“Enthusiasts of strong social and political commentary couched in novel format will appreciate this story…An excellent story of change permeating into all levels of society.” Midwest Book Review
Description
Written by one of Russia’s literary masters, Smoke is both a poignant love story and a brilliant socio-political study. Marked with a barbed wit and a visionary modernism, it became the center of a famous philosophical breach between Turgenev and Dostoevsky.
On the brink of marriage, Grigorii Litvinov visits the fashionable European spa of Baden-Baden, a scene dominated by the Russian upper classes. Among them is the beautiful Irina Osinin, Litvinov’s first love, to whom he was engaged ten years earlier. Litvinov’s struggle with a nostalgic passion is set against the background of a society pulled both toward and against change as it feels the influence of the West.
A sensitive and intelligent commentary on human nature, Turgenev’s Smoke endures for its high aesthetic standards and its universal qualities of understanding.
Praise
“Enthusiasts of strong social and political commentary couched in novel format will appreciate this story…An excellent story of change permeating into all levels of society.” Midwest Book Review
“Turgenev ridicules with a most exquisite sensibility the politics of the royals and upper crust.” AudioFile
Details
| Language | English |
|---|---|
| Release Day | Nov 30, 1998 |
| Release Date | December 1, 1998 |
| Release Date Machine | 912470400 |
| Imprint | Blackstone Publishing |
| Provider | Blackstone Publishing |
| Categories | Literature & Fiction, Classics, Classics, Classics, Evergreen Classics, Evergreen Classics, Fiction - All, Fiction - Adult |
Author Bio
Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (1818–1883) was the first Russian writer to gain a wide reputation in Europe. He witnessed the February Revolution in Paris (1848), and his subsequent connection with reform groups in Russia, along with his sympathetic 1852 eulogy of Nikolai Gogol (who satirized the corrupt bureaucracy of the Russian empire), led to his arrest and one-month imprisonment in St. Petersburg. In 1879 the honorary degree of doctor of civil law was conferred upon him by the University of Oxford.
Narrator Bio
Stuart Langton is an award-winning theater, film, and television actor. He has been an audiobook narrator for more than ten years. He lives in New York City.
Overview
Written by one of Russia’s literary masters, Smoke is both a poignant love story and a brilliant socio-political study. Marked with a barbed wit and a visionary modernism, it became the center of a famous philosophical breach between Turgenev and Dostoevsky.
On the brink of marriage, Grigorii Litvinov visits the fashionable European spa of Baden-Baden, a scene dominated by the Russian upper classes. Among them is the beautiful Irina Osinin, Litvinov’s first love, to whom he was engaged ten years earlier. Litvinov’s struggle with a nostalgic passion is set against the background of a society pulled both toward and against change as it feels the influence of the West.
A sensitive and intelligent commentary on human nature, Turgenev’s Smoke endures for its high aesthetic standards and its universal qualities of understanding.
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