First Love by Ivan Turgenev. cover art

First Love by Ivan Turgenev.

First Love by Ivan Turgenev.

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 First Love by Ivan Turgenev.
The title of the novella is almost an adequate summary in itself. The "boy-meets-girl-then-loses-her" story is universal but not, I think, banal - despite a surprise ending which notoriously turns out to be very little of a surprise. First Love is given its originality and poignancy by Turgenev's mastery of the piercing turning-point (akin to Joyce's "epiphanies") that transforms the character's whole being, making a tragic outcome inevitable. Even the nature symbolism is rescued from triteness by lovely poetic similes - e.g. "but at that point my attention was arrested by the appearance of a speckled woodpecker who busily climbed up the slender stem of a birch-tree and peeped out uneasily from behind it, first to the right, then to the left, like a musician behind the bass-viol."

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Episodes
  • 05 - Chapters XVIII - XXII. First Love by Ivan Turgenev.

    05 - Chapters XVIII - XXII. First Love by Ivan Turgenev.
    Dec 20 2025
    05 - Chapters XVIII - XXII. First Love by Ivan Turgenev.
    The title of the novella is almost an adequate summary in itself. The "boy-meets-girl-then-loses-her" story is universal but not, I think, banal - despite a surprise ending which notoriously turns out to be very little of a surprise. First Love is given its originality and poignancy by Turgenev's mastery of the piercing turning-point (akin to Joyce's "epiphanies") that transforms the character's whole being, making a tragic outcome inevitable. Even the nature symbolism is rescued from triteness by lovely poetic similes - e.g. "but at that point my attention was arrested by the appearance of a speckled woodpecker who busily climbed up the slender stem of a birch-tree and peeped out uneasily from behind it, first to the right, then to the left, like a musician behind the bass-viol."

    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/first-love-by-ivan-turgenev--6830331/support.
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    37 mins
  • 04 - Chapters XV - XVII. First Love by Ivan Turgenev.

    04 - Chapters XV - XVII. First Love by Ivan Turgenev.
    Dec 20 2025
    04 - Chapters XV - XVII. First Love by Ivan Turgenev.
    The title of the novella is almost an adequate summary in itself. The "boy-meets-girl-then-loses-her" story is universal but not, I think, banal - despite a surprise ending which notoriously turns out to be very little of a surprise. First Love is given its originality and poignancy by Turgenev's mastery of the piercing turning-point (akin to Joyce's "epiphanies") that transforms the character's whole being, making a tragic outcome inevitable. Even the nature symbolism is rescued from triteness by lovely poetic similes - e.g. "but at that point my attention was arrested by the appearance of a speckled woodpecker who busily climbed up the slender stem of a birch-tree and peeped out uneasily from behind it, first to the right, then to the left, like a musician behind the bass-viol."

    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/first-love-by-ivan-turgenev--6830331/support.
    Show More Show Less
    34 mins
  • 03 - Chapters X - XIV. First Love by Ivan Turgenev.

    03 - Chapters X - XIV. First Love by Ivan Turgenev.
    Dec 20 2025
    03 - Chapters X - XIV. First Love by Ivan Turgenev.
    The title of the novella is almost an adequate summary in itself. The "boy-meets-girl-then-loses-her" story is universal but not, I think, banal - despite a surprise ending which notoriously turns out to be very little of a surprise. First Love is given its originality and poignancy by Turgenev's mastery of the piercing turning-point (akin to Joyce's "epiphanies") that transforms the character's whole being, making a tragic outcome inevitable. Even the nature symbolism is rescued from triteness by lovely poetic similes - e.g. "but at that point my attention was arrested by the appearance of a speckled woodpecker who busily climbed up the slender stem of a birch-tree and peeped out uneasily from behind it, first to the right, then to the left, like a musician behind the bass-viol."

    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/first-love-by-ivan-turgenev--6830331/support.
    Show More Show Less
    30 mins
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