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Perhaps it's hard to believe, but so profoundly beloved in Russia is Alexander Pushkin's novel-in-verse Eugene Onegin that many Russians memorize all 5000 of its rhyming lines. American educator Marilyn Stone has created a radically new version of Onegin, distilling it down to just a quarter of its length, yet virtuosically maintaining the original's precise poetic form throughout. Her partner-in-rhyme, Korean artist Soonran Youn, has complemented each page of verse with an exquisite pen-and-ink drawing, perfectly matching the sparkling poetry. Onegin is a magic lantern offering fascinating images of nineteenthcentury Russia as the backdrop for young Eugene's journey, which starts off with his lackluster life of luxury in Petersburg, then moves out to the countryside, following his larks and his loves as well as his trials, tribulations, and tragedies. We vicariously accompany Gene to brilliant balls and ballets, see him inheriting an old uncle's country estate where "a brook like silver ribbon curls", then overhear him befriending his romantic young poet-neighbor Vladimir Lensky, and eavesdrop on his sad rendez-vous with fragile young Tatyana in a moonlit arbor, where he breaks her heart. While spinning his tale, Pushkin himself steps in now and then, schmoozing directly with the reader - sometimes commenting on his characters and the story line they inhabit, sometimes offering sardonic or humorous views of Russia's roads, feminine feet, and poetry's fickle fads, sometimes making poignant or cynical observations on life. Faithfully echoing the original poetry, Marilyn Stone's verse flows naturally and smoothly from one stanza to the next, while Soonran Yoon's graceful illustrations make the tale even more vivid. Here, then, is an opportunity for Americans to pick up the magic lantern that is Onegin, thereby acquiring a unique view of old Russia, absorbing an enchanting poetic form devised by Pushkin, and coming to know the Russians' all-time favorite work of literature.
