Ivan Turgenev: Smoke
 

Smoke by Ivan Turgenev (translated by Constance Garnett) http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ies/5-star.gif

This beautifully written novel takes place in 1862 and portrays Russians of all classes, congregating in the German resort town of Baden-Baden.
The upper-class well-to-do Russians are shown in a most unfavorable light, as vain, egotistical, corrupt, and shallow. The story centers around
the engaged Grigory Litvinov and his encounter there with his beautiful former fiancee, Irina Ratmirov, now married to a Russian general. She is imprisoned in a miserable marriage and diligently strives to rekindle the flames of their former love. Litvinov has to make a choice, and, when he does, he reflects on his painful life through the image of "smoke."