I made it! I completed Eugene Onegin about a week ago, just have been slow to update my final read-along post. Chapter 7 explained how Olga moved on rather quickly and found herself a new man to marry. Tatyana seemed stuck in Onegin land with her hidden obsession of going to his estate to read the books left behind. It wasn't until her mother forced her to leave the country that she was able to find a life outside of the safety of the hidden countryside. I was disappointed that we didn't hear about how the duel's outcome weighed on Onegin. We are only told he quickly left the estate, but to where, what was his state of mind?
Chapter 8 brings a chance meeting of Eugene and Tatyana. Tatyana is now in the city and married, a well placed marriage. Upon seeing Tatyana Eugene's deep-seeded feelings are once again aroused, however, this time he wishes to pursue her. She is the one that now must break the heart of the one in love. How things might have been different if Eugene had acted years ago to those feelings Tatyana aroused in him rather than shut them up.
My edition included excerpts from what Pushkin had intended to be a chapter on Onegin's travels after the duel with Lensky. In reading them it seemed like Onegin was roaming the Russian countryside trying to find himself. He would teeter from one fence to the other, try the party life again and back to a more mundane settled life like the one he first despised when he came to the country. Tormented by his previous choices in life, can he come to understand himself and chose a path.
After I completed my reading I watched the 2000 production, Onegin, starring Liv Tyler and Ralph Fiennes as a treat. It was helpful to see things in this visual form.
Thank you Tanglewood for hosting this RAL to push me to finish this read, I had started in November and let it fall by the wayside.
[Notice: Original posting 2014-02-15 at Plethora of Books Blog: http://bookchallenges.weebly.com]
Tags: Read-Alongs; Onegin