The Hunting Sketches Bk.1: My Neighbour Radilov and Other Stories

What Turgenev’s Early Writing Led Him To (A review of The Hunting Sketches)

A work from a distant country in a foreign language written over a century-and-a-half ago had better be able to speak for itself. Fortunately, as an audio book, it now can.

When a book first comes out, as this one did, it attracts or repels readers largely on the basis of three things: its author, its topic, and its type or genre. While a swing and a miss on any of these is a strike against you, a hit on just one of them may save the day and keep the game alive. When Turgenev published The Hunting Sketches in 1852, he wasn’t well known (Strike One!). What’s more, though his material had a definite place to it (the estate he had just inherited from his show more domineering mother) and a gaggle of colorful people, it really had no theme or topic (Strike Two!!). When it came to the sole remaining chance, what Turgenev did actually doubled his difficulty ratio, because what he chose wasn’t the familiar and more popular story form, but that of the sketch (When was the last time you read, and thoroughly enjoyed, a sketch – on anything?). And here is exactly where Turgenev’s fortunes pivoted and turned around. Not only did he get his hit, but he knocked the ball into the stands, and – to stick with the sports metaphor – he even made it into the hall of fame.

The response was instantaneous. It wasn’t a matter of beginners luck, but emerged out of what he chose to focus his sketches on: character. Not as a mere literary device or technique employed to make a written piece more effective (though many regard it in this very way, and their work shows it), and few writers succeed, despite their many labored attempts, in learning to wield it in the engaging and life-like way Turgenev did. That is what shows so clearly in The Hunting Sketches, where again and again he seizes his people with both hands, determined not to let them go until they all “gave,” handing over the revealing riches character always holds within. He wrote of this exclusively, relentlessly, and unswervingly in every single sketch. What Turgenev found in character gave the people he wrote about -- the peasants and nobles of the provincial Russia of his day -- real things to talk about, think of, feel, say, and do. And that is found in his distinctly vivid characters.

Surely this boundless depth and dimensionality came as something of a surprise even to him. For what had he published up to that time but a long poem and a short story? But in 1847 at 29, he begins to write in the fine fashion found in The Hunting Sketches. It changed both the way he saw things and the way he would write from then on. It even had a hand in changing the world around him (several credit his writing with hastening the official end of serfdom as well).

That Turgenev could actually see the reality of character is evidence of his artistic creativity, but that he also chose to follow where it led is a sure sign of his own.

If the quality of narration matched that of the writing, I would have given this audio book a four star rating. As it presently stands, though, I rate it at three-and-a-half.

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(General comments on the recording and on two mispronunciations:)
I strongly suggest re-recording the entire first track in order to correct the mispronunciation of two words in the first track (see notes at bottom), and to use this as an opportunity to bring the narrator’s level of animation and vocal energy up to the level achieved in the third track and those following. As the opening track, it is simply not up to standard! – and, it is likely to turn-off listeners otherwise interested in hearing Turgenev’s work. (This commonly happens in readying professional recordings, and when it does, as indeed it has, there is no need to delay in quickly getting it corrected. After all, Turgenev handled his part very well, and now the current producers must do the same!)

To an American listener, the accent sounds “British,” which needn’t be a drawback, yet it seems “odd” and a little puzzling. This is likely due to the speaker’s having learned English from people whose natural accent was an English one, as is commonly found among Europeans who learn English in that way.

The narrator’s strength lies in the accurate pronunciation of the many Russian names. He speaks distinctly and enunciates well, warming to his task as he got further into it, so that his pace picked up, his tone grew less deliberate and became more natural, reflecting the accompanying feelings treated in the dialog. Beyond that, there is the slightly dated language of another historical era (which, of course, is there in Garnett’s translation); but a case can well be made for the language being closer in its style to that used in Turgenev’s day. Some will find it “quaint” by modern standards, but it can nevertheless serve the purpose of opening to the modern listener the world and times treated in the book. Without doubt, a greater formality was observed back then, particularly between people of different social classes, and was simply a fact and feature of how these people lived and related.)

Mistake #1 – (3:43 into Track 1), in the phrase . . . “a dog blinking and twitching in every limb was gnawing a bone” . . . (the word was mispronounced as ‘knowing a bone’).

Mistake #2 – ( 6:21 into Track 1), in the phrase . . . “took the bow” . . . (the word was mispronounced ‘bow’, as in the posture of respect, but here is meant to be ‘bow’ as that with which one plays a fiddle). show less

These are classic stories: lapidary vignettes of Russian country life, penetrating and humane. And Garnet's translation has worn rather well in my opinion.

But the quality of an audiobook is directly dependent on the narrator, and unfortunately Max Bollinger's delivery is a major let-down. I like the idea of a Russian-accented reading, but Bollinger's toneless, one-paced drone seems to miss not only the nuances, but the main rhythms of the text, and is completely at odds with the conviviality of Turgenev's prose. It sounds like it's being read from autocue - like an early reader focusing on each word individually and missing the context of the sentence - or, it has to be said, like a text-to-speech program. For me, this made it show more impossible to enjoy.

Not recommended. show less

This was my first experience of Turgenev. I've been wanting to read 'A Sportsman's Notebook', so I was pleased to get this audiobook copy in the LT Early Reviewers' programme. 'The Hunting Sketches' are taken from 'A Sportsman's Notebook' - this is Book 1 of an intended audiobook series.

I have mixed feelings as I could sense that Turgenev's writing is particularly good - 'My Neighbour Radilov' and the chapter 'A French Affair' from 'Proprietor Ovsyanikov' I liked the best. But, and it's a very big but, as others have already said, the experience was totally affected (as it is in any audiobook) by the voice of the narrator/reader. Max Bollinger's delivery is off-putting to say the least! His accent is not the issue at all - rather the show more monotone and lifeless delivery. It was so distracting that I found myself noticing the bad mispronounciations more than the actual content - "...A dog was knowing a bone..." is one that springs to mind - and this was way too distracting. So much so that even after repeat listening I found it very difficult to concentrate on the flow of 'Proprietor Ovsyanikov' altogether.

All in all, most disappointing. I won't though be put off from reading 'A Sportsman's Notebook' in due course as it was the delivery here that was the problem - not the writing. 3 stars owing to Turgenev's creation. show less

These are some of the famous stories about a community of Russian land owners and their serfs in the 19th century. In them Turgenev explores the effect of the changing morality of the times on his characters. The crystalline quality of his prose comes through despite the occasionally strange narration by Max Bollinger.

I really wanted to love this audio book. I love Turgenev, even if at times I find his writing to be a bit purple. At times I found Max Bollinger's, the narrator, accent to be troublesome; sometimes it felt like a Russian man attempting to do a British man attempting a Russian accent. However, that would have been overlooked if the cadence of speech wasn't so awkward. Again the cadence fell somewhere between Russian and British. All in all it took away from the work.

Also, some find Constance Garnett's translations to be dated, I do not find this to be the case. I rather like her as a translator, particularly of shorter works. In this case, I have read translations of Turgenev by George Reavey, David Margarshack, and Richard Freeborn. My show more translation of The Hunting Sketches is by Olga Shartse. After reading the complaints that Garnett's translation was dated I pulled out my print copy and reread the particular stories. I found them to be almost identical. show less

It took a big effort to hear this audiobook. It was not as attractive to me as the other audiobook I reviewed, Mumu. How come? The voice of the narrator was more nasal and the intonation too monotonous. Combined with the slightly less interesting stories I just couldn't get the book finished for months. In this case (also contrary to Mumu) I prefer reading the stories myself. I still think it is a good idea to bring out these stories on audio, but with a better voice (sorry, Max Bollinger)!

As commented on several times already, the major problem with their work for me is the vocal track. I found it to be flat, and lack energy. I've not come across Turgenev before and I have to say that after this audio reading I would be hesitant to do so again. There's not excitment or joy in it, no variation or tone or interest in the voice, it sounds like someone reading a very boring text they'd rther not be reading and when the reader is board how can I help but feel the same? The accent is also quite strange and I spent a long time trying to work out if it was an English person affecting a Russia accent or a Russian person trying to affect an English accent. The fact that I was contemplating this as he was reading should give you show more some idea of how much his voice engaged me with the text.

That said, once you get used to the tone "The hunting sketches" do seem interesting and worth investigating on teir own, I just certainly wouldn't recoment this audio reading for a beginner like myself.

I'd say the other thing I found disapointing was that the entire book ran at about an hour, which had I payed for this I would find disapointing, though I do suppose that depends on the price. Still, at this is labeled as volume 1, one can't help but think they'd have done better to combine them all and have one volume of a decent length. show less