Turgenieff, the most interesting of contemporary novelists to whom in some respects may indeed be accorded the first place, is by birth and inspira tion a Russian, though he has lived much out of his native land. A member of an Old noble family that had long been distinguished in Russian litera ture, he was bred in an atmosphere of culture far different from that which pervades the houses of too many Russian nobles in the pages of his ro manees. Educated at home, he spent his youth in the very heart of Russia, and was thus able to be come intimately acquainted with the circumstances of the peasantry. He was eye-witness of many scenes immortalised in his pages. When he was sixteen he was sent to study, first at Moscow, and afterwards at St. Petersburg and Berlin. At the latter place he devoted himself to philosophy and for a whole winter shared an apartment with the Nihilist agitator Bakunin. Returned to Russia, he spent some years on his estate, ranging the coun try with his gun for he was an ardent sportsman. After this he travelled on the Continent, and wrote. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.