Ivan Turgenev

On his way back to Russia after some years spent in the West, Grigory Mikhailovich Litvinov, the son of a retired official of merchant stock, stops over in Baden-Baden to meet his fiancee Tatyana. However, a chance encounter with his old flame, the manipulative Irina - now married to a general and a prominent figure in aristocratic expatriate circles - unearths feelings buried deep inside the young man's heart, derailing his plans for the future and throwing his life into turmoil.

In a series of nine letters, the narrator tells his friend how he introduced Vera Nikolayevna, a married woman who had been forbidden as a child to read fiction and poetry, to the intellectual pleasures of Goethe's masterpiece. Opening up in front of Vera's eyes is not only the realm of imagination, but also a world of unbridled feelings and tempestuous passions, which can only shatter the comfort and safety of her existence and force her to set off on a journey of spiritual awakening.

Dmitry Rudin, a high-minded gentleman of reduced means, arrives at the estate of Darya Mikhailovna, where his intelligence, eloquence and conviction immediately make a powerful impression. As he stys on longer than intended, Rudin exerts a strong influence on the younger generation, and Darya's daughter, Natalya, falls in love with him. But circumstances soon will show whether Rudin has the courage to act on his beliefs, and whether he can live ip to the image he has created for himself.

Turgenev wrote Mumu with such vivid images and reflections of the state of the tsarist Russia that this piece together with his other stories was credited with having influenced public opinion in favour of the abolition of serfdom in 1861. Turgenev was the first of the great Russian novelists to win fame abroad. One of his great admirers was Henry James, who wrote that "Turgenev's merit of form is of the first order" The story featured in this release is relatively unknown in English speaking markets despite being a school texbook classic back in Russia. This revised edition of Mumu was first published in London in English in as audio book in 2010. The audio book produced very strong response from listeners. "A story great in emotion and meaning that makes you want to read his other books. What a successful introduction to a great writer", wrote Philippe Felsenhardt (USA) in his review. "This edition has whet my appetite for Turgenev on the page", wrote another reviewer Joseph Belliveau (Canada). Other reviewers wrote that the story brought them close to tears and that they would very much enjoy reading it in paper format. So the paper edition of this story with annotations in both original Russian and English languages is hereby produced to satisfy demand of enthusiastic readers. It is remarkable how new media such as audio book extends life of original paper book. New does not have to mean the end of traditional, at least for now.

"Zapiski okhotnika" s pojavleniem pervykh rasskazov prinesli I. S. Turgenevu shirokuju izvestnost, kak v Rossii, tak i v Evrope. V "okhotnichikh" rasskazakh, raznoobraznykh po forme i soderzhaniju, no svjazannykh mezhdu soboj v organicheskoe edinstvo, pisatel vyvodit cherty natsionalnogo kharaktera, sozdaet poeticheskuju kartinu obraza Rossii. Kniga illjustrirovana Elizavetoj Bem, kotoraja rabotala v tekhnike silueta. Ee raboty k "Zapiskam okhotnika" byli priznany sovremennikami odnimi iz luchshikh illjustratsij k znamenitoj knige Turgeneva.

Ivan Turgenev's Fathers and Sons explores the ageless conflict between generations through a period in Russian history when a new generation of revolutionary intellectuals threatened the state. This Penguin Classics edition is translated from the Russian by Peter Carson, with an introduction by Rosamund Bartlett and an afterword by Tatyana Tolstaya. Returning home after years away at university, Arkady is proud to introduce his clever friend Bazarov to his father and uncle. But their guest soon stirs up unrest on the quiet country estate - his outspoken nihilist views and his scathing criticisms of the older men expose the growing distance between Arkady and his father. And when Bazarov visits his own doting but old-fashioned parents, his disdainful rejection of traditional Russian life causes even further distress. In Fathers and Sons, Turgeneve created a beautifully-drawn and highly influential portrayal of the clash between generations, at a time just before the end of serfdom, when the refined yet vanishing landowning class was being overturned by a brash new breed that strove to change the world. Peter Carson's elegant, naturalistic new translation brings Turgenev's masterpiece to life for a new generation of readers. In her introduction, Rosamund Bartlett discusses the novel's subtle characterisation and the immense social changes that took place in the 1850s Russia of Fathers and Sons. This edition also includes a chronology, suggested further reading and notes. If you enjoyed Fathers and Sons, you might like Leo Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories, also available in Penguin Classics.'One of the first Russian novels to be translated for a wider European audience. It is a difficult art: in this superb new version, Peter Carson has succeeded splendidly' Michael Binyon, The Times 'If you want to get as close as an English reader can to enjoying Turgenev, Carson is probably the best' Donald Rayfield, The Times Literary Supplement

A Sportsman's Sketches was a collection of short stories written by Ivan Turgenev in 1852. Known also as Sketches from a Hunter's Album or The Hunting Sketches, the stories were Turgenev's first major piece of writing and brought him instant recognition. Based on his own observations riding around his family's estate the stories explore the difficult lives of the peasants and the Russian system of serfdom. This system came into effect during the 11th century and required the dependency of the peasants on the state. Peasants' mobility was severely restricted and it was made illegal for them to run away from the estates where they worked - they belonged, in essence, to the landowners who could move them to another estate under another landowner while retaining the serf's personal property and family. While there were many rebellions against serfdom it was only in 1861 that it was finally abolished and all serfs were freed by the Tsar, Alexander II. Turgenev's A Sportsman's Sketches influenced the Tsar's decision to abolish the system of serfdom in Russia. Volume One includes: Khor and KalinychYermolay and the Miller's WifeRaspberry WaterThe District DoctorMy Neighbor Radilov Farmer Ovsyanikov Lgov Bezhin Lea Kasyan from the Beautiful Lands Bailiff The Office Loner Two Landowners Lebedyan

Young Muscovite bachelor Yakov Aratov lives in contented solitude, until the arrival in town of the dazzling actress Clara Militch: 'She was all fire, all passion, and all contradiction; revengeful and kind; magnanimous and vindictive; she believed in fate - and did not believe in God.'Her beauty entrances him, beyond her tragic death; and soon, for the formerly level-headed rationalist Aratov, dreams, fever and the spirit world blend and merge together. These tales involve Turgenev's enthusiasm for spirituality, ghosts and premonitions, usually suppressed in his works but an intriguing counterpoint to the powerful naturalism of which he was master. This volume contains Clara Militch, Phantoms, The Song of Triumphant Love, The Dream and Turgenev's marvellously realized Poems in Prose, which conclude with his famous avowal: 'In days of doubt, in days of dreary musings on our country's fate, thou alone art my stay and support, mighty, true, free Russian speech! But for thee, how not fall into despair, seeing all that is done at home? But who can think that such a tongue is not the gift of a great people!'Constance Garnett's 1897 translation succeeds in capturing the subtleties and delicacy of Turgenev's own poetic prose.

Referred to by Henry James as 'the first novelist of his time' Ivan Turgenev's works focus on class, love and suffering. Knock, Knock, Knock and Other Stories with its themes of the supernatural was, therefore, something of a departure for a writer who was well-known for his more humanitarian and liberal views. However, Turgenev uses these supernatural elements as a vehicle for exploring the irrationalities of the human psyche and he leaves the rational explanations for apparently supernatural events ambiguous - as Avrahm Yarmolinsky writes in his biography of Turgenev perhaps 'there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in positivist philosophy'. Knock, Knock, Knock and Other Stories includes Knock, Knock, Knock, The Inn, Lieutenant Yergunov's Story, The Dog and The Watch. 'Turning from side to side I stretched out my hands ... My finger hit one of the beams of the wall. It emitted a faint but resounding, and as it were, prolonged note ... I must have struck a hollow place. I tapped again ... this time on purpose. The same sound was repeated. I knocked again ...' From Knock, Knock, Knock (1871)