Ivan Turgenev

Written in 1850, The Diary of a Superfluous Man is Turgenev's novella in the form of the diary of a dying man. With two weeks to live, Tchulkaturin takes stock of his life only to discover how purposeless, loveless, and futile it has been. The other stories in this collection are "Three Portraits," an historical reminiscence ignited by three paintings; "Three Meetings," a tale of remarkable coincidences; "Mumu." the heartbreaking story of a peasant...

Rudin was written by Turgenev in the immediate aftermath of the Crimean War, when it became obvious to many educated Russians that reform was needed. The main debate of Turgenev's own generation was that of East versus West. Rudin depicts a typical man of this generation, aka the men of forties, intellectual but ineffective. Rudin is often compared to Pushkin's Eugene Onegin and Lermontov's Pechorin.

One of the most popular Russian novels of the nineteenth century, Turgenev's 1859 story of the offspring of an aristocratic father and serf mother mirrors his own life. Fyodor Ivanych Lavretsky experiences love and betrayal in Paris, and tragically ironic twists of fate upon his return home. Presented here in Constance Garnett's English translation.

I will tell you without beating about the bush. My patient ... how should I say?... Well, she had fallen in love with me ... or, no, it was not that she was in love ... however ... really, how should one say?' (The doctor looked down and grew red.) 'No,' he went on quickly, 'in love, indeed!

Published in 1867, Smoke contributed to Turgenev's ongoing argument with the Slavophiles and was to trigger his heated political quarrel with Dostoyevsky about the deplorable state of Mother Russia. Part love story, part political commentary, the novel tells of Litvinov, a quiet, ordinary young man, who travels to study European technology and scientific farming.

Ivan Turgenev's story set on the outskirts of Moscow, in the house of an old widow. Turgenev wrote Mumu with such vivid images and reflections of the state of the tsarist Russia that this piece together with his other stories was credited with having influenced public opinion in favour of the abolition of serfdom in 1861.

First Love tells the story of Vladimir Petrovich, a sixteen-year-old Russian student, who becomes captivated by the enchanting twenty-one-year-old Princess Zinaida. Vladimir finds himself irresistibly drawn into her circle of suitors, despite recognizing the folly of his infatuation. First Love vividly portrays the dizzying sensation of first infatuation and the tumultuous allure of unattainable love. Spring Torrents, also known as The Torrents of...

Ivan Turgenev (1818-1883) was a novelist, poet and playwright known for his honest and affectionate portrayals of Russian serfs in the feudal system of the nineteenth century. Unlike his contemporaries Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Leo Tolstoy, whose writings focused primarily on church and religion, Turgenev believed in and advocated the need for Russia to Westernize. He criticized the provincial society and political turbulence of his time through sophisticated,...

The story follows a young Russian landowner named Dimitry Sanin who falls deliriously in love for the first time while visiting the German city of Frankfurt. It is widely held as one Turgenev's greatest novels as well as being highly autobiographical in nature.

A journey into the depth of Russian countryside where intimate connection with nature comes as a natural way of life. Meet Kassyan, who can communicate directly with birds and other forest creatures. Discover mysterious sweet-voiced oracle bird, The Gamayune living among trees with leaves that fall not, neither in autumn nor in winter, and apples grow of gold, on silver branches, and every man lives in uprightness and content.