One of important reasons why Pushkin is so important for Russians is his fairy tales. His nun, a simple village woman told him her stories and then he reimagined them as poems, rebuilding them into a magical beauty. They are rich, poweful, but also simple in their language, so that 4-5 year olds can not only understand them, but also fall in love with them, learn them by heart, and return to them through all their lives for support and solace.

We’re your friends. Thankfully you read these beautiful books and help us understand them. A lot of times I’d rather hang out with an Oscar Wilde or Marcel Proust, than go out with Jen for a coffee, or a Tina for a glass of wine. Definitely will always listen to your interpretation of a beautiful piece of literary magic. Thank you as always.

@Fiction_Beast

2 жыл бұрын

Always appreciative of you keeping me company by commenting in many of my videos. Yes I’m thankful!

@kresivarivkah612

Жыл бұрын

You could discuss literature over coffee w your friends. 🤗

@gracefitzgerald2227

Жыл бұрын

@@kresivarivkah612 lol, at close to 50 it’s hard to find girlfriends that want to discuss the same things. In fact my husband who’ve I’ve n]been married to for 20 years was burnt out the other day and I mentioned Proust and he just about flew off the handle about my “boring” books. It’s okay, I got into it late in the game. There’s hope for all the youngins 😊❤️You’re sweet.

@possessedslig

Жыл бұрын

@@gracefitzgerald2227 that's absolutely tragic but I know exactly how you feel

@talhaabdullah2859

Жыл бұрын

@@Fiction_Beast that being the sum of the books you've read part made me really insecure as well

Pushkin is a follower of Zhukovsky and Batyushkov, it was they who greatly influenced him. Pushkin's creativity is not limited to one work "Onegin", he left a lot of poems and prose as a legacy. He admired others. And people admired him, he became famous during his lifetime. On the other hand, he was a gambler and left his wife in debt after his death (her story ended well, don't worry). He treated his homeland with tenderness, for example, in the poem "to Chaadaev" he hopefully believes in better times. Or the poem "village" (I do not know if its translation into English is so good, but you can copy and translate the poem in Google). Russians want to believe, and they find confirmation of their thoughts in the works of A.S. Pushkin.

Thank you for yet another tremendous episode!

Excellent review; 👌 thank you for your hard work, very much appreciated! 👍🌹

I'm glad I found your channel. I love Russian literature and have read many Russian novels but I've never had anyone to discuss them with. Listening to your videos is the next best thing. I consider you my friend. Thanks!

@Fiction_Beast

Жыл бұрын

Thanks so much! Really appreciate the sentiment

You do an excellent job with your various subjects, and I really like your voice.

@Fiction_Beast

2 жыл бұрын

Appreciate the comment.

@talhaabdullah2859

Жыл бұрын

@@Fiction_Beast are you persian persians have a soothing accent because farsi is a soft language

I'll definitely read this novel now..your way of explaining things is superb, this makes me to buy and read more and more novels...😅...thank you so much for this wonderful video.

I have recently found and subscribed to your channel. I admire your minute perspectives on the great novels of the world that are so deep that usually are not readily understood. Thank you.

@Fiction_Beast

2 жыл бұрын

Wow, thank you!

I recently discovered your channel as I was reading Pushkin's drama Boris Godunov and I was really interested in getting to know his ideals regarding life. This is a really good video, very detailed but also covers the most important things for someone wanting to understand his writing. New subscriber!

man i am glad to have stumbled across your channel. warm wishes from Massachusetts, USA ! i just finished Eugene and am loving this video

You're really valuable to me. Thanks for all you do

@Fiction_Beast

2 жыл бұрын

I'm so glad!

Great stuff. Thanks for the educational knowledge about this man and his work. I'm amazed at how powerfully the poem hits you when translated in English. His use of words strike you powerfully so that you feel the force of them long after you hear the poem. They stand like physical objects in front of you that cannot be moved, not just words or feelings. Amazing stuff. Thank you so much. Peace and love

One of the best Chanel regarding literature ..you deserve millions of subscriber ...

@Fiction_Beast

2 жыл бұрын

Appreciate it.

never thought I'd have any interest in russian literature. I'm gonna go ahead and watch your other videos as well while I'm at it I guess

You do an amazing job with literature. It would be amazing to see you cover the Beat Generation, that would be such a cool video! I love your content

@Fiction_Beast

2 жыл бұрын

I’m not deeply familiar but a good suggestion for a future project.

Thanks for the video!

@Fiction_Beast

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you too!

A very good video! Many thanks for this.

@Fiction_Beast

Жыл бұрын

You are welcome!

Another great video. Looking forward for the next one. Also, you could explore more the work of Shakespeare, I would like to hear your thoughts about Hamlet.

@Fiction_Beast

2 жыл бұрын

I discussed hamlet in a previous video comparing it to Don Quixote.

Looking forward to having it on Spotify🎉

@Fiction_Beast

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah it's coming on Wednesday

Thank you very much for the video! I accidentaly got on your channel, and I am very impressed by the depth and the thoroughness of your analysis. Eugene Onegin is a masterpiece of russian literature, which is studied in schools, but not so many people truly understand it's meaning, preferring superficial understanding of it as a tragic love story or a story of the so-called "superfluos man" (very popular archetype in russian 19th century literature - for example, among Onegin is also Bazarov in "Fathers and Sons" by Turgenev and Pechorin in "Hero of our time" by Lermontov). "Eugene Onegin" is, how it was called by russian criticist and writer Belinskiy "encyclopedia of russian life", one of the books, which truly represent our culture and try to analyze such themes as conflicts between city and suburb, tradition and modern life, eastern and western. The structure of the poem is simple, yet is touching on a deepest level. And without Puskin there would be no Tolstoy, no my favourite Dostoyevskiy ) For me this poem also means a lot, as you can see from my name ) The character of Tatyana is one of the first attempts in russian literature to understand women's perspective, which was continued by Tolstoy in "Anna Karenina". She is not perfect, as she is bound with the limits of her time, but the way she behaves, with all that sincerity, cleverness and honor - that is insipiring even now, 2 centuries later. Thank you again and greetings from Saint Petersburg :) P.S. I hope that russian literature and russian art in general will not be viewed in different light because of all that darkness that comes from our country right now...

@Fiction_Beast

2 жыл бұрын

Really appreciate your thoughtful and insghtful comment. Also love your name :)

@haniffhaniff5764

2 жыл бұрын

Tatyana, there is no darkness coming from Russia. If at all, in fact it came from war mongering nato who constantly provokes russia through its eastward expansion. There is no need to play along w western propaganda.

@Brunodomini

11 ай бұрын

There is no darkness coming from Russia now, and I say that as a deeply and very abruptly disillusioned westerner, as of early March last year. The darkness is coming from a different direction.

@tor4472

7 ай бұрын

@@Brunodomini You can join their ranks then

@nelidaferraz6497

5 ай бұрын

Yes, there isn’t no darkness coming from Pushkin ‘ s land in this moment. It’s real truth.

Somehow this video get recommended unexpectedly, might have been because I googled for Eugene Onegin. Seems nice but I haven't watched it yet, did saved to my documentary playlist though, might watch it fully after I finish Pushkin's work. I'm trying to learn Russian to read literature right now, reading EO in original Russian alongside with Nabokov's translation and commentary. Good luck with your channel I guess

@Fiction_Beast

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you! Good luck with your Russian language. It's not easy learning from Pushkin. I would say Chekhov might be easier.

It’s like most things in life. We need a balance between the happiness and struggle although we lazily prefer happiness almost always.

"to see you by our fireside stand, to listen to the words you speak, address to you one signe phrase and the to midatate for days, of one thing again till we met" Which translation did you use? This version is more beautiful than the one I have.

thank you so much for such a brilliant summary. It made me to buy this right now. Can you tell which book will be best translated in English because i cant read in Russian language. What a deep explanation. From Pakistan

@Fiction_Beast

Жыл бұрын

Stanley Mitchel translation is great

Excellent analysis of the great idealist romantic!

Thank you dear, I would look to it. Kinda off topic, but can you please do a video on Sanskrit literature, like of Ramayana, Mahabharata or even Romantic novels like Abhigyan Shakuntalam? I would love to explore it.

@Fiction_Beast

2 жыл бұрын

Yes, definitely

Few people know, but Pushkin was a Freemason. Good or bad - decide for yourself. Pushkin's main achievement is that he brought together the disparate dialects of the Russian into one whole and did it 100%. Pushkin didn't hesitate to call himself a genius in his poetry. I will tell you as a linguist - if you ever learn Russian and any East Slavic. Only in Russian you will not find dialects, the language is completely monolithic, literate, words have mathematical accuracy within the framework of figurative representation. Language has really been worked on, and not less than hand of the master. Same can be said about the work of Pushkin. His works are full of secrets, contain many sacred numbers, symbolic names, and even prophecy. Russians still don't understand 90% of the mysteries of Pushkin's works and read them as simple texts. But no one understands this, although almost everyone knows that everything in them is not just like that, arrangement of words, numbers, values, and so on. You can take books written in Russian for the 18th century in different dialects and read them easily, everything will be clear to you. Oldest East Slavic words (which are more than 10 centuries old) don't change their morphology only in Russian. Pushkin is respected for the fact that he really understood what he was doing with the language. Russians love Pushkin, because the main monument to Pushkin is hidden in the Russian.

@omerlibchik3281

Жыл бұрын

You are 100% correct that Russians don't really understand Pushkin and I'll even add that as far as I can see they don't even bother to actually read him, they just say that they admire him.

@avadhutagita3741

Жыл бұрын

@@omerlibchik3281 I didn't say that Russians don't read Pushkin. Russians know his works very well, because Pushkin's work is studied in all schools in Russia. I wanted to say that Pushkin's works contain secrets that 90% of readers don't undestand. The same as with the secrets of the Quran, the Bible, and other... There is a lot of figurative language that almost no one sees.

Great video once again. I am seeing Russia is winning the war of literature in your library.😅😅

@Fiction_Beast

2 жыл бұрын

Russia on the news for the wrong reason so I’m doing my part to show how great is its literature.

Please review the Bhagavad Gita sometime. It's very short (only 700 verses) but immensely beautiful. My favourite book ☺️

@Fiction_Beast

2 жыл бұрын

That’s a great suggestion. It has been my radar for a while.

Great video, thank you very much , note to self(nts) watched all in it 10:26

Στο τέλος περίμενα να απαγγείλεις το ποίημα του Pushkin στη Ρωσική γλώσσα. Γιατί αυτό που αγαπώ πιο πολύ στον Pushkin είναι η μουσική των στίχων του

Please do a video on Sergey Esenin 🙏

Might be a little late to say, but Adam Mizkevich is mostly Belarusian, though at that time it was hard to define in which category belarusians fit in. I know this because i love Belarusian literature, it's not as sad and deep as russian but it feels more diverse. Love your videos anyway

Fascinating lectures, the two I have listened to so far. But please: speak more slowly. Some words are blurred.

Amazing interpretations. Thank you so much. Hearty wishes from Tamilnadu, India. where the longest novel of world literature is written. ( Venmurasu- 26000 pages )

@Fiction_Beast

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you! I hope one i will be able to read it.

13:39 lol, I know someone who is a little too weird to just be a consequence of his readings, but, yeah, he has asked myself if certain things he's done haven't been influenced by said readings, lol...though, more "how" he did them, rather than that he did them at all...but, lol, as for ideas, ways of thinking, I think back in the day he was likely more influenced by them than he is presently...like, lol, they might have shaped how he thought about certain things, patriotism, bravery, etc, especially, especially 19th century novels did that...

Can you please discuss Gibran Khalil Gibran's "The Prophet"? You will find it to be in alignment with the Bible, Nietzsche, and the great minds of nineteenth-century thinkers. Thank you.

@Fiction_Beast

2 жыл бұрын

Great suggestion. I’ll check it out.

@hichamboulos1155

2 жыл бұрын

@@Fiction_Beast Great! Many thanks.

@tor4472

7 ай бұрын

How is it aligned both with Nietzsche and the bible? He utterly opposed the concept of a heaven outside present reality.

"Men with the biggest balls are attending the biggest ball." I see what you did there, FB! LOL!

@Fiction_Beast

2 жыл бұрын

Someone’s paying attention lol 😃

@nikkivenable1856

2 жыл бұрын

@@Fiction_Beast LOLLL!!!!!

Crimea and Moldova are not in the Caucasus?

When one becomes the butt of rumor, It's hard to bear (as you well know) When men of reason and good humor Perceive you as freak on show, Or as a sad and raving creature, A monster of Satanic feature, Or even Demon of my pen. Eugene (to speak of him again), Who'd killed his friend for satisfaction, Who in an aimless, idle fix Had reached the age of twenty-six, Annoyed with leisure and inaction, Without position, work, or wife - Could find no purpose for his life. Предметом став суждений шумных, Несносно (согласитесь в том) Между людей благоразумных Прослыть притворным чудаком, Или печальным сумасбродом, Иль сатаническим уродом, Иль даже Демоном моим. Онегин (вновь займуся им), Убив на поединке друга, Дожив без цели, без трудов До двадцати шести годов, Томясь в бездействии досуга Без службы, без жены, без дел, Ничем заняться не умел.

@Fiction_Beast

Жыл бұрын

Thank you for the Russian original. It helps me practice my Russian.

How does it rhyme in English when it was written in Russian?

@Fiction_Beast

Жыл бұрын

Coincidence. The Russian name is evgeny which is Eugene in English.

It is not only Russians who like him

So, today you are nudging me to speak of the Russian zeitgeist. As you say they have a value that seeks authenticity in the life of the folk or narod. Country folk seem to have a deeper sense of value compared to the flighty city people. This, though, is only a stone's throw to anti-intellectualism. We must never forget that this kind of focus on "folk" values is at the heart of every modern fascist movement I can think of.

@Fiction_Beast

2 жыл бұрын

Perhaps fascism had its roots in romanticism? Romanticists had a disdain for industrialization, urbanization and rationality so they preferred nature and the countryside. I don’t really know much about fascism. Both Tolstoy and Dostoevsky believed in peasant wisdom being often superior to intellectuals. Tolstoy more from a class perspective and Dostoevsky from a religious perspective. Dostoevsky’s anti-intellectualism is very obvious because he thought questioning faith, traditional values and customs would lead to nihilism where everything has a for sale sign, and people no longer care about others unless it benefits them materially. It’s a good point you raised.

You know what...Pushkin's lineage is not in Cameron. In fact I'm from that African country where Pushkin's ancestor, Alexander came from and the country is Eritrea. And this has been proved through historical documentation without a shred of doubt. And few years back, together with the Russian gov't and Pushkin siblings, our gov't erected a statue of Pushkin in the center of the capital city, Asmara. Just to give you a bit of the real story: Pushkin's ancestor was kidnapped by the Ottamans, who were at the time occupying the eastern part of what's today Eritrea, along the Red Sea. Pushkin's ancestor, Alexander was so handsome and intelligent as a kid and the Ottamans decided to take him away...and then one of the Ottaman kings handed Alexander to the Tsar of Russia, where he proved to be a great General and surpassed all expectations in the army of the Tsar. He became so trusted and loved by the Tsar and was made a proper citizen of Russia...etc.

@user-rm5xd4il6c

8 ай бұрын

Pushkin's great-grandfather, arap of Peter the Great, was on the maternal side.

In fact, Pushkin was Korean, he came to Russia when he was a child, we can see the characteristics of Koreans from his poetry, poor Pushkin died before he could return to Korea😢

@shinylighting

7 күн бұрын

Korean ... You are very funny 🤣🤣

You're too hard on yourself M. You reflect the beautiful aspects of many if the worlds reflective people. Friends by proxy!

@Fiction_Beast

Жыл бұрын

Appreciate it.

You seems to be a very interesting person. Strange that you do not have friends :/

@Fiction_Beast

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you! I have more time to read and make content 😅

He is an Eritrean man.

@Fiction_Beast

Жыл бұрын

really?

@zemietech2003

Жыл бұрын

@@Fiction_Beast yes.

@extraditori6604

Жыл бұрын

He is only 1/8 African

Puszki z Rosji aż do wawy

@Fiction_Beast

2 жыл бұрын

what language is this?

Ethiopia 🇪🇹 noo camron

I think the fact that millions voted for Joe Biden tells us that "Yes, most people are idiots" Im pretty dumb myself...but I'm not that dumb

@Fiction_Beast

2 жыл бұрын

I have been an idiot many times in my life. Likely do stupid things in the future.

@nikkivenable1856

2 жыл бұрын

I love this comment so much!!!!

@danpaulson927

2 жыл бұрын

It wasn't about Joe. It was about the orange narcissist and his tribe of color hating, arrogant children. We got a whole world here. Not just your fenced in yard.

@rahul17023

Жыл бұрын

Maybe because they couldn't tell of his incompetence before his term.

@cappy2282

Жыл бұрын

@@rahul17023 lol no excuses...Unless you're young. (I voted for Obama first term when I was 18 because I was clueless) Yes they tried to cover up Biden incompetence but he's been an incompetent/corrupt government swamp rat for 50yrs

The question to be asked is why the west doesn’t do Pushkin

@Fiction_Beast

Жыл бұрын

It was hard to translate as his Russian is very unique.

After carefully listening to your speech, I am 99% sure that you, like almost all other living people on this planet, have not really read "Yevgeni Onegin" - you have read some part of it, skipped the most and drew your summary from notes you have found elsewhere. I am saying this with confidence as I myself just finished reading (in Russian!) this entire boredom bomb. This book is an early version of Proust's "temps perdu" in the sense that no human being is capable of reading the entire book without fainting, regardless of the influence the book had on other writers. Pushkin's plot is shallow and can be summarized in 4 pages (just like your summary) but the book contains endless side passages with lengthy boring descriptions and irrelevant comments that everybody skips. Likewise, there is absolutely no resemblance between Onegin and Don Quijote, he does not live in an imaginary world of books like you have said, despite the fact that Tatyana comes to his house and look at his books - so what? The ball in which he later sees her takes place in Moscow, not Saint-Petersburg, he is not seducing Olga in the ball, merely dances with her a little, he is not described as a man who seduces married women in any part of the book and many other inaccuracies indicate to me that you have opened the book, read some famous parts and then looked up a summary to create this video. Don't feel bad, it's really as boring as you have felt while trying to read it.

@alexandersheremetev6046

Жыл бұрын

Someone said it finally, thank you. Pushkin himself is a much overestimated author , considering he was more of what you call now a loud media person who also wrote. He is taught at Russian school as “our everything” and most people just ignore 50% of his work that was mostly average political satire and cheesy porn poems.

Tchaikovsky the greatest Russian composer? 🙄 Stravinsky Prokofiev Rimsky-Korsakov Shostakovich Khachaturian

And why is it called "To * * *" because we have three names and you are suppose to fill in the blanks.

@Fiction_Beast

Жыл бұрын

Good point.

@ReligionOfSacrifice

Жыл бұрын

@@Fiction_Beast, I just bought seven books for someone's birthday. 9) "Smoke" by Ivan Turgenev 2) “Resurrection" by Leo Tolstoy 8) "A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 13) "Eugene Onegin" by Alexander Pushkin 3) "The Idiot" by Fyodor Dostoevsky 4) "Fathers and Sons" by Ivan Turgenev 7) "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy This order is the order they are suggested for reading, but the numbers are where they fall on my list of favorite books if you remove the Bible from the list. So six of them are in the top nine, showing that Russian novels make up 2/3rds of the top books ever written, according to me today.

I am a teacher of the Russian language and literature, and what I have just heard is nonsense.

The music you have in the background makes it that i cannot concentrate on what you are saying... wish you didn't have it.

Too bad we can't understand what you're saying it probably would have been good

@gracefitzgerald2227

2 жыл бұрын

You can always use the subtitles. It’s not probably good, it’s all amazing.

@Fiction_Beast

2 жыл бұрын

i added subtitles in 32 languages.

@athenaeatsapples

Жыл бұрын

Who is we? I understand it, as well as probably his 73k other subscribers

Where is God in this adulterer's writings? Freemason, of course.

Great video, thank you very much , note to self(nts) watched all in it 26:40