Virgin Soil

By Ivan Turgenev, Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev, Ivan Tourgueniev, et al.

Book Overview

In Virgin Soil, Turgenev biggest and most ambitious work, he sought to balance his deep affection for his country and his people with his growing apprehensions about what their future held in store. The story of a young couple, torn between love and politics, that struggle to make headway against the complacency of the powerful, the inarticulate misery of the powerless, and the stifling conventions of provincial life. A rich and complex book, a love story, a devastating, and bitterly funny social satire, and a heartfelt celebration of the immense beauty of the Russian countryside. A tragic masterpiece in which one of the world's finest novelists confronts the enduring question of the place of happiness in a political world.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1511954159
• ISBN13: 9781511954150
• Release Date: April 2015
• Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 342 Pages
• Weight: 1.01 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Quintessential Turgenev

Encompassing social commentary, a (albeit fairly simplistic) love story, and a homage to Russia's beauty, this work does not fail the lover of Turgenev. Certainly this might not necessarily be the best work with which to begin one's odyssey through Turgenev, but this very effectively pulls together all the familiar elements of his writing. Turgenev is not known for his plot development, and this is again the case here: very little actually occurs. The absence of plot and of action, however, is not to say that this dry, boring drivel. Rather, Turgenev's material, this work in particular, becomes a pleasant marriage of the classic novel with the novel of ideas. His commentary, both political and human, is both trapped in the amber of history and universally relevant (a lovely dichotomy) to the human condition. "Virgin Soil" is a very fine story, and the translation is flowing and literate (having no Russian, I cannot speak to how accurately this might reflect the original).

Do not start your Turgenev tour with this

Having read all of Turgenev's major works, this would be the best one to close one's odyseesy of Turgenev works as it provides his finally achieved view of the desparate situation of then Russia and the skepticism toward the revolutionary movements aiming at social re-engineering. Story is very simple, and no significant action was involved, but a minimum knowlwedge of Russian literature, changing revolutionary movements and intelligentsia situation is required to grasp the width of the topics and issues covered.