Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 52642-h.htm or 52642-h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/52642/52642-h/52642-h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/52642/52642-h.zip) Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive/American Libraries. See https://archive.org/details/lear00ofsteppesetcturgrich The Novels of Ivan Turgenev * * * * * * THE NOVELS OF IVAN TURGENEV I. RUDIN. II. A HOUSE OF GENTLEFOLK. III. ON THE EVE. IV. FATHERS AND CHILDREN. V. SMOKE. VI. & VII. VIRGIN SOIL. 2 vols. VIII. & IX. A SPORTSMAN'S SKETCHES. 2 vols. X. DREAM TALES AND PROSE POEMS. XI. THE TORRENTS OF SPRING, ETC. XII. A LEAR OF THE STEPPES. XIII. THE DIARY OF A SUPERFLUOUS MAN, ETC. XIV. A DESPERATE CHARACTER, ETC. XV. THE JEW, ETC. NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN * * * * * * The Novels of Ivan Turgenev Illustrated Edition A LEAR OF THE STEPPES ETC. Translated from the Russian by Constance Garnett New York: The Macmillan Company London: William Heinemann MCMVI Printed in England All rights reserved INTRODUCTION I An examination of _A Lear of the Steppes_ is of especial interest to authors, as the story is so exquisite in its structure, so overwhelming in its effects, that it exposes the artificiality of the great majority of the clever works of art in fiction. _A Lear of the Steppes_ is great in art because it is a living organic whole, springing from the deep roots of life itself; and the innumerable works of art that are fabricated and pasted together from an ingenious plan--works that do not grow from the inevitability of things--appear at once insignificant or false in comparison.