A Sportsman's Sketches

By Ivan Turgenev

This edition of Ivan Turgenev's best known work contains fourteen of the twenty-five sketches which appear in the full two-volume editions. A selection has been made of the best and includes all those in which the flavour of the open air is strongly marked. The editor has been fortunate in being able to arrange to use Mrs. Constance Garnett's translation, which is by far the best rendering in English that has been made. Translators of Russian commonly fail in one of two ways. Either their efforts to preserve the finer shades of meaning of the original text result in English which is forced and artificial, or the desire to render colloquially the method of speech of the Russian peasant entirely destroys the character of the author's style. Mrs. Garnett avoids both these pitfalls; for while her rendering leaves nothing to be desired as regards the quality of the English, the subtle nuances of the Russian text are.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Forgotten Books
• Release date: Nov 6, 2017

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.