A NEST OF THE GENTLEFOLK OR LIZA: ON THE RECEPTION OF TURGENEV’S NOVEL BY ENGLISH READERS
Ten years after publishing A Nest of the Gentlefolk in Sovremennik in 1859, an English translation of the novel appeared. It was prepared by the English scholar and translator William Shedden-Ralston. He was particularly interested in the Russian literature and contributed a great deal to its popularity in England. He translated the works of Ivan Krylov, Nikolai Nekrasov, Alexander Ostrovsky and Ivan Turgenev; the latter was the constant addressee of his letters. Having obtained permission to translate and publish A Nest of the Gentlefolk in English, Ralston was very careful with the original text and stayed in touch with the author concerning the debatable and complicated passages in the book. He even sent the full version to Turgenev in order for him check and edit it prior to publication. Generally, the translation was very accurate though some moments were missing. There was one signi cant change: the new title, Liza, was doomed to provide new interpretations of Turgenev’s text. Highly praising the novel, the critics, however, shifted the focus on the female character and the love story which was destroyed by the religious feelings of the character. They saw the possible threat to human happiness in Liza’s appeal to God, which di ered greatly from the Russian interpretation of her action. This article analyses the British and American reviews of A Nest of the Gentlefolk; they re ect those aspects of the novel about the “salvation of the soul” which were particularly topical for foreign readers.