The present volume has as its central aim a reassessment of the works of Ivan Turgenev for the twenty-first century. Against the background of a decline in interest in nineteenth-century literature the articles gathered here seek to argue that the period in general, and his work in particular, still have much to offer the modern sensibility. The volume also offers a great variety of approaches. Some of the contributors tackle major works by Turgenev, including Rudin and Smoke, while others address key themes that run through all his creative work. Yet others address his influence, as well as...

Turgenev is in many ways the most enigmatic of the great nineteenth-century Russian writers. A realist, he was nevertheless drawn towards symbolism and the supernatural in his later career. Renowned for his authentic depictions of Russian life, he spent long periods in Europe and was more Western in outlook than many of his contemporaries. Though he stood aloof from politics, the major political issues of nineteenth-century Russia are central to his fiction. Interest in Turgenev remains strong in the twenty-first century, sustained by the amenability of his work to contemporary critical...