Ivan Sergeievich Turgenev: On the Centennial of His Birth

First publication in English of the Yiddish article on I. S. Turgenev published by Matvei (Mordechai Nisan) Kagan (1889–1937), a Russian philosopher of Jewish origin, in 1919. Kagan praises Turgenev as the first Russian novelist whose novels made Russian literature and culture a part of the world culture. This was a result of what Kagan called Turgenev’s svive-libe – the love for one’s cultural environment characteristic of the Russian intelligentsia that represented the whole people as the living and powerful collective.