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The Hunting Sketches Bk.2: The District Doctor and Other Stories ISBN 9781907832086 An intriguing confession of doctor’s romantic involvement with a beautiful 20 year old patient. Followed by Turgenev’s exquisite, often meditative descriptions of Russian countryside and mysterious herbalist Kassyan infatuated with Gamayane, a prophetic bird of Russian folklore, a symbol of wisdom and knowledge. Read in English (unabridged). “It’s hard to die at twenty without having known love…” "Queer things happen in the world: you may live a long while with some people, and be on friendly terms with them, and never once speak openly with them from your soul; with others you have scarcely time to get acquainted, and all at once you are pouring out to him – or he to you – all your secrets, as though you were at confession." Track List: The District Doctor Kassyan Of Fair Springs In “The District Doctor”, a traveller falls ill and is treated by the local physician, who unexpectedly shares a story with the stranger. Once the doctor was asked to make a house call by a woman who believed her daughter might be dying. On his arrival, the physician finds a beautiful 20 year old woman who is feverish and initially unconscious. Although fully aware how ill she is, he nonetheless promises everyone that she will survive. He is immediately infatuated with the woman and spends days and nights at her bed side caring for this single patient. As Alexandra’s condition worsens and she becomes convinced her death is imminent, she professes love for the doctor. “It’s hard to die at twenty without having known love; this was what was torturing her this was why, in despair, she caught at me”, asserts the doctor during his confession. Just before her death, the doctor lies about their relationship to Alexandra's mother. Later the doctor marries another woman. Did he marry for love, convenience, or money? In “Kassyan Of Fair Springs” we get an opportunity to marvel at Turgenev’s divine descriptions of nature. They become so beautiful that one can easily fall into a state of deep meditation. We also learn about very strange and mysterious character Kassyan, nicknamed the Flea who seem to be able to speak to birds and astonishes Turgenev with his deeply spiritual views of the world and nature. We learn about Kassyan’s deep love for nature and his fascination with Gamayune, a prophetic bird of Russian folklore, a symbol of wisdom and knowledge. Turgenev's meditative descriptions of Russian countryside "A marvellously sweet occupation it is to lie on your back in a wood and gaze upwards! You may fancy you are looking into a bottomless sea; that it stretches wide below you; that the trees are not rising out of the earth, but, like the roots of gigantic weeds, are dropping – falling straight down into those glassy, limpid depths; the leaves on the trees are at one moment transparent as emeralds, the next, they condense into golden, almost black green. Somewhere, afar off, at the end of a slender twig, a single leaf hangs motionless against the blue patch of transparent sky, and beside it another trembles with the motion of a fish on the line, as though moving of its own will, not shaken by the wind." "Round white clouds float calmly across, and calmly pass away like submarine islands; and suddenly, all this ocean, this shining ether, these branches and leaves steeped in sunlight – all is rippling, quivering in fleeting brilliance, and a fresh trembling whisper awakens like the tiny, incessant plash of suddenly stirred eddies. You don’t move – you look, and no word can tell what peace, what joy, what sweetness reigns in the heart." About The Author Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev 1818-1883, a Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright. His short story collection entitled The Hunting Sketches, is a milestone of Russian Realism, and his novel Fathers and Sons is regarded as one of the major works of 19th-century fiction. Turgenev studied literature, philosophy and philology at the Universities of Moscow, St Petersburg and Berlin and in 1879 received honorary doctorate from the University of Oxford. Turgenev's artistic purity made him a favourite of like-minded novelists of the next generation, such as Henry James and Joseph Conrad. "If we wait for the moment when everything, absolutely everything is ready, we shall never begin" "I agree with no one's opinion. I have some of my own" "Every man's happiness is built on the unhappiness of another" Ivan Turgenev Reviews "A milestone in Russian realism", Turgenev'sHunting Sketches paint an almost mystical portrait of everyday life in Russian country villages. Times are harsh: in the isolated village where the coachman tries to get the carriage axle mended, the water is bad, even for the horses. Nevertheless, in the woods, where all is "rippling, quivering in fleeting brilliance", old Kassyan chirrups to quails in answer to their calls. Moved by the obvious passion of the Russian narrator, Max Bollinger, the listener is transported to that world. The Guardian > Rachel Redford, The Observer, UK Where to Order CD | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com | Alibris | Waterstone’s | Foyles | Books Etc | Blackwell’s | WHSmith | SiS Bok | Akademisk Kvarter | Lehmanns | Word Power | Where to Download MP3 | iTunes | Fnac.com | Napster | Tesco | HMV | Play | 7Digital | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com | |
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