What happened to Onegin? Poetics of ending in Pushkin's novel in verse

Object of the article: the final scene of the novel in verse "Eugene Onegin" by A.S. Pushkin (ЕО, 8, XLVIII, 1-10). Subject of the article: the device of narrative interruption and poetics of the novel’s ending. Purpose of the research: analysis of the structure and meaning of the final scene. Results: the author argues that the interrupted narration in fact fully completes Onegin's storyline. The final scene contains: 1) the inversion of the binary oppositions "movement-immobility" / "living-dead", that is characteristic of the "sculptural myth"; 2) a foreshadowing of a possible duel between Onegin and Tatyana's husband. Field of application: literary criticism, teaching Russian literature of the 19th century. Conclusions: the probability of a duel between the general and Onegin is based on the symmetry and parallelism of the novel’s compositional design and a foreshadowing of the protagonist's death in a head-to-head combat. This duel is not implemented in the plot, but is virtually present in the semantic space of the novel. That virtual duel between two friends (8, XVIII) - Onegin and the general - is in inversely symmetric relation to the real duel between two friends - Onegin and Lensky. In the context of the revenge scheme, in which revenge for the murder is carried out by the double of the victim, Tatiana's husband plays a role of Lensky's "double" (in the function of "friend") who avenges his death. The author is indebted to Svetlana M. Gracheva and Oleg B. Zaslavsky for stimulating discussion and helpful advice .