Most English translations do not keep the Russian spelling, which is odd as the name is an occasional part of the poetry, not least in its final line it has, in other words, a key role in the rhythm. I imagine that even the decision not to Anglicise the hero’s name to Eugene took time. It’s taken 15 years to get round to the famous verse-novel about the bored, hapless aristo Yevgeny Onegin, but then the first English translation didn’t appear until 1881, 50 years after the work had been completed, so perhaps we should appreciate the difficulty of the exercise (the next English translation didn’t appear until 50 years after that). P ushkin Press has finally done it: it has published the key work of the writer it is named after.
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