Alexander Pushkin: Eugene Onegin

I can think of no other book that, while almost entirely free of plot and characterization, nonetheless manages to be an enjoyable and useful read. Pushkin skeletonizes his characters to the point where one cannot help but assume that he is making a point. They are more figurines than people, and by the same token the story itself is nothing more than a series of frequently and lengthily interrupted brief episodes--hardly enough to qualify as a plot. To summarize, Eugene refuses Tatyana and kills his friend Lensky. Years later, it is Tatyana's turn to refuse Eugene. That's it, the sum total.

What makes Eugene Onegin such a worthwhile project is the commentary of the Narrator, the only fully developed character in the work. Pushkin's narrator hovers aloofly over the story, more interested in talking about himself than about any of the characters. It is almost as if Pushkin is drawing a parallel between his narrator and the moon, who also dispassionately observes the goings-on at strategic places throughout the novel, as in 6.II:

"Only Tatyana does not sleep,
but at the window, in the splendid
radiance of Dian, sits in pain
and looks out on the darkened plain."

The narrator is either a renaissance man or a dilletante, and drops names with a heaviness that informs the reader of his concern with their impression of him. He talks far more about his life and opinions than anyones else's, and his expostulatory intrusions into the story are enough to make William Thackeray seem detached and aloof. As he refers to himself, he is "the sober head, detesting each / human reaction, every speech / as the translation of our being . . ." (4.LI).

Wherein lies the power of the (quasi) novel. Pushkin's removal from his characters--even though he claims personal ownership of them--gives him free rein to make commentary on their choices as types, rather than as individuals. Tatyana is a typical starry-eyed maiden, and Pushkin's authorial advice to her is really directed at the reader:

"Don't let a ghost be your bear-leader,
don't waste your efforts on the air.
Just let yourself be your whole care,
your loved one, honorable reader!" (4.XXII)

Pushkin's disdain for all forms of affectation, both from the disenfranchised poet and the society Grand Dame, serves as a cautionary tale. Tatyana's and Lensky's passionate romanticism lead to heartbreak and/or death. And Onegin's capricious life of leisure offers no better. The key to fulfillment lies in truth to one's own self. And concern for one's image--even an affected disconcern for one's image--is iron pyrite.