New Releases by Constance Garnett

Banned from publication in Russia and unseen ''til its appearance in Germany in 1894, Tolstoy''s The Kingdom of God Is Within You Represents the culmination of 30 years of the author''s firm belief in a tolerant and just society, freedom from war, and advocacy of non-violence as a means of social change.Translated by Constance Garnett.

A sequel to Rudin, A House of Gentlefolk was originally published in 1858 and was translated from the Russian by Constance Garnett in 1894. A quintessential Turgenev novel about Russian society, idealism, innocence and disillusionment it is set amidst the green fields owned by bourgeois Russians. The novel pivots around the character of Lisa, a smart and accomplished young woman who represents the traditional, dutiful, innocent and modest Russian girlhood from that era. Lavretsky, the hero, is a man of action and a man of culture. He, like Lisa, is a democratic Russian and so it is almost inevitable that he and Lisa fall in love. Their contentment is short-lived, however, as a woman from Lavretsky''s past enters their lives and threatens to ruin their happiness forever. Although a melancholy story the novel''s overall tone remains one of hope and it is easy to see how A House of Gentlefolk became the favourite Turgenev novel for English-speaking readers.

Referred to by Henry James as ''the first novelist of his time'' Ivan Turgenev''s works focus on class, love and suffering. Knock, Knock, Knock and Other Stories with its themes of the supernatural was, therefore, something of a departure for a writer who was well-known for his more humanitarian and liberal views. However, Turgenev uses these supernatural elements as a vehicle for exploring the irrationalities of the human psyche and he leaves the rational explanations for apparently supernatural events ambiguous - as Avrahm Yarmolinsky writes in his biography of Turgenev perhaps ''there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in positivist philosophy''. Knock, Knock, Knock and Other Stories includes Knock, Knock, Knock, The Inn, Lieutenant Yergunov''s Story, The Dog and The Watch. ''Turning from side to side I stretched out my hands ... My finger hit one of the beams of the wall. It emitted a faint but resounding, and as it were, prolonged note ... I must have struck a hollow place. I tapped again ... this time on purpose. The same sound was repeated. I knocked again ...'' From Knock, Knock, Knock (1871)

Alexander Herzen''s own brilliance and the extraordinary circumstances of his life combine to place his memoirs among the great testimonies of the modern era. Born in 1812, the illegitimate son of a wealthy Russian landowner, he became one of the most important revolutionary and intellectual figures of his time - as theorist, polemicist and political actor; and fifty years after his death Lenin pronounced him ''the father of Russian socialism''. My Past and Thoughts uniquely assimilates the personal to the historical, and is both a classic of autobiography an an unparalleled record of his century''s remarkable life. His account of a privileged childhood among the Russian aristocracy is illuminated with the insight of a great novelist; his friends and enemies - Marx, Wagner, Mill, Bakunin, Garibaldi, Kropotkin - are brought brilliantly to life; and as a sceptical and free-thinking observer, he unerringly traces the line of revolutionary development, from the earliest stirrings of Russian radicalism through the tumultuous ideological debates of the International. ''His power of observation is extraordinary. He tells a story with the economy of a great reporter. His gift is for knowing not only what people are, but how they are historically situated. Somewhere in the pages of this hard, honest observer of what movements do to men, we shall find ourselves.'' - V. S. Pritchett

A distinguished novella, that deals with the internal psychological dilemma of its main character, Yakov Petrovich Golyadkin. The author has given a fantastic story that evaluates the intrigues and manipulations of the middle class in its socio-economic strivings. Engrossing!...

Dostoevsky''s last and greatest novel, The Karamazov Brothers (1880) is both a brilliantly told crime story and a passionate philosophical debate. The dissolute landowner Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov is murdered; his sons--the atheist intellectual Ivan, the hot-blooded Dmitry, and the saintly novice Alyosha--are all involved at some level. Brilliantly bound up with this psychological drama is Dostoevsky''s intense and disturbing exploration of many deeply felt ideas about the existence of God, freedom of will, the collective nature of guilt, and the disastrous consequences of rationalism. Filled with eloquent voices, this new translation fully realizes the power and dramatic virtuosity of Dostoevsky''s most brilliant work.

Against the background of the liberation of Russia''s serfs during the 1860s, a generational conflict flares between older aristocrats and radical youths. Quarrels, romance, and misunderstandings ensue when an outspoken young nihilist accompanies a school friend home for an extended visit. One of the truly great 19th-century Russian novels, available in an inexpensive edition. A selection of the Common Core State Standards Initiative.

First translated in 1867, Turgenev portays the new generation of nihilists, with their reliance on the material and on science, and their lack of respect for tradition. However, the novel''s hero, Bazarov, pleased neither the revolutionaries, who thought the portrait libellous, nor the reactionaries, who thought it a glorification of iconoclasm.

Superb introductions to Turgenev''ssocial perception, rich characterization, and narrative command: "First Love" (1860), a semi-autobiographical novella, and "The Diary of a Superfluous Man" (1850), the fascinating tale of a Russian Hamlet."

Library of Liberal Arts title.