Status Updates From First Love and Other Tales ...

Its that telling gestures - so subtly done by Turgenev - that seems to add so much to both romance as a genre and perhaps to Russian fiction of this era as a whole.

Asya - 3.5/5 - Bittersweet story of the flighty love of a young Russian girl abroad in Germany. The character of Asya is done well as a lovable neurotic; and one sympathizes with the narrator for having a moments hesitation so harshly punished. "She wanted [...] to make the whole world forget her origins. She was both ashamed of her mother and ashamed of her shame - and yet she was proud of her too."

Mumu - 2/5 - A deeply felt anti-serfism story about a giant, loveable, mentally challenged serf named Gerasim and his dog Mumu. Written well and with a strong sense of place. But why doesn't he just take the dog with him when he goes back to his hometown?

Comment has to be made upon that odious character "the landlady." I appreciate reading old novels: they seem to be uninhibited in their placement of evil.

The Diary of a Superfluous Man - 3/5 - There are points to recommend it. Not least the naming of that great Russian character type. An important insight is given by Tergenev "It was only after I had been expelled from the Ozhogin's house that I finally realized how much pleasure a man can take in being aware of his own misfortune." Russia is really the perfector of schadenfreude. There are so many layers of it here.

Mumu - 8
First Love - 7
The Song of Triumphant Love - 7
Asya - 8
King Lear of the Steppes
Diary of a Superfluous Man