Smoke is an 1867 novel by the highly acclaimed Russian writer Ivan Turgenev (1818–1883) that tells the gripping story of a secret love affair between a young betrothed Russian man and a young married Russian woman, while also delivering in the opening chapters the author’s criticism of Russia and Russians of the period. The story takes place largely in the German resort town of Baden-Baden. — Adapted from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoke_(novel)     [chương_files]  

This book contains three novellas by one of the major writers of Russian literature. The first, A LEAR OF THE STEPPES, is a brilliant re-imagining of Shakespeare’s play King Lear, wherein a larger-than-life father makes a life-altering decision with consequences unforeseen by him. FAUST begins at Section 11. In a series of letters to a friend the writer recounts his chance meeting with a married woman whom he had known years earlier when both were single and committed to each other. The ensuing events are vividly revealed in the letters. Section 19 introduces ACIA, the final “ETC.” of the book’s title. Turgenev poignantly portrays the twists and turns of human emotions in this moving psychological portrait of two people who fall in love. Leo Tolstoy believed Acia to be one of Turgenev’s greatest stories. (Lee Smalley)     [chương_files]  

The novel titled in Russian “Дворянское Гнездо” (Dvoryanskoye Gnezdo, sometimes translated as Home of the Gentry, A Nest of the Gentlefolk, A Nest of the Gentry) is considered a sequel to “Rudin”. It is the story of the protagonist Fyodor Ivanych Lavretsky, a son of a nobleman and a serf, brought up at his family’s country estate home by a severe maiden aunt, often thought to be based on Turgenev’s own mother, who was known for her cruelty. – Summary by tovarisch based on Wikipedia article     [chương_files]