Hunting Nature
Ivan Turgenev and the Organic World
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Cornell University Press
Published:15th Oct '20
Should be back in stock very soon
In Hunting Nature, Thomas P. Hodge explores Ivan Turgenev's relationship to nature through his conception, description, and practice of hunting—the most unquenchable passion of his life. Informed by an ecocritical perspective, Hodge takes an approach that is equal parts interpretive and documentarian, grounding his observations thoroughly in Russian cultural and linguistic context and a wide range of Turgenev's fiction, poetry, correspondence, and other writings. Included within the book are some of Turgenev's important writings on nature—never previously translated into English.
Turgenev, who is traditionally identified as a chronicler of Russia's ideological struggles, is presented in Hunting Nature as an expert naturalist whose intimate knowledge of flora and fauna deeply informed his view of philosophy, politics, and the role of literature in society. Ultimately, Hodge argues that we stand to learn a great deal about Turgenev's thought and complex literary technique when we read him in both cultural and environmental contexts. Hodge details how Turgenev remains mindful of the way textual detail is wedded to the organic world—the priroda that he observed, and ached for, more keenly than perhaps any other Russian writer.
Turgenev (1818–83) was a passionate, lifelong hunter, and in this scholarly work, Hodge (Wellesley College) argues that hunting greatly affected Turgenev's work. In making his case, Hodge thoroughly examines Turgenev's writings—mainly novels and short fiction but also other types, such as prose poems and letters.
* Choice *A new book on Ivan Turgenev, a writer who has recently been a focus of renewed scholarly attention, is bound to excite interest. That is all the more the case for Thomas Hodge's monograph, which is elegantly written, beautifully produced, lovingly illustrated, and ambitious in its overarching claim.
* The Russian Review *Hunting Nature: Ivan Turgenev and the Organic World is, quite simply, the best analysis of Turgenev yet written. It captures his essence, it is also, incidentally, a fascinating history of Russian field sports. At its core, however, Hunting Nature addresses one of the central preoccupations of our time: humanity's engagement with, and alienation from, the natural world. Most of us in today's climate live detached from the land, and many of today's intelligentsia, presumably a majority, would regard with abhorrence the hunting of animals for pleasure. For these reasons we have tended to overlook Turgenev's hunting and to get his writing fundamentally wrong. In Hodge's words, 'if we ignore the gun, we will remain partially deaf to the lyre.' Precisely because I am not a hunting person, I know I shall treasure Thomas P. Hodge's book and return to it as a guide not only to Ivan Turgenev, but also to the mindset of the past.
* Contemporary Western Rusisti- Winner of AATSEEL Best Book in Literary Studies of the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages 2021 (United States)
ISBN: 9781501750847
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 907g
320 pages