A Sportsman's Notebook

Stories

By: Ivan Turgenev

Narrated by: Steven Marvel

Length: 15 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

Twenty-five beautifully written stories, penned in exile, evocatively depicting life on a manor in feudal Russia and examining the conflicts between serfs and landlords.

A Sportsman’s Notebook, Ivan Turgenev’s first literary masterpiece, is a sweeping portrayal of the magnificent 19th-century Russian countryside and the harsh lives of those who inhabited it. In a powerful and gripping series of sketches, a hunter wanders through the vast landscape of steppe and forest in search of game, encountering a varied cast of peasants, landlords, bailiffs, overseers, horse traders, and merchants. He witnesses both feudal tyranny and the submission of the tyrannized, against a backdrop of the sublime and pitiless terrain of rural Russia.

These exquisitely rendered stories, now with a stirring introduction from Daniyal Mueenuddin, were not only universally popular with the reading public but, through the influence they exerted on important members of the Tsarist bureaucracy, contributed to the major political event of mid-19th-century Russia: the Great Emancipation of the serfs in 1861. Rarely has a book that offers such undiluted literary pleasure also been so strong a force for significant social change, one that continues to speak centuries later.

Public Domain (P)2020 HarperAudio

A good way to start on Russian literature. The descriptions and realism make most western writers pale

I enjoyed these short stories, the explanations of these unfamiliar locations and members of this society was engaging and detailed.

Hemingway called Turgenev an artist. Nuff said.

This is like painting portraits and landscapes with words. I can't believe this is a translation. One of my top 5 favorite books. Also, this book was partly responsible for the emancipation of the serfs, so it actually made the world a better place.

Engaging Short Stories Set in Rural Russia

These short stories of Turgenev were an adventure in storytelling that includes unique characters, a deep appreciation of nature described with beautiful prose, and an empathy for the people of the historical period in Russia in which the serfs or peasants were working for the landowners and nobles. Hunting birds with a dog is a major theme and yet the focus is also on the unusual experiences of the narrator. The fact that the narrator mentions “to you the listener” several times indicates that storytelling has a long-standing oral tradition and that Turgenev seemed to be expecting that his stories would be heard more than read. The narrator is very good. Yes at one point he uses an accent for a character that seems like a Southern drawl. However that is a very small section of one story. If you look at Steven Marvels web page you will see positive reviews and awards. Enjoy the experience and the Russian names of characters and places.

For the love of beauty

What a peaceful, wonderous, at times sombering and appealing read. Anyone with appreciation for nature, descriptions, unique yet random and usual characters who show the faces of humanity and even more so, of that fragile humanity in Turgenev’s Russia - will absolutely love every word of this book and will clearly see not only Turgenev’s skilful and masterful use of language but also will be deeply touched by lives and experiences which though far in space and time, are ever so present in the current reality with same fears, hopes, disappointments, victories and ultimately surrenders to life.

Short Stories, Great Narration

I enjoyed the many portraits of different people in old Russia. The author seems to present an honest picture of the lives of each of his characters, whether that’s the bleak situation of the serfs/servant class or the arrogant ignorance of the landowners. The reader does an excellent job conveying the stories with different voices for each character.

HeeHaw version

I was looking forward to this but the reader turns some of the characters Turgenev describes into stereotypes of American country bumpkins, others into caricatures of Cockneys, and often the same character sounds as if he is a low class stereotype from several countries in an anachronistic succession. The performer debases the material.

This is Turgenev, not Mark Twain

Narrator ruins it with his Texas corn pone accents. This is Turgenev not Flannery O’Connor.