Ivan Turgenev Audio

Russian literature exudes an atmosphere of mysticism, which is said to be a natural result of the simplicity of her people....

Turgenev's shy hero, Tchulkaturin, is a representative example of a Russian archetype – the "superfluous man", a sort of Hamlet not necessarily dignified with the title Prince: an individual of comfortable means leading a dreary existence, without purpose and led on by events which may, as in this story, engulf him.

When Arcady Kirsanov returns from college to the country manor of his father, he brings along his...

Turgenev dramatized the volcanic issues that divided a Russia torn by the social unrest of peasants against masters, of fathers against sons.

When Arkady Kirasanov returns home from college, he brings his revolutionary friend, Bazarov, but Bazarov brings with him his new and cataclysmic views of political philosophy.

The fathers and children of the novel refers to the growing divide between the two generations of Russians, and the character Yevgeny Bazarov has been referred to as the "first Bolshevik", for his nihilism and rejection of the old order.

The title of the novella is almost an adequate summary in itself. The "boy-meets-girl-then-loses-her" story is universal but not, I think, banal – despite a surprise ending which notoriously turns out to be very little of a surprise.

Set in Baden-Baden, Smoke is Turgenev’s most cosmopolitan novel.