Virgin Soil (New York Review Books Classics) [Paperback]

Ivan Turgenev (Author), Constance Garnett (Translator, Introduction)

Book Description

Series: New York Review Books Classics | Publication Date: August 31, 2000

Turgenev was the most liberal-spirited and unqualifiedly humane of all the great nineteenth-century Russian novelists, and in Virgin Soil, his biggest and most ambitious work, he sought to balance his deep affection for his country and his people with his growing apprehensions about what their future held in store. At the heart of the book is the story of a young man and a young woman, torn between love and politics, who struggle to make headway against the complacency of the powerful, the inarticulate misery of the powerless, and the stifling conventions of provincial life. This rich and complex book, at once a love story, a devastating, and bitterly funny social satire, and, perhaps most movingly of all, a heartfelt celebration of the immense beauty of the Russian countryside, is a tragic masterpiece in which one of the world's finest novelists confronts the enduring question of the place of happiness in a political world.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Every class of society, every type of character, every degree of fortune, every phase of manners, passes through his hands; his imagination claims its property equally, in town and country, among rich and poor, among wise people and idiots, dilettanti and peasants, the tragic and the joyous, the probable and the grotesque. He has an eye for all our passions and a deeply sympathetic sense of the wonderful complexity of our souls.
— Henry James

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 free air of the world….All his creations, fortunate and unfortunate, oppressed and oppressors, are human beings, not strange beasts in a menagerie or damned souls knocking themselves out in the stuffy darkness of mystical contradictions. They are human beings, fit to live, fit to suffer, fit to struggle, fit to win, fit to lose, in the endless and inspiring game of pursuing from day to day the ever-receding future.
— Joseph Conrad

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Russian

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: NYRB Classics (August 31, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0940322455
• ISBN-13: 978-0940322455
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.8 x 7.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,246,432 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars oh-so-russian, January 20, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Virgin Soil (New York Review Books Classics) (Paperback)

Although this book definitely stands on its own, perhaps not as good as Fathers and Sons however, I enjoyed it much more immensely having lived in Russia for a time. Knowing a bit about the Russian people, way of thinking adds immeasurably to the pleasure and understanding of the novel (as it does for all Russian novels). In other words, I can vouch that Turgenev is right on! He truly captures the Russian character, the essentials of which have not changed much since this novel was written over a hundred years ago. Virgin Soil is concerned, among other things, with problems encountered by young revolutionaries when they go out and try to spread the word among the "people." Well, surprise, surprise, this is the same thing I saw when I lived in Russia in the early 90's - why a swift wholesale transition to capitalism did not happen smoothly. You can change economic, political etc. systems but you CANNOT change a people's mindset just like that! So ... read Virgin Soil for Turgenev's wonderful descriptions of nature and his individual characters, but read also with this in mind - that you are getting a glimpse into the Russian character. It all rings true, from the long conversations to the vodka to how world view is influenced by social class.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quintessential Turgenev, March 13, 2001

By 

J. Rabideau (Stuck in the Loser State) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Virgin Soil (New York Review Books Classics) (Paperback)

Encompassing social commentary, a (albeit fairly simplistic) love story, and a homage to Russia's beauty, this work does not fail the lover of Turgenev. Certainly this might not necessarily be the best work with which to begin one's odyssey through Turgenev, but this very effectively pulls together all the familiar elements of his writing. Turgenev is not known for his plot development, and this is again the case here: very little actually occurs. The absence of plot and of action, however, is not to say that this dry, boring drivel. Rather, Turgenev's material, this work in particular, becomes a pleasant marriage of the classic novel with the novel of ideas.

His commentary, both political and human, is both trapped in the amber of history and universally relevant (a lovely dichotomy) to the human condition. "Virgin Soil" is a very fine story, and the translation is flowing and literate (having no Russian, I cannot speak to how accurately this might reflect the original).

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Do not start your Turgenev tour with this, January 27, 2001

By 

recluse "recluse" (Tokyo, Japan Japan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Virgin Soil (New York Review Books Classics) (Paperback)

Having read all of Turgenev's major works, this would be the best one to close one's odyseesy of Turgenev works as it provides his finally achieved view of the desparate situation of then Russia and the skepticism toward the revolutionary movements aiming at social re-engineering. Story is very simple, and no significant action was involved, but a minimum knowlwedge of Russian literature, changing revolutionary movements and intelligentsia situation is required to grasp the width of the topics and issues covered.