Turgenev by Edward Garnett

Edward Garnett's study of Ivan Turgenev, introduced by a foreword from Joseph Conrad, is both a critical appreciation and a spirited defense of one of fiction's most humane and delicately observant artists. Conrad presents Turgenev as a great but often underappreciated writer whose simplicity, emotional truth, and sympathy for character give his work a lasting universal appeal, especially in its profound treatment of women and moral life. Garnett then traces Turgenev's career from his early life through major works such as A Sportsman's Sketches, Rudin, Fathers and Children, Smoke, Virgin Soil, and On the Eve, ending with his character, philosophy, and death. Throughout, the book argues against critics who dismissed Turgenev as conventional, detached, or inferior to Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. It insists instead on his poetic vision, exact sensory realism, classical balance, and deep spiritual atmosphere, from forest scenes alive with scent and silence to unforgettable figures like Bazarov, Rudin, Panshin, Liza, and Elena. Turgenev emerges as a master of subtlety, grace, and emotional truth. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.