Evgenii Onegin (1833) - Alexander Pushkin

Written by Alexander Pushkin
Read by Neville Jason
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Mary Hobson - translator

Length: 4 hrs and 27 mins
Release date: 05-22-12
PublisherNaxos Audiobooks

Evgenii Onegin is best known in the West through Tchaikovsky’s opera Eugene Onegin.

But the original narrative poem (consisting of 389 stanzas, the form of which has become known as the ‘Pushkin sonnet’) is one of the landmarks of Russian literature. In the poem, the eponymous hero repudiates love, only to later experience the pain of rejection himself. Pushkin’s unique style proves timeless in its exploration of love, life, passion, jealousy and the consequences of social convention.

It was published in serial form between 1825 and 1832. The first complete edition was published in 1833, and the currently accepted version is based on the 1837 publication.
“Because this is a novel in verse, its audio rendition requires especially focused listening. The text’s impact comes as much from plot and character as from the all-important persona Pushkin creates to tell the tale. Neville Jason recounts the unfortunate Onegin’s story in the voice of an overly tolerant uncle–often amused but sometimes saddened or surprised by the unpredictable behavior of a favorite nephew. In addition, this translation uses a fair amount of rhyme, which, coupled with Jason’s avuncular persona, suggests a nineteenth-century Russian Dr. Seuss. However, given Pushkin’s likely goal of mocking social mores of the time and exposing shallow behavior, that matter-of-fact avuncular voice sounds just right–self-possessed, didactic, and a little distant.”— AudioFile

This is a real-time recording. As usual, if you see a problem let me know in the forum…..J