Description
Book SynopsisIn Hunting Nature, Thomas P. Hodge explores Ivan Turgenev''s relationship to nature through his conception, description, and practice of huntingthe most unquenchable passion of his life. Informed by an ecocritical perspective, Hodge takes an approach that is equal parts interpretive and documentarian, grounding his observations thoroughly in Russian cultural and linguistic context and a wide range of Turgenev''s fiction, poetry, correspondence, and other writings. Included within the book are some of Turgenev''s important writings on naturenever previously translated into English.
Turgenev, who is traditionally identified as a chronicler of Russia''s ideological struggles, is presented in Hunting Nature as an expert naturalist whose intimate knowledge of flora and fauna deeply informed his view of philosophy, politics, and the role of literature in society. Ultimately, Hodge argues that we stand to learn a great deal about Turgenev''s thought and complex literar
Trade Review
Turgenev (1818–83) was a passionate, lifelong hunter, and in this scholarly work, Hodge (Wellesley College) argues that hunting greatly affected Turgenev's work. In making his case, Hodge thoroughly examines Turgenev's writings—mainly novels and short fiction but also other types, such as prose poems and letters.
* Choice *
A new book on Ivan Turgenev, a writer who has recently been a focus of renewed scholarly attention, is bound to excite interest. That is all the more the case for Thomas Hodge's monograph, which is elegantly written, beautifully produced, lovingly illustrated, and ambitious in its overarching claim.
* The Russian Review *
Hunting Nature: Ivan Turgenev and the Organic World is, quite simply, the best analysis of Turgenev yet written. It captures his essence, it is also, incidentally, a fascinating history of Russian field sports. At its core, however, Hunting Nature addresses one of the central preoccupations of our time: humanity's engagement with, and alienation from, the natural world. Most of us in today's climate live detached from the land, and many of today's intelligentsia, presumably a majority, would regard with abhorrence the hunting of animals for pleasure. For these reasons we have tended to overlook Turgenev's hunting and to get his writing fundamentally wrong. In Hodge's words, 'if we ignore the gun, we will remain partially deaf to the lyre.' Precisely because I am not a hunting person, I know I shall treasure Thomas P. Hodge's book and return to it as a guide not only to Ivan Turgenev, but also to the mindset of the past.
* Contemporary Western Rusistika *
Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Hunting Writer: An Ecocritical Approach
1. Catching Nature by the Tail
2. The Gun before the Lyre: Turgenev Afield
3. "A Different Kind of Game": Notes of a Hunter
4. Thinking Oneself into Nature: The Aksakov Reviews and Their Aftermath
5. Nature and Nidification: "Journey to the Forest-Belt," Rudin, A Gentry Nest
6. Life at the Lek: On the Eve, "First Love," Fathers and Children
Conclusion: I'm a Sportsman": Deviations and Doubts
