I am a literary giant in Russia

Chapter 184 Witnessing the Birth of Great Works and Drama
Regarding whether the fruit in the landlord Ilich's house was sweet or sour, Mikhail thought it was a matter of probability.

After all, while Turgenev ate the sour fruit, Mikhail ate the sweet ones. Of course, such good luck didn't last. Driven by Turgenev's inexplicable competitive spirit, the two started a competition to see who could eat the most sweet fruit.

Before long, Mikhail also experienced the sourness of a fruit so intense that his teeth almost fell out.

After a few rounds of eating, Mikhail could only grimace, while Turgenev was drooling. Out of a desire for revenge, Turgenev secretly tossed an exceptionally sour fruit to the Russian wolfhound squatting next to Mikhail. However, this exceptionally clever hound simply stood up, sniffed it, then seemed to glance at Turgenev twice before squatting back down next to Mikhail.

Turgenev: “?”

I'm really going to shove it into your mouth.
But before Turgenev could do anything, Ilyich, who was sitting to the side watching the two flaunt their fruit, was deeply moved and said, "Finally, we've met someone who appreciates our fruit. You can eat as much as you want, and I'll have someone pick more for you!"

Having said that, Ilch immediately instructed his servants to prepare fresh fruit for the two gourmands from St. Petersburg.

Mikhail and Turgenev: "."

Speaking of which, the manors of the Russian country landowners in those days could be described as self-sufficient little societies. The manors typically included the main house, gardens, churches, serf dormitories, distilleries, and various other production facilities.

Rural landlords were also divided into the extremely wealthy and the less wealthy. The extremely wealthy had classical colonnades, sculptural gardens, and artificial ponds, while the less wealthy mainly built wooden structures with simple decorations.

At the same time, the landlords in the countryside can be roughly divided into traditionalists and Westernizers. The traditional landlords, like the ones the two encountered during their hunting trip, maintained the old style, advocated simplicity and solemnity, opposed new luxury items such as "spring-loaded carriages," and emphasized etiquette rather than ostentation when entertaining guests.

As for the Westernized landlords, they imitated French etiquette, spoke in French, and loved imported ingredients like oysters. However, because they lived in the countryside, these landlords were often ridiculed as "blindly worshipping foreign things."

Strictly speaking, the Ilyich family was closer to the latter, but his tendency to Westernize was probably just to gain a higher status in social circles. So when he chatted with Turgenev and Mikhail, he mostly asked about rare things that were not easy to hear or see in the countryside, sometimes about St. Petersburg and sometimes about other countries.

After discussing these matters, Mikhail and Turgenev naturally shared some of their observations. During this exchange, the landowner would occasionally slip in a few broken French phrases. Mikhail and Turgenev didn't point this out, but simply slowed down their French speaking pace so that the man, who was clearly not fluent in French, could understand them.

And so, Ilrich grew happier and happier, and finally decided to treat the two to authentic French cuisine. At the same time, he also had his daughter come out to greet the two and sit down to listen to their conversation.

The girl who had been peeking at the two through the crack in the window earlier was now becoming increasingly reserved, only glancing at the guests in the house from time to time. As a result, she could see the dark-eyed young man patting the dog's head every now and then. Although he didn't talk much, whenever he did, it was always something interesting.

It's worth mentioning that after the girl sat down, Mikhail unconsciously became much quieter, while Turgenev, on the other hand, was as energetic as if he had been injected with chicken blood, spouting a string of little words.

It must be said that although Old Tu never forgot to write letters to the female singer in France while hunting all day, this did not prevent him from behaving well in social situations. He also had an abstract flaw: although he could not live without love, once the relationship developed further, he would immediately back down and want to engage in some kind of spiritual love affair.

And his later life was exactly as he wished, consisting of half a lifetime of spiritual love.

Mikhail pondered these random thoughts, occasionally speaking and watching the sunlight reflecting off the trees in the verdant forest. Before he knew it, the afternoon had passed. As evening approached, the landowner, Ilichi, who had been chatting happily, quickly got up and arranged for someone to prepare a delicious French meal for them.

Of course, the two men didn't come for nothing; they gave all the game they caught to their host family as gifts. When presenting the game, Turgenev said, "Look at this hare. It was a good fifty meters away from me. My companion shook his head at me and said, 'Turgenev! How could you possibly hit it from that far away? Give up!'"

I merely smiled at his words, then ignored his attempts to stop me, raised my hand, and fired a shot. While my companion was still laughing at me, I calmly walked over, retrieved my prey, and shook my head at my dumbfounded friend.

Mikhail, who was listening nearby, was left bewildered.

You stole my prey and now you want to steal my story?!

You immediately exclaimed, "Mikhail! How did you do that? Teach me!"

Unfortunately, Mikhail could only reply, "It was luck, luck. I was having a good day, so I just went with my gut feeling."

At this moment, faced with Old Tu's words, Mikhail still went along with it, nodding in agreement and saying, "Old Tu is awesome, no doubt about it."

Unfortunately, the landlord's daughter didn't seem to enjoy hearing hunting stories.

Fortunately, dinner was served shortly afterward. In addition to the delicious French dishes he had mentioned, there were also other authentic Russian dishes. First came cold dishes such as caviar and smoked fish, followed by red borscht, then freshly roasted game and stewed beef that Mikhail and his men had hunted. Finally, there were desserts such as honey cakes and jam.

Drinks were the essentials: vodka and kvass. After the banquet, the host asked them with a touch of regret whether they wanted French wine or champagne.

Overall, the meal was quite pleasant, and Mikhail's behavior made the host, Ilich, wonder to himself, "My God, I've heard that great men often have good appetites. How great must he be? Is he related to royalty?" Of course, what he didn't notice was that after Mikhail tasted the delicious French dishes out of curiosity, he didn't touch them again.
Turgenev was the same, but when Ilyich asked these two gourmets with great anticipation what they thought of his family's French cuisine, they answered without hesitation, "Authentic!"

When asked about the lodgings they had sought along the way, both of them gave the same answer, and the same was true in the homes of some serfs.

Upon hearing this answer, Ilrich was naturally delighted and even arranged some entertainment for the evening. Although he wasn't a very knowledgeable person, he still invited the two to recite some poems so that he could save face later. Although he didn't quite understand them after listening, he still gave them a round of applause as a courtesy.

When the tranquility of the countryside finally began to gradually overshadow the human presence, Mikhail and Turgenev, who were not so tired, quickly gathered together to write some drafts.

It must be said that since arriving here, Mikhail has not slept soundly as the little girl Mira had worried. Instead, he has been going to one place after another quite decisively. After all, shooting is indeed more interesting than sleeping.

Because he frequently traversed mountains and valleys, Mikhail felt that he might actually have developed some survival skills in the wild.

Meanwhile, during this process, Mikhail did not forget to prepare for his European trip. In general, although he had achieved some small success in France, it would certainly not be easy to expand this success further. In addition to novels and poetry, which require time to ferment, there is another field related to literature that plays an important role in literary history: playwrights.

To be honest, in this day and age, becoming an overnight sensation through novels and poetry is a rare occurrence, but becoming an overnight sensation and making a fortune through drama is much more common.

Dostoevsky, for example, initially hoped to achieve instant fame through drama, and he was very familiar with the works of famous playwrights such as Corneille and Racine. However, after trying it, he eventually gave up on this plan.

It's worth mentioning that Dostoevsky's brother also wrote plays, and when Dostoevsky was young, he would often ask his brother for money while saying that his brother's plays weren't good, like: "Also, tell me the main idea of ​​your script, I believe it will be excellent, although you are still lacking ten years of experience in conceiving dramatic characters, at least that's what I think."

Putting that aside for now, Mikhail was preparing to give it a try, so even during the hunting process, he would still take time to think about and make changes.

As for Turgenev, he had already planned to do so, but to be honest, he hesitated for a while about whether to show his draft to Mikhail. After all, strictly speaking, Mikhail was six years younger than him, but his literary achievements were enough to make any young man his age feel inferior.

However, Turgenev did not hesitate for long. After thinking about Mikhail's "we're all brothers," Turgenev quickly handed over his first manuscript, which he had put a lot of effort and thought into, to Mikhail.

To Turgenev's slight surprise, after reading the first paragraph, Mikhail looked at him with a strange sense of emotion and said in a slightly complicated tone, "There's even a description of me in this."

"Of course we have Mikhail, what nonsense are you talking about?"

Turgenev said with a hint of surprise, "We've traveled to so many places together, it would be strange if you weren't there. Speaking of which, I'll be putting your name at the very beginning of the first article, because it was you who gave me the initial inspiration, wasn't it?"

After saying this, Mikhail quickly fell silent and began to read intently. Once he had finished reading, before the anxious Turgenev could even ask for his opinion on the novel, Mikhail firmly grasped his hand and said in an unwavering tone:

"Turgenev, a great work that will forever remain in the history of Russian literature is about to be born."

"You're not kidding me, are you, Mikhail? Hahaha, just to make me happy."

Although Turgenev appeared somewhat flustered in the face of such high praise, his trembling voice betrayed his unease.

Mikhail, equally excited, smiled and said, "Believe in yourself! This is an excellent work. You must continue writing, and once it's finished, please publish it in our 'Modern Man' magazine immediately."

This is certainly not just empty talk. You can see it from this novel. Turgenev's genius and keen insight as a writer have always been there. And strictly speaking, as one of the three giants of Russian literature, Turgenev's works are the most beautiful and also the most readable.

The beauty of the language lies not only in the careful observation and apt description of nature, but also in the delicacy and tenderness in his portrayal of human emotions, which undoubtedly expands the linguistic boundaries of Russian literature once again.

At the same time, what makes his works so readable is that, unlike Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, he was not obsessed with Orthodox ideas and the related ramblings and lifestyles. His works are more imbued with the spirit of people and life, rather than becoming a testing ground and racetrack for various ideas.

This is undoubtedly a precious quality. From his works, one can actually glimpse the lifestyle and thought processes of ordinary Russians, and truly feel the beauty of Russia's natural scenery.

In short, Mikhail did indeed like Turgenev's work very much, and now, as someone who had witnessed the birth of this work firsthand, he naturally did not hold back his praise. After Mikhail's barrage of words, Turgenev, who had initially been skeptical, became somewhat bewildered.

So, I actually have such amazing potential?
After drifting for a while, Turgenev finally came to his senses and prepared to listen carefully to Mikhail's other opinions.

While the lively discussion rang out inside, the eternal nature outside remained silent, simply witnessing the birth of all eternal things.

(End of this chapter)