Asya A Novella Author:Ivan Turgenev Tolstoy considered Asya, written in 1858, one of Turgenev's two best stories (along with First Love). Asya is a tragic story of two Russians abroad who are in love but conceal it from each other. Both Constance Garrett and Isabel Hapgood first translated Asya in antiquated style about 100 years ago. Despite its superb character portrayals, it ha... more »s rarely been available since. This translation is based on the Russian text published in 1961 in Moscow by the Government Publishing House of Artistic Literature (Gosudarstvennoye Izdatelstvo Hudozhostvennoi Literaturoi), and entitled Collected Writings. Asya appears in Volume Six. Turgenev was one of the giants of Russian literature. Born in 1818, he spent much time traveling in Western Europe away from the much less modernized Russia of his time, and never married, much like the character who relates the story of his falling in love with Asya. He died in France in 1883.« less