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Sketches from a Hunter's Album

by Ivan Turgenev, Richard Freeborn (Translator)

3.89 of 5 stars 3.89 · rating details · 1,937 ratings · 52 reviews

Drawn from his first-hand observation of the countryside and its ways of life, Turgenev's anecdotes, portraits and lyrical impressions depict the peasants and the tyranny of serfdom with such immediacy that when the first of these Sketches appeared in book form in 1852 they were read as inflammatory polemic and led to his arrest and confinement at his estate of Spasskoye....more

Paperback, 267

Published 1983 by Penguin (first published 1852)

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Sep 22, 2012 mp04 rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Russian Literature Fans, Nature Lovers, Fans of Honest Writing

Shelves: project-1, stillness-in-fiction, russian

"Reading this first work of Turgenev's I tried as far as possible to prolong my enjoyment, often laying the book down on my knees; I rejoiced the naive customs and charming pictures of which I was given a delightful collection in each of the stories of this book..."
- Alphonse de Lamartine

Turgenev's portrayal of life of serfs has a distant compassion and admiration, which is some times even (though very rarely and never blatantly) elegiac. This book was apparently a reaction to what he observed i...more "Reading this first work of Turgenev's I tried as far as possible to prolong my enjoyment, often laying the book down on my knees; I rejoiced the naive customs and charming pictures of which I was given a delightful collection in each of the stories of this book..."
- Alphonse de Lamartine

Turgenev's portrayal of life of serfs has a distant compassion and admiration, which is some times even (though very rarely and never blatantly) elegiac. This book was apparently a reaction to what he observed in his country before fleeing abroad, his "Hannibal's oath" to "never reconcile to the enemy: serfdom". Now reactionary writing can defile stories with outside motivation. Not so the case here. His energy is channelized in serving us subtle, (overtly) nonpartisan portraits. He, a hunter (a disguise for peeking into the country life), acquaints himself with hordes of characters, coming in their touch for renting places to spend nights at, for finding helpers and horses and hooch. He is ever friendly with them yet never becomes too intimate. What we read here thus is not psychologically astute observations or sermons on moral uprightness and simplicity, but anecdotes - chance encounters, gossips, confessions that very naturally branch off from shop talks and hunting expeditions; all that form in our mind slight, hazy pictures that, we can appreciate how, would challenge the ill conceived notions of those times about serfs. A classic survives its age; it remains alive not as annals of times passed, or as a conveyor of the human sensitivity then. It survives because it offers that the value of which does not decay with time. A Hunter's Sketches here offers - what I would call - stillness. One may be completely oblivious to the political and social situation this book was written in, and yet one would find a gold mine of content for intellect and soul.

Very fittingly Turgenev lets a story be simple, seemingly plotless. The prose poems move forward leisurely, the observations mundane, incidental, and just as the unchallenged reader begins to forge a character into a definite shape, he is surprised. Take for example the story the collection opens with, 'Khor and Kalinych'. The unnamed narrator of the book (presumably Turgenev himself) travels with Kalinych to Khor's house and has a long conversation with him. Khor emerges as a sensible and worldly man, who has his prejudices, against education, women etc.; all while Kalinych remains mute and lost - a typical simpleton. Turgenev does nothing to change our view, until the last para. There:

"It will be a fine day tomorrow, " I remarked looking at the clear sky.
"No, it will rain," Kalinych replied, "the ducks yonder are splashing, and the grass smells strongly."
We drove into the copse. Kalinych began singing in an undertone as he jolted up and down on the driver's seat, and he kept gazing at the sunset.
The next day I left the house of Mr. Polutykin.

Nature is the second theme of this book. Turgenev describes nature as a hunter would: as beautiful and fulfilling; the hunter's life to be lived in integrity with it. A reader may want to skip through frequent descriptions however for Turgenev commits the debutant's folly of overdoing it. Of course, you forgive the author in the end; this is how he starts the last piece of this collection - with a direct note to the reader after an excerpt from a poem on nature he "consigned to flames":

The reader is, very likely, weary of my sketches; I hasten to reassure him by promising to confine myself to fragments already printed; but a parting cannot refrain from saying a few words about hunter's life

And guess what? In next few paras he describes the marvel in hunting with a gun and a dog through forests and steppes, in spring and autumn and summer and winter, night and day.
Sometimes he is so warm you get goosebumps.

However, it is time to end. By the way, I have spoken of spring; in spring it is easy to part, in spring even the happy feel the pull of the distance... Farewell, reader! I wish you constant well-being

This book will always remain on my bookshelf, to be dusted and frequented, to be smelled and kissed; after a busy day at office you don't need wine and music, you need a Turgenev's story reclining on a settee.
(less)

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Feb 08, 2008 Fred rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: over-46, reviewed

i don't know turgenev's more famous books, novels. they seem to be dryly witty dramas of aristocratic families. this book, by contrast, concerns the peasantry - the serfs - the slaves - but through the eyes of a young and very observant aristocrat supposedly surveying the vast estates he has recently inherited.

it's a book of linked short stories with a consistent narrator who generally stays out of the way, except in the sense that the stories he witnesses so often lay bare the depredations of h...more

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Apr 24, 2013 Rita marked it as to-read · review of another edition

KINGA's review

Ivan Turgenev is probably the least known of the Russian trio of Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy and Turgenev but nonetheless you should read him if you want to boast that you’ve read ‘the Russians’.

Sketches from a Hunter’s Album is a lesser known work of this lesser known Russian, written before his big novel Fathers and Sons.

“Oh, you think everyone's interesting. That's because you're a Red. I don't. I believe that quite a lot of people were just manufactured when God was thinking of someth...more KINGA's review

Ivan Turgenev is probably the least known of the Russian trio of Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy and Turgenev but nonetheless you should read him if you want to boast that you’ve read ‘the Russians’.

Sketches from a Hunter’s Album is a lesser known work of this lesser known Russian, written before his big novel Fathers and Sons.

“Oh, you think everyone's interesting. That's because you're a Red. I don't. I believe that quite a lot of people were just manufactured when God was thinking of something else," says a character in Mortimer's 'Paradise Postponed' and Turgenev must obviously be "a Red" because he finds all his subjects in those little sketches immensely interesting. In just a few pages he extracts what is important about a character and make him as vivid as if we met the chap ourselves and drank vodka with him. (He does also write about women).

Upon a first glance these are just beautiful pastoral stories filled with love for the Russian landscape and its people, but obviously they are not as innocent as they appear or Turgenev wouldn't get arrested on their account.

Nowadays we might wonder what was so outrageous about them but in Tsarist Russia you simply couldn’t say anything that would question the institution of serfdom (which was thriving in Russia until mid-19th century, long after it was abandoned in Western Europe, and was almost indistinguishable from slavery).

Turgenev doesn’t come across as very engaged because his narrator is almost entirely removed, his only role being that of an observer, but with such an obvious injustice facts alone suffice and there is hardly any need for a commentary. Also, his perceptive portraits of all the characters speak volumes about his compassion, more than any politically engaged diatribe would.

While the political angle of this book is important, it, of course, is no longer as relevant as it was. What is important, though, are the descriptions of nature and landscape. I read and re-read those wanting to teleport myself to Ukraine in summer or spring. Sadly, here I am, in dreary London, where there was no summer for the last three years. When was the last time I spent a warm summer night by a campfire? When was the last time I smelled the forest early in the morning? When was the last time I ran through the fields escaping a sudden spring shower? When did I actually wade in a river?

Turgenev is right - non-hunters can envy hunters. I envy them the whole thing, bar the animal killing, as I don’t have any need for that. If you can go to some untamed countryside in a temperate climate, go. If you can’t, read Turgenev, it’s the next best thing. I don’t think there is any writer who can evoke a sense of place more gracefully than him. He also addresses the reader directly (although he does, of course, assume him to be a man), which is rather quaint and I wish more contemporary writers did that, other than in post-modernist experiments a la Calvino. I liked this book so much I also bought a Polish translation. I think Turgenev would read wonderfully in Polish.

All of the stories were beautifully written but as far as content goes, my favourite ones were Bezhin Lea and the Clatter of Wheels. Interestingly, they both take place during a summer night. Give me a summer night!(less)

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Apr 16, 2009 Vince Donovan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Like a lot of my five-star books, this one has significance to me that extends beyond the words on the page. Years ago I got to talking about books with a really beautiful bartender at the old San Francisco Brewing Company. I said how I hadn't read much of the Russians (echoing something Ezra Pound says in Hemingway's A Moveable Feast. I think Pound actually says Rooskies). The woman put her hands over her heart and looked to heaven: "Oh Turgenev!" she said. "Turgenev!". Obviously that tugged my...more

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Feb 24, 2013 Helmut Barro rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Getarnte Systemkritik in schöner Landschaft

Über das Werk selbst, das seine sehr offene und stellenweise recht brutale Kritik am russischen Leibeigenheitssystem kaum hinter dem unauffälligen Titel und der gediegenden, blumigen Sprache verstecken kann, äußere ich mich hier nur am Rande - in dieser Rezension möchte ich die neue Übersetzung von Peter Urban in den Mittelpunkt stellen. Lassen wir doch zum Vergleich der älteren, inzwischen gemeinfreien Übersetzung von Eliasberg mit dieser neuen hier d...more Getarnte Systemkritik in schöner Landschaft

Über das Werk selbst, das seine sehr offene und stellenweise recht brutale Kritik am russischen Leibeigenheitssystem kaum hinter dem unauffälligen Titel und der gediegenden, blumigen Sprache verstecken kann, äußere ich mich hier nur am Rande - in dieser Rezension möchte ich die neue Übersetzung von Peter Urban in den Mittelpunkt stellen. Lassen wir doch zum Vergleich der älteren, inzwischen gemeinfreien Übersetzung von Eliasberg mit dieser neuen hier die Übersetzer selbst zu Wort kommen.

Eliasberg übersetzt eine Stelle in "Mein Nachbar Radilov":
"Ein frischgesäuberter Weg führte uns bald aus dem Lindenwäldchen, und wir kamen in den Gemüsegarten. Zwischen den alten Apfelbäumen und verwilderten Stachelbeerstauden leuchteten runde, hellgrüne Kohlköpfe; der Hopfen wand sich schraubenartig um die hohen Stangen; braune Stäbe, von vertrockneten Erbsenranken umwunden, standen in den Beeten eng beieinander; große flache Kürbisse lagen wie hingeworfen auf der Erde; die Gurken leuchteten gelb unter den verstaubten, eckigen Blättern; links, längs des Zaunes aus Flechtwerk, wogten hohe Nesselstauden; an zwei oder drei Stellen wuchsen gruppenweise tatarisches Geißblatt, Holunder und Hagebutten, die Überbleibsel der einstigen Anlagen. Neben dem kleinen, mit rötlichem und schleimigem Wasser angefüllten Fischkasten sah man einen von Pfützen umgebenen Brunnen. Enten plätscherten und watschelten geschäftig in diesen Pfützen; ein Hund lag auf der Wiese und nagte, am ganzen Körper zitternd und mit den Augen blinzelnd, an einem Knochen; eine gescheckte Kuh rupfte in der Nähe Gras und warf zuweilen den Schwanz auf ihren mageren Rücken."

Urban setzt diese Stelle eigentlich nur unwesentlich anders:
"Ein vor kurzem erst gepflegter Weg führte uns aus dem Lindenhain hinaus; wir betraten den Gemüsegarten. Zwischen alten Apfelbäumen schimmerten blaßgrün runde Kohlköpfe; Hopfen wand sich in Spiralen an hohen Stangen empor; eng ragte auf den Beeten dürres Geäst, umspannt von trockenem Erbslaub; große flache Kürbisse wälzten sich förmlich über die Erde; Gurken gilbten unter den verstaubten gezackten Blättern; entlang des Flechtzauns wogten hohe Brennesseln; an zwei oder drei Stellen wuchsen zuhauf: tatarisches Geißblatt, Holunder, Heckenrosen - die Reste ehemaliger "Blumenrabatten". Neben einem kleinen Fischbehälter, der mit einem rötlichen und schleimigen Wasser gefüllt war, sah man den Brunnen, umgeben von kleinen Pfützchen. Enten watschelten und plätscherten in diesen Pfützchen; auf einem Stück Wiese nagte, am ganzen Körper zitternd, ein Hund an einem Knochen; eine gescheckte Kuh rupfte hier träge am Gras, von Zeit zu Zeit den Schwanz auf ihren mageren Rücken werfend."

Das Stehenlassen russischer Wörter betrachte ich etwas zwiegespalten - wenn es sich um typisch russische Eigenheiten handelt, wie "Barin" oder ähnliches, für die es eigentlich keine deutsche direkte Entsprechung gibt, dann finde ich das gut. Andererseits lässt Urban aber auch "Telega" stehen, für das Eliasberg "Karren" setzt, ohne wirklich etwas an Inhalt zu verlieren, ähnlich "Armjak" etc. Solche Nichtübertragungen halte ich für Exotisierungen, die man als Übersetzer besser meidet.

Für den interessierten Leser bleiben somit hauptsächlich die 3 "neuen", erstmals übersetzten Geschichten; ansonsten kann man sicherlich auch heute noch auf die inzwischen gemeinfreie und damit kostenlose Eliasberg-Übersetzung zurückgreifen. Wer aber das Vorhaben, Übersetzungen fremdsprachiger Werke immer aktuell zu halten, unterstützen will - und das ist ein sehr unterstützenswertes Vorhaben - muss Urbans Übersetzung allein schon deswegen kaufen. Persönlich finde ich Urbans Übersetzung etwas sprachmächtiger und gediegener.

Die Ausstattung ist sehr gelungen: Ein kleiner Hardcover-Band im Miniformat mit hochwertigem Papier, guter Bindung, Lesebändchen und einem dezent gestalteten Schutzumschlag machen trotz der Größe echt was her. Viele Anmerkungen in Form von Endnoten und ein interessantes Nachwort über Turgenev selbst und die Übersetzungsgeschichte des vorliegenden Werks komplettieren das ganze.(less)

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Oct 10, 2012 Mohit Sharma rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: personal-favorites, russian-literature

This one transported me back the old Russia of 1850s, Russia of my childhood. Turgenev is different from both Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky, yet their equal in stature, a true master of prose. Sketches depict life of peasants and landlords in pre-1850(before serfdom was abolished)Russia, from the eyes of a nobleman hunter, always on the move, as he passes through all forms of life, observing with equanimity and keenness, all sorts of cruelty, wretchedness, and quirks and foibles of people around him....more

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Jul 30, 2010 Paul rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A Sportsman’s Sketches by Ivan Turgenev is a collection of short stories or observations (sketches) from the viewpoint of a Russian nobleman traveling his lands to both survey them and hunt for sport. [Note that this book is sometimes titled Sketches from a Hunter’s Album.:]

When you can’t enjoy a novel in the original language, then the book is only as good as the translation you have at hand. This particular edition was translated by Constance Garnett who did an excellent job of making Turgenev...more A Sportsman’s Sketches by Ivan Turgenev is a collection of short stories or observations (sketches) from the viewpoint of a Russian nobleman traveling his lands to both survey them and hunt for sport. [Note that this book is sometimes titled Sketches from a Hunter’s Album.:]

When you can’t enjoy a novel in the original language, then the book is only as good as the translation you have at hand. This particular edition was translated by Constance Garnett who did an excellent job of making Turgenev approachable.

While somewhat pastoral through the idyllic scenery that is described in detail, Turgenev’s main focus is the people that the sportsman encounters. Through discussions and business dealings, we learn that most people are not as they initially appear. Poor, unhealthy peasants display some of the deepest wisdom while privileged and well respected gentry are abusive and take advantage of their position. Class distinctions are important in this book, but the narrator tends to take a more positive view of those well below his station. One lesson that is consistent through most sketches is that your actions have a great impact on how others treat you.

My favorite descriptive passage in the book was when the hunter is lying on his back and looking up through the trees into sky. In the middle of his detailed description, he flips his viewpoint to be that of peering into the depths of the ocean. This ends in one of my favorite phrases:

“the deep, pure blue stirs on one’s lips a smile, innocent as itself; like the clouds over the sky, and, as it were, with them, happy memories pass in slow procession over the soul”

Turgenev is a Russian master that is more easily understood by Westerners than some of his contemporaries. His sentence structure (depending on the translator) may still be very complex, but the subject matter is simple. This was relatively short for a piece of Russian fiction, but it’s a great sample of Turgenev’s style and made me interested in reading more of his work.(less)

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Mar 21, 2011 Matthew rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

I seem to pick this up when the seasons change. It is not really a book about hunting, it is about wandering and noticing things. Since Turgenev noticed so much, this notebook is dense, but in a good way, like a thick forest.

The most exceptional sketch concerns peasant boys guarding horses outside in the dark. He listens to them talk while pretending to sleep. The boys talk about dead friends, ghosts, their fears. What he achieves is a perfect evocation of amateur confessions in the open air, it...more

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Aug 11, 2010 Polomoche rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

One of the finest books I've ever read. It sits on the top shelf with those few select novels that really changed my life. Historically, the book was instrumental in swaying public opinion, particularly among the aristocracy, towards emancipating the serfs.

The stories are really the account of a cultural anthropologist disguised as a 'sportsman'. He isn't really terribly interested in hunting; no, his true fascination is with the peasants that accompany him and that he encounters along the way....more

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Jun 15, 2011 Richard rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Book Report: This edition of "A Sportsman's Sketches" or "Sketches from a Hunter's Album" contains 13 of a possible 25 short fictions published by the tyro writer in Russia's preeminent literary magazine, The Contemporary, from 1847 to 1851. These were his first prose outpourings, designed to sustain his independent life far away from his autocratic and abusive mother. He brought these luminous, beautiful vignettes to life in partial imitation of his beloved's husband's work...Louis Viardot,...more The Book Report: This edition of "A Sportsman's Sketches" or "Sketches from a Hunter's Album" contains 13 of a possible 25 short fictions published by the tyro writer in Russia's preeminent literary magazine, The Contemporary, from 1847 to 1851. These were his first prose outpourings, designed to sustain his independent life far away from his autocratic and abusive mother. He brought these luminous, beautiful vignettes to life in partial imitation of his beloved's husband's work...Louis Viardot, much older husband of opera singer Pauline Viardot, and author of Souvenirs de chasse, a very similar collection of huntsman's memories of the countryside and people of Viardot's youth...but of his own youthful world at his mother's country estate.

The stories all illustrate the young author's liberalism, his disdain for the serf system sustaining a luxurious lifestyle for some and penury and privation for most. They were hailed by his fellow liberals, and entered the canon of Russian literature on the strength of that appeal. But generations of readers will attest that what keeps people reading these vignettes is a certain deftness and facility with characters and descriptions that is so robust that it even survives translation. These are objects of rare beauty. Not much when considered as stories, they blossom into beauty when viewed as moments lived by a very acute observer.

My Review: "Singers" is possibly my favorite of the sketches. The bleakness of the village, the unexpectedness of the singing contest in such a place, and the sheer animal drive of humans to find SOME joy in life...memorable.

"Kasyan from the Beautiful Lands" makes me weep...the dwarf, his simple belief that the world is good but mankind is not, his strength and certainty, all in contrast to our helpless and feckless narrator...how clear is Turgenev's picture of the unfairness of privilege unearned.

"Forest and Steppe" is, alone, the best reason I can give to you to go and get this book and read it. It shimmers. Its beauty of image and of imagination is simply unsurpassable. It is as close to perfect as any piece of writing I've ever seen.

So many of the others are, while good and worthy pieces of fiction, just not superb, that I feel it's best to say...the reason to read this collection is the cumulative effect of many a small, beautiful moment, not a Grand Revelation. More like walking in the woods by yourself, noticing birdsong and small shy flowers, than stumbling all unaware across the Grand Canyon.(less)

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Nov 27, 2011 Charles Samuels rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011

To read the criticism and blurbs about the political import of Turgenev's masterpiece is to miss the point entirely. This isn't a book about socio-economic inequality or even a book about tyranny and oppression. He makes no judgements other than to say that some habits of society can be a little constricting and sometimes pointless. The real joy of this book is in the reading. Trees, shrubs, birds, serfs, generals, and gentry are all treated with equal love, precision, and delicacy. One gets the...more

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Apr 22, 2013 Kinga rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ivan Turgenev is probably the least known of the Russian trio of Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy and Turgenev but nonetheless you should read him if you want to boast that you’ve read ‘the Russians’.

Sketches from a Hunter’s Album is a lesser known work of this lesser known Russian, written before his big novel Fathers and Sons.

“Oh, you think everyone's interesting. That's because you're a Red. I don't. I believe that quite a lot of people were just manufactured when God was thinking of something else," say...more Ivan Turgenev is probably the least known of the Russian trio of Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy and Turgenev but nonetheless you should read him if you want to boast that you’ve read ‘the Russians’.

Sketches from a Hunter’s Album is a lesser known work of this lesser known Russian, written before his big novel Fathers and Sons.

“Oh, you think everyone's interesting. That's because you're a Red. I don't. I believe that quite a lot of people were just manufactured when God was thinking of something else," says a character in Mortimer's 'Paradise Postponed' and Turgenev must obviously be "a Red" because he finds all his subjects in those little sketches immensely interesting. In just a few pages he extracts what is important about a character and make him as vivid as if we met the chap ourselves and drank vodka with him. (He does also write about women).

Upon a first glance these are just beautiful pastoral stories filled with love for the Russian landscape and its people, but obviously they are not as innocent as they appear or Turgenev wouldn't get arrested on their account.

Nowadays we might wonder what was so outrageous about them but in Tsarist Russia you simply couldn’t say anything that would question the institution of serfdom (which was thriving in Russia until mid-19th century, long after it was abandoned in Western Europe, and was almost indistinguishable from slavery).

Turgenev doesn’t come across as very engaged because his narrator is almost entirely removed, his only role being that of an observer, but with such an obvious injustice facts alone suffice and there is hardly any need for a commentary. Also, his perceptive portraits of all the characters speak volumes about his compassion, more than any politically engaged diatribe would.

While the political angle of this book is important, it, of course, is no longer as relevant as it was. What is important, though, are the descriptions of nature and landscape. I read and re-read those wanting to teleport myself to Ukraine in summer or spring. Sadly, here I am, in dreary London, where there was no summer for the last three years. When was the last time I spent a warm summer night by a campfire? When was the last time I smelled the forest early in the morning? When was the last time I ran through the fields escaping a sudden spring shower? When did I actually wade in a river?

Turgenev is right - non-hunters can envy hunters. I envy them the whole thing, bar the animal killing, as I don’t have any need for that. If you can go to some untamed countryside in a temperate climate, go. If you can’t, read Turgenev, it’s the next best thing. I don’t think there is any writer who can evoke a sense of place more gracefully than him. He also addresses the reader directly (although he does, of course, assume him to be a man), which is rather quaint and I wish more contemporary writers did that, other than in post-modernist experiments a la Calvino. I liked this book so much I also bought a Polish translation. I think Turgenev would read wonderfully in Polish.

All of the stories were beautifully written but as far as content goes, my favourite ones were Bezhin Lea and the Clatter of Wheels. Interestingly, they both take place during a summer night. Give me a summer night!

Or at least real spring. I’ll take spring.

"It's time, however, to finish. Appropriately I have mentioned the spring' in springtime it is easy to say goodbye, in the spring even the happy are enticed to far-off places... Farewell, my reader; I wish you lasting happiness and well-being."(less)

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Dec 24, 2012 Blake rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was impressively easy to read given that the original was written in a foreign language 150 years ago - props to Richard Freeborn and the others who edited the text. The book itself provides a detailed view of Russian serfdom in the early 1800s. Although serfdom was formally abolished in the 1860s, I see echoes of it today. Although the author was a known liberal who likely would have liked to abolish the system, he does not allow emotion to ruin the authenticity of his presentation ab...more

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Apr 20, 2013 Lobstergirl rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Borzois

Shelves: own, fiction, russia

I bought this for the cover art. I love everything about Jevgraf Fiodorovitch Krendovsky's 1836 painting Preparations for Hunting (in the Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow). The calm, subdued, but rich color palette, the glances the young hunters, and the young boy on the left, are giving each other, the angles of arms and legs, the devoted hunting dog with its paw on its master's leg, the attention to details of fashion and outerwear. It many ways it's a perfect choice for cover art for the book (so mu...more
I bought this for the cover art. I love everything about Jevgraf Fiodorovitch Krendovsky's 1836 painting Preparations for Hunting (in the Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow). The calm, subdued, but rich color palette, the glances the young hunters, and the young boy on the left, are giving each other, the angles of arms and legs, the devoted hunting dog with its paw on its master's leg, the attention to details of fashion and outerwear. It many ways it's a perfect choice for cover art for the book (so much cover art is incomprehensibly ill-matched). These sketches by Turgenev almost all begin with a hunter setting out on a hunt, with a hunting companion or alone, on his horse or in some kind of cart or carriage, with his hunting dog. And the hunting going on here is an upper class pursuit. We can tell from the painting that that's an upper class residence, upper class young men. When the lower classes "hunt," it's usually called poaching, because hunting involves land, and landowners, and private property. So when Turgenev's first person narrator goes out hunting in one sketch, and the landowner confronts him and asks him what he's doing, the situation quickly resolves because they're two aristocrats and the aristocratic privilege to hunt is extended from one landowner to another.

As Richard Freeborn's excellent introduction explains, hunting is the pretext for these sketches. What they're really about, which the Russian government understood because it exiled Turgenev to his estate after the Sketches were published, is the terrible conditions of serfdom and servitude in Russia. Every sketch contains some poor wretch who is cold, hungry, or orphaned, or whose master won't allow him or her to get married, or won't sell her to a man who wants to marry her (!), or some serf being administered a beating by the landowner's bailiff, or some woman being beaten by some man, and most of them contain unhappy dogs who are never fed or burrow into the ground from cold and hunger.

In spite of the subject matter, Turgenev maintains a certain calm distance from it. I wouldn't say there's a consistent tone of irony throughout, but occasionally irony is put to brilliant use, as in this passage from the first sketch, "Khor and Kalinych:"

While out hunting in the Zhizdra region I became acquainted with a small Kaluga landowner, Polutykin, also a passionate hunter and, consequently, an excellent fellow. Admittedly, he had acquired one or two weaknesses: for instance, he paid court to all the rich young ladies of marriageable age in the province and, being refused both their hands and admission to their homes, confessed his grief heartbrokenly to all his friends and acquaintances while continuing to send the young ladies' parents gifts of sour peaches and other raw produce from his garden; he was fond of repeating one and the same anecdote which, despite Polutykin's high opinion of its merits, simply failed to make anyone laugh; he was full of praise for the works of Akim Nakhimov and the story Pinna; he had a stammer; he called his dog Astronomer; instead of however he used to say howsoever, and he introduced in his own house a French cuisine, the secret of which, according to his cook's ideas, consisted in completely altering the natural taste of each dish: in the hands of this culinary master meat turned out to be fish, fish became mushrooms, and macaroni ended up dry as powder; moreover, no carrot would be permitted in a soup that had not first assumed a rhomboidal or trapezoidal shape. But apart from these minor and insignificant failings Polutykin was, as I've said, an excellent fellow.

There is fantastic anthropomorphizing, especially of dogs. Astronomer, referred to above, is accompanying the narrator and some peasants on a cart ride:

"Let Astronomer be seated!" exclaimed Polutykin pompously.

Fedya, not without a show of pleasure, lifted the uneasily smiling dog into the air and deposited it on the floor of the cart.

In another sketch a landowner is attempting to teach his poodle the ABCs, which the dog unhappily refuses to learn. "He gave the dog a shove with his foot. The wretched dog rose up calmly, let the bread drop off its nose and walked away, deeply offended, into the hallway literally on tip-toe. And with good reason: here was a stranger come to visit for the first time and look how they treated him!"

Turgenev's other strengths on display here are his wonderful powers of description, both of physical environments and people. No character is introduced without a complete rundown of his appearance, including hair, face, figure, and clothes. The novel's realism makes it a valuable historical document.(less)

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Oct 24, 2008 michael rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

More proof that the 19th century Russians are in a class all their own. And Turgenev brings an esprit, nonchalance and poetry that Dosty and Tolstoy never bothered themselves with.

What's wonderful about this book is that you don't have to deal with a novel. Only a loose collection of sights, sounds, characters and stories of a sensitive narrator - "dear reader! dear reader!" - a sportsman who never even shoots a single animal. Writers today haven't the courage and self-assurance to match the ge...more

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Feb 12, 2009 Katie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Chekhov short-story fans, people-watchers

This book drew me into a whole world very remote from my own, as though he were telling me about it--the morning dew, the hours spent waiting for birds to flush, the jolt of the droshky (and I don't even know what a droshky is, exactly). Nothing much happens. The narrator hunts and talks to people he meets in the countryside, drawing out their stories, most of which are sad. This book feels so true to life that I kept conflating the narrator with the author. It might make you want to write some...more

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Dec 10, 2012 April rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

My first introduction to Russian literature. The translation was pretty amazing. This book is a collection of shorts, a portrait of serfdom in 1800s Russia. It was beautiful, heartbreaking, thought-provoking, and even funny at times. Some of the stories in particular were amazing. I personally found The Office, Death, and Living Relic to stand out from the ret, still I'd recommend reading the book in its entirety for the full effect.

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Mar 11, 2013 Ivan Mulcahy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I found this book thanks to the Turgenev character in Tom Stoppard's epic three-part play about pre-revolutionary Russia and it's exiled dissenters and the disconnect between reasoning reformers like Herzen and the Bolsheviks. Turgenev is all aristo bearing and get mocked for his devotion to an opera singer but Stoppard shows his kindliness that means more than rhetoric. So I read this book and found it moving

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Jun 30, 2011 Hadrian rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, short-stories, russia

A truly excellent collection of short stories. I confess that Turgenev's most popular work left me cold, but this more than made up for it. Excellent stories and parables about the nature and beauty and tragedy of life across all layers of society. The only fault I could find was almost certainly due to the clunkiness of the translation, which I won't let detract from my admiration this time. Excellent stuff.

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Apr 02, 2013 Tommy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read this while on a mountain bike trip in the Rockies. It was a great combination. Turgenev has a way of describing the outdoors that is very relaxing, and easier to appreciate when you're outside. But don't get me wrong, this is not an outdoors book only. It's nineteenth century Russian literature, so stay away if that's not your thing.

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Aug 10, 2012 Bijo Mathew Philip rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Turgenev like Chekov sets the benchmark for short stories. Here they are a handful of gems on the life on the Russian village on the late 19th century. Set in idyllic countryside, each one depict in a few words, the nature of men and their struggle that is life.

Each chapter has its own character. Savor them one by one taking your time

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Dec 26, 2011 Mike rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I feel like I must give Turgenev four stars—if not five—though in places his stories feel overwrought and the characters seem boring to me; still, he was the greatest writer of fiction of his time and did a lot to inform the future Russian collective psyche of what the life of a nobleman with peasents was like and what rural life in general was about for Russians of his period. Read him, if possible, in the original Russian because there are aspects of language that no translation I've yet seen...more

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Jan 16, 2013 Matthew Coleman rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A candid portrayal of serfdom in Russia. It points out the injustices of the masters and this depiction assisted in the crumbling of the unfair system. Turgenev's skill as a raconteur is evident here, and his character is an unbiased narrator with subtle author hints of satire and sardonic narration.

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Jul 30, 2011 Zach rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I've found commenting on everything tends to unravel my knowledge yet reveals small strands. I must comment on the delicious prose, which render touching renditions to peasants no-one seems so familiar as Ivan Turgenev. Yet the narrator is so self-abasing, humorous and humble for how could one know everyone.

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Sep 05, 2007 Zepp rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: star-star, rus

The stories/sketches in this book are seductively simple, casual in tone and topic. But there's something underneath these innocent observations of rustic folk and their land- fear bubbles and violence rumbles in the narrator's encounters with what, finally, is an alien landscape. Turgenev is a surprisingly good nature writer, and a great observer of language and mannerisms.
This translation is by far the best I have come across, and worth the cost of a nice bound edition. In fact, the others I...more

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Mar 02, 2013 Tim Mcintire rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'll be honest - I started reading the Russians mostly to be able to say I've read the Russians, but this book was absolutely incredible. The language was direct and evocative, and the glimpse into the lives of Russian serfs (and their masters) was really fascinating. No wonder Communism seemed like a good idea to them! Can't wait to read more Turgenev.

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Nov 14, 2009 Paul Jellinek rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This one grows on you story by story. Turgenev's descriptions of nature are unparalleled, and his insight into his characters can be breath-taking. Not every story is equally great, but there is enough amazing stuff here that I keep it at my bedside permanently.

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Mar 15, 2012 Jennifer rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Peasants, Russian countryside, and images of yesteryore protrude from the stories presented in this book. Some of the characters are dumb while others invoke sympathy. It gives insight into how life was for the residents of this ancient time.

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May 13, 2012 James rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Worth the read for the gorgeous, evocative settings. Some of the sketches tend to drag, some go nowhere, but the prose is concise and the descriptive tone is jaw-dropping. Easy to see where Hemingway drew inspiration for his terse style.

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Nov 14, 2007 Wes Freeman rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I straight love this book. I guess Turgenev was the father of the Russian novel, which is sweet, but this book is not just a proto-novel it's a social survey of his times. Good stories? Yep. And there's kind of enough 19th century pastoral stuff in there to make you wistful for a place you don't know. he loves the people, he loves the land... he doesn't do much to separate the two, which is maybe disturbing, but I didn't stop long enough to be bothered. You can take this one of two ways: Either...more

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About Ivan Turgenev

Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (Cyrillic: Иван Сергеевич Тургенев) was a Russian writer of novels, short stories, and plays contemporary with Fyodor Dostoevsky and Leo Tolstoy. While these wrote about church and religion, Turgenev was more concerned with the movement toward social reform.

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“the deep, pure blue stirs on one’s lips a smile, innocent as itself; like the clouds over the sky, and, as it were, with them, happy memories pass in slow procession over the soul” — 3 people liked it

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