About the book: year / March 12/24 Turgenev was elected an honorary member of the Society of St. Petersburg Artists, and on March 14/26 the writer was officially invited to the upcoming celebration, and he agreed to attend it . This gives reason to assume that the commented speech was prepared by Turgenev for delivery at a dinner hosted by St. Petersburg artists. However, an unexpected illness prevented Turgenev from attending this dinner, and the celebration took place without him.