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The Novels and Stories of Iván Turgénieff (3); Rúdin: a Romance. a King Lear of the Steppes
The Novels and Stories of Ivn Turgnieff Rdin a Romance a King Lear of the Steppes - 3 Author:Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev Volume: 3 General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1903 Original Publisher: Charles Scribner? Sons Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books... more ».com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: PREFACE " Rudin," published in 1857, was Turgenieff's first long story. Those who had studied the author's cast of mind as displayed in his preceding short stories -- particularly in " The Diary of a Superfluous Man," " Two Friends," " The Hamlet of Shshtchigry County," and others -- were not unprepared to find portrayed in " Rudin," in fuller form, another type of " the superfluous man." Not one of Turgenieff's writings of his first period called forth so much bewilderment and so many disputes as " Rudin." The reason for this lay not only in Rudin's character, but also in the fact that the author had regarded it as necessary to complete the characterisation directly from himself, as it were, by making several of the acting personages of the tale express their opinions, all in one line, concerning the hero. Moreover, this composite opinion undergoes a radical change in the course of the narrative, passing from severe condemnation to complete justification. But this is sufficiently explained by the different angles from which Rudin is viewed. Turgenieff never conceals his sympathies and his antipathiestoward his characters; but in " Rudin " alone does he resort to the expedient of explanatory comments, of warning the reader not to allow himself to be fascinated by the hero's charms, and of initiating him into the man's genuine personality by condemnatory excerpts from his past history. Rudin would, in fact, seem to be possessed of two distinct characters; and the author would seem to have changed his mind -- say some -- about him, as Pushkin change...« less