May 31, 2009: Turgenev on the cause of misfortune - 0 Comments

"For example, if any misfortune were mentioned, lightning starting a village fire, floods washing away a mill, or a peasant chopping off his hand, whatever it might be, with concentrated fury he would insist: 'what is her name?' The 'her' referred to teh woman who was the cause of the misfortune, since, in his view, if only you probed inoto any misfortune, you would find a woman at the bottom of it."

- Turgenev (trans Alec Brown), Rudin, 1855.