First Love (Barnes & Noble Library of Essential Reading) »

Ivan Turgenev (1818-1883) ranks with Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky as one of the greatest Russian novelists of the nineteenth century. Although a controversial figure during his lifetime, Turgenev was the first Russian author to be widely read and admired in Europe and America. His story collection titled A Sportsman's Sketches (1852) is widely credited with influencing Tsar Alexander II to emancipate the serfs in 1861, and his most famous novel, Fathers and Sons (1862), still provokes debate today.

First Love captures both the exhilarating enchantment of adolescent infatuation and the exquisite torment of adult passion. Written by Ivan Turgenev, one of the masters of Russian literature, First Love tells the story of sixteen-year-old Vladimir's first bruising brush with love. The boy falls under the spell of Zinaida, a capricious and imperious beauty who delights in toying with her many suitors. Turgenev movingly details Vladimir's overheated emotional state as he blunders toward the knowledge that will shatter his innocence. Although at first glance this short work may seem a mere trifle, Turgenev manages to achieve the sublime. Anyone who has ever been in love will be touched by this tale of passion and disillusionment.