{"product_id":"love-and-youth-isbn-9781782276012","title":"Love and Youth","description":"\u003cb\u003eFrom the most romantic of the Russian greats, an enthralling selection of short stories and novellas\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAn icon of Russian literature, Turgenev was able to contain the narrative sweep of a novel in a single short story. His protagonists experience the joy and painful turbulence of first love, the thrilling adventures of youth, and the layered reflections of maturity. His great skill is to make his readers feel alongside these characters, rendering their complex interiorities, whether nobility or serf, in these stories charged with a profound social conscience.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis collection, in a lyrical new translation by Nicolas Slater, places Turgenev's great novella \u003ci\u003eFirst Love\u003c\/i\u003e alongside a selection of his classic stories. From the evocative rural scenes of 'Bezhin Meadow' and 'Rattling Wheels', to the pathos and humanity of 'The District Doctor' and 'Biryuk', these are stories to be lingered over.   • 'Turgenev's Russia is but a canvas on which the incomparable artist of humanity lays his colours and his forms in the great light and the free air of the world' - Joseph Conrad \u003cbr\u003e   • 'He was the stuff of which glories are made' - Henry James \u003cbr\u003e   • 'Turgenev's achievement lies in how he succeeded, in spite of himself, his country and his time, in exempting his work from public duty. This has given it that unnameable quality that makes every sentence true, every silence trustworthy' - Guardian \u003cbr\u003e   • 'There are two masters of seeing in Russian literature: Tolstoy and Turgenev' - V. S. PritchettIvan Turgenev was born to an aristocratic family in 1818. In 1852, he wrote an obituary for Gogol for the Saint Petersburg Gazette. Banned by the censor in Saint Petersburg, it was nevertheless published in Moscow, leading to Turgenev being briefly imprisoned then exiled for two years on his country estate.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTurgenev lived for much of his life in Western Europe, where he became friends with writers such as Gustave Flaubert. His most famous novel \u003ci\u003eFathers and Sons\u003c\/i\u003e was poorly received by many Russian critics. It is now regarded as one of the greatest novels of the nineteenth century.FIRST LOVE\u003cbr\u003e The other guests had left long ago. The clock\u003cbr\u003e struck half past midnight. The host, and Sergei\u003cbr\u003e Nikolaevich, and Vladimir Petrovich, were the only\u003cbr\u003e people left in the room.\u003cbr\u003e The host rang for the remains of their dinner to be\u003cbr\u003e cleared away.\u003cbr\u003e ‘So that’s agreed,’ he said, settling himself deeper\u003cbr\u003e in his armchair and lighting a cigar. ‘Each of us has to\u003cbr\u003e tell the story of his first love. Sergei Nikolaevich, you\u003cbr\u003e start.’\u003cbr\u003e Sergei Nikolaevich, a plump little man with a\u003cbr\u003e chubby, fair-skinned face, first looked at his host and\u003cbr\u003e then stared up at the ceiling.\u003cbr\u003e ‘I never had a first love,’ he said finally. ‘I started\u003cbr\u003e with my second.’\u003cbr\u003e ‘How did that happen?’\u003cbr\u003e ‘Very simply. I was eighteen when I had my first\u003cbr\u003e flirtation, with a most attractive young lady. But I\u003cbr\u003e courted her as if I’d done it all before, just the way that\u003cbr\u003e later on I courted other girls. In point of fact, I fell in\u003cbr\u003e love for the first and last time when I was six, and it\u003cbr\u003e was with my nurse. But that was a very long time ago.\u003cbr\u003e I can’t remember anything about our relationship—\u003cbr\u003e and even if I could, who’d be interested?’\u003cbr\u003e ‘So what are we to do?’ began the host. ‘There was\u003cbr\u003e nothing particularly interesting about my first love\u003cbr\u003e either. I never fell in love with anyone till I met Anna\u003cbr\u003e Ivanovna, who’s now my wife; and everything went\u003cbr\u003e perfectly smoothly for us, our parents arranged the\u003cbr\u003e match, we soon found we were in love, and got married\u003cbr\u003e as quickly as we could. My story can be told in a couple\u003cbr\u003e of words. I must admit, gentlemen, that when I raised\u003cbr\u003e the question of our first loves, I was relying on you—I\u003cbr\u003e won’t say old bachelors, but bachelors who aren’t as\u003cbr\u003e young as you were. Have you anything entertaining to\u003cbr\u003e tell us, Vladimir Petrovich?’\u003cbr\u003e Vladimir Petrovich, a man of about forty with\u003cbr\u003e black hair just turning grey, hesitated a little and then\u003cbr\u003e said ‘My first love, it’s true, was rather out of the\u003cbr\u003e ordinary.’\u003cbr\u003e ‘Aha!’ said the host and Sergei Nikolaevich in\u003cbr\u003e unison. ‘All the better . . . Tell us about it.’\u003cbr\u003e ‘Very well . . . Or no, I shan’t tell it, I’m not good at\u003cbr\u003e storytelling. It either comes out too short and sketchy,\u003cbr\u003e or too wordy and affected. If you don’t mind, I’ll write\u003cbr\u003e down all I can remember in a notebook, and then read\u003cbr\u003e it to you.’\u003cbr\u003e At first his friends wouldn’t have this, but Vladimir\u003cbr\u003e Petrovich insisted. Two weeks later they met again,\u003cbr\u003e and he kept his promise.\u003cbr\u003e Here is the story in his notebook:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI\u003cbr\u003e It happened in the summer of 1833, when I was\u003cbr\u003e sixteen.","brand":"Pushkin Collection","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46305070186725,"sku":"NP9781782276012","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781782276012.jpg?v=1767731859","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/love-and-youth-isbn-9781782276012","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}