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Kasyan from the Beautiful Lands

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"No, no, I've got your word for it, I've got to die ... you promised me ... you told me ..."

Turgenev's accounts of hunting in rural Russia, and the extraordinary characters he meets there.

Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions.

Ivan Turgenev (1818-1883).

Turgenev's works available in Penguin Classics are Fathers and Sons, First Love, Home of the Gentry, On the Eve, Rudin, Sketches from a Hunter's Album, Spring Torrents and Three Sketches from a Hunter's Album.

56 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1883

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About the author

Ivan Turgenev

1,826 books2,802 followers
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.

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5 stars
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310 (34%)
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380 (42%)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 105 reviews
Profile Image for Bernhard.
71 reviews74 followers
April 27, 2021
“But Kasyan’s what they call me,
And by nickname I’m the Flea...”

This book belongs to the Penguin Little Black Classics collection and is composed of two short stories. The first, named The District Doctor, is about a doctor who falls in love with one of his patients as she nears death with some kind of sickness. There isn’t much to this story, but I still enjoyed reading it and I actually thought it to be a better story than Kasyan from the Beautiful Lands.

The second story, which bears the name of this little book, is about a man who is travelling through the countryside when his cart’s axle breaks down and he comes upon a small village, meeting a mysterious man named Kasyan. Turgenev focuses heavily on descriptions of the countryside in this story and his writing is very good, but I can’t say that I was compelled by it.
Profile Image for Magdalen.
227 reviews115 followers
January 12, 2018
"It was a bitter thing for me, bitter for many reasons. You know how it is, sometimes little things happen which seem nothing at all, but they hurt."

Turgenev's writing is so simple and I personally like it. (at least from what I have read so far) The first story was easier (for me) to follow since I found it more fascinating and to my likings. The second story was okay..certainly not boring but I guess I expected more.
The District Doctor has to do with love, while Kasyan from the beautiful lands has to do with hunting...
All in all, there were two nice stories that you can easily finish quickly.
Anyway, I enjoy reading Turgenev's short stories and I am looking forward to reading his novels. (especially Fathers & Sons)
Profile Image for Darwin8u.
1,845 reviews9,053 followers
January 28, 2021
“It's not for man nor beast to get the better of death. Death doesn't come running, but you can't run away from it, neither; nor must you be helping it along. ”
― Ivan Turgenev, "Kasyan from the Beautiful Lands"

description

Vol N° 75 of my Penguin Little Black Classics Box Set. This volume contains two short stories by Turgenev that appear in Penguin's collection Sketches from a Hunter's Album translated by Richard Freeborn.

1. District Doctor ★★★★
2. Kasyan from the Beautiful Lands ★★★★

I really don't have much to say that would be witty or wise here. They are both very touching stories. 'District Doctor' relates a visit the doctor makes with a poor family. The second story Turgenev talks a few people in a remote village that the narrator encounters when his cart and his driver and him are marooned for a time with a broken axle while hunting. Besides the narrator, the main character is Kasyan who is not exactly and idler and not exactly a mystic. Anyway, both stories deal with death and the intersection of middle-high and low(er) society in Russia. Beautiful in their executions and more like sketches (hence the name of the original collection) than a painting.
Profile Image for Marjolein (UrlPhantomhive).
2,497 reviews57 followers
September 25, 2020
I couldn't help but think these two stories were rather pointless. It felt to me as if the writer was going to make a point or a plot at some point, but it sort of sizzled out before it could be made. Perhaps this was the aim, to show how many events will not have great, life changing impacts, but personally I thought it was rather odd.

The writing however was nice enough - as is usually the case with the 19th century Russian writers.

~Little Black Classics #75~
Profile Image for Michelle Curie.
1,095 reviews463 followers
April 1, 2025
A story offering a glimpse into 19th-century Russia that was interesting to read, though not engaging enough to truly stay with me.



Kasyan from the Beautiful Lands follows a hunter whose cart breaks down in rural Russia, leading him to encounter the peasant Kasyan. Through their interactions, we learn more about Kasyan's philosophical ideas and his thoughts on spirituality and the human condition.

It's an intriguing look at Russia's peasantry. We get vivid descriptions of nature and a strong sense of what life was like for the lower classes during that time. Turgenev's writing is otherwise simple and stripped-back in an eloquent sort of way, which I enjoyed—but this was really the story’s main strength. There isn't a rich offering in terms of plot, neither in the title story nor in the second short story included in this collection, titled District Doctor.

There's a preachy tone to it. While I'm not entirely sure what to make of this story, what stuck with me most is how Kasyan's hatred of upper society is contrasted with his glorification of folklore. I assume this can be interpreted as finding spiritual meaning in nature, which is presented here as a more authentic and uncorrupted way of life. As a result, one can read a romanticisation of the peasantry into this. I thought the idea was worth exploring, but it would have been more compelling had it been embedded in a more thrilling plot.

In 2015 Penguin introduced the Little Black Classics series to celebrate Penguin's 80th birthday. Including little stories from "around the world and across many centuries" as the publisher describes, I have been intrigued to read those for a long time, before finally having started. I hope to sooner or later read and review all of them!
Profile Image for Akylina.
291 reviews70 followers
July 10, 2016
Turgenev's writing prowess is more than evident in both of the short stories featured in this little black Penguin classic edition. However, in terms of plot I found them both lacking. Perhaps the first story, "District Doctor" was the most interesting for me, as I wanted to know what happened next. The second story, which gives the book its title as well, was not as interesting, but it did contain some beautifully written descriptions of nature. Not my favourite of Turgenev's work, but rather enjoyable nevertheless.
Profile Image for Peter.
777 reviews137 followers
January 13, 2017
Ho dear! Ho dear, dear, dear; despite a beautiful writing structure, a firm grasp of eloquent writing, we face a problem.
There is no story, no matter how good the ability to structure a great sentence, if there is no narrative grip you are lost.

District Doctor:

Met a hot girl with a fever would only love me if I said she was going to die. Told her and the next day...

Kasyan from the Beautiful Lands:

Driving along on a wagon, met old man, shot a bird, had a philosophical chat, fixed wagon carried on with journey.

Three stars for his writing style.
Profile Image for JK.
908 reviews63 followers
October 25, 2018
I was absolutely desperate to start this one as I’ve never encountered a work of Russian literature that didn’t blow me away. Turgenev holds the honour of being the first Russian author to disappoint me.

To be fair, and perfectly honest, it was one of the better choices within the Little Black Classics range, despite its lack of impact. The two stories are taken from a collection of Turgenev’s short stories which recount his time hunting in rural Russia, and the various characters he met on his travels.

Using District Doctor to ease us in was an excellent move. The story tells of love, death, family, and lies, and does so in such a way to disorient the reader at a time where most of the characters are ablaze with confusion themselves. I relished this; the strange word choices, the behaviours, the utterly bizarre ending. And yet, upon the last word, I wondered what the point of it all was.

The titular short story left a lot to be desired. Although Turgenev skilfully displayed his writing skill with wonderful descriptions of nature, his plot wasn’t entirely compelling. I was baffled, frustrated, and, dare I say it, a bit bored.

I’m unsure whether this one’s failure is the fault of Turgenev for his poor plot outlines, or Penguin for their poor choice of stories. I do wonder whether these would make more sense within the collection they are taken from, yet Penguin haven’t compelled me to explore this any further.

позор
Profile Image for Nikola Edelsztejn.
63 reviews1 follower
July 18, 2024
Both stories simply weren’t interesting.

The first story “the district doctor” felt like an average soap drama in which every single next line could be predicted very easily.

The second story, after which the booklet is named, was nicely written, with fair natural details, but it lacked a morale, a plot, or, to be fair, an entire story line.
Profile Image for Dane Cobain.
Author 22 books322 followers
May 7, 2019
The writing here was beautiful, but I wasn’t particularly interested in the subject matter. If you’re into 1800s rural Russia, though, then you’ll get a lot out of this. So yeah.

Profile Image for noor.
20 reviews
April 7, 2023
Something to get by in a single sitting. Turgenev is good at writing down a story and telling it in a grandma-style. One surely sticks till the very end. This was my first read of his, and it surely won't be the last.

This short classic here consisted of two of his short stories, both felt like real life events narrated by someone who either witnessed it too closely, or lived it too well. A lot of emotion and strong presentation of themes involving man, nature, class and fragility of our existence were part of his work so far read. A good read I'd say.
Profile Image for Rizal.
153 reviews25 followers
December 17, 2015
I really loved the 1st story in this book than the other one. /review will be later/
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for alex.
185 reviews1 follower
January 9, 2025
This short collection contains two of Ivan Turgenev's short stories, "The District Doctor" and "Kasyan from the Beautiful Lands," both taken from Richard Freeborn's translation of Turgenev's Sketches from a Hunter's Album.

"The District Doctor" focuses on a doctor who travels to a poor homestead to treat a dying young lady, Alexandra Andreyevna. However, the doctor finds himself falling in love with her. The story primarily discusses love and the effects of death at a young age. I particularly liked Turgenev's way of writing—it is very simple and the doctor's dialogue is very fast-paced with the use of ellipses and short sentences. I would rate it 3.5 or 3.75 stars.

"Kasyan from the Beautiful Lands" centers an unnamed narrator, who is returning from a hunting trip; the axle on his cart breaks and he and the driver are forced to go to a nearby village. In the village, he meets Kasyan, a short man who is seen as a holy man. Kasyan and the narrator go looking for an axle, and Kasyan tells the narrator that hunting is a sin. I liked this story less than the first, as I thought it was a bit less engaging. However, I did enjoy the more detailed prose—below is one section I particularly enjoyed. Overall, I would rate this story 3 stars.

“it is a remarkably pleasant occupation, to lie on one's back in a forest and look upwards! it seems that you are looking into a bottomless sea, that it is stretching out far and wide below you, that the trees are not rising from the earth but, as if they were the roots of enormous plants, are descending or falling steeply into those lucid, grassy waves, while the leaves on the trees glimmer like emeralds or thicken into a gold-tinted, almost jet-black greenery. somewhere high, high up, at the very end of a delicate branch, a single leaf stands out motionless against a blue patch of translucent sky, and, beside it, another sways, resembling in its movements the ripplings upon the surface of a fishing reach, as if the movement were of its own making and not caused by the wind. like magical underwater islands, round white clouds gently float into view and pass by, and then suddenly the whole of this sea, this radiant air, these branches and leaves suffused with sunlight, all of it suddenly begins to stream in the wind, shimmers with a fugitive brilliance, and a fresh, tremulous murmuration arises which is like the endless shallow splashing of oncoming ripples. you lie still and you go on watching: words cannot express the delight and quiet, and how sweet is the feeling that creeps over your heart. you go on watching, and that deep, clear azure brings a smile to your lips as innocent as the azure itself, as innocent as the clouds passing across it, and as if in company with them there passes through your mind a slow cavalcade of happy recollections, and it seems to you that all the while your gaze is travelling farther and farther away and drawing all of you with it into that calm, shining infinity, making it impossible for you to tear yourself away from those distant heights, from those distant depths...”
Profile Image for Hila.
335 reviews13 followers
July 14, 2019
*2,5
“You lie still and you go on watching: words cannot express the delight and quiet, and how sweet is the feeling that creeps over your heart. You go on watching, and that deep, clear azure brings a smile to your lips as innocent as the azure itself, as innocent as the cloud passing across it, and as if in company with them there passes through your mind a slow cavalcade of happy recollections, and it seems to you that all the while your gaze is travelling farther and farther away and drawing all of you with it into that calm, shining infinity, making it impossible for you to tear yourself away from those distant heights, from those distant depths...”

p.39, “Kasyan from the beautiful lands”
Profile Image for sanne_reads.
297 reviews
February 7, 2017
I enjoyed his writing - I always do because Turgenev is a great writer - but the stories were just ok.
Hopefully I'll get to read his whole short story collection sometime (for it to make more sense).
Profile Image for Grace.
329 reviews1 follower
November 13, 2021
A collection of two short stories. The first, District Doctor, details the story of a doctor who falls in love with one of his dying patients. The second, Kasyan from the Beautiful Lands, describes the journey of a man whose axel breaks on his cart and his journey of finding another one.

Ivan Turgenev has a very descriptive style of writing and I am now interested in reading more of his works.
Profile Image for Harry Collier IV.
191 reviews41 followers
Read
April 8, 2021
This was my first exposure to Turgenev but I know it will not be my last. Such simple stories that contain so much meaning. It is what writers of short stories should strive for.
Profile Image for zuzanna.
33 reviews1 follower
October 27, 2022
3.5 // I should have read the Polish translation instead of the English one, I probably would have enjoyed it more. The stories were nice nevertheless and I’m excited to read Fathers and Sons next.
Profile Image for fawnie.
128 reviews5 followers
June 14, 2024
2 short stories

1- District Doctor: I did not enjoy this one much. Maybe because I was not having the best day when reading it. 1/5

2- Kasyan From The Beautiful Lands: Pretty lovely descriptions of nature in this one. 3/5

Will revisit for a reread sometime probably. I don’t have much else to say.
Profile Image for Russ Hall.
85 reviews1 follower
January 20, 2019
Wonderful short stories from 19th century Russia.
Really enjoyed these two shorts. His description of laying on your back watching a summer sky is perfect. Read it in an afternoon. It's time well spent.
Profile Image for Stephen Heiner.
Author 3 books114 followers
November 13, 2018
I'm familiar with Turgenev's ability to set a scene and this short story provided another one of his beautiful and evocative descriptions, very much reminding me of similar strains in Walden:

"Bored by his silence, I lay down on my back and began admiringly to watch the peaceful play of the entwined leaves agains the high, clear sky. It is a remarkably pleasant occupation, to lie on one's back in a forest and look upwards! It seems that you are looking into a bottomless sea, that it is stretching out far and wide below you, that the trees are not rising from the earth but, as if they were the roots of enormous plants, are descending or falling steeply into those lucid, grassy waves, while the leaves on the trees glimmer like emeralds or thicken into a gold-tinted, almost jet-black greenery. Somewhere high, high up, at the very end of a delicate branch, a single leaf stands out motionless against a blue patch of translucent sky, and beside it, another sways, resembling in its movements the ripplings upon the surface of a fishing reach, as if the movement were of its own making and not caused by the wind. Like magical underwater islands, round white clouds gently float into view and pass by, and then suddenly the whole of this sea, this radiant air, these branches and leaves suffused with sunlight, all of it suddenly begins to stream in the wind, shimmers with a fugitive brilliance, and a fresh, tremulous murmuration arises which is like the endless shallow splashing of oncoming ripples. You lie still and you go on watching: words cannot express the delight and quiet, and how sweet is the feeling that creeps over your heart. You go on watching, and that deep, clear azure brings a smile to your lips as innocent as the azure itself, as innocent as the clouds passing across it, and as if in company with them there passes through your mind a slow cavalcade of happy recollections, and it seems to you that all the while your gaze is traveling farther and farther away and drawing all of you with it into that calm, shining infinity, making it impossible for you to tear yourself away from those distant heights, from those distant depths." (p. 38-39)

This thin volume also contains the short story "District Doctor," which is very much worth a read as well.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 105 reviews

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