Turgenev's first novel, set on a provincial Russian estate. Rudin, a brilliant and eloquent visitor, dazzles the household with his talk of ideals and progress, and the daughter of the house, Natalya, is inspired by him. As the story unfolds, his gift for words is set against his ability to act. The book is a compassionate study of a type that Turgenev knew well, the idealist whose speech outruns his will, and it introduced themes he would return to throughout his career.
Quotes
window, ‘do you see that apple-tree? It is broken by the weight and abundance of its own fruit. True emblem of genius.’
Blessed is he who has been young in his youth.
ended, ‘is suicide. The egoist withers like a solitary barren tree; but pride, ambition, as the active effort after perfection, is the source of all that is great.... Yes! a man must prune away the stubborn egoism of his personality to give it the right of self-expression.’