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Ευγένιος Ονέγκιν

Alexander Pushkin,

Αλεξάντρ Πούσκιν

Discussion: Παρουσίαση στη Λέσχη

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Παρουσίαση στη Λέσχη

Τι διαβάζεις τώρα;
By Λίνα · 107 posts · 595 views

last updated May 08, 2024 06:54AM

What Members Thought

Nov 17, 2017 Sotiris Karaiskos rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, russian-literature

Ένας από τους ακρογωνιαίους λίθους της ρωσικής λογοτεχνίας, ένα αφηγηματικό ποίημα που η σημασία του έχει επισημανθεί από πολύ πιο αρμόδιους από εμένα στη διάρκεια του χρόνου που έχει περάσει από την έκδοσή του. Αυτό που μπορώ μόνο να επισημάνω είναι ότι πέρα από την αξία του είναι και ένα ανάγνωσμα που μπορεί ο καθένας να το ευχαριστηθεί. Η ιστορία που περιγράφει είναι τρομερά ενδιαφέρουσα την ώρα που ο τρόπος γραφής των στίχων είναι πραγματικά απολαυστικός. Οπότε είναι κάτι μεγαλειώδες αλλά πα ...more

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Jan 31, 2015 Marios rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I understand that any chance to get to the gist and really appreciate this poem for non russian speakers may be doomed by the translation. At least I hope that's the case. Otherwise if this is considered a masterpiece I cannot possibly imagine where Byron's works should stand.

Pushkin's long peom Eugene Onegin was enjoyable and easy to read. I was also impressed by the clever rhyming (imagine how difficult it must be not only to translate from Russian to English but strive to find the right word I understand that any chance to get to the gist and really appreciate this poem for non russian speakers may be doomed by the translation. At least I hope that's the case. Otherwise if this is considered a masterpiece I cannot possibly imagine where Byron's works should stand.

Pushkin's long peom Eugene Onegin was enjoyable and easy to read. I was also impressed by the clever rhyming (imagine how difficult it must be not only to translate from Russian to English but strive to find the right words to make things rhyme as well). Having said that, if the aknowledgement and praise for this goes to the translator then what about the original? Isn't its essence somehow lost? If in poetry each word is handpicked to give exactly the meaning a poet wants, then even a literal translation in another language can deprive a poem of it, let alone the need to find different words or even change the structure of sentences so that two lines can match and rhyme.

I couldn't help but imagine that the more effort a translator puts into making a poem rhyme and sound pleasant in another language, the more changes he has to make, the further away he has to move from the original work, the more author he becomes instead of translator. And that was a really nicely flowing poem, the feel and rythm seemed effortless, one would think it was written in English.

Would Pushkin be happy with it? Should any poet be happy with their works being changed in meaning even ever so slightly? Should we as readers even attempt making judgements about the quality of a work whose quintessence we can only guess behind a veil of translation, and whose character (originally conveyed by a different language/structure/grammar) is altered in order to suit and sound familiar to our own language?

How is Eugene Onegin in Russian? Is it intense and dramatic like the opera -did Tchaikovsky get it right? Is it light and easy to read as that was? Is it intense and dramatic within light and easy to read verses?

I will never know. Until i learn Russian...sorry poetry but I prefer the music. ...more

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