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6th out of 11 books
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7 voters
First Love and Other Stories (World's Classics)
WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE SONG OF TRIUMPHANT LOVE, WHICH IS SET IN RENAISSANCE ITALY, THESE STORIES ARE ALL PARTLY AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL. THEY DEMONSTRATE THE EVOLUTION OF TURGENEV'S SKILLS AND PREOCCUPATIONS, FROM THE DIARY ForM OF HIS FAMOUS STUDY OF A 'SUPERFLUOUS MAN' (1850) AND HIS EXPOSURE OF THE TYRANNY OF SERFDOM IN THE SMALL MASTERPIECE MUMU (1854), TO HIS MOST POIGNAN...more
Paperback, 304 pages
Published
October 28th 1999
by Oxford University Press, USA
(first published January 1904)
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'The Diary of a Superfluous Man' sets the tone for classic Turgenev, whose stories and novels are so often about unrequited or disappointed love. I like this because so many novels go the opposite way, and it exists in life.
'Mumu' made me cry and I never or almost never cry at films or books. Commentary about loneliness and alienation, it is about a deaf and dumb servant and his dog.
'Asya' has a wonderful, wild and hurried atmosphere, like blackberries.
'First Love' is more mature, like a ripe p...more
'Mumu' made me cry and I never or almost never cry at films or books. Commentary about loneliness and alienation, it is about a deaf and dumb servant and his dog.
'Asya' has a wonderful, wild and hurried atmosphere, like blackberries.
'First Love' is more mature, like a ripe p...more
Once again, Turgenev came through for me. After reading the first two short stories in this book, I was left with a sense of longing, of "sehnsucht" of olden times.
I am surprised that I am so overcome by these romantic stories, and I mean romantic not only in the love stories themselves, but in the seductive descriptions, the quaint, charming settings; they remind me of stories that I used to read in my childhood.
Turgenev likes to tell us how a person's character will change in the future: in a...more
I am surprised that I am so overcome by these romantic stories, and I mean romantic not only in the love stories themselves, but in the seductive descriptions, the quaint, charming settings; they remind me of stories that I used to read in my childhood.
Turgenev likes to tell us how a person's character will change in the future: in a...more
Jan 02, 2013
Carol
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
russian-lit,
favorites
Turgenev's 1860 novella, First Love. At age sixteen while living in the country, Vladimir meets 21 year-old Zinaida Alexandrovna Zasyekina, the daughter of a titled but very poor family living on the adjoining property. Zinaida is a beautiful and spirited young women and Vladimir falls hopelessly in love with her. Zinaida toys with him mercilessly, enticing him with hints of a deep and romantic affection and, alternatively, pushing him away and treating him with condescending, sisterly affection...more
Ernest Hemingway in "A Moveable Feast" says he discovered Turgenev at Shakespeare and Company book store in Paris and through Sylvia Beach's lending library, read everything by the Russian author. Turgenev's economy of words had a profound influence on Hem's writing style, and readers are fortunate for their like mindedness.
Turgenev's FIRST LOVE is a novella of the space in one's life when love inexplicably takes center stage and rationality exists right. Almost impossible to describe the exhila...more
Turgenev's FIRST LOVE is a novella of the space in one's life when love inexplicably takes center stage and rationality exists right. Almost impossible to describe the exhila...more
Turgenev, Ivan. LOVE AND DEATH. (1850-1870). ****.
This is a collection of stories by this noted Russian author that reflect the title of the book. Turgenev was unsurpassed in describing and developing his characters, and these pieces are of sufficient length for him to show off his talent. The taled included in this Folio Society edition include:
- The Diary of a Superfluous Man
- Mumu: this one will keep you sad for days
- Asya: Probably one of his best efforts
- First Love
- King Lear of the Step...more
This is a collection of stories by this noted Russian author that reflect the title of the book. Turgenev was unsurpassed in describing and developing his characters, and these pieces are of sufficient length for him to show off his talent. The taled included in this Folio Society edition include:
- The Diary of a Superfluous Man
- Mumu: this one will keep you sad for days
- Asya: Probably one of his best efforts
- First Love
- King Lear of the Step...more
Jul 29, 2010
Abraham
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
short-stories,
classics
The edition I read had just three stories: "First Love," "Spring Torrents," and "A Fire at Sea" -- and a very odd trio they make. They are about 70, 140, and 10 pages respectively. If this were a muscle man competition, "Spring Torrents" would beat out the title story as a matter of sheer bulk, while the last story would have no choice but to quiver in his chair at the back of the stage, hoping beyond hope that no one sits on him.
The first two are thematically very similar: two tales of thwarted...more
The first two are thematically very similar: two tales of thwarted...more
These stories are in chronological order, and they get progressively better. The first is a mostly tedious but sometimes funny "Notes from the Underground"- type piece, "Diary of a Superfluous Man." The last, "The Song of Triumphant Love," is a fantastic mytho-horror story, more like Poe than anything Russian. What seems consistent is a facility with landscape description, welcome breaks from (and elegant echoes of) the "first love" goings-on, which can feel a bit hysterical at times. I felt mil...more
Oct 17, 2012
Emily
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
short-story,
classic-literature
This was an ebook and only "First Love."
Magnificent short story. The form was perfect, the characters elegantly foiled. I savor this story as I would a long, beloved novel. I will remember young Vladimir because he is so sincere and romantic. And the ending is expected, of course this was his first love, it would be unfulfilled, and yet it ends with a bang. A shock to the reader, and then an aha moment. I love literature that leaves you thinking philosophically about life. Bravo I look forwar...more
Notice the theme of "short stories about love." What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. The Secret Lives of People In Love. First Love and Other Stories. Did somebody just get dumped? ... The answer is yes. Yes I did.
Only read First Love, but found it a fascinating tale, and have since looked twice at my father.
The first and last stories are good for me. But i don't really like the 2nd story because it's hard to understand. There are a lot of French language which i don't really know the meaning.
Isn't it fascinating to read literature written 150 years ago, half-way around the world, and be able to keenly identify with the characters? Life -- so much changes and yet so much remains the same, am I right?
I would rank the short stories in this collection as follows:
1) The Diary of a Superfluous Man (Favorite)
2) The Song of Triumphant Love
3) King Lear of the Steppes
4) Asya
5) Mumu
6) First Love (Least Favorite)
I would rank the short stories in this collection as follows:
1) The Diary of a Superfluous Man (Favorite)
2) The Song of Triumphant Love
3) King Lear of the Steppes
4) Asya
5) Mumu
6) First Love (Least Favorite)
I have actually read three of the 6 stories in this book:
The Song of Triumphant Love -- an interesting short story about two friends loving the same girl one marries her and the other returns from afar and attempts to steal her but the guilt is too huge -- very odd but interesting story.
King Lear of the Steppes -- It is an interesting take on the Story of King Lear and a new way to tell the story.
First Love -- cute and good story.
The Song of Triumphant Love -- an interesting short story about two friends loving the same girl one marries her and the other returns from afar and attempts to steal her but the guilt is too huge -- very odd but interesting story.
King Lear of the Steppes -- It is an interesting take on the Story of King Lear and a new way to tell the story.
First Love -- cute and good story.
Funny, wry, and moving in all the right ways. Turgenev really knows how to tell a good story. Highly recommended, particularly if you liked Fathers and Sons or Sketches from a Hunter's Notebook and want something more from this oft-forgotten Russian great.
Not that of a complex classic revolutionary theme, but I love the likeliness of Russian lit in which I get absorbed by the keen and sentimentally exciting wordings. The book is so full of zeal and adolescent's illusions. Ended up reading it feeling pretty at heart. <3
SOBRANG EMO. Love the last story, Clara Milich, dark romantic comedy. That's it--dark romcom nga ang mga storya na ito. Haha
I love Turgenev's style so much. I had a little trouble with names. A character would be introduced, talked about for 30 pages as such, then suddenly he would just start calling them by a different name with no explanation whatsoever. What the what?
One of the best love stories I have ever read - real love, not hollywood love. Keep that in mind if you have idealized visions of romance. It's a classic Turgenev story.
Turgenev has been described as an expressionist painter of the literary field; I cannot argue against it. Magnificent imagery.
Includes Asya, the story I was named for, and featuring the only literary character I think I resemble.
Half a dozen of Turgenev's best short fiction pieces. 'Nuff said.
May 16, 2013
Ashley Rattner
is currently reading it
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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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“From lips indifferent of her death I heard,
Indifferently I listened to it, too,'
were echoing in my heart. O youth, youth! little dost thou care for anything; thou art master, as it were, of all the treasures of the universe—even sorrow gives thee pleasure, even grief thou canst turn to thy profit; thou art self-confident and insolent; thou sayest, 'I alone am living—look you!'—but thy days fly by all the while, and vanish without trace or reckoning; and everything in thee vanishes, like wax in the sun, like snow…. And, perhaps, the whole secret of thy charm lies, not in being able to do anything, but in being able to think thou wilt do anything; lies just in thy throwing to the winds, forces which thou couldst not make other use of; in each of us gravely regarding himself as a prodigal, gravely supposing that he is justified in saying, 'Oh, what might I not have done if I had not wasted my time!”
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More quotes…
Indifferently I listened to it, too,'
were echoing in my heart. O youth, youth! little dost thou care for anything; thou art master, as it were, of all the treasures of the universe—even sorrow gives thee pleasure, even grief thou canst turn to thy profit; thou art self-confident and insolent; thou sayest, 'I alone am living—look you!'—but thy days fly by all the while, and vanish without trace or reckoning; and everything in thee vanishes, like wax in the sun, like snow…. And, perhaps, the whole secret of thy charm lies, not in being able to do anything, but in being able to think thou wilt do anything; lies just in thy throwing to the winds, forces which thou couldst not make other use of; in each of us gravely regarding himself as a prodigal, gravely supposing that he is justified in saying, 'Oh, what might I not have done if I had not wasted my time!”
Jul 11, 2007 04:54pm