Smoke

Smoke is Ivan Turgenev’s novel about emotional entanglement and political talk among Russians abroad. Grigory Litvinov’s stay in Baden-Baden brings him back into the orbit of Irina, complicating the future he has planned with Tatyana. Political and fashionable gatherings provide a wider setting in which display often takes the place of useful action. The image of smoke suggests the instability of claims, hopes, and arguments that appear substantial for a time. Personal choices nevertheless carry consequences that cannot be dismissed as easily as conversation.