TURGENEV'S LITERARY REMINISCENCES

by David- Trans. by Magarshack ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 21, 1958

For anyone interested in Russian literature, this is a rewarding book. Here is the first English translation of the literary memoirs of the great Russian novelist- but that is not all. The book falls into three sections, and the first is a somewhat expanded version of the fine critical, biographical sketch by Edmund Wilson which appeared recently in The New Yorker. This gives the strange background, social, historical, personal and literary of Turgenev's life. The second section, a preface by the translator, gives a somewhat more detailed account of the purely literary climate not only of the Reminiscences, but of the whole body of Turgenev's work. The Reminiscences themselves consist of thirteen pieces; five of these are literary; the last eight are brief but brilliant sketches of episodes in Turgenev's life, such as his part as a spectator in the Paris Revolution of 1948, his reaction to a public execution. In all of these, Turgenev is seen as a progressive but moderate Russian, who hated the cruelties of and the indignities of the Czarist state. His deep compassion and humanism is always apparent.... Beyond the more serious student of Turgenev and the Russian novel- this will probably not attract more than a handful of miscellaneous readers, but it has a definite, permanent value.

Pub Date: April 21, 1958

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Cudahy

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1958

Categories: NONFICTION