Liza

Liza

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Liza, by Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev
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Title: Liza "A nest of nobles"
Author: Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev
Release Date: April 29, 2004 [EBook #12194]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
(Leisure Hour Series.)
FATHERS AND SONS. SMOKE. LIZA. ON THE EVE. DIMITRI
ROUDINE. SPRING FLOODS; LEAR. VIRGIN SOIL. ANNALS OF

A SPORTSMAN.

LEISURE HOUR SERIES
LIZA
OR
"A NEST OF NOBLES"
A NOVEL
BY IVAN S. TURGÉNIEFF
TRANSLATED FROM THE RUSSIAN
BY W.R.S. RALSTON
1873
DEDICATED TO THE AUTHOR BY HIS FRIEND THE
TRANSLATOR.

PREFACE.
The author of the Dvoryanskoe Gnyezdo, or "Nest of Nobles," of which
a translation is now offered to the English reader under the title of
"Liza," is a writer of whom Russia may well be proud.[A] And that, not
only because he is a consummate artist,--entitled as he is to take high
rank among those of European fame, so accurate is he in his portrayal
of character, and so quick to seize and to fix even its most fleeting
expression; so vividly does he depict by a few rapid touches the
appearance of the figures whom he introduces upon his canvas, the
nature of the scenes among which they move,--he has other and even
higher claims than these to the respect and admiration of Russian
readers. For he is a thoroughly conscientious worker; one who, amid all

his dealings with fiction, has never swerved from his regard for what is
real and true; one to whom his own country and his own people are
very dear, but who has neither timidly bowed to the prejudices of his
countrymen, nor obstinately shut his eyes to their faults.
[Footnote A: Notwithstanding the unencouraging opinion expressed by
Mr. Ralston in this preface, of the probable fate of "Fathers and
Children," and "Smoke," with the English public, both have been
translated in America and have met with very fair success. Of course,
even more may be hoped for the author's other works.]
His first prose work, the "Notes of a Sportsman" (_Zapiski Okhotnika_),
a collection of sketches of country life, made a deep and lasting
impression upon the minds of the educated classes in Russia, so
vigorous were its attacks upon the vices of that system of slavery which
was then prevalent. Those attacks had all the more weight, inasmuch as
the book was by no means exclusively devoted to them. It dealt with
many other subjects connected with provincial life; and the humor and
the pathos and the picturesqueness with which they were treated would
of themselves have been sufficient to commend it to the very favorable
attention of his countrymen. But the sad pictures he drew in it,
occasionally and almost as it were accidentally, of the wretched
position occupied by the great masses of the people, then groaning
under the weight of that yoke which has since been removed, stirred the
heart of Russian society with a thrill of generous horror and sympathy;
and the effect thus produced was all the more permanent inasmuch as it
was attained by thoroughly legitimate means. Far from exaggerating
the ills of which he wrote, or describing them in sensational and
declamatory language, he treated them in a style that sometimes
seemed almost cold in its reticence and freedom from passion. The
various sketches of which the volume was composed appeared at
intervals in a Russian magazine, called the _Contemporary
(Sovremennik)_, about three-and-twenty years ago, and were read in it
with avidity; but when the first edition of the collected work was
exhausted, the censors refused to grant permission to the author to print
a second, and so for many years the complete book was not to be
obtained in Russia without great difficulty. Now that the good fight of

emancipation has been fought, and the victory--thanks to the present
Emperor--has been won, M. Turgénieff has every reason for looking
back with pride upon that phase of the struggle; and his countrymen
may well have a feeling of regard, as well as of respect, for him--the
upper-classes as for one who has helped them to recognize their duty;
the lower, as for a very generous supporter in their time of trouble.
M. Turgénieff has written a great number of very charming short
stories, most of them having reference to Russia and Russian life; for
though he has lived in Germany for many years, his thoughts,