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Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837) is, for Russians, their greatest writer; Eugene Onegin is his greatest work. Yet it remains little known outside Russia. Attempts to render Pushkin's Russian stanzas into verse have tried in vain to imitate the most inimitable features of the original, while masking many of its other glories. This prose version, for the first time, gives us a Eugene Onegin that is easy and enjoyable to read. Where previous versions lost the novel in the verse, Roger Clarke has discarded the verse to bring us the novel. And more than the novel: what shines through here are not only Puskin's touching story and subtle characterisation, but his incisive pictures of contemporary Russian life and landscapes, his social and literary comment, his humour, and indeed the essential poetry of the work. The addition of four captivating verse-tales from Pushkin's early maturity makes this book a must for anybody interested in Russian or European literature.

亞曆山大·謝爾蓋耶維奇·普希金(一七九九——一八三七)是第一個具有世界影響的俄羅斯作傢。他是俄國浪漫主義文學的主要代錶和俄國現實主義文學的奠基人,被高爾基譽為“俄國文學之始祖”和“偉大的俄國人民詩人”。十九世紀俄國文學的高峰,就是從普希金開始的。

這位“俄羅斯詩歌的太陽”最重要的作品,就是詩體小說《葉甫蓋尼·奧涅金》。它是俄國現實主義文學的奠基之作。

這部詩體作品,自然具有詩歌的抒情性;但它又是一部現實主義的作品,所以作者把它叫做“小說”。一八二三年動筆時,普希金的創作正從浪漫主義嚮現實主義轉變。八年後,《葉甫蓋尼·奧涅金》於一八三○年完成。它總結瞭作者一八三一年以前的全部創作經驗,以後普希金就轉入瞭散文寫作。這種創作方法和文體的變化,和社會背景是有關的。《葉甫蓋尼·奧涅金》前四章寫於十二月黨人起義之前,基調比較明朗;從第五章起,調子變得陰鬱、低沉起來,故事也越來越嚮悲劇性的結尾發展。這些正是時代氣氛的反映。