by April Fitzlyon

Ivan Turgenev's play A Month In the Country - published in 1855 - is largely autobiographical in that it portrays the equivocal position he held in the household of Pauline Viardot, the famous opera singer, and her husband. In 1856, while staying at their country house in the Brie region of France, he was visited by his compatriot and fellow writer Fet. April FitzLyon gives an account of that meeting.
(Second broadcast)