is interesting: Pushkin's poem: summary

Chapter Four

Onegin and Tatyana meet in the garden. Evgeniy opened his soul to the girl: explained that he is a person who is disillusioned with love, who does not consider marriage to be the standard of human happiness, and therefore not created “for bliss.”

But out of respect for the purity and innocence of the young lady who dared to explain in a letter, he will always have brotherly feelings for her.

In the following days Tatyana was under deep stress. Vladimir was almost constantly in Olga’s company. Onegin spent his time in solitude. One winter, Lensky visits him and invites him to Tatiana’s name day.

Chapter Five

One evening on Christmastide, Tatyana Larina, who loved to tell fortunes, put a mirror under her pillow before going to bed. This night the girl saw a strange vision. A bear helps her cross a river with a shaky bridge. Larina tries to run away from the “shaggy one,” but he overtakes her and takes her to some hut where the monsters were feasting.

Onegin was the leader of this feast. Seeing the girl enter, the young man drives out the monsters. But they are replaced by Olga and Vladimir in the hut. Evgeniy quarrels with the arriving guests. The dream ends with the owner of the hut inflicting a mortal wound on Lensky with a knife. For the next few days, Larina walked around under the impression of a dream.

The date of the name day has arrived. Many guests came to the Larins. It was noisy. Everyone was having fun. Onegin was angry with Lensky for bringing him to such a noisy feast. He became in retaliation demonstratively court Olga, the latter, did not show any displeasure. Frustrated, Vladimir leaves the holiday in a hurry with the thought of a duel.

Chapter Six

After Vladimir left, Olga and Evgeniy got bored. Late in the evening Evgeniy went home. And in the morning Lensky’s comrade Zaretsky visited him as a second in the upcoming duel. Onegin reluctantly accepted the challenge, realizing that retreating is the same as sullying one’s honor.

The next day, before dawn, the heroes of the duel met at the mill to shoot with pistols. This fight turned out to be fatal for Vladimir, since Evgeniy’s randomly fired bullet became fatal. Lensky was buried by the stream, building a small monument to him.

Chapter Seven

Olga is fascinated by the speed of the Lancer. After the wedding, the newlyweds go to the regiment. Many suitors woo Tatyana, but all are refused. The eldest princess Larina often visits Onegin’s house, namely the library.

Using her lover's books, the girl tries to understand who Eugene is, what his ideals and life principles are. The heroine discovers the truth about the “parody” of her chosen one.

Wanting to make her daughter happy, Princess Polina takes Tatiana to Moscow, where at the “bride fair” she meets the “fat general”.

Chapter Eight

Several years pass. After long and, naturally, boring travels, already 26-year-old Evgeniy Onegin again begins to move in the high society of St. Petersburg.

At one of the receptions, our hero meets his distant relative Prince N. and is surprised to discover that he has been married to Tatyana Larina for a long time. Often coming to visit N., Evgeniy notices that Tatyana has turned from an innocent girl into a “careless Legislator.” She behaved exclusively tactfully in front of Onegin, without any hints of past feelings. Evgeniy fell in love with Tatiana, but she did not respond to his signs of attention. He wrote to her a lot, but the princess did not answer.

Tormented by “cruel blues” almost all winter, Onegin goes to N without an invitation. He managed to find a young woman at home alone. The hero throws himself at her feet, but Tatyana orders him to get up. The princess does not believe Evgeniy.

She believes that he wants to take advantage of her moral decline in order to gain himself a “seductive honor” in the world. After all, now that she got married, began to move in high society, and even appear at court, everyone would notice her “shame.”

Tatyana’s words were like thunder for Evgeniy. He had to leave his beloved without saying anything.

Characteristics of heroes

A distinctive feature of this novel is that all its characters, whether main or secondary, have clear, laconic characteristics.

Eugene Onegin

Main character - scion of bankrupt nobles with a contradictory character, which is adjusted during the course of the novel. Evgeniy received a “superficial” “French” education. He moved in high society for over seven years. What did this give Onegin:

• the hero is disappointed in love;
• became passive, cynical, and bilious towards everything;
• in the end, he just became depressed and bored from the monotony.

But... In the village, on the estate of his late, unloved uncle, after carrying out a couple of reforms regarding the way of life of the landowner, he also became bored. Subsequent travels also did not bring positive emotions to the young nobleman.

Attention! Belinsky writes that the hero was strangled by the “vulgarity of life.”

Onegin had no idea what he wanted. He didn't even try to figure it out to improve his life. But Evgeniy firmly understood that he did not want what constituted the object of happiness as “proud mediocrity.”

Having returned to the capital, after wandering and meeting Tatyana again, the young nobleman might have found happiness in love, but the princess’s refusal plunged Onegin into even greater depression.

Illustration for the novel “Eugene Onegin”

Tatyana Larina

17-year-old provincial noblewoman Tatyana Larina was distinguished by many positive qualities:

• sincerity and spontaneity of judgments;
• constancy of beliefs;
• love for all household members, including the nanny;
• elevation;
• sentimentality.

The very name of the heroine speaks of an exceptional commitment to everything Russian, pure, bright - she loved Russian nature, church holidays, and unswervingly observed many folk traditions.

Larina’s thoughtfulness and silence were explained by the princess’s deep inner world, as well as the considerable influence of Richardson, Rousseau and other authors of numerous sentimental novels.

All this subsequently affected her feelings to Onegin, helped to subsequently identify the “parody” and remain an honest woman after marriage.

Tatyana Larina

Vladimir Lensky

A young provincial landowner who had just returned from Germany Vladimir Lensky is distinguished by the following features:

• newfangled German romanticism;
• freethinking;
• craving for philosophizing;
• poetry;
• idealization of neighbors.

The last quality was the cause of all the troubles Lensky. The idealization of his beloved Olga led to betrayal. The idealization of comrade Evgeniy became the reason for the death of Vladimir.

Here is a brief description of the hero.

Olga Larina

Tatiana's younger sister was an ordinary frivolous village girl, who was burdened by the role of the Muse “admirer of Kant and poet.” After the death of her admirer, she almost immediately found complete comfort in the company of the uhlan.

Love theme

Love story of the main characters This piece is very sad.

In the first part of the novel, we see how the innocent 17-year-old girl Tatyana Larina, who knows about love only from sentimental novels, folk tales, and even the stories of her nanny, pours out her feelings in a letter to the hardened womanizer Evgeny Onegin, who is finally tired of his adventures. We should pay tribute to the nobility of the young man, who not only did not disgrace the woman who wrote first, but also honestly warned about the likely and very sad consequences of their tandem.

Onegin respected Larina’s naturalness, but treated her exclusively as a brother. After the duel and the departure of her lover, Tatiana, through notes in books, reveals the true face of her sweetheart. Larina marries the “fat general” without hesitation.

A few years later, the reader no longer sees a village simpleton, but a sophisticated and impeccable high-society lady, whom Onegin, who returned to the capital, fell hopelessly in love with. He wrote to her, she did not answer.

The reader is given a detailed description of the belated lover's suffering. On the last date Tatyana clearly and firmly explains to Evgeniy that she will not part with her husband or her own honor, no matter what temptations.

Friendship theme

Onegin and Lensky, probably, simply could not help but become friends, since in the nearby villages only the two of them were familiar with secular customs, which young people preferred to adhere to while living here. However, this friendship was exclusively external, ostentatious in nature.

Disillusioned with people and life in general, Evgeniy was not moved by odes and philosophizing on the subject of his wonderful comrade. Onegin did not understand why Lensky fell in love with Olga so much, and did not prefer Tatyana, who was close in spirit, to her.

Vladimir was most saddened by Evgeniy’s gloominess, his composure and misanthropy. This is how Onegin and Lensky communicated, friendship through boredom and misunderstanding.

Evgeny Onegin - summary

Conclusion

Numerous critics of “Eugene Onegin” recognize this work as a masterpiece of Russian literature, since in terms of the drama of the plot, the depth and brevity of the characters’ characteristics, and the peculiarities of writing, little can compare with this novel. Therefore, the material briefly presented here will not be enough to fully understand the work. The reader can fully comprehend the depth of Pushkin’s ideas by reading his great novel in verse “Eugene Onegin”.

The history of the creation of “Eugene Onegin” - “the fruit of a mind of cold observations and a heart of sorrowful notes” - by the outstanding Russian classic Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin does not resemble a blitzkrieg. The work was created by the poet in an evolutionary manner, marking his formation on the path of realism. The novel in verse as an event in art was a unique phenomenon. Before this, only one analogue was written in world literature in the same genre - the romantic work of George Gordon Byron “Don Juan”.

The author decides to brainstorm

Pushkin went further than the great Englishman - to realism. This time, the poet set himself a super task - to show a person capable of serving as a catalyst for the further development of Russia. Alexander Sergeevich, sharing the ideas of the Decembrists, understood that the huge country should be moved, like a locomotive, from a dead-end path that led the entire society to a systemic crisis.

The history of the creation of “Eugene Onegin” is determined by a titanic poetic work in the period from May 1823 to September 1830, a creative rethinking of Russian reality in the first quarter of the 19th century. The novel in verse was created during four stages of Alexander Sergeevich’s work: southern exile (1820 - 1824), stay “without the right to leave the Mikhailovskoye estate without permission” (1824 - 1826), the period after exile (1826 - 1830), Boldino autumn (1830)

A.S. Pushkin, “Eugene Onegin”: history of creation

Young Pushkin, a graduate in the words of Emperor Alexander I, “who flooded Russia with the most outrageous poetry,” began writing his novel while in exile in Chisinau (thanks to the intercession of friends, transfer to Siberia was avoided). By this time he was already an idol of Russian educated youth.

The poet sought to create the image of a hero of his time. In the work, he painfully searched for the answer to the question of what should be the bearer of new ideas, the creator of the new Russia.

Socio-economic situation in the country

Let's consider the social environment in which the novel was created. Russia won the War of 1812. This gave a tangible impetus to public aspirations for liberation from feudal shackles. First of all, the people longed for such liberation to inevitably entail a limitation of the powers of the monarch. The communities of guards officers that formed immediately after the war in 1816 in St. Petersburg formed the Decembrist “Union of Salvation.” In 1818, the Union of Prosperity was organized in Moscow. These Decembrist organizations actively contributed to the formation of liberal public opinion and waited for an opportune moment for a coup d'etat. Among the Decembrists there were many friends of Pushkin. He shared their views.

Russia by that time had already become a recognized European power with a population of about 40 million people, and the sprouts of state capitalism were ripening within it. However, its economic life was still determined by the rudiments of feudalism, noble land ownership and merchants. These social groups, gradually losing social weight, were still powerful and exercised influence on the life of the state, prolonging feudal relations in the country. They were champions of a society built on the outdated Catherine's noble principles inherent in Russia in the 18th century.

There were characteristic signs of the social and the whole society. The country was home to many educated people who understood that the interests of development required great changes and reforms. The history of the creation of “Eugene Onegin” began with the poet’s personal rejection of the surrounding, in the words of Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky, “the dark kingdom”

Having risen after a powerful acceleration, given and dynamism during the reign of Empress Catherine II, Russia at the beginning of the 19th century slowed down the pace of development. At the time Pushkin wrote his famous novel, there were no railways in the country, steamships had not yet sailed along its rivers, thousands and thousands of its hardworking and talented citizens were bound hand and foot by the bonds of serfdom.

The history of “Eugene Onegin” is inextricably linked with the history of Russia at the beginning of the 19th century.

Onegin stanza

Alexander Sergeevich, “the Russian Mozart of poetry,” paid special attention to his work. He developed a new series of poems specifically for writing a novel in verse.

The poet’s words do not flow in a free stream, but in a structured manner. Every fourteen lines are connected into a specific Onegin stanza. At the same time, the rhyming is constant throughout the novel and has the following form: CCddEffEgg (where capital letters indicate feminine endings, and lowercase letters indicate masculine endings).

Undoubtedly, the history of the creation of the novel “Eugene Onegin” is the history of the creation of the Onegin stanza. It is with the help of varying stanzas that the author manages to create in his work an analogue of prose sections and chapters: move from one topic to another, change the style of presentation from reflection to dynamic development of the plot. In this way, the author creates the impression of a casual conversation with his reader.

The novel is “a collection of motley chapters”

What makes people write works about their generation and their native land? Why do they devote themselves completely to this work, working as if possessed?

The history of the creation of the novel “Eugene Onegin” was initially subject to the author’s plan: to create a novel in verse, consisting of 9 separate chapters. Experts in the work of Alexander Sergeevich call it “open in time” due to the fact that each of its chapters is independent, and can, according to its internal logic, complete the work, although it finds its continuation in the next chapter. His contemporary, professor of Russian literature Nikolai Ivanovich Nadezhdin, gave a classic description of “Eugene Onegin” not as a work with a rigid logical structure, but rather as a kind of poetic notebook filled with the immediate rainbow tints of bright talent.

About the chapters of the novel

Chapters of “Eugene Onegin” were published from 1825 to 1832. as they were written and published in literary almanacs and magazines. They were expected, each of them became a real event in the cultural life of Russia.

However, one of them, dedicated to the protagonist’s journey to the Odessa pier, containing critical judgments, the disgraced author chose to withdraw in order to avoid reprisals against himself, and then destroyed its only manuscript.

Also, completely devoting himself to work, Boris Leonidovich Pasternak later worked on his “Doctor Zhivago”, and Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov also wrote about his generation. Pushkin himself called his more than seven years of work on this novel in verse a feat.

Main character

The description of Eugene Onegin, according to literary scholars, resembles the personality of Pyotr Yakovlevich Chaadaev, the author of Philosophical Letters. This is a character with powerful energy, around whom the plot of the novel unfolds and other characters manifest themselves. Pushkin wrote about him as a “good friend.” Evgeniy received a classic noble upbringing, completely devoid of “Russianness.” And although he has a sharp but cold mind, he is a man of light, following certain opinions and prejudices. The life of Evgeny Onegin is meager. On the one hand, the morals of the world are alien to him, he sharply criticizes them; and on the other hand, he is subject to its influence. The hero cannot be called active; rather, he is an intelligent observer.

Features of Onegin's image

His image is tragic. First, he failed the test of love. Eugene listened to his reason, but not to his heart. At the same time, he acted nobly, treating Tatyana with respect, making her understand that he was not capable of falling in love.

Secondly, he failed the test of friendship. Having challenged his friend, the 18-year-old romantic young man Lensky, to a duel, he blindly follows the concepts of light. It seems to him more decent not to provoke the evil tongue of the old duelist Zaretsky than to stop a completely stupid quarrel with Vladimir. By the way, Pushkin scholars consider the young Kuchelbecker to be the prototype of Lensky.

Tatyana Larina

The use of the name Tatyana in the novel Eugene Onegin was know-how from Pushkin. Indeed, at the beginning of the 19th century, this name was considered common and irrelevant. Moreover, dark-haired and not ruddy, thoughtful, uncommunicative, she did not correspond to the ideals of beauty of the world. Tatyana (like the author of the novel) loved folk tales, which her nanny generously told her. However, her special passion was reading books.

Heroes of the novel

In addition to the above-mentioned plot-shaping main characters, the reader encounters secondary ones. These images of the novel “Eugene Onegin” do not form the plot, but complement it. This is Tatyana's sister Olga, an empty socialite with whom Vladimir Lensky was in love. The image of nanny Tatyana, an expert in folk tales, has a clear prototype - the nanny of Alexander Sergeevich himself, Arina Rodionovna. Another nameless hero of the novel is the husband Tatyana Larina acquired after a disagreement with Evgeniy Onegin - an “important general”.

The host of landowners seems to have been imported into Pushkin’s novel from other Russian classical works. These are the Skotinins (“Minor” by Fonvizin) and Buyanov (“Dangerous Neighbor” by V.L. Pushkin).

Folk work

The highest praise for Alexander Sergeevich was the assessment given to the first chapter of “Eugene Onegin” by the man whom the poet considered his teacher, Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky. The opinion was extremely laconic: “You are the first on Russian Parnassus...”

The novel in verse encyclopedically correctly depicted Russian reality at the beginning of the 19th century, showed the way of life, characteristic features, social role of various layers of society: the St. Petersburg high society, the Moscow nobility, landowners, peasants. Perhaps this is why, and also because of Pushkin’s all-encompassing and subtle reflection in his work of the values, morals, views, and fashion of that time, the literary critic gave him such an exhaustive description: “a work of the highest degree folk” and “an encyclopedia of Russian life.”

Pushkin wanted to change the plot

The final concept of the work was formed by the author only in 1830. He was clumsy and forced. In order to give a traditional, solid look to his creation, Alexander Sergeevich decided to either send Evgeniy Onegin to fight in the Caucasus, or turn him into a Decembrist. But Eugene Onegin - the hero of the novel in verse - was created by Pushkin on the same inspiration, as a “collection of motley chapters,” and this is his charm.

Conclusion

The work “Eugene Onegin” is the first realistic novel in verse in Russian history. It is iconic for the 19th century. The novel was recognized by society as deeply folk. An encyclopedic description of Russian life coexists with high artistry.

However, according to critics, the main character of this novel is not Onegin at all, but the author of the work. This character does not have a specific appearance. This is a kind of blind spot for the reader.

Alexander Sergeevich, in the text of the work, hints at his exile, saying that “the North is harmful” to him, etc. Pushkin is invisibly present in all actions, summarizes, makes the reader laugh, and enlivens the plot. His quotes hit you not in the eyebrow, but in the eye.

As fate would have it, Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin reviewed the second complete edition of his novel in verse in 1937 (the first was in 1833), having already been mortally wounded on the Black River near the Commandant's dacha. A circulation of 5,000 copies was planned to be sold throughout the year. However, readers snapped it up within a week. Subsequently, the classics of Russian literature, each for their time, continued the creative search of Alexander Sergeevich. They all tried to create a hero of their time. And Mikhail Lermontov in the image of Grigory Alexandrovich Pechorin (“Hero of Our Time”), and Ivan Goncharov in the image of Ilya Oblomov...

"Eugene Onegin"(1823-1831) - a novel in verse by Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, one of the most significant works of Russian literature.

History of creation

Pushkin worked on the novel for over seven years. The novel was, according to Pushkin, “the fruit of a mind of cold observations and a heart of sorrowful observations.” Pushkin called his work a feat - of all his creative heritage, only “Boris Godunov” he characterized with the same word. Against a broad background of pictures of Russian life, the dramatic fate of the best people of the noble intelligentsia is shown.

Pushkin began work on Onegin in 1823, during his southern exile. The author abandoned romanticism as the leading creative method and began to write a realistic novel in verse, although the influence of romanticism is still noticeable in the first chapters. Initially, it was assumed that the novel in verse would consist of 9 chapters, but later Pushkin reworked its structure, leaving only 8 chapters. He excluded the chapter “Onegin’s Travels” from the work, which he included as an appendix. After this, the tenth chapter of the novel was written, which is an encrypted chronicle of the life of the future Decembrists.

The novel was published in verse in separate chapters, and the release of each chapter became a major event in modern literature. In 1831, the novel in verse was completed and published in 1833. It covers events from 1819 to 1825: from the foreign campaigns of the Russian army after the defeat of Napoleon to the Decembrist uprising. These were the years of development of Russian society, the reign of Tsar Alexander I. The plot of the novel is simple and well known. At the center of the novel is a love affair. And the main problem is the eternal problem of feelings and duty. The novel “Eugene Onegin” reflected the events of the first quarter of the 19th century, that is, the time of creation and the time of action of the novel approximately coincide. Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin created a novel in verse similar to Byron’s poem “Don Juan”. Having defined the novel as “a collection of motley chapters,” Pushkin emphasizes one of the features of this work: the novel is, as it were, “open” in time, each chapter could be the last, but it could also have a continuation. And thus the reader draws attention to the independence of each chapter of the novel. The novel has become an encyclopedia of Russian life of the 20s of the century before last, since the breadth of the novel’s coverage shows readers the whole reality of Russian life, as well as the multiplicity of plots and descriptions of different eras. This is what gave V. G. Belinsky the basis to conclude in his article “Eugene Onegin”:
“Onegin can be called an encyclopedia of Russian life and a highly folk work.”
In the novel, as in the encyclopedia, you can find out everything about the era: how they dressed, what was in fashion, what people valued most, what they talked about, what interests they lived. “Eugene Onegin” reflects the whole of Russian life. Briefly, but quite clearly, the author showed the fortress village, lordly Moscow, secular Petersburg. Pushkin truthfully depicted the environment in which the main characters of his novel, Tatyana Larina and Evgeny Onegin, live. The author reproduced the atmosphere of the city noble salons in which Onegin spent his youth.

Plot

The novel begins with a grumpy speech by the young nobleman Eugene Onegin, dedicated to the illness of his uncle, which forced him to leave St. Petersburg and go to the sick bed in the hope of becoming the heir of the dying man. The narrative itself is told on behalf of the nameless author, who introduced himself as a good friend of Onegin. Having thus outlined the plot, the author devotes the first chapter to a story about the origin, family, and life of his hero before receiving news of a relative’s illness.

Evgeny was born “on the banks of the Neva,” that is, in St. Petersburg, in the family of a typical nobleman of his time -

“Having served excellently and nobly, his father lived in debt.
He gave three balls every year and finally squandered it.” The son of such a father received a typical upbringing - first by the governess Madame, then by a French tutor who did not bother his pupil with an abundance of science. Here Pushkin emphasizes that Evgeniy’s upbringing from childhood was carried out by people who were strangers to him, and foreigners at that.

Onegin's life in St. Petersburg was full of love affairs and social amusements, but now he faces boredom in the village. Upon arrival, it turns out that his uncle died, and Eugene became his heir. Onegin settles in the village, and soon the blues really take hold of him.

Onegin’s neighbor turns out to be eighteen-year-old Vladimir Lensky, a romantic poet, who came from Germany. Lensky and Onegin converge. Lensky is in love with Olga Larina, the daughter of a landowner. Her thoughtful sister Tatyana is not like the always cheerful Olga. Having met Onegin, Tatyana falls in love with him and writes him a letter. However, Onegin rejects her: he is not looking for a quiet family life. Lensky and Onegin are invited to the Larins. Onegin is not happy about this invitation, but Lensky persuades him to go.
“[...] He pouted and, indignant, vowed to enrage Lensky, and to take revenge in order.” At dinner with the Larins, Onegin, in order to make Lensky jealous, unexpectedly begins to court Olga. Lensky challenges him to a duel. The duel ends with Lensky's death, and Onegin leaves the village.

Two years later, he appears in St. Petersburg and meets Tatyana. She is an important lady, the wife of a prince. Onegin was inflamed with love for her, but this time he was rejected, despite the fact that Tatyana also loves him, but wants to remain faithful to her husband.

1. Storylines
   • Onegin and Tatiana:
   • Meet Tatyana
   • Conversation with the nanny
   • Tatiana's letter to Onegin
   • Explanation in the garden
   • Tatiana's dream. Name day
   • Visit to Onegin's house
   • Departure to Moscow
   • Meeting at a ball in St. Petersburg after 2 years
   • Letter to Tatyana (explanation)
2. Evening at Tatiana's
   • Onegin and Lensky:
   • Dating in the village
   • Conversation after the evening at the Larins'
   • Lensky's visit to Onegin
   • Tatiana's name day

Duel (Death of Lensky)

• Characters Eugene Onegin
• - the prototype Pyotr Chaadaev, a friend of Pushkin, was named by Pushkin himself in the first chapter. The story of Onegin is reminiscent of the life of Chaadaev. An important influence on the image of Onegin was exerted by Lord Byron and his “Byronian Heroes”, Don Juan and Childe Harold, who are also mentioned more than once by Pushkin himself.- prototype Avdotya (Dunya) Norova, Chaadaev’s friend. Dunya herself is mentioned in the second chapter, and at the end of the last chapter, Pushkin expresses his grief over her untimely death. Due to the death of Dunya at the end of the novel, the prototype of the princess, matured and transformed Tatiana, is Anna Kern, Pushkin’s beloved. She, Anna Kern, was the prototype of Anna Kerenina. Although Leo Tolstoy copied Anna Karenina’s appearance from Pushkin’s eldest daughter, Maria Hartung, the name and story are very close to Anna Kern. Thus, through the story of Anna Kern, Tolstoy's novel Anna Karenina is a continuation of the novel Eugene Onegin.
• Olga Larina, her sister is a generalized image of a typical heroine of a popular novel; beautiful in appearance, but lacking deep content.
• Vladimir Lensky- Pushkin himself, or rather his idealized image.
• Tatiana's nanny- probable prototype - Arina Rodionovna Yakovleva, Pushkin’s nanny
• Zaretsky, duelist - Fyodor Tolstoy the American was named among the prototypes
• Tatyana Larina's husband, not named in the novel, is an “important general,” General Kern, Anna Kern’s husband.
• Author of the work- Pushkin himself. He constantly intervenes in the course of the narrative, reminds of himself, makes friends with Onegin, in his lyrical digressions he shares with the reader his thoughts on a variety of life issues, and expresses his ideological position.

The novel also mentions the father - Dmitry Larin - and the mother of Tatyana and Olga; “Princess Alina” - Moscow cousin of Tatyana Larina’s mother; Onegin's uncle; a number of comical images of provincial landowners (Gvozdin, Flyanov, “Skotinins, the gray-haired couple”, “fat Pustyakov”, etc.); St. Petersburg and Moscow light.
The images of provincial landowners are mainly of literary origin. Thus, the image of the Skotinins refers to Fonvizin’s comedy “The Minor,” Buyanov is the hero of the poem “Dangerous Neighbor” (1810-1811) by V. L. Pushkin. “Among the guests there were also “important Kirin”, “Lazorkina - a widow-widow”, “fat Pustyakov” was replaced by “fat Tumakov”, Pustyakov was called “skinny”, Petushkov was a “retired clerical worker”.

Poetic features

The novel is written in a special “Onegin stanza”. Each stanza consists of 14 lines of iambic tetrameter.
The first four lines rhyme crosswise, lines five through eight rhyme in pairs, lines nine through twelfth are connected in a ring rhyme. The remaining 2 lines of the stanza rhyme with each other.

The novel “Eugene Onegin” is a work of amazing creative destiny. It was created for more than seven years - from May 1823 to September 1830. But work on the text did not stop until the appearance of the first complete edition in 1833. The last author's version of the novel was published in 1837. Pushkin has no works that would have an equally long creative history. The novel was not written “in one breath,” but was composed of stanzas and chapters created at different times, in different circumstances, in different periods of creativity. Work on the novel covers four periods of Pushkin’s work - from southern exile to the Boldino autumn of 1830.

The work was interrupted not only by the twists of Pushkin’s fate and new plans for the sake of which he abandoned the text of Eugene Onegin. Some poems (“Demon”, “Desert Sower of Freedom...”) arose from drafts of the novel. In the drafts of the second chapter (written in 1824), Horace’s verse “Exegi monumentum” flashed, which 12 years later became the epigraph to the poem “I erected a monument to myself not made by hands...”. It seemed that history itself was not very kind to Pushkin’s work: from a novel about a contemporary and modern life, as the poet intended “Eugene Onegin,” after 1825 it became a novel about a different historical era. The “internal chronology” of the novel covers about 6 years - from 1819 to the spring of 1825.

All chapters were published from 1825 to 1832 as independent parts of a larger work and, even before the completion of the novel, became facts of the literary process. Perhaps, if we take into account the fragmentary, intermittent nature of Pushkin’s work, it can be argued that the novel was for him something like a huge “notebook” or a poetic “album” (“notebooks” is sometimes called the chapters of the novel by the poet himself). Over the course of more than seven years, the records were replenished with sad “notes” of the heart and “observations” of a cold mind.

It was covered with writing and drawings

Onegin's hand all around,

Between the incomprehensible mess

Thoughts, remarks flashed,

Portraits, numbers, names,

Yes letters, the secrets of writing,

Excerpts, draft letters...

The first chapter, published in 1825, pointed to Eugene Onegin as the main character of the planned work. However, from the very beginning of work on the “big poem,” the author needed the figure of Onegin not only to express his ideas about “modern man.” There was another goal: Onegin was intended to play the role of a central character who, like a magnet, would “attract” diverse life and literary material. The silhouette of Onegin and the silhouettes of other characters, the barely outlined plot lines gradually became clearer as we worked on the novel. From under the thick layers of rough notes, the contours of the destinies and characters of Onegin, Tatyana Larina, Lensky appeared (“drawn in”), and a unique image was created - the image of the Author.

The novel “Eugene Onegin” is Pushkin’s most difficult work, despite its apparent lightness and simplicity. V.G. Belinsky called “Eugene Onegin” “an encyclopedia of Russian life,” emphasizing the scale of Pushkin’s “many years of work.” This is not critical praise of the novel, but its succinct metaphor. Behind the “variegation” of chapters and stanzas, the change in narration techniques, hides the harmonious concept of a fundamentally innovative literary work - a “novel of life”, which has absorbed a huge amount of socio-historical, everyday, literary material.