Historic Heart - St Petersburg - page 134

LIFE IMITATING ART
Russian literature is filled with jaded heroes, stubborn heroines, unrequited
loves and tragic deaths. None inspires more abhorrence and empathy than Yev-
geny Onegin, the title character in Alexander Pushkin's epic poem.
Yevgeny Onegin is a world-weary St Petersburg socialite who rejects the love
of devoted Tatiana but seduces her sister Olga. Unfortunately, Olga is betrothed
to his best friend, Lensky, who challenges our antihero to a duel. Both rivals
have misgivings, but pride forces the pair to fight, and Lensky is slain.
Is it a coincidence that Pushkin - the national bard and pride of St Petersburg
- was himself slain in a duel? His killer was a French nobleman, Baron Georges
d'Anthès, who had publicly courted Pushkin's beautiful wife, Natalya Gonchar-
ova.
Oddly enough, d'Anthès married Natalya's sister, Ekaterina - perhaps as a
ruse. But Pushkin was not persuaded. After an anonymous letter was circulated,
nominating the poet as the 'Grand Master of the Order of Cuckolds', the only
honourable response was a fight to the death.
History has not clarified this nasty affair: some still speculate that d'Anthès ac-
ted under the influence of Tsar Nicholas I, who found the famed poet's radical
politics inconvenient; others imply that the tsar himself may have had a thing for
Natalya, a notorious flirt. One thing's for sure: it ended badly for Pushkin.
On a cold night in February 1837, having eaten his final meal at the Literat-
ornoye Kafe on Nevsky pr, Pushkin set off by sled to a remote woodland to meet
his adversary ( CLICK HERE ). He was shot and died two days later at his home
on the Moyka River ( CLICK HERE ).
Unlike the remorseful Yevgeny Onegin, who recognises his foolishness in re-
jecting Tatiana and must live with his love unrequited and his soul sorrowful,