What information did Ivan Sergeevich want. Ivan Turgenev: biography, life path and creativity

Ivan Turgenev (1818-1883) is a world-famous Russian prose writer, poet, playwright, critic, memoirist and translator of the 19th century, recognized as a classic of world literature. He wrote many outstanding works that have become literary classics, the reading of which is mandatory for school and university curricula.

Born Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev from the city of Orel, where he was born on November 9, 1818 in a noble family in family estate his mother. Sergei Nikolaevich, father - a retired hussar, who served before the birth of his son in a cuirassier regiment, Varvara Petrovna, mother - a representative of an old noble family. In addition to Ivan, there was another eldest son Nikolai in the family, the childhood of the little Turgenevs passed under the vigilant supervision of numerous servants and under the influence of their mother's rather heavy and unbending temper. Although mother was distinguished by her special dominance and severity of temper, she was known as a rather educated and enlightened woman, it was she who interested her children in science and fiction.

At first, the boys were educated at home, after the family moved to the capital, they continued their studies with local teachers. Then follows a new turn in the fate of the Turgenev family - a trip and subsequent life abroad, where Ivan Turgenev lives and is brought up in several prestigious boarding houses. Upon arrival at home (1833), at the age of fifteen, he entered the Faculty of Literature of Moscow State University. After the eldest son Nikolai becomes a guards cavalryman, the family moves to St. Petersburg and the younger Ivan becomes a student of the philosophical faculty of a local university. In 1834, the first poetic lines appeared from the pen of Turgenev, imbued with the spirit of romanticism (a trendy trend at that time). Poetic lyrics were appreciated by his teacher and mentor Pyotr Pletnev (a close friend of A. S. Pushkin).

After graduating from St. Petersburg University in 1837, Turgenev left to continue his studies abroad, where he attended lectures and seminars at the University of Berlin, traveling in parallel across Europe. Returning to Moscow and successfully passing the master's exams, Turgenev hopes to become a professor at Moscow University, but due to the abolition of philosophy departments in all Russian universities, this desire will not come true. At that time, Turgenev was becoming more and more interested in literature, several of his poems were published in the newspaper Otechestvennye Zapiski, in the spring of 1843, the time of the appearance of his first small book, where the poem Parasha was published.

In 1843, at the insistence of his mother, he becomes an official in the "special office" at the Ministry of the Interior and serves there for two years, then retires. The imperious and ambitious mother, dissatisfied with the fact that her son did not live up to her hopes both in career and personal terms (he did not find a worthy party for himself, and even had an illegitimate daughter Pelageya from a seamstress), refuses to support him and Turgenev has to live from hand to mouth and get into debt.

Acquaintance with the famous critic Belinsky turned Turgenev's work towards realism, and he begins to write poetic and ironic moral poems, critical articles and stories.

In 1847, Turgenev brought the story “Khor and Kalinich” to the Sovremennik magazine, which Nekrasov prints with the subtitle “From the Notes of a Hunter,” and this is how Turgenev’s real literary activity begins. In 1847, because of his love for the singer Pauline Viardot (he met her in 1843 in St. Petersburg, where she came on tour), he left Russia for a long time and lived first in Germany, then in France. During his life abroad, several dramatic plays: "Freeloader", "Bachelor", "A Month in the Village", "Provincial".

In 1850, the writer returned to Moscow, worked as a critic in the Sovremennik magazine, and in 1852 published a book of his essays called Notes of a Hunter. At the same time, impressed by the death of Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol, he wrote and published an obituary, officially banned by the tsarist caesura. This is followed by an arrest for one month, deportation to the family estate without the right to leave the Oryol province, a ban on traveling abroad (until 1856). During the exile, the story "Mumu", "Inn", "The Diary of a Superfluous Man", "Yakov Pasynkov", "Correspondence", the novel "Rudin" (1855) were written.

After the end of the ban on traveling abroad, Turgenev leaves the country and lives in Europe for two years. In 1858, he returned to his homeland and published his story "Asya", around which critics immediately flared up heated debates and disputes. Then comes the novel Noble Nest"(1859), 1860 - "On the Eve". After that, there is a break between Turgenev and such radical writers as Nekrasov and Dobrolyubov, a quarrel with Leo Tolstoy and even the challenge of the latter to a duel, which eventually ended in peace. February 1862 - printing of the novel "Fathers and Sons", in which the author showed the tragedy of the growing conflict of generations in the context of a growing social crisis.

From 1863 to 1883, Turgenev lives first with the Viardot family in Baden-Baden, then in Paris, never ceasing to be interested in the events taking place in Russia and acting as a kind of mediator between Western European and Russian writers. During his life abroad, the “Notes of a Hunter” were supplemented, the novels “The Hours”, “Punin and Baburin”, the largest of all his novels “Nov”, were written.

Together with Victor Hugo Turgenev was elected co-chairman of the First International Congress of Writers, held in Paris in 1878, in 1879 the writer was elected an honorary doctor of the oldest university in England - Oxford. In his declining years, Turgenevsky did not cease to engage in literary activity, and a few months before his death, "Poems in Prose" were published, prose fragments and miniatures distinguished by a high degree of lyricism.

Turgenev dies in August 1883 from a serious illness in the French Bougival (a suburb of Paris). In accordance with last will the deceased, written in his will, his body was transported to Russia and buried at the St. Petersburg cemetery Volkovo.

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Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev was born on August 22, 1818 in the city of Orel, Oryol region. Father, Sergei Nikolaevich Turgenev (1793-1834), was a retired cuirassier colonel. Mother, Varvara Petrovna Turgeneva (before the marriage of Lutovinova) (1787-1850), came from a wealthy noble family.

Family Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev came from an ancient family of Tula nobles Turgenevs. It is curious that the great-grandfathers were involved in the events of the times of Ivan the Terrible: the names of such representatives of this family as Ivan Vasilievich Turgenev, who was a nursemaid with Ivan the Terrible (1550-1556), are known; Dmitry Vasilyevich was the governor in Kargopol in 1589. And in Time of Troubles Pyotr Nikitich Turgenev was executed on Lobnoye mesto in Moscow for denouncing False Dmitry I; great-grandfather Alexei Romanovich Turgenev was a member Russian-Turkish war under Catherine II.

Up to 9 years Ivan Turgenev lived in the hereditary estate of Spasskoe-Lutovinovo, 10 km from Mtsensk, Oryol province. In 1827, the Turgenevs, in order to educate their children, settled in Moscow, in a house bought on Samotyok.

The first romantic passion of young Turgenev was falling in love with the daughter of Princess Shakhovskaya - Catherine. The estates of their parents in the suburbs bordered, they often exchanged visits. He is 14, she is 18. In letters to her son, V.P. Turgeneva called E.L. Shakhovskaya a “poet” and a “villain”, since Sergey Nikolayevich Turgenev himself, a happy rival of his son, could not resist the charms of the young princess. The episode was revived much later, in 1860, in the story "First Love".

After his parents went abroad, Ivan Sergeevich first studied at the Weidenhammer boarding house, then he was sent as a boarder to the director of the Lazarevsky Institute Kruse. In 1833, 15-year-old Turgenev entered the verbal department of Moscow University. Herzen and Belinsky studied here at that time. A year later, after Ivan's older brother entered the Guards Artillery, the family moved to St. Petersburg, and Ivan Turgenev then transferred to St. Petersburg University to the Faculty of Philosophy. Timofey Granovsky became his friend.

While Turgenev I saw myself in the field of poetry. In 1834 he wrote the dramatic poem "The Wall", several lyric poems. The young author showed these tests of the pen to his teacher, professor of Russian literature P. A. Pletnev. Pletnev called the poem a weak imitation of Byron, but noted that "there is something" in the author. By 1837 he had already written about a hundred small poems. At the beginning of 1837, an unexpected and short meeting with A. S. Pushkin takes place. In the first issue of the Sovremennik magazine for 1838, which, after Pushkin’s death, was edited by P. A. Pletnev, Turgenev’s poem “Evening” was printed with the signature “- - -v”, which is the author’s debut.

In 1836, Turgenev graduated from the course with the degree of a real student. Dreaming of scientific activity, he next year again held the final exam, received the degree of candidate, and in 1838 went to Germany. During the journey, a fire broke out on the ship, and the passengers miraculously managed to escape. Fearing for his life, Turgenev asked one of the sailors to save him and promised him a reward from his rich mother if he could fulfill his request. Other passengers testified that the young man exclaimed plaintively: "To die so young!", while pushing women and children at the lifeboats. Fortunately, the beach was not far.

Once on the shore, the young man was ashamed of his cowardice. Rumors of his cowardice infiltrated society and became the subject of ridicule. The event played a certain negative role in the subsequent life of the author and was described by Turgenev himself in the short story "Fire at Sea". Having settled in Berlin, Ivan took up his studies. Listening to lectures at the university on the history of Roman and Greek literature, at home he studied the grammar of ancient Greek and Latin. Here he became close to Stankevich. In 1839 he returned to Russia, but already in 1840 he again left for Germany, Italy, Austria. Impressed by a meeting with a girl in Frankfurt am Main, Turgenev later wrote the story "Spring Waters".

In 1841 Ivan returned to Lutovinovo. He became interested in the seamstress Dunyasha, who in 1842 gave birth to his daughter Pelageya. Dunyasha was given in marriage, the daughter was left in an ambiguous position.

At the beginning of 1842, Ivan Sergeevich submitted a request to Moscow University for admission to the exam for a master's degree in philosophy. At the same time, he began his literary activity.

The largest printed work of this time was the poem Parasha, written in 1843. Not hoping for positive criticism, he took a copy of V. G. Belinsky to Lopatin's house, leaving the manuscript to the critic's servant. Belinsky highly appreciated Parasha, publishing two months later positive feedback V " Domestic notes". From that moment began their acquaintance, which eventually grew into a strong friendship.

In the autumn of 1843, Turgenev first saw Pauline Viardot on the stage of the opera house, when the great singer came on tour to St. Petersburg. Then, while hunting, he met Polina's husband, the director Italian theater in Paris, by a famous critic and art critic - Louis Viardot, and on November 1, 1843 he was introduced to Pauline herself. Among the mass of fans, she did not particularly single out Turgenev, known more as an avid hunter, and not a writer. And when her tour ended, Turgenev, together with the Viardot family, left for Paris against the will of his mother, without money and still unknown to Europe. In November 1845, he returned to Russia, and in January 1847, having learned about Viardot's tour in Germany, he left the country again: he went to Berlin, then to London, Paris, a tour of France and again to St. Petersburg.

In 1846, he participated in the renewal of Sovremennik. Nekrasov - his best friend. With Belinsky he went abroad in 1847 and in 1848 he lived in Paris, where he witnessed revolutionary events. He becomes close to Herzen, falls in love with Ogaryov's wife Tuchkova. In 1850-1852 he lived either in Russia or abroad. Most of the "Notes of a Hunter" was created by the writer in Germany.

Without an official marriage, Turgenev lived in the Viardot family. Pauline Viardot raised Turgenev's illegitimate daughter. Several meetings with Gogol and Fet belong to this time.

In 1846, the novels Breter and Three Portraits were published. Later, he wrote such works as The Freeloader (1848), The Bachelor (1849), The Provincial Girl, A Month in the Village, Calm (1854), Yakov Pasynkov (1855), Breakfast at the Leader "(1856), etc. "Mumu" he wrote in 1852, being in exile in Spassky-Lutovinovo because of an obituary on the death of Gogol, which, despite the ban, he published in Moscow.

In 1852 a collection was published short stories Turgenev under the general title "Notes of a Hunter", which was published in Paris in 1854. After the death of Nicholas I, four major works of the writer were published one after another: Rudin (1856), The Noble Nest (1859), On the Eve (1860) and Fathers and Sons (1862). The first two were published in Nekrasov's Sovremennik. The next two are in the Russian Messenger by M. N. Katkov. The departure from Sovremennik marked a break with the radical camp of N. G. Chernyshevsky and N. A. Dobrolyubov.

Turgenev gravitates toward the circle of Western writers who profess the principles of "pure art", opposing the tendentious creativity of raznochintsev revolutionaries: P. V. Annenkov, V. P. Botkin, D. V. Grigorovich, A. V. Druzhinin. For a short time, Leo Tolstoy also joined this circle, who for some time lived in Turgenev's apartment. After Tolstoy's marriage to S. A. Bers, Turgenev found a close relative in Tolstoy, but even before the wedding, in May 1861, when both prose writers were visiting A. A. Fet at the Stepanovo estate, a serious quarrel occurred between the two writers, barely which did not end in a duel and spoiled relations between writers for a long 17 years.

From the beginning of the 1860s, Turgenev settled in Baden-Baden. The writer actively participates in the cultural life of Western Europe, making acquaintances with the leading writers of Germany, France and England, promoting Russian literature abroad and acquainting Russian readers with the best works of contemporary Western authors. Among his acquaintances or correspondents are Friedrich Bodenstedt, Thackeray, Dickens, Henry James, George Sand, Victor Hugo, Saint-Beuve, Hippolyte Taine, Prosper Mérimée, Ernest Renan, Theophile Gauthier, Edmond Goncourt, Emile Zola, Anatole France, Guy de Maupassant , Alphonse Daudet, Gustave Flaubert. In 1874, the famous bachelor dinners of five began in the Parisian restaurants of Rich or Pellet: Flaubert, Edmond Goncourt, Daudet, Zola and Turgenev.

I. S. Turgenev acts as a consultant and editor of foreign translators of Russian writers, he himself writes prefaces and notes to translations of Russian writers into European languages, as well as to Russian translations of works by famous European writers. He translates Western writers into Russian and Russian writers and poets into French and German. This is how translations of Flaubert's works Herodias and The Tale of St. Yuliana Merciful" for the Russian reader and Pushkin's works for French Reader. For some time, Turgenev became the most famous and most widely read Russian author in Europe. In 1878, at the international literary congress in Paris, the writer was elected vice-president; in 1879 he received an honorary doctorate from Oxford University.

Despite living abroad, all Turgenev's thoughts were still connected with Russia. He writes the novel "Smoke" (1867), which caused a lot of controversy in Russian society. According to the author's review, everyone scolded the novel: "both red and white, and from above, and from below, and from the side - especially from the side." The fruit of his intense reflections in the 1870s was the largest of Turgenev's novels, Nov (1877).

Turgenev was friends with the Milyutin brothers (comrade of the Minister of Internal Affairs and Minister of War), A. V. Golovnin (Minister of Education), M. Kh. Reitern (Minister of Finance).

At the end of his life, Turgenev decides to reconcile with Leo Tolstoy, he explains the meaning of modern Russian literature, including Tolstoy's work, to the Western reader. In 1880, the writer takes part in the Pushkin celebrations dedicated to the opening of the first monument to the poet in Moscow, organized by the Society of Lovers of Russian Literature. The writer died in Bougival near Paris, August 22 (September 3), 1883 from myxosarcoma. Turgenev's body was, according to his desire, brought to St. Petersburg and buried at the Volkovskoye cemetery with a large gathering of people.

And van Turgenev was one of the most important Russian writers of the 19th century. The artistic system he created changed the poetics of the novel both in Russia and abroad. His works were praised and severely criticized, and Turgenev spent his whole life looking for a path in them that would lead Russia to well-being and prosperity.

"Poet, talent, aristocrat, handsome"

The family of Ivan Turgenev came from an old family of Tula nobles. His father, Sergei Turgenev, served in the cavalry guard regiment and led a very wasteful lifestyle. To improve his financial situation, he was forced to marry an elderly (by the standards of that time), but very wealthy landowner Varvara Lutovinova. The marriage became unhappy for both of them, their relationship did not work out. Their second son, Ivan, was born two years after the wedding, in 1818, in Orel. Mother wrote in her diary: “... on Monday, the son Ivan was born, 12 inches tall [about 53 centimeters]”. There were three children in the Turgenev family: Nikolai, Ivan and Sergey.

Until the age of nine, Turgenev lived in the Spasskoe-Lutovinovo estate in the Oryol region. His mother had a difficult and contradictory character: her sincere and cordial concern for children was combined with severe despotism, Varvara Turgeneva often beat her sons. However, she invited the best French and German tutors to her children, spoke exclusively in French with her sons, but at the same time remained a fan of Russian literature and read Nikolai Karamzin, Vasily Zhukovsky, Alexander Pushkin and Nikolai Gogol.

In 1827 the Turgenevs moved to Moscow so that their children could receive a better education. Three years later, Sergei Turgenev left the family.

When Ivan Turgenev was 15 years old, he entered the verbal department of Moscow University. At the same time future writer first fell in love with Princess Ekaterina Shakhovskaya. Shakhovskaya exchanged letters with him, but reciprocated Turgenev's father and thus broke his heart. Later, this story became the basis of Turgenev's story "First Love".

A year later, Sergei Turgenev died, and Varvara and her children moved to St. Petersburg, where Turgenev entered the Faculty of Philosophy at St. Petersburg University. Then he became seriously interested in lyrics and wrote the first work - the dramatic poem "The Wall". Turgenev spoke of her like this: “An absolutely absurd work in which, with furious clumsiness, slavish imitation Byron's Manfred". In total, during the years of study, Turgenev wrote about a hundred poems and several poems. Some of his poems were published by the Sovremennik magazine.

After his studies, 20-year-old Turgenev went to Europe to continue his education. He studied ancient classics, Roman and Greek literature, traveled to France, Holland, Italy. The European way of life struck Turgenev: he came to the conclusion that Russia should get rid of unculturedness, laziness, ignorance, following the Western countries.

Unknown artist. Ivan Turgenev at the age of 12. 1830. State Literary Museum

Eugene Louis Lamy. Portrait of Ivan Turgenev. 1844. State Literary Museum

Kirill Gorbunkov. Ivan Turgenev in his youth. 1838. State Literary Museum

In the 1840s, Turgenev returned to his homeland, received a master's degree in Greek and Latin philology at St. Petersburg University, even wrote a dissertation - but did not defend it. Interest in scientific activity replaced the desire to write. It was at this time that Turgenev met Nikolai Gogol, Sergei Aksakov, Alexei Khomyakov, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Afanasy Fet and many other writers.

“The other day the poet Turgenev returned from Paris. What a man! Poet, talent, aristocrat, handsome, rich, smart, educated, 25 years old - I don’t know what nature denied him?

Fyodor Dostoevsky, from a letter to his brother

When Turgenev returned to Spasskoe-Lutovinovo, he had an affair with a peasant woman, Avdotya Ivanova, which ended in the girl's pregnancy. Turgenev wanted to marry, but his mother sent Avdotya to Moscow with a scandal, where she gave birth to a daughter, Pelageya. Avdotya Ivanova's parents hastily married her off, and Turgenev recognized Pelageya only a few years later.

In 1843, under the initials of T. L. (Turgenez-Lutovinov), Turgenev's poem "Parash" was published. She was highly appreciated by Vissarion Belinsky, and from that moment their acquaintance grew into a strong friendship - Turgenev even became the godfather of the critic's son.

"This man is extraordinarily intelligent ... It is gratifying to meet a man whose original and characteristic opinion, colliding with yours, extracts sparks."

Vissarion Belinsky

In the same year, Turgenev met Pauline Viardot. About true character their relationship is still disputed by researchers of Turgenev's work. They met in St. Petersburg when the singer arrived in the city on tour. Turgenev often traveled with Polina and her husband, art critic Louis Viardot, around Europe, visiting their Parisian house. In the Viardot family, he was brought up illegitimate daughter Pelagia.

Fictionist and playwright

In the late 1840s, Turgenev wrote extensively for the theatre. His plays The Freeloader, The Bachelor, A Month in the Country and The Provincial Girl were very popular with the public and were warmly received by critics.

In 1847, Turgenev's short story "Khor and Kalinich" was published in the Sovremennik magazine, inspired by the writer's hunting trips. A little later, stories from the collection "Notes of a Hunter" were published there. The collection itself was published in 1852. Turgenev called him his "Annibal Oath" - a promise to fight to the end with the enemy, whom he hated since childhood - serfdom.

The Hunter's Notes is marked by such a power of talent that it has a beneficial effect on me; the understanding of nature is often presented to you as a revelation.”

Fedor Tyutchev

It was one of the first works that spoke openly about the troubles and dangers of serfdom. The censor, who allowed the "Notes of a Hunter" to be published, was dismissed from the service by personal order of Nicholas I with deprivation of his pension, and the collection itself was forbidden to be republished. The censors explained this by the fact that Turgenev, although he poeticized the serfs, criminally exaggerated their suffering from the oppression of the landlords.

In 1856, the writer's first major novel, Rudin, was published, written in just seven weeks. The name of the hero of the novel has become a household name for people whose word does not agree with the deed. Three years later, Turgenev published the novel The Nest of Nobles, which turned out to be incredibly popular in Russia: every educated person considered it his duty to read it.

“Knowledge of Russian life, and, moreover, knowledge is not bookish, but experienced, taken out of reality, purified and comprehended by the power of talent and reflection, is found in all the works of Turgenev ...”

Dmitry Pisarev

From 1860 to 1861, excerpts from the novel Fathers and Sons were published in Russkiy Vestnik. The novel was written on the "topic of the day" and explored the public mood of the time - mainly the views of nihilistic youth. The Russian philosopher and publicist Nikolai Strakhov wrote about him: “In Fathers and Sons, he showed more clearly than in all other cases that poetry, while remaining poetry ... can actively serve society ...”

The novel was well received by critics, however, did not receive the support of liberals. At this time, Turgenev's relations with many friends became complicated. For example, with Alexander Herzen: Turgenev collaborated with his Kolokol newspaper. Herzen saw the future of Russia in peasant socialism, believing that bourgeois Europe had outlived itself, and Turgenev defended the idea of ​​strengthening cultural ties between Russia and the West.

Sharp criticism fell upon Turgenev after the release of his novel "Smoke". It was a pamphlet novel that equally sharply ridiculed both the conservative Russian aristocracy and the revolutionary-minded liberals. According to the author, everyone scolded him: "both red and white, and from above, and from below, and from the side - especially from the side."

From "Smoke" to "Prose Poems"

Alexey Nikitin. Portrait of Ivan Turgenev. 1859. State Literary Museum

Osip Braz. Portrait of Maria Savina. 1900. State Literary Museum

Timothy Neff. Portrait of Pauline Viardot. 1842. State Literary Museum

After 1871, Turgenev lived in Paris, occasionally returning to Russia. He actively participated in the cultural life of Western Europe and promoted Russian literature abroad. Turgenev communicated and corresponded with Charles Dickens, George Sand, Victor Hugo, Prosper Merimee, Guy de Maupassant, Gustave Flaubert.

In the second half of the 1870s, Turgenev published his most ambitious novel, Nov, in which he sharply satirically and critically portrayed members of the revolutionary movement 1870s.

"Both novels [Smoke and Nov] only brought to light his ever-increasing alienation from Russia, the first with its impotent bitterness, the second with its lack of information and lack of any sense of reality in the depiction of the mighty movement of the seventies."

Dmitry Svyatopolk-Mirsky

This novel, like "Smoke", was not accepted by Turgenev's colleagues. For example, Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin wrote that Nov was a service to the autocracy. At the same time, the popularity of Turgenev's early stories and novels did not decrease.

The last years of the writer's life became his triumph both in Russia and abroad. Then a cycle of lyrical miniatures "Poems in Prose" appeared. The book opened with a poem in prose "The Village", and completed it with "Russian Language" - the famous anthem about faith in the great destiny of one's country: “In days of doubt, in days of painful reflections about the fate of my homeland, you are my only support and support, oh great, powerful, truthful and free Russian language! .. Without you, how not to fall into despair at the sight of everything that happens at home . But it is impossible to believe that such a language was not given to a great people!” This collection became Turgenev's farewell to life and art.

At the same time, Turgenev met his last love- actress of the Alexandrinsky Theater Maria Savina. She was 25 years old when she played the role of Verochka in Turgenev's play A Month in the Country. Seeing her on stage, Turgenev was amazed and openly confessed his feelings to the girl. Maria considered Turgenev more of a friend and mentor, and their marriage never took place.

IN last years Turgenev was seriously ill. Parisian doctors diagnosed him with angina pectoris and intercostal neuralgia. Turgenev died on September 3, 1883 in Bougival near Paris, where lavish farewells were held. The writer was buried in St. Petersburg at the Volkovskoye cemetery. The death of the writer was a shock to his fans - and the procession of people who came to say goodbye to Turgenev stretched for several kilometers.

Vinogradova Elizaveta, student of MKOU secondary school No. 3 p. Dinvnoe

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The life and work of Turgenev is a true tragedy, still not properly understood by mankind.

The "real" Turgenev remained, and remains, unknown.

And yet, who is Turgenev? What do we know about him? IN best case, someone carefully read the biography in the textbook, but there are only dry facts.
My grandmother, a passionate admirer of his work, introduced me to Turgenev's works. These were stories from the Hunter's Notes.

Landscape sketches, memorable images, expressive and emotional language- all this sunk into my soul. I wanted to get acquainted with other works of this great writer.

E the only great love Turgenev, which he never betrayed, was Russian nature, his muse and inspiration.

Indeed, it is difficult not to describe such beauty. A hunter at heart, Ivan Sergeevich could not remain indifferent to the surrounding areas.

. And this unexpressed love delight poured out on paper in the form of amazing landscape sketches. For example:
"...together with the dew, a scarlet gleam falls on the glades, recently drenched in streams of liquid gold..."

How vividly, colorfully and vividly this landscape is described! Reading these lines, you can easily imagine this unique picture. “The singer of Russian nature, Turgenev, with such poetic power and spontaneity, showed the captivating beauty and charm of the Russian landscape, like no prose writer before him,” wrote the great critic.
"Notes of a Hunter" is a truly brilliant creation of the artist of the peasant soul, who depicted a picture of contrasts and harmony of the amazing Russian character, combining an untouched natural principle, heroic strength and at the same time sensitivity and vulnerability.
A peasant who can be loved, who can be admired, who lives by nature, beauty, sincerity and love, this is how Turgenev sees the Russian people, not hiding his feelings, admiring and wondering at him, sometimes even shedding a hot tear.
The narrator, whose voice we hear from the pages of the Hunter's Notes, describes nature as a person who subtly feels the beauty of his country. He knows as much about nature as any of the peasants.
The writer opens up as a true connoisseur of his characters, he plays with each situation in such a way that one or another trait manifests itself as brightly as possible. folk character. Turgenev refuses to generalize, he draws his heroes as original representatives of the nation.
Turgenev especially depicts the peasantry in the story "Singers". Here the reader's eyes see the contrast between reality, everyday sketches and beauty and purity. spiritual world a simple peasant: “I must admit that at no time of the year did Kolotovka present a delightful sight, but it excites a particularly sad feeling when the July sparkling sun with its inexorable rays floods the brown, half-swept roofs of houses, and this deep ravine, and the scorched, dusty pasture, along which thin, long-legged chickens hopelessly wander, and a gray aspen log house with holes instead of windows, the remnant of the former manor house, all around overgrown with nettles, weeds and wormwood ... ". Against the backdrop of harsh reality outer life peasants, their inner world is revealed, the ability to feel the beauty and admire the touching Russian song pouring from the very depths of the soul.
The heroes of Bezhina Meadow merge with nature, feeling it and living in it. The writer shows children who are closest to the natural beginning, Turgenev depicts their bright characters, gives capacious characteristics, noting the speech of peasant boys, in which everything breathes with an unfeigned sense of naturalness and some naivety. Even nature responds to the stories that the boys listen to with bated breath, without doubting their veracity, as if confirming a belief or a mysterious incident: “Everyone was silent. Suddenly, somewhere in the distance, there was a lingering, ringing, almost groaning sound, one of those incomprehensible nocturnal sounds that sometimes arise amid deep silence, rise, stand in the air and slowly spread at last, as if fading ... The boys looked at each other, shuddered. . Even the hunter himself, an experienced person, believes in signs: the merging of folk signs and the atmosphere in which the heroes of the story live is so natural.
It is impossible to remain indifferent to the sincere world of the soul, which is revealed in every small detail, in the speech and actions of Turgenev's characters. The writer loves the people, he believes in him, playing the strings of his heart, he proves that there is no darkness and downtroddenness, blind humility and humility in him; everything that is bad in the Russian peasant is due to the conditions of existence. On the pages of the Hunter's Notes, the people live with their heart and soul, being able to find outlets in the impenetrable darkness, without getting lost in it and without becoming spiritually poor.

But here is a work of a completely different nature. which contains deep philosophical meaning purpose of a person, about the ability to forgive and be forgiven.

The story of I. S. Turgenev: “Living Powers” ​​was once highly appreciated by George Sand for the plot. Russian criticism is dominated by religious and patriotic assessments.

Lukerya, a yard girl of a village landowner, a beauty, a singer, a dancer, a clever girl, in love with a guy, engaged to him, on the eve of her wedding at the age of 21 she accidentally fell, fell ill, “cruel stone immobility” shackled her, and now she lies alone in an old barn She has been away from the village for seven years now, eats almost nothing, and is sometimes looked after by an orphan girl. Being on the hunt, her master came into the barn to Lukerya. He saw a “bronze face”, “fingers-sticks”, “metal cheeks” - not a person, but an “icon of an old letter”, “living relics”. Their conversation reveals to the reader the amazing soul of a girl who creates life apart from her dying body. Suffering did not harden her. As a gift from God, she accepts torment. Through him, he understands the meaning of his life in a new way. And it seems to her that while suffering, she repeats the feat of Jesus, Joan of Arc. But what truth does she carry? The answer to this question is the meaning of the story.

Withered, half-dead, it perceives the world mainly through smells, sounds, color, rarely through the life of animals, plants, people. Lukerya told her story almost cheerfully, without oohs and sighs, without complaining in the least and without asking for participation. She conquered pain with a poetic feeling, the ability to be surprised, delighted, and laugh. With extreme effort, she could even sing a song, cry, make fun of herself. She taught an orphan girl caring for her to sing songs. She seemed to be doing some duty.

How does Lukerya answer the world? Paralyzed Lukerya - the courage to live. She turns her unhappiness into a way to be happy. Through the ability to overcome suffering, she affirms life on earth, understands this, and in this understanding her happiness. In the courage to be happy is her answer to the world.

Pairing himself with the world, Lukerya believes that he is fulfilling some kind of moral duty. Which?

She is not particularly concerned with the God of the church. Father Alexei, a priest, decided not to confess her - she was not the right person; the Christian calendar gave and took away, because he sees that it is of little use. And although she constantly feels the presence of "heaven" in her life, her thought is not focused on "heaven", on herself. Lukerya's human duty is to live, suffering and overcoming suffering.

She refused to go to the hospital. She doesn't want to be pitied. Does not pray much, does not see it great sense. He does not know many prayers: “Our Father”, “Virgin Mary”, “Akathist”. “Yes, and what will the Lord God bore me with? What can I ask him? He knows better than me what I need ... ". And at the same time, he believes that no one will help a person if he does not help himself. Everyone is satisfied.

Turgenev here interprets the gospel idea that Jesus suffered for all people when he voluntarily ascended the cross. Lukerya pities everyone: his ex-fiance Vasya, who married a healthy woman, and a swallow killed by a hunter, and land-poor peasants, and an orphan girl, and all the serfs. Suffering and regretting, she lives in the world, and not in her pain - this is her moral feat. And happiness. And the divine she suffered.

Lukerya is one of Turgenev's interpretations of the image of Jesus. She is a poetic person. “Only I am alive!”, “And it seems to me that it will dawn on me”, “Thinking will come like a cloud will shed”, - only a poet can speak with such images-“pictures”. And in this Turgenev did not deviate from the truth - Jesus was a poet. The meaning of Jesus, Lukerya, Echo is a way to fulfill the duty to which the poet is called by his sacrificial soul.

Amazing ending to the story.

In Turgenev's story it is repeated tragic fate Jesus, Joan of Arc, Pushkin, Lermontov, Turgenev himself, all the poets of the world.

This is a way for a person to comprehend the search for the divine in himself through the sacrificial feat of love for people as through a new measure of the divine. But the feat of love is within the power of only those who are able to let the cross, and the fire, and many years of stone immobility, and the worst thing - “no response!” Through his poetic soul.

Why are Turgenev's works so true? Maybe because the author experienced or saw everything that happens himself. Turgenev once said: "My entire biography is in my writings." It seems to me that this is indeed the case. For example,November 1, 1843 Turgenev meets the singerPauline Viardot (Viardot Garcia), love for which will largely determine the external course of his life.

Forever Turgenev connected with the great artist a great, ardent love. She brought a lot of happiness to the writer, but happiness and sorrow, joy and despair walked side by side. The beloved woman could not become Turgenev's wife: she had children and a husband. And their relationship retained the purity and charm of true friendship, behind which lurked a high feeling of love.

“When I am gone, when everything that was me crumbles to dust - oh you, my only friend, oh you, whom I loved so deeply and so tenderly, you who will probably outlive me - do not go to my grave. ."

This prose poem was dedicated to the beloved woman - Pauline Viardot.

Love is invariably present in Turgenev's stories. However, it rarely ends happily: the writer brings a touch of tragedy to the love theme. Love in the image of Turgenev is a cruel and wayward force that plays with human destinies. This is an unusual, violent element that equalizes people, regardless of their position, character, intellect, internal appearance.

Before this element, the most diverse people often turn out to be defenseless: the democrat Bazarov and the aristocrat Pavel Petrovich are equally unhappy (“Fathers and Sons”), it is difficult to come to terms with their fate for a young, naive girl, Liza Kalitina, and an experienced, mature man, nobleman Lavretsky, who is ready was to a new life in his homeland ("Noble Nest").
Lonely, with broken hopes and a vain dream of happiness, remains Mr. N.N., the hero of the story "Asya". When you read the story, it seems that the whole meaning of it is contained in the famous Pushkin phrase - “And happiness was so possible, so close ...” Tatyana utters it in “Eugene Onegin”, forever separating her fate from the fate of her chosen one. The hero of Turgenev finds himself in a similar situation. From his unfulfilled dream remains only farewell note Yes, a dried flower of geranium, which he sacredly keeps.
Having read such works by Turgenev as “The Noble Nest”, “On the Eve”, “First Love”, “Spring Waters”, I saw how poetically, how subtly the writer draws the feeling of love. Love that brings a person both joy and sorrow, making him better, purer, sublime. Only one who himself experienced this feeling in all its beauty and strength could write about love in this way. Most often in the stories and novels of Turgenev, love is tragic. Undoubtedly, this was the life drama of the writer.
I must say that I prefer books that touch on the theme of love, and therefore I would like to devote my essay to such works.
One of the first Turgenev novels was the novel "The Nest of Nobles". He was an exceptional success, and, it seems to me, not by chance. “Nowhere did the poetry of a dying noble estate overflow with such a calm and sad light as in The Noble Nest,” Belinsky wrote. Before us is a detailed description of the life of a kind and quiet Russian gentleman Fyodor Ivanovich Lavretsky.

The meeting with the beautiful Varvara Pavlovna abruptly turned his whole fate upside down. He married, but the marriage soon ended in a break through the fault of Varvara Pavlovna. He had a hard time family drama. But now a new love has come, the story of which is the plot core of the novel: Lavretsky met Lisa Kalitina.
Lisa was a deeply religious girl. This shaped her inner world. Her attitude to life and people was determined by resigned obedience to a sense of duty, fear of causing someone suffering, offending.
Misled by false news of the death of Varvara Pavlovna, Lavretsky is about to marry a second time, but then his wife suddenly appears. The sad ending has come. Liza went to a monastery; Lavretsky stopped thinking about his own happiness, calmed down, grew old, withdrew. The last feature that completes his image is his bitter appeal to himself: “Hello, lonely old age! Burn down, useless life!"

Most recently, I read another wonderful story by Turgenev - "Spring Waters". What drew me to this story? Turgenev, within the framework of a story about love, poses broad life questions, raises important problems of our time.

I must say that Turgenev's female types are stronger natures than male ones.

Turgenev found high words, poetic colors to depict the feelings of lovers. The author sings of this wonderful and unique feeling - first love: “First love is the same revolution ... youth stands on the barricade, its bright banner flies high - and no matter what awaits it ahead - death or new life- she sends her enthusiastic greetings to everything.
But Sanin betrays this great feeling. He meets the brilliant beauty Mrs. Polozova, and attraction to her makes him abandon Gemma. Polozova is shown not only as a depraved woman, but also as a serf-owner, as a clever businesswoman. She is a predator both in her business practices and in love. The world of Gemma is the world of freedom, the world of the rich woman Polozova is the world of slavery. But it is not only love that Sanin betrays. He also betrayed those ideals that were sacred to Gemma. To get married, Sanin must raise funds. And he decides to sell his estate to Polozova. This also meant the sale of his serfs. But Sanin used to say that selling living people is immoral.

I would advise my peers to read at least a few stories by this wonderful writer, and I am sure that these works will not leave them indifferent. In any case, acquaintance with these most talented works was a turning point in my life. I suddenly discovered what an enormous spiritual wealth is hidden in our literature, if it contains such talents as Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev.

It is customary to say that art is tested by time. This is true.

But after all, time itself is a thing not only “unusually long”, but also complex. Now we know how much relativity is in this concept and how differently we experience this reality - time. Absorbed in our daily affairs - large and small - we usually do not notice it. And most often this happens under the influence of genuine art.
Russia, as Turgenev knew it, changed in a way that it had not changed, perhaps a whole thousand years before him. In essence, everything that we meet in the foreground of his works is irrevocably a thing of the past. Time has long since destroyed the last remnants of the overwhelming majority of those lordly estates that so often met on the roads of this writer; the very bad memory of the landlords and of the nobility as a whole has in our time very noticeably lost in its social acuteness.

And the Russian village is no longer the same.
But it turns out that the fate of his heroes, so far from our life, excites the most immediate interest in us; it turns out that everything that Turgenev hated is, in the end, hated by us too; what he considered good is most often so from our point of view. The writer has conquered time.

That's why native nature, magnificent landscapes, wonderful types of Russian people, life, customs, folklore, inexplicable charm, spilled like sunlight - there is a lot of this in Turgenev's works, and all this is written easily, freely, as if all this is even uncomplicated, but in fact matter deeply and seriously.

Turgenev Ivan Sergeevich, whose stories, novels and novels are known and loved by many today, was born on October 28, 1818 in the city of Orel, into an old noble family. Ivan was the second son of Varvara Petrovna Turgeneva (nee Lutovinova) and Sergei Nikolaevich Turgenev.

Turgenev's parents

His father was in the service of the Elisavetgrad Cavalry Regiment. After his marriage, he retired with the rank of colonel. Sergei Nikolayevich belonged to an old noble family. His ancestors are believed to have been Tatars. Ivan Sergeevich's mother was not as well-born as her father, but she surpassed him in wealth. The vast lands located in belonged to Varvara Petrovna. Sergei Nikolaevich stood out for his elegance of manners and secular sophistication. He had a subtle soul, he was handsome. Mother's temper was not like that. This woman lost her father early. She had to experience a terrible shock in her adolescence, when her stepfather tried to seduce her. Barbara ran away from home. Ivan's mother, who survived humiliation and oppression, tried to use the power given to her by law and nature over her sons. This woman was strong willed. She arbitrarily loved her children, and was cruel to the serfs, often punishing them with flogging for insignificant infractions.

Case in Bern

In 1822, the Turgenevs went on a trip abroad. In Bern, a Swiss city, Ivan Sergeevich almost died. The fact is that the father put the boy on the railing of the fence, which surrounded a large pit with city bears entertaining the public. Ivan fell off the railing. Sergei Nikolaevich at the last moment grabbed his son by the leg.

An introduction to belles-lettres

The Turgenevs returned from their trip abroad to Spasskoye-Lutovinovo, their mother's estate, located ten miles from Mtsensk (Oryol province). Here Ivan discovered literature for himself: one courtyard man from a serf mother read to the boy in the old manner, singsongly and measuredly, the poem "Rossiada" by Kheraskov. Kheraskov in solemn verses sang the battles for Kazan of the Tatars and Russians during the reign of Ivan Vasilyevich. Many years later, Turgenev in his 1874 story "Punin and Baburin" endowed one of the heroes of the work with love for "Rossiada".

First love

The family of Ivan Sergeevich was in Moscow from the end of the 1820s to the first half of the 1830s. At the age of 15, Turgenev fell in love for the first time in his life. At this time, the family was at Engel's dacha. They were neighbors with their daughter, Princess Catherine, who was 3 years older than Ivan Turgenev. First love seemed to Turgenev captivating, beautiful. He was in awe of the girl, afraid to confess the sweet and languid feeling that had taken possession of him. However, the end of joys and torments, fears and hopes came suddenly: Ivan Sergeevich accidentally found out that Catherine was his father's beloved. Turgenev was haunted by pain for a long time. He will present his love story for a young girl to the hero of the 1860 story "First Love". In this work, Catherine became the prototype of Princess Zinaida Zasekina.

Studying at the universities of Moscow and St. Petersburg, the death of his father

The biography of Ivan Turgenev continues with a period of study. Turgenev in September 1834 entered the Moscow University, the verbal department. However, he was not satisfied with his studies at the university. He liked Pogorelsky, a mathematics teacher, and Dubensky, who taught Russian. Most of the teachers and courses left the student Turgenev completely indifferent. And some teachers even caused obvious antipathy. This is especially true of Pobedonostsev, who tediously and for a long time talked about literature and could not advance in his predilections further than Lomonosov. After 5 years, Turgenev will continue his studies in Germany. About Moscow University he will say: "It is full of fools."

Ivan Sergeevich studied in Moscow for only a year. Already in the summer of 1834 he moved to St. Petersburg. Here on military service was his brother Nicholas. Ivan Turgenev continued to study. His father died in October of the same year from kidney stones, right in Ivan's arms. By this time, he was already living apart from his wife. Ivan Turgenev's father was amorous and quickly lost interest in his wife. Varvara Petrovna did not forgive him for his betrayals and, exaggerating her own misfortunes and illnesses, exposed herself as a victim of his callousness and irresponsibility.

Turgenev left a deep wound in his soul. He began to think about life and death, about the meaning of life. Turgenev at that time was attracted by powerful passions, vivid characters, throwing and struggles of the soul, expressed in an unusual, sublime language. He reveled in the poems of V. G. Benediktov and N. V. Kukolnik, the stories of A. A. Bestuzhev-Marlinsky. Ivan Turgenev wrote in imitation of Byron (the author of "Manfred") his dramatic poem called "The Wall". After more than 30 years, he will say that this is "a completely ridiculous work."

Writing poetry, republican ideas

Turgenev in the winter of 1834-1835. fell seriously ill. He had a weakness in his body, he could not eat or sleep. Having recovered, Ivan Sergeevich changed a lot spiritually and physically. He became very stretched out, and also lost interest in mathematics, which attracted him before, and became more and more interested in belles-lettres. Turgenev began to compose many poems, but still imitative and weak. At the same time, he became interested in republican ideas. existing in the country serfdom he felt as a shame and the greatest injustice. In Turgenev, a sense of guilt in front of all the peasants strengthened, because his mother treated them cruelly. And he took an oath to himself to do everything to ensure that there was no class of "slaves" in Russia.

Acquaintance with Pletnev and Pushkin, publication of the first poems

Student Turgenev in his third year met P. A. Pletnev, professor of Russian literature. This literary critic, poet, friend of A. S. Pushkin, to whom the novel "Eugene Onegin" is dedicated. At the beginning of 1837, at a literary evening with him, Ivan Sergeevich also ran into Pushkin himself.

In 1838, two poems by Turgenev were published in the Sovremennik magazine (the first and fourth issues): "To the Venus of the Medicean" and "Evening". Ivan Sergeevich published poetry after that. The first tests of the pen, which were printed, did not bring him fame.

Continued studies in Germany

In 1837 Turgenev graduated from St. Petersburg University (language department). He was not satisfied with the education he received, feeling gaps in his knowledge. German universities were considered the standard of that time. And in the spring of 1838, Ivan Sergeevich went to this country. He decided to graduate from the University of Berlin, where Hegel's philosophy was taught.

Abroad, Ivan Sergeevich became friends with the thinker and poet N.V. Stankevich, and also became friends with M.A. Bakunin, who later became a famous revolutionary. He had conversations on historical and philosophical topics with T. N. Granovsky, the future famous historian. Ivan Sergeevich became a staunch Westerner. Russia, in his opinion, should take an example from Europe, getting rid of lack of culture, laziness, ignorance.

public service

Turgenev, returning to Russia in 1841, wanted to teach philosophy. However, his plans were not destined to come true: the department he wanted to enter was not restored. Ivan Sergeevich in June 1843 was enlisted in the Ministry of the Interior for service. At that time, the issue of the liberation of the peasants was being studied, so Turgenev reacted to the service with enthusiasm. However, Ivan Sergeevich did not serve long in the ministry: he quickly became disillusioned with the usefulness of his work. He began to be burdened by the need to fulfill all the instructions of his superiors. In April 1845, Ivan Sergeevich retired and was no longer a member of the public service never.

Turgenev becomes famous

Turgenev in the 1840s began to play the role of a secular lion in society: always well-groomed, neat, with the manners of an aristocrat. He wanted success and attention.

In 1843, in April, Turgenev's poem Parasha was published. Its plot is the touching love of the landowner's daughter for a neighbor on the estate. The work is a kind of ironic echo of "Eugene Onegin". However, unlike Pushkin, in Turgenev's poem everything ends happily with the marriage of the heroes. Nevertheless, happiness is deceptive, doubtful - it's just ordinary well-being.

The work was highly appreciated by V. G. Belinsky, the most influential and well-known critic of that time. Turgenev met Druzhinin, Panaev, Nekrasov. Following Parasha, Ivan Sergeevich wrote the following poems: in 1844 - Conversation, in 1845 - Andrey and Landowner. Turgenev Ivan Sergeevich also created stories and novels (in 1844 - "Andrey Kolosov", in 1846 - "Three Portraits" and "Breter", in 1847 - "Petushkov"). In addition, Turgenev wrote the comedy Lack of Money in 1846, and the drama Indiscretion in 1843. He followed the principles of the "natural school" of writers, to which Grigorovich, Nekrasov, Herzen, Goncharov belonged. Writers belonging to this trend depicted "non-poetic" subjects: the daily life of people, everyday life, they paid special attention to the influence of circumstances and the environment on the fate and character of a person.

"Hunter's Notes"

Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev in 1847 published an essay "Khor and Kalinich", created under the impression of hunting trips in 1846 through the fields and forests of the Tula, Kaluga and Oryol provinces. Two heroes in it - Khor and Kalinich - are presented not just as Russian peasants. These are individuals with their own uneasy inner world. On the pages of this work, as well as other essays by Ivan Sergeevich, published in the book "Notes of a Hunter" in 1852, the peasants have their own voice, which differs from the manner of the narrator. The author recreated the customs and life of the landlord and peasant Russia. His book was evaluated as a protest against serfdom. Society accepted it with enthusiasm.

Relationship with Pauline Viardot, mother's death

1843 arrived on tour young Opera singer from France Pauline Viardot. She was greeted enthusiastically. Ivan Turgenev was also delighted with her talent. He was captivated by this woman for the rest of his life. Ivan Sergeevich followed her and her family to France (Viardot was married), accompanied Polina on a tour of Europe. His life was henceforth divided between France and Russia. The love of Ivan Turgenev has passed the test of time - Ivan Sergeevich has been waiting for the first kiss for two years. And only in June 1849 Polina became his lover.

Turgenev's mother was categorically against this connection. She refused to give him the funds received from the income from the estates. Death reconciled them: Turgenev's mother was dying hard, suffocating. She died in 1850 on November 16 in Moscow. Ivan was informed of her illness too late and did not have time to say goodbye to her.

Arrest and exile

In 1852, N. V. Gogol died. I. S. Turgenev wrote an obituary on this occasion. There were no reprehensible thoughts in him. However, it was not customary in the press to recall the duel that led to as well as recall the death of Lermontov. On April 16 of the same year, Ivan Sergeevich was put under arrest for a month. Then he was exiled to Spasskoe-Lutovinovo, not allowed to leave the Oryol province. At the request of the exile, after 1.5 years he was allowed to leave Spassky, but only in 1856 was he granted the right to go abroad.

New works

During the years of exile, Ivan Turgenev wrote new works. His books became more and more popular. In 1852, Ivan Sergeevich created the story "Inn". In the same year, Ivan Turgenev wrote Mumu, one of his most famous works. In the period from the late 1840s to the mid-1850s, he created other stories: in 1850 - "The Diary of a Superfluous Man", in 1853 - "Two Friends", in 1854 - "Correspondence" and "Calm" , in 1856 - "Yakov Pasynkov". Their heroes are naive and lofty idealists who fail in their attempts to benefit society or find happiness in their personal lives. Criticism called them "superfluous people." Thus, the creator of a new type of hero was Ivan Turgenev. His books were interesting for their novelty and topicality.

"Rudin"

The fame acquired by the mid-1850s by Ivan Sergeevich was strengthened by the novel Rudin. The author wrote it in 1855 in seven weeks. Turgenev in his first novel made an attempt to recreate the type of ideologist and thinker, modern man. Main character- "an extra person", which is depicted both in weakness and in attractiveness at the same time. The writer, creating it, endowed his hero with the features of Bakunin.

"Nest of Nobles" and new novels

In 1858, Turgenev's second novel, The Nest of Nobles, appeared. His themes are the history of an old noble family; the love of a nobleman, by the will of circumstances hopeless. The poetry of love, full of grace and subtlety, the careful depiction of the characters' experiences, the spiritualization of nature - these are the distinctive features of Turgenev's style, perhaps most clearly expressed in The Noble Nest. They are also characteristic of some stories, such as "Faust" of 1856, "A Trip to Polissya" (years of creation - 1853-1857), "Asya" and "First Love" (both works were written in 1860). "Noble Nest" was warmly welcomed. He was praised by many critics, in particular Annenkov, Pisarev, Grigoriev. However, Turgenev's next novel met a completely different fate.

"The Eve"

In 1860, Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev published the novel "On the Eve". Summary his next. In the center of the work - Elena Stakhova. This heroine is a brave, determined, devotedly loving girl. She fell in love with the revolutionary Insarov, a Bulgarian who devoted his life to liberating his homeland from the rule of the Turks. The story of their relationship ends, as usual with Ivan Sergeevich, tragically. The revolutionary dies, and Elena, who has become his wife, decides to continue the work of her late husband. This is the plot of the new novel, which was created by Ivan Turgenev. Of course, we have described its summary only in general terms.

This novel caused conflicting assessments. Dobrolyubov, for example, in an instructive tone in his article reprimanded the author where he was wrong. Ivan Sergeevich was furious. Radical democratic publications published texts with scandalous and malicious allusions to the details of Turgenev's personal life. The writer broke off relations with Sovremennik, where he had been published for many years. The younger generation stopped seeing Ivan Sergeevich as an idol.

"Fathers and Sons"

In the period from 1860 to 1861, Ivan Turgenev wrote Fathers and Sons, his new novel. It was published in Russkiy Vestnik in 1862. Most readers and critics did not appreciate it.

"Enough"

In 1862-1864. a story-miniature "Enough" was created (published in 1864). It is imbued with motives of disappointment in the values ​​of life, including art and love, which are so dear to Turgenev. In the face of inexorable and blind death, everything loses its meaning.

"Smoke"

Written in 1865-1867. the novel "Smoke" is also imbued with a gloomy mood. The work was published in 1867. In it, the author tried to recreate a picture of modern Russian society, the ideological moods that dominated it.

"Nov"

Turgenev's last novel appeared in the mid-1870s. In 1877 it was printed. Turgenev in it presented populist revolutionaries who are trying to convey their ideas to the peasants. He assessed their actions as a sacrificial feat. However, this is a feat of the doomed.

The last years of the life of I. S. Turgenev

Turgenev from the mid-1860s almost constantly lived abroad, only visiting his homeland on short visits. He built himself a house in Baden-Baden, near the house of the Viardot family. In 1870, after Franco-Prussian War, Polina and Ivan Sergeevich left the city and settled in France.

In 1882, Turgenev fell ill with spinal cancer. The last months of his life were difficult, and death was also difficult. The life of Ivan Turgenev ended on August 22, 1883. He was buried in St. Petersburg at the Volkovsky cemetery, near the grave of Belinsky.

Ivan Turgenev, whose stories, novels and novels are included in the school curriculum and known to many, is one of the greatest Russian writers of the 19th century.


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