Virgin Soil (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781515050001)

Virgin Soil is an 1877 novel by Ivan Turgenev. It was Turgenev's sixth and final novel as well as his longest and most ambitious.

The novel centres on a depiction of some of the young people in late nineteenth century Russia who decided to reject the standard cultural mores of their time, join the Populist movement, and 'go amongst the people', living the lives of simple workers and peasants rather than lives of affectation and luxury. The novel has a number of central characters around whom the action revolves. It explores, for instance, the life of Alexey Dmitrievich Nezhdanov, the illegitimate son of an aristocrat, who seeks to radicalise the peasantry and involve them in political action. He is given a job as tutor to Kolya, the nine-year-old son of Sipyagin, a local politician, and goes to live on his country estate. Whilst working there he becomes attracted to Marianna, the niece of the family.

Another central character is Vasily Solomin, who manages a local factory and is also a Populist, though one with less optimism about the potential of the movement to effect fundamental socio-economic change.

Author: R. S. Townsend, Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev
ISBN-10: 1515050009
ISBN-13: 9781515050001
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Language: English
Published: 07/13/2015
Pages: 320
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.04lbs
Size: 9.02h x 5.98w x 0.72d