Rudin

h. But for aught we know this hard limitation has never been applied to artists. Indeed it seems absurd on the face of it that the artist's countrymen, for whom and about whom he writes

n to understand him, and to assign to him his right place in this respect only now, after his death, whilst in

his death. But full recognition he had not, because he happened to produce his works in a troubled epoch of political and social strife, when the best men were absorbed in other interests and pursuits, and could not and would not appreciate and enjoy pure art. Thi

mbittered Tur

rature altogether. He could not possibly have held to this resolution. But it is surely an open question whether, sensitive and modest as he was, and prone to despondency and diffidence, he would have done so much for the literature of h

rks appear in succession. Here we will only give a few biographical traits which bear particular

or Englishman. It happened, moreover, that his paternal uncle, Nicholas Turgenev, the famous 'Decembrist,' after the failure of that first attempt (December 14, 1825) to gain by force of arms a

aid short visits to his uncle, who initiated him in the ideas o

journalist and brilliant essayist, started in London his Kolokol, a revolutionary, or rather radical paper, which had a great

the same time one of the strongest - perhaps the strongest - and most clear-sighted political thinkers of his time. However surprising such a versatility may appear, it is proved to demonstration by a comparison of his views, his attitude, and his forecasts, some of which ha

er how great his devotion to pure art. He would have been a poor artist had he inflicted upon himself such a mutilation, becaus

appeared at the same time as a teacher, a prophet of new ideas, and as a poet and artist. But his own

Turgenev the thinker and the artist are not at war, spoiling and sometimes contradicting each other's efforts. They go hand in hand, because he never preaches any doctrine whatever, but gives us, with an unimpeachable, artistic objectiveness, the living men and women in whom certain ideas, doctrines, and aspirations were embodied. And he never evolves these ideas and doctr