The Diary of a Superfluous Man by Ivan Turgenev - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)

By Ivan Turgenev

This eBook features the unabridged text of ‘The Diary of a Superfluous Man by Ivan Turgenev - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)’ from the bestselling edition of ‘The Collected Works of Ivan Turgenev’.

Having established their name as the leading publisher of classic literature and art, Delphi Classics produce publications that are individually crafted with superior formatting, while introducing many rare texts for the first time in digital print. The Delphi Classics edition of Turgenev includes original annotations and illustrations relating to the life and works of the author, as well as individual tables of contents, allowing you to navigate eBooks quickly and easily.

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* The complete unabridged text of ‘The Diary of a Superfluous Man by Ivan Turgenev - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)’
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• Language: English
• Publisher: Publishdrive
• Release date: Jul 17, 2017
• ISBN: 9781788770354

Ivan Turgenev

Ivan Turgenev was a Russian writer whose work is exemplary of Russian Realism. A student of Hegel, Turgenev’s political views and writing were heavily influenced by the Age of Enlightenment. Among his most recognized works are the classic Fathers and Sons, A Sportsman’s Sketches, and A Month in the Country. Turgenev is today recognized for his artistic purity, which influenced writers such as Henry James and Joseph Conrad. Turgenev died in 1883, and is credited with returning Leo Tolstoy to writing as the result of his death-bed plea.

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The Collected Works of

IVAN TURGENEV

VOLUME 7 OF 53

The Diary of a Superfluous Man

Parts Edition

By Delphi Classics, 2015

Version 2

COPYRIGHT

‘The Diary of a Superfluous Man’

Ivan Turgenev: Parts Edition (in 53 parts)

First published in the United Kingdom in 2017 by Delphi Classics.

© Delphi Classics, 2017.

All rights reserved.  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form other than that in which it is published.

ISBN: 978 1 78877 035 4

Delphi Classics

is an imprint of

Delphi Publishing Ltd

Hastings, East Sussex

United Kingdom

Contact: [e-mail]

www.delphiclassics.com

Ivan Turgenev: Parts Edition

This eBook is Part 7 of the Delphi Classics edition of Ivan Turgenev in 53 Parts. It features the unabridged text of The Diary of a Superfluous Man from the bestselling edition of the author’s Collected Works. Having established their name as the leading publisher of classic literature and art, Delphi Classics produce publications that are individually crafted with superior formatting, while introducing many rare texts for the first time in digital print. Our Parts Editions feature original annotations and illustrations relating to the life and works of Ivan Turgenev, as well as individual tables of contents, allowing you to navigate eBooks quickly and easily.

Visit here to buy the entire Parts Edition of Ivan Turgenev or the Collected Works of Ivan Turgenev in a single eBook.

Learn more about our Parts Edition, with free downloads, via this link or browse our most popular Parts here.

IVAN TURGENEV

IN 53 VOLUMES

Parts Edition Contents

The Novels

1, Rudin

2, A House of Gentlefolk

3, On the Eve

4, Fathers and Sons

5, Smoke

6, Virgin Soil

The Novellas

7, The Diary of a Superfluous Man

8, Yakov Pasinkov

9, Faust

10, Acia

11, First Love

12, A Lear of the Steppes

13, Torrents of Spring

14, The Song of Triumphant Love

15, Clara Militch

16, Phantoms

17, The Dream

The Short Stories

18, A Sportsman’s Sketches

19, A Tour in the Forest

20, Andrei Kolosov

21, A Correspondence

22, The District Doctor

23, Mumu

24, The Jew

25, An Unhappy Girl

26, The Duellist

27, Three Portraits

28, Enough

29, A Desperate Character

30, A Strange Story

31, Punin and Baburin

32, Old Portraits

33, The Brigadier

34, Pyetushkov

35, Knock, Knock, Knock

36, The Inn

37, Lieutenant Yergunov’s Story

38, The Dog

39, The Watch

40, The Rendezvous

41, A Reckless Character

42, Father Alexyéi’s Story

43, Poems in Prose

The Plays

44, A Month in the Country

45, A Provincial Lady

46, A Poor Gentleman

47, Careless

48, Broke

49, Where It Is Thin, There It Breaks

50, The Family Charge

51, The Bachelor

The Criticism

52, The Criticism

The Biography

53, Turgenev: A Study by Edward Garnett

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The Diary of a Superfluous Man

Translated by Constance Garnett, 1894

This is Turgenev’s first novella, which was published in 1850.

Turgenev, 1861

CONTENTS

March 20, 18 -  - .

March 21.

March 22.

March 23.

March 24.

March 25.

March 26.

March 27.

March 29.

March 30.

March 31.

THE DIARY OF A SUPERFLUOUS MAN

Village of Sheep’s Springs,

March 20, 18 -  - .

THE doctor has just left me. At last I have got at something definite! For all his cunning, he had to speak out at last. Yes, I am soon, very soon, to die. The frozen rivers will break up, and with the last snow I shall, most likely, swim away . . . whither? God knows! To the ocean too. Well, well, since one must die, one may as well die in the spring. But isn’t it absurd to begin a diary a fortnight, perhaps, before death? What does it matter? And by how much are fourteen days less than fourteen years, fourteen centuries? Beside eternity, they say, all is nothingness -  - yes, but in that case eternity, too, is nothing. I see I am letting myself drop into metaphysics; that’s a bad sign -  - am I not rather faint - hearted, perchance? I had better begin a description of some sort. It’s damp and windy out of doors. I’m forbidden to go out. What can I write about, then? No decent man talks of his maladies; to write a novel is not in my line; reflections on elevated topics are beyond me; descriptions of the life going on around me could not even interest me; while I am weary of doing nothing, and too lazy to read. Ah, I have it, I will write the story of all my life for myself. A first - rate idea! Just before death it is a suitable thing to do, and can be of no harm to any one. I will begin.

I was born thirty years ago, the son of fairly well - to - do landowners. My father had a passion for gambling; my mother was a woman of character . . . a very virtuous woman. Only, I have known no woman whose moral excellence was less productive of happiness. She was crushed beneath the weight of her own virtues, and was a source of misery to every one, from herself upwards. In all the fifty years of her life, she never once took rest, or sat with her hands in her lap; she was for ever fussing and bustling about like an ant, and to absolutely no good purpose, which cannot be said of the ant. The worm of restlessness fretted her night and day. Only once I saw her perfectly tranquil, and that was the day after her death, in her coffin. Looking at her, it positively seemed to me that her face wore an expression of subdued amazement; with the half - open lips, the sunken cheeks, and meekly - staring eyes, it seemed expressing, all over, the words, ‘How good to be at rest!’ Yes, it is good, good to be rid, at last, of the wearing sense of life, of the persistent, restless consciousness of existence! But that’s neither here nor there.

I was brought up badly and not happily. My father and mother both loved me; but that made things no better for me. My father was not, even in his own house, of the slightest authority or consequence, being a man openly abandoned to a shameful and