Ivan Turgenev

I have been considerably enamoured by the works of Ivan Turgenev of late, and I have found that the translation really matters. My friend's disintegrating version of three of his short stories, namely Asya, First Love, and Spring Torrents, passed to her from her father, held a narrative voice so intricate I did not find in more modern translations of his other works that I picked up from the library. Still, it's worth a read ;) Turgenev is a romantic at heart, and I don't simply mean one given to romantic love, but also someone for whom life was a pursuit of ideals above recognition, wealth, and power, ideals that may not be of value in the context of today's society.

I don't know how many of us have found ourselves bereft of words in the company of another, but I was glad to find that someone shared my sentiment:

"A minute passed and neither spoke... What was there to say? What words could be so significant as the very fact of their presence here together, alone, so early, so close to one another?"

- I.S. Turgenev, in Spring Torrents. Translation by Ivy and Tatiana Litvinov.

Why do I write? To remind myself of the ideals I had in my youth, that I may never be too old for them.

"Where are those raptures? Alas! Where youth is too."
- Turgenev, in Faust.