In this book, I clarify how Ivan Turgenev, famous for the stories and novels he wrote from the 1840s to the 1870s, managed to create some of Russian literature’s most celebrated descriptions of nature. I propose that Turgenev’s lifelong devotion to hunting instilled in him a particular attitude toward the natural world that meshed with his philosophical tendencies and found striking outlets in every one of the many genres he attempted. I comment extensively on Turgenev’s underappreciated relationship with Sergei Aksakov, his friend and the elder statesman of Russian sporting literature, which flowered at mid-century. In making my argument, I begin by developing new terminology for analyzing, on the one hand, nature writing that imposes human meanings on flora, fauna and landscape versus, on the other hand, writing (of the kind pioneered by Aksakov) that tends to respect the autonomy of biota and natural settings. I trace Turgenev’s actual hunting practices and their ideological and aesthetic implications before embarking on a detailed analysis of how his hunting-based conception of nature shapes the extraordinary artistry of, among other works, his “Notes of a Hunter” (a cycle of short stories) and the novels “Rudin,” “A Gentry Nest,” “On the Eve,” and “Fathers and Children.” These are all mainstays of the Russian canon that open themselves up to fresh, culturally sensitive readings when they are approached from an ecocritical vantage point.

Faculty: Thomas Hodge
Department: Russian