Turgenev by Edward Garnett

In addition to his six great novels Turgenev published, between 1846 and his death in 1883, about forty tales which reflect as intimately social atmospheres of the 'thirties, 'forties and 'fifties as do Tchehov's stories atmospheres of the 'eighties and 'nineties. Several of these tales, as _The Torrents of Spring_, are of considerable length, but their comparatively simple structure places them definitely in the class of the _conte_. While their form is generally free and straightforward, the narrative, put often in the mouth of a character who by his comments and asides exchanges at will his active rôle for that of a spectator, is capable of the most subtle modulations. An examination of the chronological order of the tales shows how very delicately Turgenev's art is poised between realism and romanticism. In his finest examples, such as _The Brigadier_ and _A Lear of the Steppes_, the two elements fuse perfectly, like the meeting of wave and wind in sea foam.

"Nature placed Turgenev between poetry and prose," says Henry James; and if one hazards a definition we should prefer to term Turgenev _a poetic realist_.