Virgin Soil: Volume 2

by Ivan Turgenev, Constance Garnett

Paperback. Faber Finds. Barely noticeable shelfwear on covers. Pages in excellent condition. BW

266 pages, Paperback

First published July 17, 2008

About the author

Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (Cyrillic: Иван Сергеевич Тургенев) was a novelist, poet, and dramatist, and now ranks as one of the towering figures of Russian literature. His major works include the short-story collection A Sportsman’s Sketches (1852) and the novels Rudin (1856), Home of the Gentry (1859), On the Eve (1860), and Fathers and Sons (1862).

These works offer realistic, affectionate portrayals of the Russian peasantry and penetrating studies of the Russian intelligentsia who were attempting to move the country into a new age. His masterpiece, Fathers and Sons, is considered one of the greatest novels of the nineteenth century.

Turgenev was a contemporary with Fyodor Dostoevsky and Leo Tolstoy. While these wrote about church and religion, Turgenev was more concerned with the movement toward social reform in Russia.

Reviews

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Near the end I had lost a sense of who was who, but if I understood correctly, this is a very tragic end. The political struggle in this novel is one that I'm not very well acquainted with, or actually not acquainted with at all, therefore that flew over my head. I'm guessing though that it had a great impact on the formation of the Russian state and the Russian identity.
One funny detail was the Russian lady with the Italian name and title of countess, who nonetheless spoke Russian with a heavy accent and knew not a bit of Italian.