First Love (The Art of the Novella)

Great book I loved the writing and the pace of the book and a great plot twist

Read in just two settings. Very lyrical dialog. He is a good writer and story teller.

The Diary of a Superfluous Man is a diary of a fictional 30 year old man written during the last two weeks of his life. The dying man, Tchulkaturin, is exceptionally introspective and obssessed with his sense of failure and inferiority. His heated sensibilities stifle his will. He was a particular type in Russian literature, especially hated by the reformers of the day. In their eyes, he made no social contribution--hence, the term "superfluous". The Diary is not just a negative romp of a self-pitying aesthete. True, there's much complaints, hysteria, and sentimentality, but it's relieved by Tchulkaturin's amusing self-awareness. Likening himself to a useless fifth horse on a carriage, dragged along by life, he says, "But, thank goodness, the station is not far off." It was said that his birth was the "forfeit" his mother paid in the card game of life. Turgenev's ironic humor and relentless yet light-hearted social criticism add sharp levity. Tchulkaturin supports his self-assessment as superfluous with the "folly" of his life, a failed three week love affair which he claims was his only happiness. Through this vehicle Turgenev explores the themes of love, passion, illusion and will versus weakness, which is also the focus of the companion story, First Love. Tchulkaturin remembers bliss and humiliation, but he did take action. We see that no one wants to be rescued from passion, not even Tchulkaturin. Does it matter whether he reached his goal? The townspeople eventually esteemed him--perhaps he did make a social contribution and wasn't, afterall, a superfluous man. Irony upon irony and no answers. In his small room, confronting death, Tchulkaturin realizes that none of the pathetic facts of his life matter. Yet he laments he has "gained sense" too late. He sees what things have had meaning for him. No matter how small, he wants to hold onto them--he wants to live. The tragedy is that Tchulkaturin is universal, not superfluous. He, like most of us, come to realize that it is part of the human condition to feel that happiness and life seem to have hardly begun when nearly over. At the end of the diary, after Tchulkaturin has died, Turgenev adds another ironic touch that doubles as a social comment and as a device to force the infinitely unvarnished and necessary view that life goes on however it will, regardless of how we may think we have lived. First Love is the story of an adolescent who falls in love with the same woman as his father. It sensitively portrays the transformation of a child to a young man, precipated by his first passion. The unusual triangle intensifies the suspence as we wonder how the son will find out who his rival is--he knows there is one. His inevitable realization deepens his emotional life and his understanding of the complexities of human life. The story has an episodic structure from which the poetry and drama effortessly unfold, showing the son's growing love and helpless flip-flopping from child to man.The parlor games portentuously hint at the untold subplot. No character is wasted. Each has a distinct purpose for plot development and highlighting the boy's predicament. Turgenev's incomparable nature depictions have such a clarity of vision that vivid and penetrating images automatically arise in the mind's eye whether he uses them to symbolically presage events or to reflect a character's emotional state. Or, Turgenev can use his visions of the expansive beauty of nature in opposition to the character's emotional condition to distance us from it to show human insignifcance in the face of the vastness of existence. The pairing of The Diary with First Love is good. Each is a meditation on life, love and death. The juxtaposition of the two love stories, the neurotic dying man, the intelligent, passionate young son, and the powerful, archetypal father stimulate profound thought: How should life be lived--passionately or safely? Why to we cling to life so, no matter how we perceive it? Who decides whose life is superfluous and whose is meaningful? What are the criteria? Is any life meaningful? Does it matter how we have lived if we can discard our regrets and wonder at the paradoxical smallness and greatness of life? Is any significance we attach to life a mere crutch to face life or a crutch to face death? Each rereading of the stories reveals more perspectives and more layers of meaning.

I have no idea when I purchased this book so I'm going to give this an okay approval rating. I hope you fellers enjoy it.

This book is short but is very well written. Time truly does fly when you’re reading this. The story takes you on a journey through the perspective of a young boy experiencing his first pure love for a girl. Love can be very sweet but also treacherous and this story definitely portrays that.

i really like this russian literature. it’s extremely short but lovely. as I said , it comes slightly damaged but isn’t a big problem for me.

Fun young adult Christmas romance/ fantasy.

I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH!!!

It's lovely, like Russian literature.

Nice story and good translation. A good story which book lovers will enjoy. Young love shows in a true way.

こういう本は洋書取扱い店の書棚で見付けても、多くの客の手に触れることで表装がかなり傷んでいることも多いです。今回送付頂いたのは本当に「新品」レベルのものでとても満足しています。

First Love“ ist ein feinfühliger, melancholischer Roman, der die Intensität und Verwirrung der ersten großen Liebe meisterhaft einfängt. Turgenjew schreibt mit einer Klarheit und Eleganz, die tief berührt – seine Sprache ist poetisch, aber nie überladen. Die Geschichte des jungen Wladimir, der sich in die geheimnisvolle Zinaida verliebt, ist zugleich zart und tragisch, voller emotionaler Tiefe und psychologischer Nuancen. Besonders beeindruckend ist, wie Turgenjew die inneren Konflikte und das Erwachen der Gefühle schildert – universell nachvollziehbar, egal in welcher Zeit man lebt. Die Penguin Classics-Ausgabe überzeugt zudem mit einem gut lesbaren Layout und einer hilfreichen Einführung, die den historischen und literarischen Kontext beleuchtet. Ein Muss für Liebhaber klassischer Literatur und alle, die sich an die bittersüße Intensität der ersten Liebe erinnern möchten.

Maybe is a male point of view. It was ok but not a great read