First Love and the Diary of a Superfluous Man (Dover Thrift Editions)
Registered by BookGroupMan of Chester, Cheshire United Kingdom on 7/8/2004
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
2 journalers for this copy...
Here is a slim volume (probably a good thing!) with 2 of Turgenev's short stories...not quite novellas. Both are on a very similar theme, the unrequited love of a young Russian man. They absolutely have to be semi-autobigraphical or I will eat my Ushanka!
The books are set apart by the form in which the narrator relates a past story; the 'superfluous man' is dying from some unnamed condition, and tells of his unrequited love for the young daughter of an acquaintance, Lizaveta 'Liza'. Despite unrelenting courting, and a duel, he is passed over not once but twice, not so much superfluous as tragic/pathetic; as he says in his frequent self-pitying monologues, '[I am] A senseless fifth wheel to the cart!'
The second story is the first love (natch), retold to a group of friends. In this case the object of affection for our 16 year-old hero is an older daughter of a princess, although the family is on their uppers, Zinaida 'Zina' surrounds herself with an adoring group of male friends...although she eventually is drawn to the flame of the most unsuitable lover, stepping on our boy in the process!
The books are set apart by the form in which the narrator relates a past story; the 'superfluous man' is dying from some unnamed condition, and tells of his unrequited love for the young daughter of an acquaintance, Lizaveta 'Liza'. Despite unrelenting courting, and a duel, he is passed over not once but twice, not so much superfluous as tragic/pathetic; as he says in his frequent self-pitying monologues, '[I am] A senseless fifth wheel to the cart!'
The second story is the first love (natch), retold to a group of friends. In this case the object of affection for our 16 year-old hero is an older daughter of a princess, although the family is on their uppers, Zinaida 'Zina' surrounds herself with an adoring group of male friends...although she eventually is drawn to the flame of the most unsuitable lover, stepping on our boy in the process!
Journal Entry 2 by BookGroupMan at Caffe Nero IP1 Bookcrossing Zone in Ipswich, Suffolk United Kingdom on Saturday, July 11, 2009
Released 14 yrs ago (7/11/2009 UTC) at Caffe Nero IP1 Bookcrossing Zone in Ipswich, Suffolk United Kingdom
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
Taken along to today's Ipswich meet-up.
If you find this, welcome to BookCrossing, please write a journal here to let us know what happens to the book :)
Taken along to today's Ipswich meet-up.
If you find this, welcome to BookCrossing, please write a journal here to let us know what happens to the book :)
Picked up at the Ipswich Meet last weekend :-)
Journal Entry 4 by abitstormyout at on a bank by the River Waveney in Beccles, Suffolk United Kingdom on Friday, July 31, 2009
Released 14 yrs ago (7/31/2009 UTC) at on a bank by the River Waveney in Beccles, Suffolk United Kingdom
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
Don't quite know where this will be left yet but will update this entry when I come home tonight. I've been told about a hollow tree trunk on the banks of the river between Beccles and Geldeston so hope to leave it there in a ziploc bag.
Happy hunting!
Don't quite know where this will be left yet but will update this entry when I come home tonight. I've been told about a hollow tree trunk on the banks of the river between Beccles and Geldeston so hope to leave it there in a ziploc bag.
Happy hunting!
