Simplicity seems to be the hallmark of Eugene Onegin. ‘Tatyana falls in love with Onegin and nothing comes of it. Then he falls in love with her and nothing comes of it. End of novel.’ So speaks one critic (Bayley: Introduction to the Charles Johnston translation, p. 15). If this were the full story there would be no case for considering Eugene Onegin to be a serious poem let alone a great novel. Of course it is not. This is anything but a straightforward narrative. The characters, their actions, their motivation, the ideas which they stir into circulation – all of these are elusive. Apparent simplicity proves to be illusory; the novel is difficult to interpret properly and impossible to pin down. Over the decades Onegin criticism has become increasingly complex and contradictory. All too often, without proper justification, explanation slides steadily into convoluted argument.

Let us put it plainly. Ever since its first appearance this novel has been subjected to distortion and misunderstanding. Warning signs have been ignored, partiality has been allowed a free hand and over-complication has fed upon itself. To a limited extent this is a good thing; a serious work of art must be capable of generating much discussion. Nor can all the complexities be resolved suddenly by a burst of new thinking. However, it will be useful to take account of some mistakes and contradictions which have arisen in this field. The ground must be cleared (yet again) before any new observations can be added to the discussion.