Customer Reviews

A Sportsman's Notebook

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This is the classic book that put Turgenev on the literary map--both in his own time and for all of history. The strength of this, his first book, was such that, even if Turgenev had never written another book, he would still be recognized as the father of the modern short story. Indeed, A Sportsman's Notebook was Hemmingway's favorite book, and it is not hard to see traces of Turgenevs influence in the work of Hemmingway and other later-day masters of the short story.

Notebook contains twenty-five stories in which Turgenev shares shares memories from the hunting expeditions that lead him throughout the Russian countryside. His writing is strong because there is real life in his people and real beauty in his landscapes.

The translation by Charles and Natasha Hepburn is absolutely amazing; it far surpasses the work of Constance Garnett, whose Turgenev is for me nearly unreadable.

One of Theodore Roosevelt's secretaries of state, John Hay, had trouble dealing with Russian diplomats because they lied. Now, Mr. Hay had been his country's good servant since the Lincoln administration. In that time he had almost certainly come across a liar or two. His problem with Russians, as he explained it, was that they lied for no apparent reason: Not to hide an unfortunate truth, not to advance a position, but as a seemingly automatic reaction to any question. Mr. Hay simply couldn't understand Russians.

The character sketches that pop off the pages of Ivan Turgenev's "Sportsman's Notebook" go a long way to helping explain the Russian psyche. Under the guise of a narrator afield with dog and gun, the author introduces us to a collection men and women who through their personalities and personal tales seem to explain some essential truths about the Russian folk.

The short story collection unfolds like a 19th century "Canterbury Tales," complete with characters of high, middle and low estate, educated and not. It has serfs and masters and there's even a Miller's Tale, of sorts. Unfortunately for Mr. Hay, there's little talk of lying.

Turgenev wrote much of the Notebook when he was abroad. But is seems he forgot nothing about his either his countrymen or the Russian land, which becomes almost its own character in the stories. Steppe and forest, cloud and sky, the author makes the reader feel the dust and experience summer heat as a palpable entity.

Turgenev's observations are always on the mark. In reference to a servant's questionable response to his master he says, "...in Russia it is never possible to distinguish the surly from the merely sleepy." Writing the Notebook stories long before Twentieth Century upheavals, he notes that, "It's a strange thing when the old order passes and there's no new one to take its place." The new century would certainly provide something to take the old order's place.



The Everyman's Library edition of "Sportsman's Notebook" uses the Charles and Natasha Hepburn translation, which dates to 1950. It includes an introduction by Max Egremont and a literary and historical chronology of publications and events which occurred during the author's lifetime.

Mr. Turgenev's stories get a five star rating only because Amazon doesn't offer reviewers six or seven stars as possible choices.

This fine gem of a book typifies the sort of volume that one must be able to extract from the water-logged valise when the steamer has gone down and one finds oneself stranded on the proverbial desert island. After 30 years of rather serious reading, I still tend to think that Turgenev is one of the finest authors ever to put ink to paper. A Sportsman's Notebook is a wonderful place to start an exploration of Russian literature. Now, if I can just find my tramp steamer tickets. Check-out "Spring Torrents". This is one of Turgenev's most readable books--a poignant romantic novella.

This book has some of the best short fiction ever written. Hemingway said, "Tolstoy wrote the best books, BUT TURGENEV WAS THE GREATEST WRITER." And then he went on to praise the short story "A Rattle of Wheels" above all other Turgenev stories. So if Hemingway thought Turgenev the greatest writer, and "Rattle of Wheels" the greatest story he wrote, then he certainly thought "Rattle of Wheels" the greatest short story ever written (aside from his own works, of course, egomaniac that he was). And "Rattle of Wheels" is in this collection. I personally prefer "The Singers". Read this collection. You won't regret it.

Anyone who has read literature knows the best and most noteworthy volumes. This is not necessarily because the work is 'well written' or conveys ideas easily to the reader, or because someone else says it's good. Good literature is the work that has a completely positive effect upon the reader. I have been reading serious literature for several years now, and A Sportsman's Notebook is quite possibly the most wonderful literary work I have yet encountered. If I'm feeling down, I crack it open, and by the time I'm done reading I feel better. If I'm feeling good, it makes me feel that much better. Turgenev's words ring true in this volume -- to me it's as sweet as candy.