Writer and Turgenev. Each of these stages has its own characteristics

Perhaps everyone educated person knows who Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev is.

His biography proves that the man, despite the difficult life path, can create truly brilliant creations.

His works have become a real pearl of world classical literature.

I.S. Turgenev - Russian writer, poet and publicist

According to some critics, created by Turgenev art system changed the formation of Romanism in the second half of the 19th century. The writer was the first to predict the emergence of the sixties, whom he called nihilists, and ridiculed them in the novel “Fathers and Sons.”

Also thanks to Turgenev, the term “Turgenev girl” was also born.

Biography of Ivan Turgenev

Ivan Turgenev is a descendant of the old noble family of the Turgenevs.

Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev (1818-1883)

The origin of the surname is associated with the nickname Turgen (Turgen) and has Tatar roots.

Father and mother

His father served in the cavalry, loved to drink, party and waste money. He married Ivan’s mother, Varvara, for convenience, so their marriage could hardly be called strong and happy.

Vanya was born just two years after his marriage, and there were three children in the Turgenev family.

Childhood

Little Vanya spent his childhood on the family estate of Spasskoye-Lutovinovo, where the family moved after the birth of their second son. The rich, luxurious estate included a huge house, a garden and even a small pond in which there were many different fish.

Turgenev House in Spassky-Lutovinovo

Future writer Since childhood, I had the opportunity to observe nature, maybe this is what formed his reverent, careful attitude to everything living.

His mother recalled that Vanya grew up as an active, inquisitive child; she was truly proud of him, but did not show it at all. Varvara was a quiet and silent woman, so much so that none of the sons could even briefly remember any bright moments associated with their mother. Now a museum has been opened on the site of the Turgenev family estate.

Education and upbringing

Turgenev's parents were very educated people, therefore children with early years got involved in science. Vanya learned to read books and speak several languages ​​early. Foreigners were invited to the family, who were supposed to teach the children their native languages.

As in all intelligent families, great emphasis was placed on French, in which family members spoke fluently among themselves. The children were severely punished for disobedience and lack of diligence; the mother was subject to frequent mood swings, so sometimes she could flog her for no reason.

Even as an adult, Ivan Sergeevich admitted how much he was afraid of his mother. His father, on the contrary, had minimal influence on him, and soon left the family altogether.

Youth years

As soon as Ivan turned nine, the family moved to the capital, where the boy was immediately assigned to a private boarding school. At fifteen, Turgenev had already become a university student, but he did not study for long, moved to St. Petersburg and graduated from the philosophical and historical department.

Even as a student, the future writer was engaged in translations of foreign poetry and dreamed of one day becoming a poet himself.

The beginning of a creative journey

In 1836, Turgenev's creative career began; his name began to appear in print for the first time; he wrote reviews of the works of his contemporaries.

But Turgenev became a real celebrity only seven years later, having published the work “Parasha”, approved by the critic Belinsky.

They became so close that Turgenev soon began to consider Belinsky his godfather.

In just a few years, a recent graduate has become one of the most famous writers of its time. Soon Ivan Sergeevich began to write not only for adults, but also for children.

Turgenev dedicated a whole list of fairy tales to kids: “Sparrow”, “Pigeons”, “Dog”, written in a simple language understandable for young readers.

Writer's personal life

Turgenev loved only once; his chosen one was the famous singer Polina Viardot.

Far from being a beauty, she was able to charm the writer so that he could not forget her all his life until his death.

It is known that in his youth the writer began a relationship with a seamstress named Avdotya. The romance did not last long, but as a result the couple had a child, recognized by Turgenev only fifteen years later.

After breaking up with Polina, Turgenev tried to fall in love again, but each time he realized that he was still in love only with Viardot and told this to his young ladies. He always had a portrait of her on his wall, and there were many personal items in the house.

Descendants of Turgenev

The only daughter of Ivan Sergeevich was Pelageya, born as a result of Turgenev’s fleeting relationship with the peasant woman Avdotya.

The writer's beloved, Pauline Viardot, expressed a desire to take the girl and make her, a simple peasant woman, into a French lady, to which the writer quickly agreed.

Pelageya was renamed Polynet and moved to live in France. She had two children: Georges and Jeanne, who died without leaving heirs, and this branch of the Turgenev family finally ended.

Last years of life and death

In 1882, after the breakup of another relationship, the writer fell ill, the diagnosis sounded scary: cancer of the bones of the spine. In this way, we can answer the question of why Turgenev died - he was killed by illness.

He died in France, far from his homeland and Russian friends. But the main thing is that his beloved woman, Pauline Viardot, last days stayed close.

The classic died on August 22, 1883; on September 27, his body was delivered to St. Petersburg. Turgenev was buried at the Volkovsky cemetery, his grave has survived to this day.

The most famous works of Ivan Turgenev

Of course, the most famous work Turgenev’s novel “Fathers and Sons” is rightfully considered, which is included in the school curriculum.

Nihilist Bazarov and his difficult relationship with the Kirsanovs are known to everyone. This novel is truly eternal, as is the problem of fathers and sons that arises in the work.

Slightly less famous are the story “Asya,” which, according to some sources, Turgenev wrote about the life of his illegitimate daughter; novel " Noble nest"and others.

In his youth, Vanya fell in love with his friend Ekaterina Shakhovskaya, who captivated the boy with her tenderness and purity. Turgenev's heart was broken when he learned that Katya had many lovers, including Sergei Turgenev, the father of the classic. Later, Katerina's features appeared in main character novel "First Love".

One day, Turgenev's friend, Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, reproached the writer for the fact that his daughter was forced to earn money by sewing clothes due to lack of money. Ivan Sergeevich took this to heart, and the men had a heated fight. There should have been a duel, which, fortunately, did not happen, otherwise the world might not have seen the new work of one of the writers. The friends quickly made peace and soon forgot about the unpleasant incident.

Turgenev's characterization consisted of continuous contradictions. For example, with his great height and strong physique, the writer had enough high voice and could even sing at some feasts.

When he lost inspiration, he stood in a corner and stood there until some important thought came to his mind. He laughed, according to contemporaries, with a most infectious laugh, fell to the floor and stood on all fours, sharply twitching and writhing.

The writer had other oddities at different stages of his life, like many creative people. talented people. The main thing for us is to get acquainted with Turgenev’s work and experience all the depth that the author put into his works.

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

Years of life of Ivan Turgenev:

born October 28, 1818, died August 22, 1883

Epitaph

“The days are passing. And now it's been ten years
It's been a while since death approached you.
But there is no death for your creatures,
The crowd of your visions, O poet,
Illuminated with immortality forever.”
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 during his lifetime Russian literature. 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 placed him on the same level as greatest writers Europe.

Turgenev was the heir to a wealthy noble family (through 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 stark contrast with Russian reality. Since then, Turgenev lived abroad for a long time, returning to St. Petersburg only on short visits.

Ivan Sergeevich tried his hand at poetry, which, however, did not seem good enough to his contemporaries. But Russia learned about Turgenev as an excellent writer and a true master of words after fragments of his “Notes of a Hunter” were published in Sovremennik. During this period, Turgenev decided that it was his duty to fight serfdom, and therefore he 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 for N. Gogol, which caused extreme dissatisfaction with the censorship: the writer was sent to native village, banning him from living in the capitals for two years. It was during this period, in the village, that it was written famous story"Mumu."

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

Ivan Turgenev died in the Paris suburb of Bougival after several years of painful illness. Only after death was the doctor S.P. Botkin discovered the real reason death - myxosarcoma (cancerous tumor of the spine). Before the writer’s funeral, events were held in Paris, attended by more than four hundred people.

Ivan Turgenev, photograph from the 1960s.

Life line

October 28, 1818 Date of birth of Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev.
1833 Admission to the Faculty of Literature at Moscow University.
1834 Moving to St. Petersburg and transferring to the Faculty of Philosophy of St. Petersburg University.
1836 Turgenev's first publication in the Journal of the Ministry of Public Education.
1838 Arrival in Berlin and study at the University of Berlin.
1842 Obtaining a master's degree in Greek and Latin philology at St. Petersburg University.
1843 Publication of the first poem “Parasha”, highly appreciated by Belinsky.
1847 Work in the Sovremennik magazine together with Nekrasov and Annenkov. Publication of the story “Khor and Kalinich”. Departure abroad.
1850 Return to Russia. Exile to his native village of Spasskoye-Lutovinovo.
1852 Release of the book “Notes of a Hunter”.
1856“Rudin” is published in Sovremennik.
1859“The Noble Nest” is published in Sovremennik.
1860“On the Eve” is published in the “Russian Bulletin”. Turgenev becomes a corresponding member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences.
1862“Fathers and Sons” are published in “Russian Bulletin”.
1863 Transfer to Baden-Baden.
1879 Turgenev becomes an honorary doctor of 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 Volkovsky cemetery.

Memorable places

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

Episodes of life

Turgenev had many hobbies in his life, and they were often reflected in his work. Thus, 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 dubious) episode in personal life Turgenev, who never had a family of his own, was his relationship with the actress Pauline Viardot and his life with the Viardots 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” - monthly meetings with Flaubert, Edmond Goncourt, Daudet and Zola in Parisian restaurants or in the writers’ apartments.

Turgenev became one of the highest paid writers in the country, which aroused rejection and envy among many - in particular F. M. Dostoevsky. The latter considered such high fees unfair given Turgenev’s already magnificent fortune, which he received after the death of his mother.

Testaments

"In days of doubt, in days painful thoughts about the destinies of my homeland, you alone are my support and support, oh great, powerful, truthful and free Russian language!.. Without you, how not to fall into despair at the sight of everything that 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, unless you want to, you will never break free: a sense of duty.”

“No matter what a person prays for, he prays for a miracle. Every prayer boils down to the following: “Great God, make sure that two and two do not become four!”

“If you wait for the minute when everything, absolutely everything is ready, you will never have to start.”


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

Condolences

“And yet it hurts... I owe too much Russian society this man, in order to regard his death with simple objectivity.”
Nikolai Mikhailovsky, critic, literary critic and theorist of populism

“Turgenev was also a native Russian person in spirit. Wasn’t he master of the genius of the Russian language with the impeccable perfection available to him, perhaps only to Pushkin?”
Dmitry Merezhkovsky, writer and critic

"If now English novel has some manners and grace, then he owes this primarily to Turgenev.”
John Galsworthy, English novelist and playwright

Turgenev, Ivan Sergeevich, famous writer, born on December 28, 1818 in Orel, into a wealthy landowner family belonging to the ancient noble family. Turgenev's father, Sergei Nikolaevich, married Varvara Petrovna Lutovinova, who had neither youth nor beauty, but inherited enormous property - purely for convenience. Soon after the birth of his second son, the future novelist, S. N. Turgenev, with the rank of colonel, left military service, where he had been until then, and moved with his family to his wife’s estate, Spasskoye-Lutovinovo, near the city of Mtsensk, Oryol province. Here the new landowner quickly unleashed the violent nature of an unbridled and depraved tyrant, who became a threat not only to the serfs, but also to the members of the own family. Turgenev's mother, who even before her marriage experienced a lot of grief in the house of her stepfather, who pursued her with vile proposals, and then in the house of her uncle, to whom she fled, was forced to silently endure the wild antics of her despot-husband and, tormented by the pangs of jealousy, did not dare to reproach him loudly him in unworthy behavior that offended her feelings as a woman and wife. Hidden resentment and years of accumulated irritation embittered and embittered her; this was fully revealed when, after the death of her husband (1834), having become the sovereign mistress of her estates, she gave free rein to her evil instincts of unrestrained landowner tyranny.

Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev. Portrait by Repin

In this suffocating atmosphere, saturated with all the miasma of serfdom, the first years of Turgenev’s childhood passed. According to the prevailing custom in the landowner life of that time, the future famous novelist was brought up under the guidance of tutors and teachers - Swiss, Germans and serf uncles and nannies. The main attention was paid to French and German languages, learned by Turgenev in childhood; the native language was suppressed. According to the author of “Notes of a Hunter” himself, the first person who interested him in Russian literature was his mother’s serf valet, who secretly, but with extraordinary solemnity, read to him somewhere in the garden or in a remote room from Kheraskov’s “Rossiada”.

At the beginning of 1827, the Turgenevs moved to Moscow to raise their children. Turgenev was placed in a private boarding house of Weidenhammer, then was soon transferred from there to the director of the Lazarev Institute, with whom he lived as a boarder. In 1833, being only 15 years old, Turgenev entered Moscow University in the literature department, but a year later, with the family moving to St. Petersburg, he transferred to St. Petersburg University. Having completed the course in 1836 with the title of full student and having passed the examination for a candidate's degree the following year, Turgenev, given the low level of Russian university science of that time, could not help but realize the complete insufficiency of the university education he received and therefore went to complete his studies abroad. To this end, in 1838 he went to Berlin, where for two years he studied ancient languages, history and philosophy, mainly the Hegelian system under the guidance of Professor Werder. In Berlin, Turgenev became close friends with Stankevich, Granovsky, Frolov, Bakunin, who together with him listened to lectures by Berlin professors.

However, not only scientific interests prompted him to go abroad. Possessing by nature a sensitive and receptive soul, which he preserved among the groans of the unrequited “subjects” of the landowners-lords, among the “beatings and tortures” of the serfdom, which instilled in him from the very first days of his adult life invincible horror and deep disgust, Turgenev felt a strong need to at least temporarily flee from their native Palestine. As he himself later wrote in his memoirs, he could either submit and humbly wander along the common path, along the beaten path, or turn away at once, push “everyone and everything” away from him, even at the risk of losing much that was dear and close to my heart. That’s what I did... I threw myself headfirst into the “German sea,” which was supposed to cleanse and revive me, and when I finally emerged from its waves, I still found myself a “Westerner” and remained one forever.”

The beginning of Turgenev's literary activity dates back to the time preceding his first trip abroad. While still a 3rd year student, he submitted for Pletnev’s consideration one of the first fruits of his inexperienced muse, a fantastic drama in verse, “Stenio” - this is a completely absurd, according to the author himself, work, in which, with childish ineptitude, a slavish imitation of Byron’s was expressed. Manfred." Although Pletnev scolded the young author, he still noticed that there was “something” in him. These words prompted Turgenev to take him several more poems, two of which were published a year later in " Contemporary" Upon returning from abroad in 1841, Turgenev went to Moscow with the intention of taking the exam for a master's degree in philosophy; This turned out to be impossible, however, due to the abolition of the philosophy department at Moscow University. In Moscow, he met the luminaries of the Slavophilism that was emerging at that time - Aksakov, Kireevsky, Khomyakov; but the convinced “Westernizer” Turgenev reacted negatively to the new trend of Russian social thought. On the contrary, he became very close friends with the hostile Slavophiles Belinsky, Herzen, Granovsky and others.

In 1842, Turgenev left for St. Petersburg, where, due to a disagreement with his mother, who severely limited his funds, he was forced to follow the “common track” and enter service in the office of the Minister of Internal Affairs Perovsky. “Registered” in this service for a little over two years, Turgenev was not so much engaged in official affairs as in reading French novels and writing poetry. Around the same time, starting in 1841, in " Domestic Notes“His small poems began to appear, and in 1843 the poem “Parasha” was published, signed by T. L., which was very sympathetically received by Belinsky, whom he soon met after that and remained in close friendly relations until the end of his days. The young writer impressed Belinsky very much. strong impression. “This man,” he wrote to his friends, “is unusually smart; conversations and arguments with him took my soul away.” Turgenev later recalled these disputes with love. Belinsky had a significant influence on further direction his literary activity.

Turgenev soon became close to the circle of writers who grouped around Otechestvennye Zapiski and attracted him to participate in this magazine, and took an outstanding place among them as a person with a broad philosophical education, familiar with Western European science and literature from primary sources. After “Parasha,” Turgenev wrote two more poems in verse: “Conversation” (1845) and “Andrey” (1845). First prose work his one-act dramatic essay “Indiscretion” (“Otechestvennye Zapiski”, 1843), followed by the story “Andrei Kolosov” (1844), the humorous poem “The Landowner” and the stories “Three Portraits” and “Breter” (1846). These are the first literary experiments did not satisfy Turgenev, and he was ready to give up literary activity when Panaev, starting with Nekrasov to publish Sovremennik, turned to him with a request to send something for the first book of the updated magazine. Turgenev sent short story“Khor and Kalinich”, which was placed by Panaev in the modest “mixture” department under the title “From the Notes of a Hunter”, which he invented, which created unfading fame for our famous writer.

With this story, which immediately aroused everyone's attention, begins new period Turgenev's literary activity. He completely abandons the writing of poetry and turns exclusively to novels and stories, primarily from the life of the serf peasantry, imbued with a humane feeling and compassion for the enslaved. the masses. “Notes of a Hunter” soon became famous; their rapid success forced the author to abandon his previous decision to part with literature, but could not reconcile him with the difficult conditions of Russian life. An ever-increasing sense of dissatisfaction with them finally led him to the decision to finally settle abroad (1847). “I didn’t see any other way in front of me,” he wrote later, recalling the internal crisis that he was experiencing at that time. “I couldn’t breathe the same air, stay close to what I hated; For this I probably lacked reliable endurance and strength of character. I needed to move away from my enemy in order to attack him more strongly from my distance. In my eyes, this enemy had a certain image, wore famous name: this enemy was - serfdom. Under this name I collected and concentrated everything that I decided to fight against to the end - with which I vowed never to reconcile... This was my Annibal oath... I also went to the West in order to better fulfill it.” This main motive was also supplemented by personal motives - a hostile relationship with his mother, dissatisfied with the fact that her son chose her literary career, and Ivan Sergeevich’s affection for famous singer Viardot-Garcia and her family, with whom he lived almost inseparably for 38 years, a bachelor all his life.

In 1850, the year of his mother’s death, Turgenev returned to Russia to organize his affairs. He released all the courtyard peasants of the family estate that he and his brother had inherited; He transferred those who wished to quit rent and contributed in every possible way to the success of the general liberation. In 1861, during the redemption, he ceded a fifth of the share everywhere, but in the main estate he did not take anything for the estate land, which was quite a large sum. In 1852 Turgenev released separate publication“Notes of a Hunter”, which finally strengthened his fame. But in official spheres, where serfdom was considered an inviolable foundation of public order, the author of “Notes of a Hunter”, moreover, for a long time who lived abroad was in very bad standing. An insignificant reason was enough for the official disgrace against the author to take a concrete form. This reason was Turgenev’s letter, caused by Gogol’s death in 1852 and published in Moskovskie Vedomosti. For this letter, the author was sent to prison for a month, where, by the way, he wrote the story “Mumu”, and then, by administrative order, he was sent to live in his village of Spasskoye, “without the right to leave.” Turgenev was released from this exile only in 1854 through the efforts of the poet Count A.K. Tolstoy, who interceded for him with the heir to the throne. The forced stay in the village, as Turgenev himself admitted, gave him the opportunity to get acquainted with those sides peasant life, which previously escaped his attention. There he wrote the stories “Two Friends”, “Quiet”, the beginning of the comedy “A Month in the Country” and two critical articles. From 1855 he reconnected with his foreign friends, from whom exile had separated him. From that time on, its most famous fruits began to appear. artistic creativity- “Rudin” (1856), “Asya” (1858), “The Noble Nest” (1859), “On the Eve” and “First Love” (1860).

Having retired abroad again, Turgenev listened sensitively to everything that was happening in his homeland. At the first rays of the dawn of revival that was breaking over Russia, Turgenev felt in himself a new surge of energy, which he wanted to give a new use to. To his mission as a sensitive artist of our time, he wanted to add the role of a publicist-citizen, one of the most important moments socio-political development of the homeland. During this period of preparation for reforms (1857 - 1858), Turgenev was in Rome, where many Russians then lived, including Prince. V. A. Cherkassky, V. N. Botkin, gr. Ya. I. Rostovtsev. These individuals organized meetings among themselves at which the issue of liberating the peasants was discussed, and the result of these meetings was a project for the founding of a magazine, the program of which Turgenev was entrusted with developing. In his explanatory note In addition to the program, Turgenev proposed calling on all the living forces of society to assist the government in the liberation reform being undertaken. The author of the note recognized Russian science and literature with such forces. The projected magazine was supposed to be devoted “exclusively and specifically to the development of all issues related to the device itself peasant life and the consequences arising from them." This attempt, however, was considered “premature” and was not put into practice.

In 1862, the novel “Fathers and Sons” appeared, which had an unprecedented literary world success, but also brought many difficult moments to the author. A whole hail of sharp reproaches rained down on him both from the conservatives, who accused him (pointing to the image of Bazarov) of sympathizing with “nihilists”, of “tumbling in front of the youth,” and from the latter, who accused Turgenev of slandering the younger generation and of treason.” cause of freedom." By the way, “Fathers and Sons” led Turgenev to break with Herzen, who insulted him with a harsh review of this novel. All these troubles had such a hard effect on Turgenev that he seriously thought about abandoning further literary activity. The lyrical story “Enough,” written by him shortly after the troubles he experienced, serves literary monument the gloomy mood that the author was in at the time.

Fathers and sons. Feature film based on the novel by I. S. Turgenev. 1958

But the need for creativity in the artist was too great for him to dwell on his decision for a long time. In 1867, the novel “Smoke” appeared, which also brought upon the author accusations of backwardness and lack of understanding of Russian life. Turgenev reacted much more calmly to the new attacks. “Smoke” was his last work to appear on the pages of the Russian Messenger. From 1868, he published exclusively in the then emerging journal “Bulletin of Europe”. At the beginning of the Franco-Prussian War, Turgenev moved from Baden-Baden to Paris with Viardot and lived in the house of his friends in the winter, and in the summer he moved to his dacha in Bougival (near Paris). In Paris he became close friends with the most prominent representatives French literature, was on friendly terms with Flaubert, Daudet, Ogier, Goncourt, and patronized Zola and Maupassant. As before, he continued to write a novel or short story every year, and in 1877 Turgenev’s largest novel, Nov, appeared. Like almost everything that came from the pen of the novelist, his new work - and this time, perhaps with more reason than ever - aroused many different rumors. The attacks were renewed with such ferocity that Turgenev returned to his old idea of ​​stopping his literary activity. And, indeed, for 3 years he did not write anything. But during this time, events occurred that completely reconciled the writer with the public.

In 1879 Turgenev came to Russia. His arrival was the reason for a whole series of warm applause at his address, in which especially live participation accepted by the youth. They testified to how strong the sympathy of the Russian intelligentsia for the novelist was. On his next visit in 1880, this ovation, but on an even more grandiose scale, was repeated in Moscow during the “Pushkin days”. Since 1881, alarming news about Turgenev’s illness began to appear in newspapers. Gout, from which he had been suffering for a long time, grew worse and at times caused him severe suffering; for almost two years, at short intervals, she kept the writer chained to a bed or chair, and on August 22, 1883, she put an end to his life. Two days after his death, Turgenev's body was transported from Bougival to Paris, and on September 19 it was sent to St. Petersburg. The transfer of the ashes of the famous novelist to the Volkovo cemetery was accompanied by a grandiose procession, unprecedented in the annals of Russian literature.

Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev was born on October 28 (November 9), 1818 in the city of Orel. His family, both on his mother’s and father’s sides, belonged to the noble class.

The first education in Turgenev’s biography was received at the Spassky-Lutovinovo estate. The boy was taught literacy by German and French teachers. Since 1827, the family moved to Moscow. Turgenev then studied at private boarding schools in Moscow, and then at Moscow University. Without graduating, Turgenev transferred to the Faculty of Philosophy of St. Petersburg University. He also studied abroad and then traveled around Europe.

The beginning of a literary journey

While studying in his third year at the institute, in 1834 Turgenev wrote his first poem called “Wall”. And in 1838, his first two poems were published: “Evening” and “To the Venus of Medicine.”

In 1841, having returned to Russia, he studied scientific activity, wrote a dissertation and received a master's degree in philology. Then, when the craving for science cooled, Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev served as an official in the Ministry of Internal Affairs until 1844.

In 1843, Turgenev met Belinsky, they struck up a friendly relationship. Under the influence of Belinsky, new poems by Turgenev, poems, and stories were created and published, including: “Parasha”, “Pop”, “Briter” and “Three Portraits”.

Creativity flourishes

To others famous works The writer can be attributed to: the novels “Smoke” (1867) and “Nov” (1877), novels and short stories “Diary extra person"(1849), "Bezhin Meadow" (1851), "Asya" (1858), "Spring Waters" (1872) and many others.

In the fall of 1855, Turgenev met Leo Tolstoy, who soon published the story “Cutting the Forest” with a dedication to I. S. Turgenev.

Recent years

In 1863 he went to Germany, where he met outstanding writers Western Europe, promotes Russian literature. He works as an editor and consultant, himself translating from Russian into German and French and vice versa. He becomes the most popular and read Russian writer in Europe. And in 1879 he received an honorary doctorate from Oxford University.

It was thanks to the efforts of Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev that the best works Pushkin, Gogol, Lermontov, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy.

It is worth briefly noting that in the biography of Ivan Turgenev in the late 1870s - early 1880s, his popularity quickly increased, both at home and abroad. And critics began to rank him among the best writers century.

Since 1882, the writer began to be overcome by illnesses: gout, angina pectoris, neuralgia. As a result of a painful illness (sarcoma), he died on August 22 (September 3), 1883 in Bougival (a suburb of Paris). His body was brought to St. Petersburg and buried at the Volkovsky cemetery.

Chronological table

Other biography options

  • In his youth, Turgenev was frivolous and spent a lot of his parents’ money on entertainment. For this, his mother once taught him a lesson, sending him bricks in a parcel instead of money.
  • The writer’s personal life was not very successful. He had many affairs, but none of them ended in marriage. Most great love in his life there was opera singer Polina Viardot. For 38 years, Turgenev knew her and her husband Louis. He traveled all over the world for their family, lived with them in different countries. Louis Viardot and Ivan Turgenev died in the same year.
  • Turgenev was a clean man and dressed neatly. The writer loved to work in cleanliness and order - without this he never began to create.
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Ivan Turgenev (1818-1883) is a world-famous Russian prose writer, poet, playwright, critic, memoirist and translator of the 19th century, recognized as a classic of world literature. He is the author of many outstanding works, who became literary classics, the reading of which is mandatory for school and university curricula.

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

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

After graduating from St. Petersburg University in 1837, Turgenev left to continue his studies abroad, where he attended lectures and seminars at the University of Berlin, while simultaneously traveling around Europe. Having returned to Moscow and successfully passed his master's exams, Turgenev hopes to become a professor at Moscow University, but due to the abolition of philosophy departments in all Russian universities, this desire is not destined to come true. At that time, Turgenev became more and more interested in literature, several of his poems were published in the newspaper “Otechestvennye zapiski”, the spring of 1843 was the time of the appearance of his first small book, where the poem “Parasha” was published.

In 1843, at the insistence of his mother, he became an official in the “special office” at the Ministry of the Interior and served there for two years, then retired. An imperious and ambitious mother, dissatisfied with the fact that her son did not live up to her hopes both in his career and in on a personal level(he did not find a worthy match for himself, and even had an illegitimate daughter, Pelageya, from a relationship with a seamstress), refuses to support him and Turgenev has to live from hand to mouth and go into debt.

Acquaintance with the famous critic Belinsky turned Turgenev’s work towards realism, and he began to write poetic and ironic-descriptive poems, critical articles and stories.

In 1847, Turgenev brought the story “Khor and Kalinich” to the Sovremennik magazine, which Nekrasov published with the subtitle “From the Notes of a Hunter,” and thus Turgenev’s real literary activity began. In 1847, because of his love for the singer Pauline Viardot (he met her in 1843 in St. Petersburg, where she came on tour), he left Russia for a long time and lived first in Germany, then in France. While living abroad, several were written dramatic plays: “Freeloader”, “Bachelor”, “A Month in the Country”, “Provincial Woman”.

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

After the ban on traveling abroad ended, Turgenev left the country and lived in Europe for two years. In 1858, he returned to his homeland and published his story “Asya”; heated debates and disputes immediately flared up around it among critics. Then the novel “The Noble Nest” (1859) was born, 1860 - “On the Eve”. After this, Turgenev broke up with such radical writers as Nekrasov and Dobrolyubov, a quarrel with Leo Tolstoy and even the latter challenging him to a duel, which ultimately ended in peace. February 1862 - publication of the novel “Fathers and Sons”, in which the author showed the tragedy of the growing conflict of generations in the conditions of a growing social crisis.

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

Together with Victor Hugo, Turgenev was elected co-chairman of the First International Congress of Writers, held in Paris in 1878; in 1879, the writer was elected honorary doctor of the oldest university in England - Oxford. In his declining years, Turgenevsky does not stop studying literary activity, and a few months before his death, “Poems in Prose” were published, prose fragments and miniatures characterized by a high degree of lyricism.

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