The Precipice - Hardcover

Ivan Goncharov

4.08

648 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0875010962 ISBN 13: 9780875010960

Publisher: Ardis, 1994

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

In The Precipice Goncharov combines various genres: novel about the artist, political novel, and romance. This work contrasts the then new ideas of philosophical positivism, utilitarianism and atheism with romantic idealism and traditional values. These various views are examined through the characters of three men laboring to win the love of the heroine, Vera: Boris Raisky, an artist-dilettant; Mark Volokhov, a nihilist in the tradition of Turgenev's Bazarov; and Ivan Tushin, a traditional, yet enlightened landowner.
The Precipice is especially notable for its women. The heroine, Vera, is one of Russian literature's most independent and intelligent female characters, and the full-blooded portrait of Raisky's wise and strong grandmother is no less remarkable.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author:

Richard Freeborn is Emeritus Professor of English Literature at the University of London. He has translated and edited many novels by Turgenev, and is the author of Turgenev, the Novelist's Novelist, The Rise of the Russian Novel, and The Russian Revolutionary Novel.

Language Notes:

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Russian

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.