Such remarks enraged the Slavophils beyond measure, for they were
determined to keep out of Russia foreign inventions and foreign ideas.
But that Turgenev was right is shown in the twentieth century by an
acute German observer, Baron Von der Bruggen. In his interesting book,
"Russia of To-day," he says: "All civilisation is derived from the
West. . . . People are now beginning to understand this in Russia
after having lost considerable time with futile phantasies upon
original Slavonic civilisation. If Russia wishes to progress, her
Western doors must be opened wide in order to facilitate the influx of
European culture." The author of these words was not thinking of
Turgenev: but his language is a faithful echo of Potugin. They sound
like a part of his discourse. Still, the literary value of "Smoke"
does not lie in the fact that Turgenev was a true prophet, or that he
successfully attacked those who had attacked him. If this were all
that the book contained, it would certainly rank low as a work of art.

But this is not all. Turgenev has taken for his hero Litvinov, a young
Russian, thoroughly commonplace, but thoroughly practical and sincere,
the type of man whom Russia needed the most, and has placed him
between two women, who represent the eternal contrast between sacred
and profane love. This situation has all the elements of true drama,
as every one knows who has read or heard "Carmen;" it is needless to
say that Turgenev has developed it with consummate skill. Turgenev
regarded brilliantly wicked women with hatred and loathing, but also
with a kind of terror; and he has never failed to make them sinister
and terrible. Irina as a young girl nearly ruined the life of
Litvinov; and now we find him at Baden, his former passion apparently
conquered, and he himself engaged to Turgenev's ideal woman, Tanya,
not clever, but modest, sensible, and true-hearted, another Lisa. The
contrast between these two women, who instinctively understand each