This is the classic book that put Turgenev on the literary map--both in his own time and for all of history. The strength of this, his first book, was such that, even if Turgenev had never written another book, he would still be recognized as the father of the modern short story. Indeed, A Sportsman's Notebook was Hemmingway's favorite book, and it is not hard to see traces of Turgenevs influence in the work of Hemmingway and other later-day masters of the short story.

Notebook contains twenty-five stories in which Turgenev shares shares memories from the hunting expeditions that lead him throughout the Russian countryside. His writing is strong because there is real life in his people and real beauty in his landscapes.

Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev was a novelist, poet, and dramatist, and now ranks as one of the towering figures of Russian literature. His major works include the short-story collection A Sportsman’s Sketches (1852) and the novels Rudin (1856), Home of the Gentry (1859), On the Eve (1860), and Fathers and Sons (1862).

These works offer realistic, affectionate portrayals of the Russian peasantry and penetrating studies of the Russian intelligentsia who were attempting to move the country into a new age. His masterpiece, Fathers and Sons, is considered one of the greatest novels of the nineteenth century.