Literary Reminiscences And Autobiographical Fragments

by Ivan Turgenev

Toward the end of his career as a brilliant novelist, Turgenev turned his pen to the essays that comprise these Literary Reminiscences. Here he discusses the character of creative writing, the attitude of the artist to his environment, and the transmutation of the artist's experience into a work of art. He offers, as well, brilliant studies of Pushkin, Gogol, Belinsky, Lermontov, and Krylov, and a penetrating account of his own difficulties in writing Fathers and Sons. There are also descriptions of travels through Italy, simply and beautifully written pieces on country life, and eyewitness accounts of the 1848 political riots in Paris. David Magarshack has provided a first-class translation and has written an introduction which explains and sets the scene for each of the essays. "The best possible introduction to the author a reader could ask for....Turgenev is an uninsistent, lyric meditator, who sees with a precise eye wherever he looks, and whether he is drawing a bead on a quail or escaping from a burning ship, always asks the uncomfortable questions of himself." New York Herald-Tribune."

Genres: Russia, Russian Literature, Literary Criticism, Biography, Essays, Autobiography

324 pages, Paperback

First published September 25, 2001

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

[James Henderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

These reminiscences are a delight to read. The volume is made even more valuable by the inclusion of a sixty-one page essay by Edmund Wilson on Turgenev and his work. The main body of the work has Turgenev's insights on the critic Belinsky and other writers including Gogol, Pushkin, and Lermontov. The fragments include thoughts on the writing of Fathers and Sons and also provide other details of Turgenev's life and thought. Translated and introduced by David Magarshack, this is a rare volume that I would recommend to readers interested in nineteenth century Russian literature.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book divides into two sections. The first is an excellent biographical essay on Turgenev by Edmund Wilson. The second section consists of various rememberances, essays, and short stories by Turgenev himself. I am prejudiced. Turgenev is one of my favorite authors. Though his works do not echo the historical sweep, density, or scale of Tolstoy or Dostoyesvski, the two other Russian novelists to whom he is naturally compared, there is a compassion and understanding of human behavior in his work that escapes the two more celebrated authors. There are several particularly good stories here with which I was totally unfamiliar. They take place in Paris during the insurrection of 1848 and the establishment of the second republic. One called "The Man in the Gray Spectacles" is well worth the effort of actually tracking this obscure volume down. The tale describes the author's chance meeting with an idiosyncratic man in a park and that man's strange understanding of the histrorical implications of the events of the revolution. Here we see the arc of history driven by the actions of unknown and anonymous participants. This is pure Turgenev.
"There are certain sea birds which appear only during a storm. The English call them stormy petrels. They fly low as the dark descends, just above the crests of the raging waves, and - vanish as soon as the weather clears again."

[James F · Rating 3 out of 5]

My last Turgenev, this is a selection of his non-fiction. The most interesting from a literary point of view are his reminiscences of Belinsky, his remarks on Gogol and others, and his defense “A propos of Fathers and Children” which explains his view of literature. There are two articles on his response to the 1848 Revolution in France, and a description of an execution, as well as a few shorter pieces. The book was introduced by a long essay on Turgenev by Edmund Wilson, which took up almost a third of the book. While it was worth reading, I think apart from the article on Fathers and Children I would rather have read another of his stories instead.

[Javier Muñoz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Los apartados de Gogol y del Quijote/Hamlet me han parecido excelentes!