.

He understands Russia ...

V.G. Belinsky

Turgenev lived a long life in literature, was familiar with all Russian writers, except for Chekhov, with many European ones.

Childhood of the future writer

By birth, Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev belonged to an old and wealthy noble family. Turgenev's ancestors were mentioned in the chronicles of the time of Ivan the Terrible. By the beginning of the 19th century, the Turgenev family had become impoverished, and the young lieutenant of the cavalry regiment Sergei Nikolaevich Turgenev decided to improve his condition by marrying one of the richest landowners of the Oryol province - Varvara Petrovna Lutovinova. The bride was 6 years older than the groom, did not differ in beauty, but was very intelligent, well educated, possessed a delicate taste and strong character. Perhaps these qualities, along with wealth, influenced the decision of the young officer.

The Turgenevs spent the first years after their marriage in Orel. Here their first-born Nikolai was born, and two years later, on November 9 (October 28), 1818, their second son, Ivan. The childhood of the future writer passed in the estate of his mother - Spassky-Lutovinovo near the town of Mtsensk, Oryol province.

Ivan was Varvara Petrovna's beloved son, but it was hard, jealous, selfish love. The mother demanded from everyone around, especially from her son Ivan, boundless adoration, refusal for the sake of love for her from any other interests. Until the end of her life, two feelings fought in Turgenev's meek and tender heart: love for her mother and the desire to free herself from her tyrannical care. His father, occupied only with himself, did not interfere in anything. Varvara Petrovna hosted the house, unrestrictedly showing her despotic character. The senseless cruelty was strangely combined with the love of beauty. She was very fond of nature: the magnificent Lutovinovsky park had no equal in the district. The estate had a home theater and a rich library.

Education

In an effort to give children the best education, the Turgenevs spared neither money nor their own efforts. Already in early childhood, the future writer spoke and wrote well in French, German, and English. The family paid special attention to the knowledge of the Russian language.

In 1827, the parents moved to Moscow to continue their children's education. At first, Ivan Sergeevich studied in private boarding schools, then, under the guidance of teachers invited to the house, he prepared to enter the university. At the age of fifteen, Turgenev successfully passed the entrance exams at Moscow University, and after completing his first year he moved to St. Petersburg. His first literary experiments date back to this time: the dramatic poem "Steno" and several works in the romantic spirit.

Turgenev devotes a lot of time to the study of philosophy, ancient languages, history, literature - German, French, English, Italian. He is also fond of music, painting, theater. After graduating from St. Petersburg University, Turgenev entered Berlin, traveled around Italy, getting acquainted with the treasures of art, walked Switzerland ... He was an erudite in the highest sense of the word.

After graduating from the University of Berlin, Turgenev returned to his homeland and in the spring of 1842 held master's exams in St. Petersburg, but everything was in vain: the authorities did not allow the restoration of the department of philosophy, which was closed after the Decembrist uprising. Dreams of an academic career were crumbling.

Service

In June 1843, Turgenev joined the Ministry of the Interior. Turgenev's chief in the service was Vladimir Ivanovich Dal, a famous writer and a major expert on the Russian language. However, Turgenev was not attracted to official activity - after a year and a half, Turgenev retired.

First works

In 1843, the first significant work of I.S. Turgenev - the poem "Parasha". Turgenev called it a novel in verse. In the same year, the writer met with the talented singer Pauline Viardot, who became his closest friend for life.

Turgenev's mother, dissatisfied with the fact that her son chose an unworthy nobleman, in her opinion, writing and was carried away by the "damned gypsy", as she called Pauline Viardot, stopped sending him money. However, wanting to keep her son, who was leaving her influence, she achieved the opposite: Turgenev became even more distant from his mother and became a professional writer living off his literary earnings.

Hunter's Notes

During 1847-1851. Turgenev wrote a series of essays that made up the notes of the hunter. Turgenev - the first Russian writer - showed the living souls of ordinary Russian peasants. Each story by Turgenev is a statement that a man is a person worthy of respect.

By order of Nicholas I, the censor, who had skipped a separate edition of the Hunter's Notes, was removed from office. Turgenev was arrested at a police station. While under arrest, he writes the story "Mumu". Portraying an old lady, the writer gives her the features of his mother, and the story is based on a real incident from her life. In its anti-serfdom orientation, "Mumu" is a direct continuation of the "Notes of a Hunter".

Turgenev is looking for ways leading to the transformation of the social structure of Russia. The will and intelligence, righteousness and kindness, revealed to him in the Russian peasant, already seem to the writer insufficient for this purpose. Turgenev addresses people from the educated class. The peasantry moves to the periphery of his creativity.

Homework

Preparation of messages on the "Notes of a Hunter" (2-3 stories), the novels "Rudin", "Noble Nest", "On the Eve", "Smoke" (optional).

Literature

Vladimir Korovin. Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev. // Encyclopedias for children "Avanta +". Volume 9. Russian literature. Part one. M., 1999

N.I. Yakushin. I.S. Turgenev in life and work. M .: Russian word, 1998

L.M. Lotman. I.S. Turgenev. History of Russian Literature. Volume three. Leningrad: Nauka, 1982.S. 120 - 160

Biography and episodes of life Ivan Turgenev. When born and died Ivan Turgenev, memorable places and dates of important events in his life. Writer quotes, images and videos.

Years of life of Ivan Turgenev:

born October 28, 1818, died August 22, 1883

Epitaph

“Days are passing. And now for ten years
It has been since death bowed to you.
But there is no death for your creatures,
The crowd of your visions, oh poet,
Immortality forever illuminated. "
Konstantin Balmont, from the poem "In memory of I. S. Turgenev"

Biography

Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev was not only one of the greatest Russian writers who literally became classics of Russian literature during their lifetime. He also became the most famous Russian writer in Europe. Turgenev was respected and revered by such great people as Maupassant, Zola, Galsworthy, he lived abroad for a long time and was a kind of symbol, the quintessence of the best features that distinguished the Russian nobleman. Moreover, Turgenev's literary talent put him on a par with the greatest writers of Europe.

Turgenev was the heir to a wealthy noble family (by his mother) and therefore never needed funds. Young Turgenev studied at St. Petersburg University, then went to complete his education in Berlin. The future writer was impressed by the European way of life and upset by the striking contrast with Russian reality. Since then, Turgenev lived abroad for a long time, returning to St. Petersburg only on short visits.

Ivan Sergeevich tried himself in poetry, which, however, did not seem good enough to his contemporaries. But as an excellent writer and a true master of words, Russia learned about Turgenev after the publication of fragments of his “Notes of a Hunter” in Sovremennik. During this period, Turgenev decided that his duty was to fight serfdom, and therefore went abroad again, since he could not "breathe the same air, stay close to what he hated."

Portrait of I. Turgenev by Repin, 1879

Returning to Russia in 1850, Turgenev wrote an obituary to N. Gogol, which aroused extreme discontent with the censorship: the writer was sent to his native village, forbidden to live in the capitals for two years. It was during this period, in the village, that the famous story "Mumu" was written.

After complications in relations with the authorities, Turgenev moved to Baden-Baden, where he quickly entered the circle of the European intellectual elite. He communicated with the greatest minds of the time: Georges Sand, Charles Dickens, William Thackeray, Victor Hugo, Prosper Mérimée, Anatole France. By the end of his life, Turgenev became an unconditional idol both in his homeland and in Europe, where he continued to live permanently.

Ivan Turgenev died in a suburb of Paris, Bougival, after several years of a painful illness. Only after death, doctor S.P.Botkin discovered the true cause of death - myxosarcoma (cancer of the spine). Before the funeral of the writer in Paris, events were held, which were attended by more than four hundred people.

Ivan Turgenev, photograph of the 1960s

Life line

October 28, 1818 Date of birth of Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev.
1833 g. Admission to the Faculty of Words of Moscow University.
1834 g. Moving to St. Petersburg and transfer to the philosophy department of St. Petersburg University.
1836 g. The first publication of Turgenev in the "Journal of the Ministry of Public Education".
1838 g. Arrival in Berlin and study at the University of Berlin.
1842 g. Obtaining a master's degree in Greek and Latin philology at St. Petersburg University.
1843 g. Publication of the first poem "Parasha" highly appreciated by Belinsky.
1847 g. Work in the Sovremennik magazine together with Nekrasov and Annenkov. Publication of the story "Khor and Kalinich". Departure abroad.
1850 g. Return to Russia. Link to his native village of Spasskoye-Lutovinovo.
1852 g. The publication of the book "Notes of a Hunter".
1856 g. Rudin is published in Sovremennik.
1859 g. The "Sovremennik" publishes "The Noble Nest".
1860 g. The "Russian Bulletin" publishes "On the Eve". Turgenev becomes a corresponding member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences.
1862 g. "Fathers and Sons" are published in the "Russian Bulletin".
1863 g. Moving to Baden-Baden.
1879 g. Turgenev becomes an honorary doctor of the Oxford University.
August 22, 1883 Date of death of Ivan Turgenev.
August 27, 1883 Turgenev's body was transported to St. Petersburg and buried at the Volkovskoye cemetery.

Memorable places

1. House number 11 on the street. Turgenev in Orel, the city where Turgenev was born; now - the writer's museum.
2. Spasskoye-Lutovinovo, where the hereditary estate of Turgenev was located, now - a house-museum.
3. House number 37/7, building 1 on the street. Ostozhenka in Moscow, where Turgenev lived with his mother from 1840 to 1850, visiting Moscow. Today it is the Turgenev House Museum.
4. House number 38 on the emb. the Fontanka River in St. Petersburg (Stepanov's apartment house), where Turgenev lived in 1854-1856.
5. House No. 13 on Bolshaya Konyushennaya Street in St. Petersburg (Weber's apartment building), where Turgenev lived in 1858-1860.
6. House number 6 on Bolshaya Morskaya Street in St. Petersburg (formerly the hotel "France"), where Turgenev lived in 1864-1867.
7. Baden-Baden, where Turgenev lived for a total of about 10 years.
8. House number 16 on the emb. Turgenev in Bougival (Paris), where he lived for many years and died Turgenev; now - the writer's house-museum.
9. Volkovskoe cemetery in St. Petersburg, where Turgenev is buried.

Episodes of life

There were many hobbies in the life of Turgenev, and they were often reflected in his work. So, one of the first ended with the appearance in 1842 of an illegitimate daughter, whom Turgenev officially recognized in 1857.But the most famous (and most doubtful) episode in Turgenev's personal life, who never got his own family, was his relationship with the actress Polina Viardot and his life with the Viardot couple in Europe for many years.

Ivan Turgenev was one of the most passionate hunters in Russia of his time. When meeting Pauline Viardot, he was recommended to the actress as "a glorious hunter and a bad poet."

Living abroad, from 1874 Turgenev participated in the so-called bachelor "dinners of five" - \u200b\u200bmonthly meetings with Flaubert, Edmond Goncourt, Daudet and Zola in Parisian restaurants or in the apartments of writers.

Turgenev became one of the most highly paid writers in the country, which caused rejection and envy among many - in particular, FM Dostoevsky. The latter considered such high fees to be unfair given the already excellent condition of Turgenev, which he got after the death of his mother.

Covenants

“In days of doubt, in days of painful thoughts about the fate of my homeland, you alone are my support and support, oh great, mighty, truthful and free Russian language! .. Do not be you - how not to fall into despair at the sight of everything that is happening at home ... But one cannot believe that such a language was not given to a great people! "

“Our life does not depend on us; but we all have one anchor from which, if you don’t want to yourself, you’ll never lose it: a sense of duty. ”

“Whatever a person prays for, he prays for a miracle. Any prayer boils down to the following: "Great God, make sure that two times two are not four!"

"If you wait for a minute when everything, absolutely everything will be ready, you will never have to start."

Documentary and publicistic film “Turgenev and Viardot. More than love"

Condolences

"And yet it hurts ... Russian society owes too much to this person to treat his death with simple objectivity."
Nikolai Mikhailovsky, critic, literary critic and theorist of populism

“Turgenev was also a native Russian man in spirit. Didn't he know the genius of the Russian language with impeccable perfection, accessible only to him, perhaps, to Pushkin alone? "
Dmitry Merezhkovsky, writer and critic

"If now the English novel has some kind of manners and grace, then this is primarily due to Turgenev."
John Galsworthy, English novelist and playwright

Turgenev Ivan Sergeevich
Aliases:	Въ; -; I.S.T .; I.T .; L .; Nedobobov, Jeremiah; T .; T ...; T. L .; T …… in; ***
Date of Birth:
Place of Birth:	Oryol city, Russian Empire
Date of death:
Place of death:	Bougival, Third French Republic
Citizenship:	the Russian Empire
Occupation:	Prose writer, poet, playwright, translator
Years of creativity:
Direction:
	Story, novella, novel, elegy, drama
Language of works:
	"Evening", 1838

Biography

Origins and early years

After graduation

The flowering of creativity

Dramaturgy

1850s

Last years

Death and burial

Personal life

"Turgenev girls"

Passion for hunting

The meaning and appreciation of creativity

Turgenev on stage

Foreign criticism

Bibliography

Stories and stories

Turgenev in illustrations

Screen adaptations

In St. Petersburg

Toponymy

Public institutions

Monuments

Other objects

Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev (October 28, 1818, Oryol, Russian Empire - August 22, 1883, Bougival, France) - Russian realist writer, poet, publicist, playwright, translator; Corresponding Member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in the category of Russian language and literature (1860), Honorary Doctor of Oxford University (1879). One of the classics of Russian literature, who made the most significant contribution to its development in the second half of the 19th century.

The artistic system created by him influenced the poetics of not only the Russian, but also the Western European novel of the second half of the 19th century. Ivan Turgenev was the first in Russian literature to study the personality of the "new man" - the sixties, his moral qualities and psychological characteristics, thanks to him the term "nihilist" began to be widely used in Russian. He was a propagandist of Russian literature and drama in the West.

The study of the works of I.S.Turgenev is an obligatory part of the general education school curricula in Russia. The most famous works are the cycle of stories "Notes of a Hunter", the story "Mumu", the story "Asya", the novels "Noble Nest", "Fathers and Sons".

Biography

Origins and early years

The family of Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev came from the ancient family of the Tula noblemen Turgenev. In a memorable book, the mother of the future writer wrote: “ 1818 October 28, Monday, son Ivan was born, 12 vershoks, in Orel, in his house, at 12 o'clock in the morning. Baptized on the 4th of November, Feodor Semenovich Uvarov with his sister Fedosya Nikolaevna Teplova».

Ivan's father Sergei Nikolaevich Turgenev (1793-1834) served at that time in the cavalry regiment. The carefree lifestyle of the handsome cavalry guard upset his finances, and in order to improve his position, he entered into a marriage of convenience in 1816 with an elderly, unattractive, but very wealthy Varvara Petrovna Lutovinova (1787-1850). In 1821, my father retired with the rank of colonel of the cuirassier regiment. Ivan was the second son in the family. The mother of the future writer, Varvara Petrovna, came from a wealthy noble family. Her marriage to Sergei Nikolaevich was not happy. The father died in 1834, leaving three sons - Nikolai, Ivan and Sergei, who died early from epilepsy. The mother was a domineering and oppressive woman. She herself lost her father early, suffered from the cruel attitude of her mother (whom her grandson later portrayed as an old woman in the essay "Death"), and from a violent, drinking stepfather, who often beat her. Due to constant beatings and humiliations, she later fled to her uncle, after whose death she became the owner of a magnificent estate and 5000 souls.

Varvara Petrovna was not an easy woman. Serf habits coexisted in her with erudition and education, she combined care of raising children with family despotism. Ivan was also subjected to maternal beatings, despite the fact that he was considered her favorite son. The boy was taught to read and write by frequently changing French and German governors. In the family of Varvara Petrovna, everyone spoke to each other exclusively in French, even prayers in the house were pronounced in French. She traveled a lot and was an enlightened woman, she read a lot, but also mostly in French. But her native language and literature were not alien to her: she herself possessed an excellent figurative Russian speech, and Sergei Nikolaevich demanded from the children that during their father's absences they write him letters in Russian. The Turgenev family kept in touch with V. A. Zhukovsky and M. N. Zagoskin. Varvara Petrovna followed the novelties of literature, was well aware of the work of N. M. Karamzin, V. A. Zhukovsky, A. S. Pushkin, M. Yu. Lermontov and N. V. Gogol, whom she readily quoted in letters to her son.

The love of Russian literature was also instilled in young Turgenev by one of the serf valets (who later became the prototype of Punin in the story "Punin and Baburin"). Until the age of nine, Ivan Turgenev lived in the hereditary mother's estate Spasskoye-Lutovinovo, 10 km from Mtsensk, Oryol province. In 1827, the Turgenevs settled in Moscow in order to educate their children, buying a house on Samoteok. The future writer studied first at Weidengammer's boarding house, then became a boarder with the director of the Lazarev Institute, IF Krause.

Education. The beginning of literary activity

In 1833, at the age of 15, Turgenev entered the language faculty of Moscow University. At the same time, A.I. Herzen and V.G.Belinsky studied here. A year later, after Ivan's elder brother entered the guards artillery, the family moved to St. Petersburg, where Ivan Turgenev moved to the Faculty of Philosophy at St. Petersburg University. At the university, T.N. Granovsky, the future famous scientist-historian of the Westernizing school, became his friend.

At first, Turgenev wanted to become a poet. In 1834, as a third-year student, he wrote the dramatic poem Steno with iambic pentameters. The young author showed these attempts at writing to his teacher, professor of Russian literature A. Pletnev. During one of the lectures, Pletnev rather strictly analyzed this poem, without revealing its authorship, but at the same time he also admitted that there is "something" in the writer. These words prompted the young poet to write a number of poems, two of which Pletnev published in 1838 in the Sovremennik magazine, of which he was the editor. They were published under the caption "... ..v". The debut poems were "Evening" and "To Venus of the Medici".

The first publication of Turgenev appeared in 1836 - in the "Journal of the Ministry of Public Education" he published a detailed review "On the journey to holy places" by A. N. Muravyov. By 1837, he had already written about a hundred small poems and several poems (unfinished "The Old Man's Tale", "Calm at Sea", "Phantasmagoria on a Moonlit Night", "Dream").

After graduation

In 1836, Turgenev graduated from the university with the degree of a full-time student. Dreaming of scientific activity, the next year he passed the final exam and received a candidate's degree. In 1838 he went to Germany, where he settled in Berlin and took up his studies in earnest. At the University of Berlin, he attended lectures on the history of Roman and Greek literature, and at home studied the grammar of ancient Greek and Latin languages. Knowledge of ancient languages \u200b\u200ballowed him to freely read ancient classics. During his studies, he made friends with the Russian writer and thinker N.V. Stankevich, who had a noticeable influence on him. Turgenev attended lectures by the Hegelians, became interested in German idealism with its doctrine of world development, the "absolute spirit" and the high vocation of a philosopher and poet. In general, the whole way of life in Western Europe made a strong impression on Turgenev. The young student came to the conclusion that only the assimilation of the basic principles of universal human culture can lead Russia out of the darkness in which it is immersed. In this sense, he became a staunch "Westerner".

In the 1830-1850s, an extensive circle of literary acquaintances of the writer was formed. Back in 1837, fleeting meetings with A.S. Pushkin took place. At the same time, Turgenev met V. A. Zhukovsky, A. V. Nikitenko, A. V. Koltsov, a little later - with M. Yu. Lermontov. Turgenev had only a few meetings with Lermontov, which did not lead to a close acquaintance, but Lermontov's work had a certain influence on him. He tried to master the rhythm and stanza, style and syntactic features of Lermontov's poetry. So, the poem "The Old Landowner" (1841) in places in its form is close to Lermontov's "Testament", in the "Ballad" (1841) one can feel the influence of the "Song of the merchant Kalashnikov". But the most tangible connection with the work of Lermontov in the poem "Confession" (1845), the accusatory pathos of which brings him closer to Lermontov's poem "Duma".

In May 1839, the old house in Spasskoye burned down, and Turgenev returned to his homeland, but in 1840 he again went abroad, visiting Germany, Italy and Austria. Impressed by his meeting with a girl in Frankfurt am Main, Turgenev later wrote the story "Spring Waters". In 1841 Ivan returned to Lutovinovo.

In early 1842, he applied to Moscow University for admission to the exam for a master's degree in philosophy, but at that time there was no full-time professor of philosophy at the university, and his request was rejected. Not settling in Moscow, Turgenev passed the exam for a master's degree at St. Petersburg University satisfactorily and wrote a thesis for the Faculty of Language. But by this time the craving for scientific activity had cooled down, and more and more began to attract literary creativity. Refusing to defend his dissertation, he served until 1844 with the rank of collegiate secretary at the Ministry of the Interior.

In 1843, Turgenev wrote the poem Parasha. Not really hoping for a positive review, he nevertheless took the copy to V.G.Belinsky. Belinsky highly appreciated "Parasha", two months later he published his review in the "Notes of the Fatherland". From that time, their acquaintance began, which later grew into a strong friendship; Turgenev was even godfather to Belinsky's son, Vladimir. The poem was published in the spring of 1843 as a separate book under the initials “T. L. " (Turgenev-Lutovinov). In the 1840s, in addition to Pletnev and Belinsky, Turgenev met with A. A. Fet.

In November 1843, Turgenev created the poem "Misty Morning", set in different years to music by several composers, including A. F. Gedike and G. L. Catoire. The most famous, however, is the romance version, which was originally published under the signature "Music of Abaza"; its belonging to V.V. Abaza, E.A. Abaza or Yu. F. Abaza has not been finally established. After publication, the poem was perceived as a reflection of Turgenev's love for Pauline Viardot, with whom he met at that time.

In 1844, the poem "Pop" was written, which the writer himself characterized rather as fun, devoid of any "deep and significant ideas." Nevertheless, the poem attracted public interest for its anti-clerical orientation. The poem was curtailed by the Russian censorship, but it was printed in its entirety abroad.

In 1846, the novels "Breter" and "Three Portraits" were published. In Breter, which became Turgenev's second story, the writer tried to present the struggle between Lermontov's influence and the desire to discredit posturing. The plot for his third story, Three Portraits, was drawn from the Lutovinov family chronicle.

The flowering of creativity

Since 1847, Ivan Turgenev took part in the reformed Sovremennik, where he became close to N. A. Nekrasov and P. V. Annenkov. The magazine published his first feuilleton "Modern Notes", began to publish the first chapters of "Notes of a Hunter". In the very first issue of Sovremennik came the story "Khor and Kalinich", which opened countless editions of the famous book. The subtitle "From the Notes of a Hunter" was added by the editor I. I. Panaev to draw the attention of readers to the story. The success of the story was enormous, and it led

Turgenev thought to write a number of others of the same kind. According to Turgenev, "Notes of a Hunter" was the fulfillment of his Annibal's oath to fight to the end with the enemy whom he had hated since childhood. "This enemy had a certain image, bore a well-known name: this enemy was serfdom." To carry out his intention, Turgenev decided to leave Russia. "I could not," wrote Turgenev, "breathe the same air, stay close to what I hated. I needed to move away from my enemy so that I could attack him more strongly from mine."

In 1847, Turgenev with Belinsky went abroad and in 1848 he lived in Paris, where he witnessed revolutionary events. As an eyewitness to the killing of hostages, attacks, barricades of the February French Revolution, he forever endured a deep disgust for revolutions in general. A little later, he became close to A.I. Herzen, fell in love with Ogarev's wife N.A.Tuchkov.

Dramaturgy

The late 1840s - early 1850s were the time of Turgenev's most intensive work in the field of drama and the time for reflection on issues of history and theory of drama. In 1848 he wrote such plays as "Where it is thin, there it breaks" and "Freeloader", in 1849 - "Breakfast at the leader" and "Bachelor", in 1850 - "A month in the country", in 1851- m - "Provincial". Of these, "Freeloader", "The Bachelor", "Provincial" and "A Month in the Country" enjoyed success thanks to excellent performances on stage. Especially he was dear to the success of "The Bachelor", which became possible largely thanks to the performing skills of A. Ye. Martynov, who played in four of his plays. Turgenev formulated his views on the position of the Russian theater and the tasks of drama as early as 1846. He believed that the crisis of theatrical repertoire that was observed at that time could be overcome by the efforts of writers committed to Gogol's dramaturgy. Turgenev included himself among the followers of Gogol the playwright.

To master the literary techniques of drama, the writer also worked on translations of Byron and Shakespeare. At the same time, he did not try to copy Shakespeare's dramatic techniques, he only interpreted his images, and all the attempts of his contemporaries-playwrights to use Shakespeare's work as a role model, to borrow his theatrical techniques caused only irritation in Turgenev. In 1847 he wrote: “The shadow of Shakespeare hangs over all dramatic writers, they cannot get rid of their memories; these unfortunates read too much and lived too little.

1850s

In 1850, Turgenev returned to Russia, but he never saw his mother, who died that same year. Together with his brother Nikolai, he shared his mother's large fortune and, if possible, tried to alleviate the hardships of the peasants he inherited.

In 1850-1852 he lived sometimes in Russia, then abroad, saw N.V. Gogol. After the death of Gogol, Turgenev wrote an obituary, which the St. Petersburg censorship did not miss. The reason for her dissatisfaction was that, as the chairman of the St. Petersburg Censorship Committee MN Musin-Pushkin put it, "it is criminal to speak so enthusiastically about such a writer." Then Ivan Sergeevich sent the article to Moscow, to VP Botkin, who published it in Moskovskiye Vedomosti. The authorities saw a riot in the text, and the author was brought to the driveway, where he spent a month. On May 18, Turgenev was exiled to his native village, and only thanks to the efforts of Count A. K. Tolstoy, two years later, the writer again received the right to live in the capitals.

There is an opinion that the real reason for the exile was not the seditious obituary of Gogol, but the excessive radicalism of Turgenev's views, manifested in sympathy for Belinsky, suspiciously frequent trips abroad, sympathetic stories about serfs, a laudatory review of the emigrant Herzen about Turgenev. The enthusiastic tone of the article about Gogol only overflowed the gendarme's patience, becoming an external reason for punishment, the meaning of which was thought out by the authorities in advance. Turgenev feared that his arrest and exile would interfere with the publication of the first edition of the Hunter's Notes, but his fears were not justified - in August 1852, the book was censored and published.

However, the censor Lvov, who allowed the Hunter's Notes to be published, was dismissed from service by personal order of Nicholas I and deprived of his pension. The Russian censorship also banned the republishing of the Hunter's Notes, explaining this step by the fact that Turgenev, on the one hand, poeticized serfs, and on the other hand, depicted “that these peasants are in oppression, that the landowners behave indecently and it is illegal ... finally, that the peasant is more free to live in freedom. "

During his exile in Spasskoye, Turgenev went hunting, read books, wrote novels, played chess, listened to Beethoven's Coriolanus performed by A. P. Tyutcheva and his sister, who lived in Spasskoye at that time, and from time to time was raided by a police officer ...

In 1852, while still in exile in Spassky-Lutovinovo, he wrote the story "Mumu", which has become a textbook. Most of the "Notes of a Hunter" was created by the writer in Germany. The Hunter's Notes were published in Paris in a separate edition in 1854, although at the beginning of the Crimean War this publication bore the character of anti-Russian propaganda, and Turgenev was forced to publicly protest against Ernest Charrière's substandard French translation. After the death of Nicholas I, four of the writer's most significant works were published one after the other: Rudin (1856), Noble Nest (1859), On the Eve (1860) and Fathers and Sons (1862). The first two were published in Nekrasov's Sovremennik, the other two in the Russian Bulletin by M. N. Katkov.

The staff of Sovremennik I. S. Turgenev, N. A. Nekrasov, I. I. Panaev, M. N. Longinov, V. P. Gaevsky, D. V. Grigorovich sometimes gathered in a circle of "warlocks" organized by A. V Druzhinin. The humorous improvisations of the "warlocks" sometimes went beyond the censorship, so they had to be published abroad. Later, Turgenev took part in the activities of the "Society for Aid to Needy Writers and Scientists" (Literary Fund), founded on the initiative of the same A. V. Druzhinin. Since the end of 1856, the writer collaborated with the magazine "Library for Reading", published under the editorship of A. V. Druzhinin. But his editorship did not bring the expected success to the publication, and Turgenev, hoping in 1856 for imminent magazine success, in 1861 called the Library, which was being edited by AF Pisemsky by that time, a “dead hole”.

In the fall of 1855, Turgenev's circle of friends was joined by Leo Tolstoy. In September of the same year, the Sovremennik published Tolstoy's story "The felling of the forest" with a dedication to I. S. Turgenev.

1860s

Turgenev took an active part in the discussion of the peasant reform that was being prepared, participated in the development of various collective letters, draft addresses addressed to Tsar Alexander II, protests, and so on. From the first months of the publication of Herzen's Bell, Turgenev was his active collaborator. He himself did not write in "Kolokol", but helped in collecting materials and preparing them for publication. An equally important role of Turgenev consisted in mediation between Herzen and those correspondents from Russia who, for various reasons, did not want to be in direct relations with the disgraced London emigrant. In addition, Turgenev sent detailed survey letters to Herzen, information from which, without the author's signature, was also published in Kolokol. At the same time, Turgenev always spoke out against the harsh tone of Herzen's materials and excessive criticism of government decisions: “Please don't scold Alexander Nikolayevich - otherwise he is already severely scolded in St. Petersburg by all the reactionaries, - why should he be bullied from both sides? - so he, perhaps, will lose his spirit. "

In 1860, Sovremennik published an article by N. A. Dobrolyubov, "When will the real day come?", In which the critic spoke very flatteringly about the new novel "On the Eve" and Turgenev's work in general. Nevertheless, Turgenev was not satisfied with the far-reaching conclusions of Dobrolyubov, which he made after reading the novel. Dobrolyubov connected the concept of Turgenev's work with the events of the approaching revolutionary transformation of Russia, with which the liberal Turgenev could not come to terms. Dobrolyubov wrote: “Then the complete, sharply and vividly outlined image of the Russian Insarov will appear in literature. And we will not wait long for him: that feverish painful impatience with which we await his appearance in life guarantees this. He will finally come this day! And, in any case, the eve is not far from the day following it: only some kind of night separates them! ... ”The writer delivered an ultimatum to Nekrasov: either he, Turgenev, or Dobrolyubov. Nekrasov preferred Dobrolyubov. After that, Turgenev left Sovremennik and stopped communicating with Nekrasov, and subsequently Dobrolyubov became one of the prototypes of Bazarov's image in the novel Fathers and Sons.

Turgenev gravitated towards the circle of Western writers who professed the principles of "pure art", who opposed the tendentious creativity of the commoner revolutionaries: P.V. Annenkov, V.P. Botkin, D.V. Grigorovich, A.V. Druzhinin. For a short time Leo Tolstoy also joined this circle. For some time Tolstoy 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 in the Stepanovo estate, a serious quarrel occurred between them, almost ended in a duel and spoiled the relationship between the writers for 17 years. For some time, the writer developed a difficult relationship with Fet himself, as well as with some other contemporaries - F.M.Dostoevsky, I.A.Goncharov.

In 1862, good relations with former friends of Turgenev's youth, A.I.Herzen and M.A. Bakunin, began to get complicated. From July 1, 1862 to February 15, 1863, Herzen's "Bell" published a series of articles "Ends and Beginnings" of eight letters. Without naming the addressee of Turgenev's letters, Herzen defended his understanding of the historical development of Russia, which, in his opinion, should move along the path of peasant socialism. Herzen contrasted peasant Russia with bourgeois Western Europe, whose revolutionary potential he considered already exhausted. Turgenev objected to Herzen in private letters, insisting on the commonality of historical development for different states and peoples.

At the end of 1862, Turgenev was involved in the trial of the 32s in the case of "persons accused of having relations with London propagandists." After the authorities ordered an immediate appearance in the Senate, Turgenev decided to write a letter to the emperor, trying to convince him of the loyalty of his convictions, "completely independent, but conscientious." He asked to send the interrogation points to him in Paris. In the end, he was forced to leave in 1864 to Russia for Senate interrogation, where he managed to divert all suspicions from himself. The Senate found him not guilty. Turgenev's personal appeal to Emperor Alexander II caused a bitter reaction from Herzen in The Bell. Much later, Lenin used this moment in relations between the two writers to illustrate the difference between the liberal vacillations of Turgenev and Herzen: “When the liberal Turgenev wrote a private letter to Alexander II with assurances of his loyal feelings and donated two gold coins for the soldiers wounded during the suppression of the Polish uprising , "The Bell" wrote about "the gray-haired Magdalene (of a masculine family), who wrote to the emperor that she did not know sleep, tormented that the emperor did not know about the repentance that had befallen her." And Turgenev immediately recognized himself. " But Turgenev's vacillations between tsarism and revolutionary democracy manifested themselves in another way.

In 1863, Turgenev settled in Baden-Baden. The writer took an active part in the cultural life of Western Europe, establishing acquaintances with the major 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 were Friedrich Bodenstedt, William Thackeray, Charles Dickens, Henry James, Georges Sand, Victor Hugo, Charles Saint-Beuve, Hippolyte Taine, Prosper Merimet, Ernest Renan, Théophile Gaultier, Edmond Goncourt, Emile Zola, Anatole François , Guy de Maupassant, Alphonse Daudet, Gustave Flaubert. Since 1874, the famous bachelor "dinners of five" - \u200b\u200bFlaubert, Edmond Goncourt, Daudet, Zola and Turgenev were held in the Parisian restaurants of Risch or Pellet. The idea belonged to Flaubert, but Turgenev was assigned the main role. Lunches were held once a month. They raised various topics - about the peculiarities of literature, about the structure of the French language, told stories and just enjoyed delicious food. Dinners were held not only at the Parisian restaurateurs, but also at the writers' homes.

I. S. Turgenev acted as a consultant and editor for foreign translators of Russian writers, wrote prefaces and notes to translations of Russian writers into European languages, as well as to Russian translations of works by famous European writers. He translated 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. Julian the Merciful "for Russian readers and Pushkin's works for French readers. For a time, Turgenev became the most famous and most widely read Russian author in Europe, where critics ranked him among the first writers of the century. In 1878, at the international literary congress in Paris, the writer was elected vice president. On June 18, 1879, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Oxford, despite the fact that before him the university had not given such an honor to any fiction writer.

Despite living abroad, all of Turgenev's thoughts were still associated with Russia. He wrote the novel Smoke (1867), which caused a lot of controversy in Russian society. According to the author, the novel was scolded by everyone: "both red and white, and from above, and from below, and from the side - especially from the side."

In 1868, Turgenev became a permanent contributor to the liberal journal Vestnik Evropy and severed ties with MN Katkov. The gap did not go easily - the writer began to persecute in the "Russian Bulletin" and in the "Moskovskiye vedomosti". The attacks intensified especially in the late 1870s, when, in response to the standing ovation that fell to Turgenev's lot, the Katkovskaya newspaper assured that the writer was "tumbling" in front of progressive youth.

1870th

The fruit of the writer's thoughts in the 1870s was the largest in volume of his novels - "Nov" (1877), which was also criticized. So, for example, M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin regarded this novel as a service to the autocracy.

Turgenev was friends with the Minister of Education A.V. Golovnin, with the Milyutin brothers (Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs and Minister of War), N.I. Turgenev, was closely acquainted with the Minister of Finance M. Kh. Reitern. At the end of the 1870s, Turgenev became closer to the leaders of the revolutionary emigration from Russia; his circle of acquaintances included P.L. Lavrov, Kropotkin, G.A.Lopatin and many others. Among other revolutionaries, he put Herman Lopatin above all, bowing to his intelligence, courage and moral strength.

In April 1878, Leo Tolstoy suggested that Turgenev forget all the misunderstandings between them, to which Turgenev gladly agreed. Friendly relations and correspondence were resumed. Turgenev explained the significance of modern Russian literature, including the work of Tolstoy, to the Western reader. In general, Ivan Turgenev played an important role in the promotion of Russian literature abroad.

However, Dostoevsky, in his novel The Demons, portrayed Turgenev as “the great writer Karmazinov,” a noisy, petty, scribbled and practically incompetent writer who considers himself a genius and sits abroad. Such an attitude towards Turgenev of the eternally needy Dostoevsky was caused, among other things, by the secure position of Turgenev in his noble life and the very high literary fees at that time: “To Turgenev for his 'Noble Nest' (I finally read. I ask for 100 rubles per page) gave 4000 rubles, that is, 400 rubles per page. My friend! I know very well that I write worse than Turgenev, but it's not too bad, and finally, I hope to write not worse at all. Why am I, with my needs, taking only 100 rubles, and Turgenev, who has 2000 souls, 400 each? "

Turgenev, not hiding his dislike for Dostoevsky, in a letter to ME Saltykov-Shchedrin in 1882 (after Dostoevsky's death) also did not spare his opponent, calling him "the Russian Marquis de Sade."

In 1880, the writer took part in Pushkin's celebrations, timed to coincide with the opening of the first monument to the poet in Moscow, organized by the Society of Lovers of Russian Literature.

Last years

The last years of Turgenev's life became for him the pinnacle of fame both in Russia, where the writer again became a universal favorite, and in Europe, where the best critics of that time (I. Teng, E. Renan, G. Brandes, etc.) ranked him among the first writers of the century. His visits to Russia in 1878-1881 were real triumphs. All the more alarming in 1882 was the news of a severe exacerbation of his usual gouty pains. In the spring of 1882, the first signs of the disease were discovered, which soon turned out to be fatal for Turgenev. With a temporary relief of pain, he continued to work and a few months before his death published the first part of "Poems in Prose" - a cycle of lyrical miniatures, which became a kind of his farewell to life, homeland and art. The book was opened with a prose poem "Village", and at the end it was "Russian language" - a lyrical hymn, in which the author put his faith in the great destiny of his country:

The Parisian doctors Charcot and Jaccot diagnosed the writer with angina pectoris; soon it was joined by intercostal neuralgia. The last time Turgenev was in Spassky-Lutovinovo was in the summer of 1881. The sick writer spent the winters in Paris, and in the summer he was transported to Bougival in the Viardot estate.

By January 1883, the pains increased so much that he could not sleep without morphine. He underwent surgery to remove a neuroma in the lower abdomen, but the surgery did not help much, as it did not ease the pain in the thoracic spine. The disease developed, in March and April the writer was so tormented that those around him began to notice momentary clouding of mind, caused in part by taking morphine. The writer was fully aware of his imminent demise and resigned himself to the consequences of the illness, which made it impossible for him to walk or just stand.

Death and burial

The confrontation between " an unimaginably painful illness and an unimaginably strong organism”(PV Annenkov) ended on August 22 (September 3), 1883 in Bougival near Paris. Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev died of myxosarcoma (Muho Sarcoma) (cancerous lesions of the bones of the spine). Doctor S.P.Botkin testified that the true cause of death was found out only after an autopsy, during which physiologists also weighed his brain. As it turned out, among those whose brains were weighed, Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev had the largest brain (2012 grams, which is almost 600 grams more than the average weight).

The death of Turgenev was a great shock for his admirers, expressed in a very impressive funeral. The funeral was preceded by mourning celebrations in Paris, which were attended by over four hundred people. Among them were at least a hundred French: Edmond Abou, Jules Simon, Emile Ogier, Emile Zola, Alphonse Daudet, Juliette Adam, artist Alfred Dieudone, composer Jules Massenet. Ernest Renan addressed those who were seeing off with a heartfelt speech. In accordance with the will of the deceased on September 27, his body was brought to St. Petersburg.

Even from the border station Verzhbolovo, memorial services were served at stops. On the platform of the St. Petersburg Varshavsky railway station, a solemn meeting of the coffin with the body of the writer took place. Senator A. F. Koni recalled the funeral at the Volkovskoye cemetery this way:

Receiving the coffin in St. Petersburg and following it to the Volkovo cemetery presented unusual spectacles in their beauty, stately character and complete, voluntary and unanimous observance of order. An uninterrupted chain of 176 deputations from literature, newspapers and magazines, scientists, educational and educational institutions, from zemstvos, Siberians, Poles and Bulgarians took up a space of several miles, attracting the sympathetic and often touched attention of the huge public that flooded the sidewalks - carried by deputations graceful, magnificent wreaths and banners with meaningful inscriptions. So, there was a wreath "To the author" Mumu "" from the society of patronage of animals ... a wreath with the inscription "Love is stronger than death" from pedagogical courses for women ... - AF Koni, "The Funeral of Turgenev", Collected Works in Eight Volumes. T. 6. M., Legal Literature, 1968. Pp. 385-386.

Not without misunderstandings. The day after the funeral service for Turgenev's body in the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral on Rue Daru in Paris, on September 19, the famous populist-emigrant P. L. Lavrov in the Paris newspaper Justice, edited by the future Socialist Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau, published a letter in which he reported that IS Turgenev, on his own initiative, donated 500 francs to Lavrov annually for three years to assist in the publication of the revolutionary emigre newspaper Vperyod.

Russian liberals were outraged by this news, considering it a provocation. The conservative press in the person of M. N. Katkov, on the contrary, used Lavrov's message for the posthumous persecution of Turgenev in the Russian Bulletin and Moskovskiye Vedomosti in order to prevent the honoring in Russia of the deceased writer, whose body "without any publicity, with special circumspection" should was to arrive in the capital from Paris for burial. Following the ashes of Turgenev greatly worried the Minister of Internal Affairs D.A.Tolstoy, who feared spontaneous rallies. According to the editor of Vestnik Evropy, MM Stasyulevich, who accompanied Turgenev's body, the precautions taken by the officials were as inappropriate as if he accompanied the Nightingale the Robber, and not the body of the great writer.

Personal life

The first romantic hobby of young Turgenev was falling in love with the daughter of Princess Shakhovskoy - Catherine (1815-1836), a young poet. Their parents' estates in the Moscow region were bordered, and they often exchanged visits. He was 15, she was 19. In letters to her son, Varvara Turgeneva called Ekaterina Shakhovskaya a “poet” and a “villain”, because Sergei Nikolaevich himself, Ivan Turgenev's father, could not resist the charms of the young princess, to whom the girl reciprocated, which broke the heart of the future writer ... The episode much later, in 1860, was reflected in the story "First Love", in which the writer endowed the heroine of the story Zinaida Zasekina with some features of Katya Shakhovskaya.

Henri Troyat, "Ivan Turgenev"

Turgenev's story at a dinner at G. Flaubert's

“My whole life is permeated with the feminine principle. No book or anything else can replace a woman for me ... How to explain this? I believe that only love causes such a flourishing of the whole being, which nothing else can give. And what do you think? Listen, when I was young I had a mistress - a miller from the outskirts of St. Petersburg. I met her when I went hunting. She was very pretty - blonde with radiant eyes, which we meet quite often. She didn't want to accept anything from me. And once she said: "You must give me a gift!" - "What do you want?" - "Bring me some soap!" I brought her soap. She took it and disappeared. She returned flushed and said, stretching out her fragrant hands to me: "Kiss my hands the way you kiss them to the ladies in the St. Petersburg drawing rooms!" I threw myself on my knees in front of her ... There is no moment in my life that could compare with this! "

In 1841, during his return to Lutovinovo, Ivan became interested in the seamstress Dunyasha (Avdotya Ermolaevna Ivanova). A romance began between the young, which ended in the girl's pregnancy. Ivan Sergeevich immediately expressed a desire to marry her. However, his mother made a serious scandal about this, after which he went to St. Petersburg. Turgenev's mother, having learned about Avdotya's pregnancy, hastily sent her to Moscow to her parents, where Pelageya was born on April 26, 1842. Dunyasha was given in marriage, the daughter remained in an ambiguous position. Turgenev officially recognized the child only in 1857.

Soon after the episode with Avdotya Ivanova, Turgenev met Tatyana Bakunina (1815-1871), the sister of the future revolutionary-emigrant M. A. Bakunin. Returning to Moscow after his stay in Spasskoye, he stopped at the Bakunin Premukhino estate. The winter of 1841-1842 passed in close communion with the circle of brothers and sisters Bakunins. All of Turgenev's friends, N.V. Stankevich, V.G. Belinsky and V.P. Botkin, were in love with Mikhail Bakunin's sisters, Lyubov, Varvara and Alexandra.

Tatiana was three years older than Ivan. Like all young Bakunins, she was fascinated by German philosophy and perceived her relations with others through the prism of Fichte's idealistic concept. She wrote letters to Turgenev in German, full of lengthy reasoning and introspection, despite the fact that young people lived in the same house, and she also expected Turgenev to analyze the motives of her own actions and reciprocal feelings. “The 'philosophical' novel, - according to GA Byaly, - in the twists and turns of which the entire younger generation of the Preukhin nest took a lively part, lasted for several months." Tatiana was in love for real. Ivan Sergeevich did not remain completely indifferent to the love he awakened. He wrote several poems (the poem "Parasha" was also inspired by communication with Bakunina) and a story dedicated to this sublime ideal, mostly literary and epistolary passion. But he could not answer with a serious feeling.

Among the writer's other fleeting hobbies, there were two more that played a role in his work. In the 1850s, a fleeting romance broke out with a distant cousin, eighteen-year-old Olga Alexandrovna Turgeneva. Falling in love was mutual, and the writer thought about marriage in 1854, the prospect of which at the same time frightened him. Olga later served as the prototype for the image of Tatiana in the novel "Smoke". Turgenev was also indecisive with Maria Nikolaevna Tolstoy. Ivan Sergeevich wrote about Leo Tolstoy's sister, PV Annenkov: “His sister is one of the most attractive creatures that I have ever met. Mila, smart, simple - I would not take my eyes off. In my old age (I turned 36 on the fourth day) - I almost fell in love. " For the sake of Turgenev, twenty-four-year-old MN Tolstaya had already left her husband, she took the writer's attention to herself for genuine love. But Turgenev this time also limited himself to a platonic enthusiasm, and Maria Nikolaevna served as a prototype for Vera from the story "Faust".

In the fall of 1843, Turgenev first saw Pauline Viardot on the stage of the opera house, when the great singer came on tour to St. Petersburg. Turgenev was 25 years old, Viardot - 22 years old. Then, while hunting, he met Pauline's husband - the director of the Italian Theater in Paris, 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, along with the Viardot family, left for Paris against the will of his mother, still unknown to Europe and without money. And this despite the fact that everyone considered him a rich man. But this time his extremely constrained financial situation was explained precisely by his disagreement with his mother, one of the richest women in Russia and the owner of a huge agricultural and industrial empire.

For attachment to " damn gypsy“His mother did not give him money for three years. During these years, his lifestyle reminded little of the stereotype of the life of a “rich Russian” that had developed about him. 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. Without an official marriage, Turgenev lived in the Viardot family " on the edge of someone else's nest", As he himself said. Pauline Viardot raised the illegitimate daughter of Turgenev. In the early 1860s, the Viardot family settled in Baden-Baden, and with them Turgenev ("Villa Tourgueneff"). Thanks to the Viardot family and Ivan Turgenev, their villa has become an interesting musical and artistic center. The war of 1870 forced the Viardot family to leave Germany and move to Paris, where the writer also moved.

The last love of the writer was the actress of the Alexandrinsky Theater Maria Savina. Their meeting took place in 1879, when the young actress was 25 years old, and Turgenev was 61 years old. The actress at that time played the role of Vera in Turgenev's play "A Month in the Country". The role was played so brightly that the writer himself was amazed. After this performance, he went to the actress backstage with a large bouquet of roses and exclaimed: “ Did I really write this Vera ?!". Ivan Turgenev fell in love with her, which he openly admitted. The rarity of their meetings was made up for by regular correspondence, which lasted four years. Despite Turgenev's sincere relationship, for Maria he was rather a good friend. She was going to marry for another, but the marriage never took place. Savina's marriage with Turgenev was also not destined to come true - the writer died in the circle of the Viardot family.

"Turgenev girls"

Turgenev's personal life was not entirely successful. Having lived 38 years in close contact with the Viardot family, the writer felt deeply alone. Under these conditions, Turgenev's image of love was formed, but love is not quite characteristic of his melancholic creative manner. In his works, there is almost no happy ending, and the last chord is often sad. But nevertheless, almost none of Russian writers paid so much attention to the depiction of love, no one idealized a woman to such an extent as Ivan Turgenev.

The characters of the female characters in his works of the 1850s - 1880s, - the images of solid, pure, selfless, morally strong heroines, in total, formed a literary phenomenon “ turgenev girl"- a typical heroine of his works. Such are Liza in the story "Diary of an Extra Man", Natalya Lasunskaya in the novel "Rudin", Asya in the novel of the same name, Vera in the story "Faust", Elizaveta Kalitina in the novel "A Noble Nest", Elena Stakhova in the novel "On the Eve", Marianna Sinetskaya in the novel "Nov" and others.

LN Tolstoy, noting the writer's merits, said that Turgenev painted amazing portraits of women, and that Tolstoy himself later observed Turgenev's women in life.

A family

Turgenev never got his own family. The writer's daughter from seamstress Avdotya Ermolaevna Ivanova, Pelageya Ivanovna Turgeneva, married Brewer (1842-1919), from the age of eight was brought up in the family of Pauline Viardot in France, where Turgenev changed her name from Pelageya to Polinet, which was more pleasant to his literary ear - Polinev ... Ivan Sergeevich came to France only six years later, when his daughter was already fourteen. Polinette almost forgot Russian and spoke exclusively French, which touched her father. At the same time, he was upset that the girl had a difficult relationship with Viardot herself. The girl did not love her father's beloved, and soon this led to the fact that the girl was sent to a private boarding school. When Turgenev next came to France, he took his daughter from the boarding house, and they settled together, and for Paulinette the governess from England, Innis, was invited.

At the age of seventeen, Polynette met a young businessman Gaston Brewer, who made a pleasant impression on Ivan Turgenev, and he agreed to the marriage of his daughter. As a dowry, my father gave a considerable sum for those times - 150 thousand francs. The girl married Brewer, who soon went bankrupt, after which Polynette, with the assistance of her father, hid from her husband in Switzerland. Since Turgenev's heiress was Pauline Viardot, his daughter after his death found herself in a difficult financial situation. She died in 1919 at the age of 76 from cancer. Pauline's children - Georges-Albert and Jeanne had no descendants. Georges-Albert died in 1924. Jeanne Brewer-Turgeneva never got married; she lived, earning a living by private lessons, as she was fluent in five languages. She even tried herself in poetry, wrote poetry in French. She died in 1952 at the age of 80, and with her the ancestral branch of the Turgenevs along the line of Ivan Sergeevich was cut off.

Passion for hunting

I. S. Turgenev was at one time one of the most famous hunters in Russia. The love of hunting was instilled in the future writer by his uncle Nikolai Turgenev, a recognized local connoisseur of horses and hunting dogs, who raised the boy during his summer vacation in Spasskoye. He also taught hunting for the future writer A.I. Kupfershmidt, whom Turgenev considered his first teacher. Thanks to him, Turgenev, already in his youth, could call himself a gun hunter. Even Ivan's mother, who previously looked at hunters as idlers, was imbued with her son's hobby. Over the years, the hobby has grown into a passion. It happened that for whole seasons he did not let go of his rifle, he went thousands of miles across many provinces of the central zone of Russia. Turgenev said that hunting is generally characteristic of the Russian people, and that Russian people have loved hunting from time immemorial.

In 1837, Turgenev met the peasant hunter Afanasy Alifanov, who later became his frequent hunting companion. The writer bought it for a thousand rubles; he settled in the forest, five miles from Spassky. Afanasy was an excellent storyteller, and Turgenev often came to him to sit over a cup of tea and listen to hunting stories. The story "About the Nightingales" (1854) was written down by the writer from the words of Alifanov. It was Athanasius who became the prototype for Yermolai from The Hunter's Notes. He was also known for his talent as a hunter among the writer's friends - A. A. Fet, I. P. Borisov. When Athanasius died in 1872, Turgenev was very sorry for his old hunting companion and asked his manager to provide possible assistance to his daughter Anna.

In 1839, the writer's mother, describing the tragic consequences of the fire that occurred in Spasskoye, does not forget to say: “ your gun is intact, and the dog is crazy". The fire that happened hastened Ivan Turgenev's arrival in Spasskoye. In the summer of 1839, he first went hunting in the Telegin swamps (on the border of the Bolkhov and Oryol districts), visited the Lebedyanskaya fair, which was reflected in the story "Lebedyan" (1847). Varvara Petrovna specially for him acquired five pack of greyhounds, nine bows of hounds and horses with saddles.

In the summer of 1843, Ivan Sergeevich lived at his dacha in Pavlovsk and also hunted a lot. This year he met Pauline Viardot. The writer was introduced to her with the words: “ This is a young Russian landowner. The Glorious Hunter and the Bad Poet". The actress's husband, Louis, was, like Turgenev, a passionate hunter. Ivan Sergeevich more than once invited him to hunt in the vicinity of St. Petersburg. He and his friends went hunting in the Novgorod province and Finland several times. And Pauline Viardot gave Turgenev a beautiful and expensive game bag.

In the late 1840s, the writer lived abroad and worked on "Notes of a Hunter". The writer spent 1852-1853 in Spasskoye under police supervision. But this exile did not oppress him, since the hunt was again awaiting in the village, and quite successful. And the next year, he went on hunting expeditions 150 miles from Spasskoye, where, together with I.F. Yurasov, he hunted on the banks of the Desna. This expedition served as material for Turgenev to work on the story "A Trip to Polesie" (1857).

In August 1854, Turgenev, together with N.A.Nekrasov, went hunting to the estate of the titular adviser I.I.Maslov, Osmino, after which both continued to hunt in Spassky. In the mid-1850s, Turgenev met the Tolstoy family of counts. Leo Tolstoy's elder brother, Nikolai, also turned out to be an avid hunter and, together with Turgenev, made several hunting trips around the environs of Spassky and Nikolsko-Vyazemsky. Sometimes they were accompanied by MN Tolstoy's husband, Valerian Petrovich; some of his character traits were reflected in the image of Priimkov in the story "Faust" (1855). In the summer of 1855, Turgenev did not hunt because of the cholera epidemic, but in subsequent seasons he tried to make up for lost time. Together with N.N. Tolstoy, the writer visited Pirogovo, the estate of S.N.Tolstoy, who preferred to hunt with greyhounds and had beautiful horses and dogs. Turgenev, on the other hand, preferred to hunt with a gun and a cop dog, and mainly for game birds.

Turgenev kept a kennel of seventy hounds and sixty greyhounds. Together with N.N. Tolstoy, A.A.Fet and A.T. Alifanov, he made a number of hunting expeditions to the central Russian provinces. In the years 1860-1870, Turgenev mainly lived abroad. He tried abroad to recreate the rituals and atmosphere of Russian hunting, but all this resulted in only a distant resemblance, even when, together with Louis Viardot, he managed to rent quite decent hunting grounds. In the spring of 1880, having visited Spasskoye, Turgenev specially stopped at Yasnaya Polyana in order to persuade Leo Tolstoy to take part in the Pushkin celebrations. Tolstoy refused the invitation because he considered gala dinners and liberal toasts in the face of the starving Russian peasantry inappropriate. Nevertheless, Turgenev realized his old dream - he hunted with Leo Tolstoy. A whole hunting circle even formed around Turgenev - N. A. Nekrasov, A. A. Fet, A. N. Ostrovsky, N. N. and L. N. Tolstoy, artist P. P. Sokolov (illustrator of "Notes of a Hunter") ... In addition, he had a chance to hunt together with the German writer Karl Müller, as well as with representatives of the reigning houses of Russia and Germany - Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich and Prince of Hesse.

Ivan Turgenev walked with a gun behind his shoulders in the Oryol, Tula, Tambov, Kursk, Kaluga provinces. He was well acquainted with the best hunting grounds in England, France and Germany. He wrote three specialized works dedicated to hunting: "On the Notes of a Gun Hunter in the Orenburg Province, ST Aksakov,"

Character traits and literary life

Turgenev's biographers noted the unique features of his literary life. From his youth, he combined intelligence, education, artistic talent with passivity, a tendency to introspection, indecision. All together, in a bizarre way, it was combined with the habits of the little barchon, who was for a long time dependent on a domineering, despotic mother. Turgenev recalled that at the University of Berlin, while studying Hegel, he could drop out when he needed to train his dog or set it on rats. T.N. Granovsky, who went to his apartment, found a student-philosopher playing card soldiers with a serf (Porfiry Kudryashov). Childishness smoothed over the years, but the inner duality and immaturity of views for a long time made themselves felt: according to A. Ya. Panaeva, young Ivan wanted to be accepted both in literary society and in secular living rooms, while in secular society Turgenev was ashamed to admit about his literary earnings, which indicated his false and frivolous attitude towards literature and the title of a writer at that time.

The faint-heartedness of the writer in his youth is evidenced by an episode of 1838 in Germany, when a fire broke out during a trip on a 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 piteously exclaimed: “ Die so young!”While pushing women and children away from the lifeboats. Fortunately, the coast was not far away. Once on the shore, the young man was ashamed of his cowardice. Rumors of his cowardice penetrated society and became the subject of ridicule. The event played a certain negative role in the author's later life and was described by Turgenev himself in the novella Fire at Sea.

Researchers note another trait of Turgenev's character, which brought him and those around him a lot of trouble - his non-obligation, "all-Russian negligence" or "Oblomovism", as E. A. Solovyov writes. Ivan Sergeevich could invite guests to his place and soon forget about it, going somewhere on his own business; he could promise a story to NA Nekrasov for the next issue of Sovremennik, or even take an advance payment from AA Kraevsky and not give the promised manuscript in time. Ivan Sergeevich himself later warned the younger generation against such annoying little things. The victim of this non-binding was the Polish-Russian revolutionary Arthur Benny, who was accused in Russia of being an agent of Section III. This accusation could only be dispelled by A.I. Herzen, to whom Benny wrote a letter and asked to convey it with an opportunity to I.S.Turgenev in London. Turgenev forgot about the letter, which had not been sent from him for over two months. During this time, rumors of Benny's betrayal reached catastrophic proportions. The letter, which reached Herzen with a great delay, could no longer change anything in Benny's reputation.

The reverse side of these flaws was spiritual softness, breadth of nature, a certain generosity, gentleness, but his kindness had its limits. When, during his last visit to Spasskoye, he saw that his mother, who did not know how to please her beloved son, had lined up all the serfs along the alley in order to welcome the barchuk " loud and happyIvan was angry with his mother, immediately turned around and went back to Petersburg. They did not see each other again until her death, and even lack of money could not shake his decision. Ludwig Peach singled out his modesty among the character traits of Turgenev. Abroad, where his work was still poorly known, Turgenev never boasted to those around him that in Russia he was already considered a famous writer. Having become an independent owner of the maternal inheritance, Turgenev did not show any concern for his crops and crops. Unlike Leo Tolstoy, he had no mastery in himself.

He calls himself “ the most careless of Russian landowners". The writer did not delve into the management of his estate, entrusting it either to his uncle, or to the poet N. S. Tyutchev, or even completely random people. Turgenev was very wealthy, he had at least 20 thousand rubles of income per year from the land, but at the same time he always needed money, spending it very imprudently. The habits of the broad Russian master made themselves felt. Turgenev's literary fees were also very significant. He was one of the highest paid writers in Russia. Each edition of the Hunter's Notes brought him 2,500 rubles of net income. The right to publish his works cost 20-25 thousand rubles.

The meaning and appreciation of creativity

Extra people in the image of Turgenev

Despite the fact that the tradition of depicting "superfluous people" arose before Turgenev (Chatsky A. S. Griboyedova, Evgeny Onegin A. S. Pushkin, Pechorin M. Yu. Lermontova, Beltov A. I. Herzen, Aduev Jr. in "Ordinary history" I.A.Goncharova), Turgenev has priority in defining this type of literary characters. The name "Superfluous person" was fixed after the publication in 1850 of Turgenev's story "The Diary of an Extra Person". "Superfluous people" were distinguished, as a rule, by common features of intellectual superiority over others and at the same time passivity, mental discord, skepticism in relation to the realities of the outside world, discrepancy between word and deed. Turgenev created a whole gallery of similar images: Chulkaturin (Diary of an Extra Man, 1850), Rudin (Rudin, 1856), Lavretsky (Noble Nest, 1859), Nezhdanov (Nov, 1877). Turgenev's stories and stories “Asya”, “Yakov Pasynkov”, “Correspondence” and others are also devoted to the problem of the “superfluous person”.

The protagonist of the "Diary of an Extra Man" is marked by the desire to analyze all his emotions, to record the slightest shades of the state of his own soul. Like Shakespeare's Hamlet, the hero notices the unnaturalness and tension of his thoughts, the lack of will: “ I took myself apart to the last thread, compared myself with others, recalled the slightest glances, smiles, words of people ... Whole days passed in this painful, fruitless work". Introspection corroding the soul gives the hero an unnatural pleasure: “ Only after my expulsion from the Ozhogins' house did I painfully learn how much pleasure a person can draw from contemplating his own misfortune". The inconsistency of the apathetic and reflective characters was further accentuated by the images of the whole and strong Turgenev heroines.

The result of Turgenev's reflections on the heroes of the Rudinsky and Chulkaturinsky types was the article "Hamlet and Don Quixote" (1859). The least "Hamletic" of all Turgenev's "superfluous people" is the hero of the "Noble Nest" Lavretsky. One of its main characters, Aleksey Dmitrievich Nezhdanov, is named "Russian Hamlet" in the novel "Nov".

Simultaneously with Turgenev, the phenomenon of the "superfluous person" continued to be developed by IA Goncharov in the novel Oblomov (1859), NA Nekrasov - Agarin (Sasha, 1856), AF Pisemsky and many others. But, unlike the character of Goncharov, the heroes of Turgenev were subjected to greater typification. According to the Soviet literary critic A. Lavretsky (I. M. Frenkel), “If we had all the sources for the study of the 40s. there was only one “Rudin” or one “Noble nest”, it would still be possible to establish the character of the era in its specific features. According to Oblomov, we are not able to do this. "

Later, the tradition of depicting Turgenev's "superfluous people" was ironically played by A. P. Chekhov. The character of his story "Duel" Laevsky is a reduced and parody version of Turgenev's superfluous person. He says to his friend von Koren: “ I'm a loser, an extra person". Von Koren agrees that Laevsky is “ chip from Rudin". At the same time, he speaks of Laevsky's claim to be a “superfluous person” in a mocking tone: “ Understand this, they say, that he is not to blame for the fact that government packages are not unopened for weeks and that he himself drinks and solders others, but Onegin, Pechorin and Turgenev are to blame for this, who invented a loser and an extra person". Later critics brought Rudin's character closer to that of Turgenev himself.

Turgenev on stage

By the mid-1850s, Turgenev became disillusioned with his vocation as a playwright. Critics declared his plays irrelevant. The author seemed to agree with the critics' opinion and stopped writing for the Russian stage, but in 1868-1869 he wrote four French operetta librettos for Pauline Viardot, intended to be staged in the Baden-Baden theater. L.P. Grossman noted the validity of many criticisms of the plays of Turgenev for the lack of movement in them and the predominance of the spoken element. Nevertheless, he pointed to the paradoxical vitality of Turgenev's performances on stage. Plays by Ivan Sergeevich for over one hundred and sixty years have not left the repertoire of European and Russian theaters. The renowned Russian performers played in them: P.A.Karatygin, V.V.Samoilov, V.V.Samoilova (Samoilova 2nd), A.E. Martynov, V.I. Zhivokini, M.P.Sadovsky, S. V. Shumsky, V. N. Davydov, K. A. Varlamov, M. G. Savina, G. N. Fedotova, V. F. Komissarzhevskaya, K. S. Stanislavsky, V. I. Kachalov, M. N Ermolova and others.

Turgenev the playwright was widely recognized in Europe. His plays were successful on the stages of the Antoine Theater in Paris, the Burgtheater in Vienna, the Munich Chamber Theater, Berlin, Königsberg and other German theaters. Turgenev's drama was in the selected repertoire of prominent Italian tragedians: Ermete Novelli, Tommaso Salvini, Ernesto Rossi, Ermete Zacconi, Austrian, German and French actors Adolphe von Sonnental, Andre Antoine, Charlotte Voltaire and Francis Elmenreich.

Of all his plays, The Month in the Country has been the most successful. The debut of the performance took place in 1872. At the beginning of the 20th century, the play was staged at the Moscow Art Theater by KS Stanislavsky and IM Moskvin. The artist-decorator of the production and the author of the sketches of the costumes of the characters was the world-class artist M.V.Dobuzhinsky. This play has not left the stage of Russian theaters to this day. Even during the life of the author, theaters began to stage his novels and stories with varying degrees of success: "The Noble's Nest", "King Lear of the Steppe", "Spring Waters". This tradition is continued by modern theaters.

XIX century. Turgenev in the assessments of his contemporaries

Contemporaries gave Turgenev's work a very high assessment. The critics V.G.Belinsky, N.A. Dobrolyubov, D.I. Pisarev, A.V.Druzhinin, P.V. Annenkov, Apollon Grigoriev, V.P. Botkin, N.N. Strakhov, V. P. Burenin, K. S. Aksakov, I. S. Aksakov, N. K. Mikhailovsky, K. N. Leontiev, A. S. Suvorin, P. L. Lavrov, S. S. Dudyshkin, P. N. Tkachev, N. I. Solovyov, M. A. Antonovich, M. N. Longinov, M. F. De-Poulet, N. V. Shelgunov, N. G. Chernyshevsky and many others.

Thus, V.G.Belinsky noted the writer's extraordinary skill in depicting Russian nature. According to N.V. Gogol, in Russian literature of that time, Turgenev had the most talent. N.A. Dobrolyubov wrote that as soon as Turgenev touched in his story any issue or a new side of social relations, these problems were raised in the minds of an educated society, appearing before everyone's eyes. ME Saltykov-Shchedrin stated that Turgenev's literary activity was of equal importance for society to the activities of Nekrasov, Belinsky and Dobrolyubov. According to the Russian literary critic of the late 19th and early 20th centuries S.A. Vengerov, the writer managed to write so realistically that it was difficult to grasp the line between literary fiction and real life. His novels were not only read - his characters were imitated in life. In each of his major works there is a character, in whose mouth the subtle and well-aimed wit of the writer himself is put.

Turgenev was well known in contemporary Western Europe. His works were translated into German as early as the 1850s, and in the 1870s and 1880s he became the most beloved and most widely read Russian writer in Germany, and was rated by German critics as one of the most significant contemporary novelists. The first translators of Turgenev were August Wiedert, August Boltz and Paul Fuchs. The German writer F. Bodenstedt, who translated many of Turgenev's works into German, in his introduction to Russian Fragments (1861), argued that Turgenev's works were equal to the works of the best contemporary novelists in England, Germany and France. Chancellor of the German Empire Clovis Hohenlohe (1894-1900), who called Ivan Turgenev the best candidate for the post of Prime Minister of Russia, said about the writer as follows: Today I spoke with the smartest man in Russia».

Turgenev's "Notes of a Hunter" were popular in France. Guy de Maupassant called the writer “ great man"And" brilliant novelist", And Georges Sand wrote to Turgenev:" Teacher! We must all go through your school". His work was well known in English literary circles - in England, "Notes of a Hunter", "Noble Nest", "On the Eve" and "Nov" were translated. The Western reader was captivated by moral purity in the depiction of love, the image of a Russian woman (Elena Stakhova); the figure of the militant democrat Bazarov was striking. The writer managed to show the true Russia to European society, he introduced foreign readers to the Russian peasant, to the Russian commoners and revolutionaries, to the Russian intelligentsia and revealed the image of a Russian woman. Foreign readers, thanks to the work of Turgenev, assimilated the great traditions of the Russian realistic school.

Lev Tolstoy gave the following characterization to the writer in a letter to A. N. Pypin (January 1884): “Turgenev is a wonderful person (not very deep, very weak, but kind, good person), who always says what he thinks and feels. "

Turgenev in the encyclopedic dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron

According to the encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron, "Notes of a Hunter", in addition to the usual reader's success, played a certain historical role. The book made a strong impression even on the heir to the throne, Alexander II, who a few years later carried out a series of reforms to abolish serfdom in Russia. Many representatives of the ruling classes were also impressed by the Notes. The book carried in itself a social protest, denouncing serfdom, but serfdom itself was directly touched upon in the Hunter's Notes with restraint and caution. The content of the book was not fictional, it convinced the readers that people should not be deprived of the most basic human rights. But, besides protest, the stories also had artistic value, carrying a soft and poetic flavor. According to the literary critic S. A. Vengerov, the landscape painting of the Hunter's Notes became one of the best in Russian literature of that time. All the best qualities of Turgenev's talent were vividly expressed in the essays. " Great, mighty, truthful and fluent Russian language", To which the last of his" Poems in Prose "(1878-1882) is dedicated, received its most noble and graceful expression in the" Notes ".

In the novel "Rudin" the author was able to successfully portray the generation of the 1840s. To some extent, Rudin himself is the image of the famous Hegelian agitator M. A. Bakunin, whom Belinsky spoke of as a person “ with blush on the cheeks and no blood in the heart... Rudin appeared in an era when society dreamed of "business." The author's version of the novel was not missed by the censor because of the episode of Rudin's death on the June barricades, therefore it was understood by the critics very one-sidedly. According to the author's idea, Rudin was a richly gifted man with noble intentions, but at the same time he was completely lost in front of reality; he knew how to appeal passionately and captivate others, but he himself was completely devoid of passion and temperament. The hero of the novel has become a household name for those people whose word does not agree with the deed. The writer generally did not particularly spare his beloved heroes, even the best representatives of the Russian nobility of the mid-19th century. He often emphasized passivity and lethargy in their characters, as well as traits of moral helplessness. This showed the realism of the writer, who portrayed life as it is.

But if in "Rudin" Turgenev spoke only against idly chattering people of the generation of the forties, then in "The Noble Nest" his criticism fell against his entire generation; without the slightest bitterness, he gave preference to young forces. In the person of the heroine of this novel, a simple Russian girl Liza, a collective image of many women of that time is shown when the meaning of a woman's whole life was reduced to love, having failed in which, the woman was deprived of any purpose of existence. Turgenev foresaw the emergence of a new type of Russian woman, which he placed at the center of his next novel. Russian society of that time lived on the eve of fundamental social and state changes. And the heroine of Turgenev's novel "On the Eve" Elena became the personification of the indefinite striving for something good and new, characteristic of the first years of the reform era, without a clear idea of \u200b\u200bthis new and good. It is no coincidence that the novel was called “On the Eve” - in it Shubin ends his elegy with the question: “ When will our time come? When will our people be born?"To which his interlocutor expresses hope for the best:" Give time, - answered Uvar Ivanovich, - they will". On the pages of Sovremennik, the novel received an enthusiastic assessment in Dobrolyubov's article "When the Present Day Comes."

In the next novel, Fathers and Sons, one of the most characteristic features of Russian literature of that time, the closest connection between literature and the real currents of public sentiment, was most fully expressed. Turgenev succeeded better than other writers in capturing the moment of unanimity of public consciousness, which buried in the second half of the 1850s the old Nikolayev era with its lifeless reactionary isolation, and the turning point of the era: the subsequent confusion of innovators who singled out moderate representatives of the older generation from their midst with their vague hopes a better future - "fathers", and thirsty for radical changes in the social structure of the young generation - "children". The journal "Russkoe Slovo", represented by DI Pisarev, even recognized the hero of the novel, the radical Bazarov, as its ideal. At the same time, if we look at the image of Bazarov from a historical point of view, as a type reflecting the mood of the sixties of the XIX century, then it is rather not fully disclosed, since socio-political radicalism, which was quite strong at that time, is almost not was affected.

During his stay abroad, in Paris, the writer became close to many emigrants and with foreign youth. He again had a desire to write on the topic of the day - about the revolutionary "going to the people", as a result of which his largest novel "Nov" appeared. But, despite his efforts, Turgenev failed to capture the most characteristic features of the Russian revolutionary movement. His mistake was that he made the center of the novel one of his typical weak-willed people, who may have been characteristic of the generation of the 1840s, but not the 1870s. The novel did not receive high praise from critics. Of the later works of the writer, the greatest attention was paid to the "Song of Triumphant Love" and "Poems in Prose".

XIX-XX century

In the late 19th - early 20th centuries, critics and literary critics S.A. Vengerov, Yu.I. Aikhenvald, D.S.Merezhkovsky, D.S. Merezhkovsky turned to the work of I.S.Turgenev. N. Ovsyaniko-Kulikovsky, A. I. Nezelenov, Yu. N. Govorukha-Otrok, V. V. Rozanov, A. E. Gruzinsky, E. A. Soloviev-Andreevich, L. A. Tikhomirov, V. Ye. Cheshikhin-Vetrinsky, A. F. Koni, A. G. Gornfeld, F. D. Batyushkov, V. V. Stasov, G. V. Plekhanov, K. D. Balmont, P. P. Pertsov, M. O. Gershenzon, P.A.Kropotkin, R.V. Ivanov-Razumnik and others.

According to the literary critic and theatrical critic Yu. I. Eikhenvald, who gave his assessment to the writer at the beginning of the century, Turgenev was not a deep writer, he wrote superficially and in light colors. According to the critic, the writer took life lightly. Knowing all the passions, possibilities and depths of human consciousness, the writer, however, did not have true seriousness: “ The tourist of life, he visits everything, looks everywhere, does not stop for a long time and at the end of his road complains that the path is over, that there is nowhere to go further. Rich, informative, varied, it does not, however, have pathos and genuine seriousness. His softness is his weakness. He showed reality, but first took out its tragic core from it". According to Eichenwald, Turgenev is easy to read, easy to live with, but he does not want to worry himself and does not want his readers to worry. Also, the critic reproached the writer for the monotony in the use of artistic techniques. But at the same time he called Turgenev “ patriot of Russian nature"For his famous landscapes of his native land.

The author of an article about I. S. Turgenev in the six-volume History of Russian Literature of the 19th Century, edited by Professor D. N. Ovsyaniko-Kulikovsky (1911), A. E. Gruzinsky, explains the criticism of Turgenev as follows. In his opinion, in the work of Turgenev, most of all they were looking for answers to the living questions of our time, the formulation of new social tasks. " This element of his novels and stories alone, in fact, was taken into account seriously and carefully by the leading criticism of the 50s and 60s; he was considered, as it were, obligatory in Turgenev's work". Having not received answers to their questions in new works, the critics were unhappy and reprimanded the author “ for failure to fulfill his public duties". As a result, the author was declared to have written out and wasted his talent. Gruzinsky calls this approach to Turgenev's work one-sided and erroneous. Turgenev was not a writer-prophet, a writer-citizen, although he connected all his major works with important and burning themes of his turbulent era, but most of all he was an artist-poet, and his interest in public life was, rather, the character of careful analysis ...

The critic E. A. Solovyov joins this conclusion. He also draws attention to the mission of Turgenev as a translator of Russian literature for European readers. Thanks to him, almost all the best works of Pushkin, Gogol, Lermontov, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy were soon translated into foreign languages. " Let us note that no one was better adapted to this lofty and difficult task than Turgenev. By the very essence of his talent, he was not only Russian, but also a European, world writer", Writes E. A. Solovyov. Dwelling on the method of depicting the love of Turgenev girls, he makes the following observation: “ Turgenev's heroines fall in love immediately and love only once, and this is for life. They are, obviously, from the tribe of poor Azdras, for whom love and death were tantamount to Love and death, love and death are his inseparable artistic associations.". In the character of Turgenev, the critic also finds much of what the writer portrayed in his hero Rudin: “ Undoubted chivalry and not particularly high vanity, idealism and a penchant for melancholy, a huge mind and a broken will».

Dmitry Merezhkovsky, a representative of decadent criticism in Russia, was ambivalent about Turgenev's work. He did not appreciate Turgenev's novels, preferring to them "small prose", especially the so-called "mysterious stories and stories" of the writer. According to Merezhkovsky, Ivan Turgenev is the first impressionist painter, the forerunner of the later Symbolists: “ The value of Turgenev as an artist for the literature of the future in the creation of an impressionistic style, which is an artistic education not related to the work of this writer as a whole».

A.P. Chekhov treated Turgenev in the same way. In 1902, in a letter to Olga Knipper-Chekhova, he wrote: “ I am reading Turgenev. After that, the writer will be left with one eighth or one tenth of what he wrote. Everything else in 25-35 years will be archived". However, the very next year, he told her: “ Never before have I been so attracted to Turgenev as now».

Symbolist poet and critic Maximilian Voloshin wrote that Turgenev, thanks to his artistic sophistication, which he learned from French writers, occupies a special place in Russian literature. But unlike French literature with its fragrant and fresh sensuality, a sense of living and loving flesh, Turgenev bashfully and dreamily idealized a woman. In Voloshin's contemporary literature, he saw a connection between Ivan Bunin's prose and Turgenev's landscape sketches.

Subsequently, the theme of Bunin's superiority over Turgenev in landscape prose will be repeatedly raised by literary critics. Even Leo Tolstoy, according to the memoirs of the pianist A.B. Goldenveiser, said about the description of nature in Bunin's story: "it is raining - and it is written so that Turgenev would not have written like that, and there is nothing to say about me." Both Turgenev and Bunin were united by the fact that both were writers-poets, writers-hunters, writers-nobles and authors of "noble" stories. Nevertheless, the singer of "the sad poetry of ruining noble nests" Bunin, according to the literary critic Fyodor Stepun, "as an artist is much more sensual than Turgenev." “The nature of Bunin, for all the realistic accuracy of his writing, is still completely different from that of our two greatest realists, Tolstoy and Turgenev. Bunin's nature is more fragile, more musical, psychic and, perhaps, even more mystical than the nature of Tolstoy and Turgenev. " The nature in the image of Turgenev is more static than that of Bunin, - believes F. A. Stepun, - despite the fact that Turgenev has more purely external picturesqueness and picturesqueness.

In Soviet Union

Russian language

From "Poems in Prose"

In days of doubt, in days of painful thoughts about the fate of my homeland - you alone are my support and support, oh great, mighty, truthful and free Russian language! If it weren't for you, how not to fall into despair at the sight of everything that is happening at home? But one cannot believe that such a language was not given to a great people!

June 1882

In the Soviet Union, not only critics and literary scholars paid attention to Turgenev's work, but also the leaders and leaders of the Soviet state: V.I. Lenin, M.I. Kalinin, A.V. Lunacharsky. Scientific literary criticism largely depended on the ideological attitudes of "party" literary criticism. Among those who contributed to Turgenev studies, G. N. Pospelov, N. L. Brodsky, B. L. Modzalevsky, V. E. Evgeniev-Maksimov, M. B. Khrapchenko, G. A. Byaly, S. M. Petrov, A. I. Batuto, G.B. Kurlyandskaya, N. I. Prutskov, Yu. V. Mann, Priyma F. Ya., A.B. Muratov, V. I. Kuleshov, V. M. Markovich, V. G. Fridlyand, K. I. Chukovsky, B. V. Tomashevsky, B. M. Eikhenbaum, V. B. Shklovsky, Yu. G. Oksman A. S. Bushmin, M. P. Alekseev and so on.

Turgenev was repeatedly quoted by V. I. Lenin, who especially highly appreciated him “ great and mighty"Language. M. I. Kalinin said that Turgenev's work had not only artistic, but also socio-political significance, which gave artistic brilliance to his works, and that the writer showed in the serf peasant a man who, like all people, deserves to have human rights ... A. V. Lunacharsky in his lecture on the work of Ivan Turgenev, called him one of the founders of Russian literature. According to A. M. Gorky, Turgenev left Russian literature "an excellent legacy."

According to the Big Soviet Encyclopedia, the artistic system created by the writer influenced the poetics of not only the Russian, but also the Western European novel of the second half of the 19th century. It largely served as the basis for the "intellectual" novel by L. N. Tolstoy and F. M. Dostoevsky, in which the fate of the central characters depends on their solution to an important philosophical issue of universal human significance. The literary principles laid down by the writer were developed in the work of many Soviet writers - A. N. Tolstoy, K. G. Paustovsky and others. His plays have become an integral part of the repertoire of Soviet theaters. Many of Turgenev's works were filmed. Soviet literary scholars paid great attention to the creative heritage of Turgenev - many works were published on the life and work of the writer, the study of his role in the Russian and world literary process. Scientific studies of his texts were carried out, commented collected works were published. Turgenev's museums were opened in the city of Orel and the former estate of his mother Spassky-Lutovinov.

According to the academic History of Russian Literature, Turgenev was the first in Russian literature who managed in his work, through pictures of everyday village life and various images of ordinary peasants, to express the idea that the enslaved people constitute the root, the living soul of the nation. And the literary critic Professor V.M. Markovich said that Turgenev was one of the first to try to portray the inconsistency of the national character without embellishment, and he also first showed the same people worthy of admiration, admiration and love.

The Soviet literary critic GN Pospelov wrote that the literary style of Turgenev can be called, despite his emotional and romantic uplift, realistic. Turgenev saw the social weakness of the advanced people from the nobility and was looking for another force capable of leading the Russian liberation movement; he later saw such a force in the Russian democrats of 1860-1870.

Foreign criticism

Among the writers and literary critics-emigrants, V.V.Nabokov, B.K.Zaitsev, D.P. Many foreign writers and critics also left their comments on the work of Turgenev: Friedrich Bodenstedt, Emile Oman, Ernest Renan, Melchior Vogue, Saint-Beuve, Gustave Flaubert, Guy de Maupassant, Edmond Goncourt, Emile Zola, Henry James, John Galsworthy, Georges , Virginia Woolf, Anatole France, James Joyce, William Rolston, Alphonse Daudet, Theodore Storm, Hippolyte Taine, Georg Brandes, Thomas Carlyle and so on.

The English novelist and Nobel Prize winner in literature John Galsworthy considered Turgenev's novels the greatest example of prose art and noted that Turgenev helped " bring the proportions of the novel to perfection". For him, Turgenev was “ the most sophisticated poet who ever wrote a novel”, And the Turgenev tradition was of great importance for Galsworthy.

Virginia Wolfe, another British writer, literary critic and representative of modernist literature of the first half of the 20th century, noted that Turgenev's books not only touch with their poetry, but also seem to belong to today's time, so they have not lost their perfection of form. She wrote that Ivan Turgenev has a rare quality: a sense of symmetry, balance, which give a generalized and harmonious picture of the world. At the same time, she made the reservation that this symmetry triumphs not at all because he is such a great storyteller. On the contrary, Wolfe believed that some of his things were rather poorly told, since they contain loops and digressions, confusing unintelligible information about great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers (as in "The Noble's Nest"). But she pointed out that Turgenev's books are not a sequence of episodes, but a sequence of emotions emanating from the central character, and not objects, but feelings are connected in them, and when you finish reading the book, you experience aesthetic satisfaction. Another well-known representative of modernism, Russian and American writer and literary critic V.V. Nabokov, in his "Lectures on Russian Literature" spoke of Turgenev not as a great writer, but called him " cute". Nabokov noted that Turgenev's landscapes are good, "Turgenev's girls" are charming, and he spoke approvingly about the musicality of Turgenev's prose. And he called the novel "Fathers and Sons" one of the most brilliant works of the 19th century. But he also pointed out the shortcomings of the writer, saying that he “ bogged down in disgusting sugary". According to Nabokov, Turgenev was often too straightforward and did not trust the reader's intuition, trying to dot the i himself. Another modernist, Irish writer James Joyce, singled out from all the work of the Russian writer "Notes of a Hunter", which, in his opinion, " penetrate deeper into life than his novels". Joyce believed that it was from them that Turgenev developed as a great international writer.

According to researcher D. Peterson, the American reader was amazed in Turgenev's work “ narrative style ... far from both Anglo-Saxon moralizing and French frivolity". According to the critic, the model of realism created by Turgenev had a great influence on the formation of realistic principles in the work of American writers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

XXI Century

In Russia, much is devoted to the study and memory of Turgenev's work in the 21st century. Every five years, the Goslitmuseum of I. S. Turgenev in Orel, together with the Oryol State University and the Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, hold large scientific conferences that have international status. Within the framework of the "Turgenev Autumn" project, the museum annually hosts Turgenev readings, in which researchers of the writer's work from Russia and abroad take part. Turgenev's anniversaries are also celebrated in other cities of Russia. In addition, his memory is honored abroad. So, in the Ivan Turgenev Museum in Bougival, which opened on the day of the 100th anniversary of the writer's death on September 3, 1983, the so-called musical salons are held annually, where the music of the composers of the times of Ivan Turgenev and Pauline Viardot sounds.

Bibliography

Novels

• Rudin (1855)
• Noble's Nest (1858)
• The Eve (1860)
• Fathers and Sons (1862)
• Smoke (1867)
• Nov (1877)

Stories and stories

• Andrey Kolosov (1844)
• Three portraits (1845)
• Gide (1846)
• Breter (1847)
• Petushkov (1848)
• The Diary of a Superfluous Person (1849)
• Mumu (1852)
• Inn (1852)
• The Hunter's Notes (collection of stories) (1852)
• Yakov Pasynkov (1855)
• Faust (1855)
• Lull (1856)
• Trip to Polesie (1857)
• Asya (1858)
• First love (1860)
• Ghosts (1864)
• Brigadier (1866)
• Unhappy (1868)
• A Strange Story (1870)
• Steppe King Lear (1870)
• Dog (1870)
• Knock ... knock ... knock! .. (1871)
• Spring Waters (1872)
• Punin and Baburin (1874)
• Watches (1876)
• Sleep (1877)
• Father Alexei's story (1877)
• Song of Triumphant Love (1881)
• Own master's office (1881)

Plays

• Where it is thin, there it breaks (1848)
• Freeloader (1848)
• Breakfast at the Leader's (1849)
• Bachelor (1849)
• A Month in the Country (1850)
• Provincial (1851)

Turgenev in illustrations

In different years, the works of I.S.Turgenev were illustrated by illustrators and graphic artists P.M.Boklevsky, N.D.Dmitriev-Orenburgsky, A.A. Kharlamov, V.V. Pukirev, P.P.Sokolov, V.M Vasnetsov, D. N. Kardovsky, V. A. Taburin, K. I. Rudakov, V. A. Sveshnikov, P. F. Stroyev, N. A. Benois, B. M. Kustodiev, K. V. Lebedev and others. The imposing figure of Turgenev is captured in the sculpture of A.N.Belyaev, M.M. Antokolsky, Zh.A. Polonskaya, S.A.Lavrentieva, in the drawings of D.V. Grigorovich, A. A. Bakunin, K. A. Gorbunov, I. N. Kramskoy, Adolphe Menzel, Polina Viardot, Ludwig Picch, M. M. Antokolsky, K. Shamro, in cartoons by N. A. Stepanov, A. I. Lebedev, V. I. Porfiriev, A. M. Volkov , on the engraving by Yu.S. Baranovsky, on the portraits of E. Lamy, A.P. Nikitin, V.G. Perov, I.E.Repin, Ya.P. Polonsky, V.V. Vereshchagin, V.V. Mate , E. K. Lipgart, A. A. Kharlamov, V. A. Bobrov. The works of many painters "based on Turgenev" are known: Ya. P. Polonsky (plots of Spassky-Lutovinov), S. Yu. Zhukovsky ("Poetry of an old noble nest", "Night"), V. G. Perov, ("Old men parents on the grave of his son "). Ivan Sergeevich drew well himself and was an auto illustrator of his own works.

Screen adaptations

Many films and television films have been shot based on the works of Ivan Turgenev. His works formed the basis of paintings created in different countries of the world. The first film adaptations appeared at the beginning of the 20th century (the era of silent films). The film "Freeloader" was shot twice in Italy (1913 and 1924). In 1915, the films “Noble Nest”, “After Death” (based on the story “Clara Milich”) and “Song of Triumphant Love” (with the participation of V. V. Kholodnaya and V. A. Polonsky) were shot in the Russian Empire. The novel "Spring Waters" was filmed 8 times in different countries. 4 films were shot based on the novel "Noble Nest"; based on stories from the Hunter's Notes - 4 films; on the comedy "A Month in the Country" - 10 TV films; based on the story "Mumu" - 2 feature films and a cartoon; based on the play "Freeloader" - 5 pictures. The novel "Fathers and Sons" served as the basis for 4 films and a television series, the story "First Love" formed the basis for nine feature and television films.

The image of Turgenev in the cinema was used by the director Vladimir Khotinenko. In the 2011 television series Dostoevsky, the role of the writer was played by actor Vladimir Simonov. In the film "Belinsky" by Grigory Kozintsev (1951) the role of Turgenev was played by actor Igor Litovkin, and in the film "Tchaikovsky" directed by Igor Talankin (1969), the writer was played by the actor Bruno Freundlich.

Addresses

In Moscow

Biographers in Moscow have over fifty addresses and memorial sites associated with Turgenev.

• 1824 - the house of state councilor A. V. Kopteva on B. Nikitskaya (not preserved);
• 1827 - city estate, property of Valuev - Sadovaya-Samotyochnaya street, 12/2 (not preserved - rebuilt);
• 1829 - boarding house Krause, Armenian Institute - Armenian lane, 2;
• 1830 - Steingel's House - Gagarinsky Lane, 15/7;
• 1830s - House of General NF Alekseeva - Sivtsev Vrazhek (corner of Kaloshin Lane), house 24/2;
• 1830s - House of M. A. Smirnov (not preserved, now - a building built in 1903) - Upper Kislovka;
• 1830s - House of M. N. Bulgakova - in Maly Uspensky lane;
• 1830s - House on Malaya Bronnaya Street (not preserved);
• 1839-1850 - Ostozhenka, 37 (corner of the 2nd Ushakovsky lane, now Khilkov lane). It is generally accepted that the house, where I.S.Turgenev visited Moscow, belonged to his mother, however, the researcher of Turgenev's life and work N.M. Chernov indicates that the house was rented from the surveyor N.V. Loshakovsky;
• 1850s - house of Nikolai Sergeevich Turgenev's brother - Prechistenka, 26 (not preserved)
• 1860s - House where I. Turgenev repeatedly visited the apartment of his friend, the manager of the Moscow specific office, I. I. Maslov - Prechistensky Boulevard, 10;

In St. Petersburg

Memory

Named after Turgenev:

Toponymy

• Streets and squares of Turgenev in many cities of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia.
• Moscow metro station "Turgenevskaya"

Public institutions

• Oryol State Academic Theater.
• Library-reading room named after I. Turgenev in Moscow.
• School of Russian language and Russian culture named after Turgenev (Turin, Italy).
• Russian public library named after I. Turgenev (Paris, France).

Museums

• I. S. Turgenev Museum (" mumu's house") - (Moscow, Ostozhenka st., 37).
• State Literary Museum named after I. Turgenev (Orel).
• Museum-Reserve "Spasskoye-Lutovinovo" estate of I. Turgenev (Oryol region).
• Street and Museum "Turgenev's Dacha" in Bougival, France.

Monuments

In honor of I.S.Turgenev, monuments were erected in the cities:

• Moscow (in Bobrov Lane).
• St. Petersburg (on Italian street).
• Eagle:
• Monument in Orel;
• Bust of Turgenev at the "Noble Nest".

Other objects

The name of Turgenev is the branded train of Russian Railways Moscow - Simferopol - Moscow (No. 029/030) and Moscow - Orel - Moscow (No. 33/34)

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 harshly criticized, and Turgenev all his life looked for a path in them that would lead Russia to prosperity and prosperity.

"Poet, talent, aristocrat, handsome man"

The family of Ivan Turgenev came from an old family of Tula nobles. His father, Sergei Turgenev, served in the cavalry 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. The mother wrote in her diary: "... on Monday, son Ivan was born, 12 vershoks [approximately 53 centimeters]"... There were three children in the Turgenev family: Nikolai, Ivan and Sergei.

Until the age of nine, Turgenev lived on the Spasskoye-Lutovinovo estate in the Oryol region. His mother had a difficult and contradictory character: her sincere and heartfelt concern for children was combined with severe despotism, Varvara Turgeneva often beat her sons. However, she invited the best French and German tutors to the children, spoke with her sons exclusively in French, 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 get a better education. Three years later, Sergei Turgenev left the family.

When Ivan Turgenev was 15 years old, he entered the verbal faculty of Moscow University. At the same time, the future writer first fell in love with Princess Ekaterina Shakhovskaya. Shakhovskaya exchanged letters with him, but reciprocated Turgenev's father and thereby 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 his first work - the dramatic poem "Wall". Turgenev spoke of her like this: "A completely ridiculous work in which a slavish imitation of Byron's Manfred was expressed with furious ineptitude."... In total, over the years of study, Turgenev wrote about a hundred poems and several poems. Some of his poems were published by the Sovremennik magazine.

After graduation, 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 amazed Turgenev: he came to the conclusion that Russia must get rid of uncivilizedness, laziness, and 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 the University of St. Interest in scientific activity supplanted 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 poet Turgenev has recently returned from Paris. What a man! Poet, talent, aristocrat, handsome man, rich man, clever, educated, 25 years old - I don't know what nature refused him? "

Fyodor Dostoevsky, from a letter to his brother

When Turgenev returned to Spasskoye-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, with a scandal, sent Avdotya to Moscow, where she gave birth to her daughter Pelageya. Avdotya Ivanova's parents hastily married her off, and Turgenev recognized Pelageya only a few years later.

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

"This person is unusually intelligent ... It is gratifying to meet a person whose original and characteristic opinion, colliding with yours, draws out sparks."

Vissarion Belinsky

In the same year, Turgenev met Pauline Viardot. Researchers of Turgenev's work are still arguing about the true nature of their relationship. They met in St. Petersburg when the singer came to the city on tour. Turgenev often traveled with Pauline and her husband, art critic Louis Viardot, across Europe, and visited their Paris home. The Viardot family brought up his illegitimate daughter Pelageya.

Fiction writer and playwright

In the late 1840s, Turgenev wrote a lot for the theater. His plays "Freeloader", "Bachelor", "A Month in the Country" and "Provincial" were very popular with the public and were warmly received by critics.

In 1847, the Sovremennik magazine published Turgenev's story "Khor and Kalinych", inspired by the writer's hunting travels. 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 had hated since childhood - with serfdom.

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

Fedor Tyutchev

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

In 1856, the writer's first major novel, Rudin, was published in print, 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 "Noble Nest", 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, appears in all the works of Turgenev ..."

Dmitry Pisarev

From 1860 to 1861, the Russian Bulletin published excerpts from the novel Fathers and Sons. The novel was written on the "spite of the day" and explored the public sentiment of the time - mainly the views of nihilistic youth. Russian philosopher and publicist Nikolai Strakhov wrote about him: "In Fathers and Children, 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, it did not receive the support of the liberals. At this time, Turgenev's relations with many friends became complicated. For example, with Alexander Herzen: Turgenev collaborated with his newspaper "Kolokol". Herzen saw the future of Russia in peasant socialism, believing that bourgeois Europe had outlived its usefulness, and Turgenev defended the idea of \u200b\u200bstrengthening 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 made fun of both the conservative Russian aristocracy and the revolutionary-minded liberals alike. 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 "Poems in Prose"

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

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

Timofey 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, promoted Russian literature abroad. Turgenev communicated and corresponded with Charles Dickens, Georges Sand, Victor Hugo, Prosper Mérimée, Guy de Maupassant, Gustave Flaubert.

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

"Both novels [Smoke" and "Nov"] only revealed his ever-growing alienation from Russia, the first with its impotent bitterness, the second with insufficient 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 diminish.

The last years of the life of the writer became his triumph both in Russia and abroad. Then a cycle of lyrical miniatures "Poems in Prose" appeared. The book was opened with a prose poem "Village", and it ended with "Russian language" - the famous hymn about faith in the great destiny of your country: “In days of doubt, in days of painful thoughts about the fate of my homeland, you alone are my support and support, oh great, mighty, truthful and free Russian language! .. ... But one cannot 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 - the actress of the Alexandrinsky Theater Maria Savina. She was 25 when she played the role of Vera 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 rather a friend and mentor, and their marriage never took place.

In recent years, Turgenev was seriously ill. Paris doctors diagnosed him with angina pectoris and intercostal neuralgia. Turgenev died on September 3, 1883 in Bougival near Paris, where magnificent farewells took place. 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.

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

Turgenev's parents

His father was in the service in the Elisavetgrad cavalry regiment. After his marriage, he retired with the rank of colonel. Sergei Nikolaevich belonged to an old noble family. His ancestors are believed to have been Tatars. Ivan Sergeevich's mother was not as well-born as his father, but she surpassed him in wealth. The vast lands located in belonged to Varvara Petrovna. Sergei Nikolaevich stood out for his graceful manners and secular sophistication. He had a fine soul and was handsome. Mother's disposition was different. This woman lost her father early. She had a terrible shock in adolescence when her stepfather tried to seduce her. Varvara 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 distinguished by willpower. She despotically loved her children, and was cruel to serfs, often punishing them with flogging for minor offenses.

The 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 that entertained the audience. Ivan fell off the railing. Sergey Nikolaevich at the last moment grabbed his son by the leg.

Acquaintance with fine literature

The Turgenevs returned from a trip abroad to Spasskoye-Lutovinovo, their mother's estate, located ten miles from Mtsensk (Oryol province). Here Ivan discovered literature: a serf mother, a serf, read to the boy in the old manner, chantingly and measuredly, the poem "Rossiada" by Kheraskov. Kheraskov sang in solemn verse the battles of Tatars and Russians for Kazan 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 late 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, he was afraid to confess the sweet and languid feeling that possessed him. However, the end of joys and torments, fears and hopes came suddenly: Ivan Sergeevich accidentally learned that Catherine was his father's beloved. Turgenev was haunted by pain for a long time. He will present his love story to a young girl to the hero of the 1860 story "First Love". In this work, Catherine became the prototype of Princess Zinaida Zasekina.

Study 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 faculty of speech. However, he was not happy 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 aroused obvious antipathy. This is especially true of Pobedonostsev, who tediously and for a long time talked about literature and was unable to advance in his passions further than Lomonosov. After 5 years, Turgenev will continue his studies in Germany. He will say about Moscow University: "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 his brother Nikolai was in military service. Ivan Turgenev continued his studies at His father died in October of the same year from kidney stones, right in Ivan's arms. By this time, he already lived apart from his wife. Ivan Turgenev's father was amorous and quickly lost interest in his wife. Varvara Petrovna did not forgive him for betrayal and, exaggerating her own misfortunes and illnesses, presented herself as a victim of his heartlessness and irresponsibility.

Turgenev left a deep wound in his soul. He began to think about life and death, about the meaning of being. Turgenev at this time was attracted by powerful passions, bright characters, throwing and struggling 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 entitled "Steno". More than 30 years later, he will say that this is "a completely ridiculous work."

Writing poetry, republican ideas

Turgenev in the winter of 1834-1835 seriously ill. He had a weakness in his body, he could not eat or sleep. Having recovered, Ivan Sergeevich has changed spiritually and physically. He became very elongated, and also lost interest in mathematics, which had attracted him before, and became more and more interested in fine arts. Turgenev began to compose many poems, but still imitative and weak. At the same time, he became interested in republican ideas. He perceived serfdom in the country as a shame and the greatest injustice. In Turgenev, the feeling of guilt before all the peasants became stronger, because his mother treated them cruelly. And he vowed to himself to do everything so that there was no class of "slaves" in Russia.

Acquaintance with Pletnev and Pushkin, publication of the first poems

A third-year student Turgenev met P.A.Pletnev, a professor of Russian literature. This is a literary critic, poet, friend of Alexander Pushkin, to whom the novel "Eugene Onegin" is dedicated. At the beginning of 1837, at a literary evening with him, Ivan Sergeevich encountered Pushkin himself.

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

Continuing your studies in Germany

In 1837 Turgenev graduated from St. Petersburg University (language department). He was not satisfied with the received education, 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, which taught Hegel's philosophy.

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

Public service

Turgenev, returning to Russia in 1841, wanted to teach philosophy. However, his plans were not destined to come true: the department to which he wanted to enter was not restored. Ivan Sergeevich in June 1843 was enrolled in the Ministry of Internal Affairs to serve. At that time, the question of the emancipation of the peasants was being studied, therefore Turgenev reacted to the service with enthusiasm. However, Ivan Sergeevich did not serve for long in the ministry: he was quickly disappointed in 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 never again was in the civil service.

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, the poem "Parasha" by IS Turgenev was published. Its plot is the touching love of a landowner's daughter to 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, this happiness is deceptive, doubtful - it is just ordinary well-being.

The work was highly appreciated by V.G.Belinsky, the most influential and famous 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". Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev also created stories and stories (in 1844 - "Andrei Kolosov", in 1846 - "Three portraits" and "Breter", in 1847 - "Petushkov"). In addition, Turgenev wrote the comedy "Lack of Money" in 1846, and the drama "Negligence" in 1843. He followed the principles of the "natural school" of writers, to which Grigorovich, Nekrasov, Herzen, Goncharov belonged. Writers belonging to this direction depicted "non-poetic" objects: the daily life of people, everyday life, they paid particular attention to the influence of circumstances and environment on the fate and character of a person.

"Hunter's Notes"

Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev in 1847 published the essay "Khor and Kalinych", 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 difficult inner world. On the pages of this work, as well as other essays by Ivan Sergeevich, published by 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 assessed as a protest against serfdom. The society accepted it with enthusiasm.

Relationship with Pauline Viardot, mother's death

1843 Pauline Viardot, a young opera singer from France, arrived on tour. She was greeted with enthusiasm. Ivan Turgenev was also delighted with her talent. He was captivated by this woman for his entire life. Ivan Sergeevich followed her and her family to France (Viardot was married), accompanied Pauline 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 his 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. Their death reconciled: Turgenev's mother was dying hard, suffocating. She died in 1850 on November 16 in Moscow. Ivan was notified 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, which led to and also remind of the death of Lermontov. On April 16 of the same year, Ivan Sergeevich was arrested for a month. Then he was exiled to Spasskoye-Lutovinovo, not being allowed to leave the Oryol province. At the request of the exiled, after 1.5 years he was allowed to leave Spassky, but only in 1856 he was given 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 "The 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 - "Diary of an Extra Man", in 1853 - "Two Friends", in 1854 - "Correspondence" and "Lull" , in 1856 - "Yakov Pasynkova". Their heroes are naive and lofty idealists who fail in their attempts to bring benefits to society or find happiness in their personal lives. Critics called them "superfluous people". Thus, Ivan Turgenev was the creator of the new type of hero. His books were interesting for their novelty and relevance of the problem.

"Rudin"

The fame acquired by Ivan Sergeevich by the mid-1850s was strengthened by the novel "Rudin". The author wrote it in 1855 in seven weeks. In his first novel, Turgenev attempted to recreate the type of ideologue and thinker, the modern man. The main character is a "superfluous person" who is depicted in both weakness and attractiveness at the same time. The writer, creating it, endowed his hero with the features of Bakunin.

"Nest of Nobility" and new novels

In 1858, Turgenev's second novel, "A Noble Nest", appeared. His themes are the history of one old noble family; love of a nobleman, by the will of circumstances hopeless. Poetry of love, full of grace and subtlety, careful portrayal of the emotions of the characters, 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" in 1856, "A Trip to Polesie" (years of creation - 1853-1857), "Asya" and "First Love" (both works were written in 1860). The "Noble Nest" was well received. He was praised by many critics, in particular Annenkov, Pisarev, Grigoriev. However, the next novel by Turgenev was in store for a completely different fate.

"On the eve"

In 1860 Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev published his novel "On the Eve". Its summary is as follows. Elena Stakhova is in the center of the work. This heroine is a brave, decisive, devotedly loving girl. She fell in love with the revolutionary Insarov, a Bulgarian, who dedicated his life to freeing his homeland from the rule of the Turks. The history of their relationship ends, as usual with Ivan Sergeevich, tragically. The revolutionary dies, and Elena, who became his wife, decides to continue the work of her late husband. This is the plot of the new novel created by Ivan Turgenev. Of course, we have described its summary only in general terms.

This novel caused contradictory assessments. Dobrolyubov, for example, in an instructive tone in his article told 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 publishing for many years. The younger generation has ceased to see an idol in Ivan Sergeevich.

"Fathers and Sons"

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

"Enough"

In 1862-1864. a miniature story "Enough" was created (published in 1864). She is imbued with motives of disappointment in the values \u200b\u200bof life, including art and love, so dear to Turgenev. In the face of unrelenting 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 sentiments prevailing in it.

"Nov"

Turgenev's last novel appeared in the mid-1870s. In 1877 it was printed. Turgenev in it presented the 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

Since the mid-1860s, Turgenev almost permanently lived abroad, only visiting his homeland. He built himself a house in Baden-Baden, near the house of the Viardot family. In 1870, after the 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 hard, and death was also hard. Ivan Turgenev's life ended on August 22, 1883. He was buried in St. Petersburg at the Volkovskoye cemetery, near the grave of Belinsky.

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