On the Eve

On the Eve (tr Garnett)

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Ivan Turgenev Translated by Constance Garnett
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Title: On the Eve
Author: Ivan Turgenev Translated by Constance Garnett
Release Date: November, 2004 [EBook #6902] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on February 10,
2003]

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ON THE
EVE ***

Produced by Eric Eldred.

ON THE EVE
a Novel
BY
IVAN TURGENEV
Translated from the Russian By CONSTANCE GARNETT
[With an introduction by EDWARD GARNETT]
LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN 1895

INTRODUCTION
This exquisite novel, first published in 1859, like so many great works
of art, holds depths of meaning which at first sight lie veiled under the
simplicity and harmony of the technique. To the English reader On the
Eve is a charmingly drawn picture of a quiet Russian household, with a
delicate analysis of a young girl's soul; but to Russians it is also a deep
and penetrating diagnosis of the destinies of the Russia of the fifties.
Elena, the Russian girl, is the central figure of the novel. In comparing
her with Turgenev's other women, the reader will remark that he is
allowed to come into closer spiritual contact with her than even with
Lisa. The successful portraits of women drawn by men in fiction are
generally figures for the imagination to play on; however much that is
told to one about them, the secret springs of their character are left a
little obscure, but when Elena stands before us we know all the
innermost secrets of her character. Her strength of will, her serious,
courageous, proud soul, her capacity for passion, all the play of her
delicate idealistic nature troubled by the contradictions, aspirations, and

unhappiness that the dawn of love brings to her, all this is conveyed to
us by the simplest and the most consummate art. The diary (chapter
xvi.) that Elena keeps is in itself a masterly revelation of a young girl's
heart; it has never been equalled by any other novelist. How exquisitely
Turgenev reveals his characters may be seen by an examination of the
parts Shubin the artist, and Bersenyev the student, play towards Elena.
Both young men are in love with her, and the description of their after
relations as friends, and the feelings of Elena towards them, and her
own self-communings are interwoven with unfaltering skill. All the
most complex and baffling shades of the mental life, which in the
hands of many latter-day novelists build up characters far too thin and
too unconvincing, in the hands of Turgenev are used with deftness and
certainty to bring to light that great kingdom which is always lying
hidden beneath the surface, beneath the common-place of daily life. In
the difficult art of literary perspective, in the effective grouping of
contrasts in character and the criss-cross of the influence of the
different individuals, lies the secret of Turgenev's supremacy. As an
example the reader may note how he is made to judge Elena through
six pairs of eyes. Her father's contempt for his daughter, her mother's
affectionate bewilderment, Shubin's petulant criticism, Bersenyev's half
hearted enthralment, Insarov's recognition, and Zoya's indifference,
being the facets for converging light on Elena's sincerity and depth of
soul. Again one may note Turgenev's method for rehabilitating Shubin
in our eyes; Shubin is simply made to criticise Stahov; the thing is done
in a few seemingly careless lines, but these lines lay bare Shubin's
strength and weakness, the fluidity of his nature. The reader who does
not see the art which underlies almost every line of On the Eve is
merely paying the highest tribute to that art; as often the clear waters of
a pool conceal its surprising depth. Taking Shubin's character as an
example of creative