Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev : Turgenev's Literary Reminiscences and Autobiographical Fragments

"[These sketches] are all autobiographical in the most literal sense of the word: not mere rememberings and observations, but self-explorings as well. The man Turgenev is always present, a subtle, un-didactic spirit who may be afraid of drowning, or watching a man guillotined, but who has the greater courage it takes to study himself in the prey of such fears. These sketches—themselves the best possible introduction to the author a reader could ask for—are prefaced by a largely factual account of their background by David Magarshack, and a more speculative study by Edmund Wilson called Turgenev and the Life-Giving Drop. As usual, Mr. Wilson is energetic, lively, and self-assured. ... Forty years ago, Turgenev’s work was very popular with English readers. Then a curious lapse of interest set in, and only very recently new translations by Isaiah Berlin and Mr. Magarshack, among others, have revealed that the true Turgenev is still waiting: an uninsistent, lyric meditator, who sees with a precise eye wherever he looks, and whether he is drawing a bead on a quail or escaping from a burning ship, always asks the uncomfortable questions of himself."

—Roger Becket, NEW YORK HERALD TRIBUNE BOOK REVIEW