Turgenev's 1856 novel follows the charismatic but ineffectual intellectual Dmitri Rudin, whose passionate idealism captivates a provincial salon but proves powerless against practical reality. A penetrating portrait of Russia's "superfluous man," this fiction explores the gap between noble intentions and meaningful action in pre-reform Russian society.
IT was a quiet summer morning. The sun stood already pretty high in the clear sky but the fields were still sparkling with dew; a fresh breeze blew fragrantly from the scarce awakened valleys and in the forest, still damp and hushed, the birds were merrily carolling their morning song. On the ridge of a swelling upland, which was covered from base to summit with blossoming rye, a little village was to be seen. Along a narrow by-road to this little village a young woman was walking in a white muslin gown, and a round straw hat, with a parasol in her hand. A page boy followed her some distance behind. She moved without haste and as though she were enjoying the walk. The high nodding rye all round her moved in long softly rustling waves, taking here a shade of silvery green and there a ripple of red; the larks were trilling overhead. The young woman had come from her own estate, which was n…Continue reading →
A towering figure of 19th-century Russian literature, this nobleman-turned-writer (1818-1883) masterfully captured the social tensions of his era through psychological realism. His novels, particularly Fathers and Sons, introduced the world to the concept of nihilism while exploring generational conflict with unprecedented nuance and empathy. All works by Ivan Turgenev →
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