SOURCE: Knowles, A. V. “The Last Two Novels.” In Ivan Turgenev, pp. 89-103. Boston: Twayne, 1988.

In the following excerpt, Knowles discusses Turgenev's novels Smoke and Virgin Soil, both poorly received in Russia but acclaimed by critics elsewhere in the world.

Smoke

Smoke, Turgenev's fifth completed novel, appeared in Katkov's Russian Herald in the early part of 1867. The idea for the book probably first occurred to him in 1862, immediately after the publication of Fathers and Sons. Apparently he originally thought of writing a love story, but his reaction to the reception of Fathers and Sons and two developments inside Russia led to a change of emphasis. On a personal level, he became so upset at the hostility directed toward the previous novel and against him personally that he wished to justify himself and perhaps even to pay back his attackers. He was also concerned about the increasingly apparent difficulties...