out and never finished it because it did not present a picture of the typical, “Russian” landowner. Here though, he seems to be hinting that the “game” of the sketches is in fact the evils of serfdom and the failures of landowners. The Reformer and the Russian German Another incomplete, though slightly longer, fragment. This may have been a later version of the previous fragment or another fragment itself. It's completely different, with different characters, and again provides the readers with examples of the failures and cruelties of serfdom. Legacy This series of short stories revealed Turgenev's unique talent as a short story writer. Evidently it greatly influenced all Russian short story writers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, such as Anton Chekhov, Ivan Bunin, Alexander Kuprin and many others. Other world writers also admired Turgenev's style. Sherwood Anderson was particularly influenced by Turgenev's literature. He considered A Sportsman's Sketches to be a paradigm for his own short stories. More recently, Turgenev has been criticized for his somewhat idealized characterization of muzhiks. Turgenev's muzhiks have been compared to other noble savages in 19th-century fiction (such as American Indians in works by J. F. Cooper). External links English version of text Full text of A Sportsman's Sketches in the original Russian at Alexei Komarov's Internet Library 1852 short story collections Russian short story collections Works by Ivan Turgenev