Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev (1818-1883) is considered one of the greatest Russian authors of the 19th century. He was disliked by other Russian authors such as Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, but his books and short stories have left an impact on many readers. One of his short story collections is even credited with helping abolish Serfdom in 1861!
Biography: Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev
Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev was born in Oryol (Oblast), Russia on November 9, 1818. His father, Sergei Nikolaevich Turgenev, belonged to the Russian nobility, but it was his mother, Varvara Petrovna Turgeneva's large inheritance that supported the family. Turgenev had two brothers Nikolai and Sergei. Turgenev was educated by governesses and learned French, German, and English in his childhood, and in 1827 the family moved to Moscow, where Turgenev could get a better education.
Turgenev moved to Moscow with his family in 1827 for a better education, pixabay.
Turgenev went on to study Classics, Russian literature, and philology at the University of St. Petersburg. After he completed his studies, he went to the University of Berlin to study history and the philosophy of Hegel.
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) was a German philosopher who believed all of our perceived reality can fit into a conceptual structure. According to Hegel, everything that exists has a pure concept that must be actualized. This is known as Hegel's idea of absolute idealism, which contains three principles: That everything we see and perceive as actually existing is actually just an appearance of reality within categories, the mind that is aware of itself reflects the world, and that thoughts are simply relations between infinite wholes.
Turgenev was greatly influenced by Germany and wished to spread ideas from the Enlightenment to Russia. He believed that serfdom should be abolished in Russia and Turgenev's writing incorporated social, rather than religious, ideas for the reform movement. Between 1843 and 1845, Turgenev worked for the Ministry of Interior.
Turgenev's writing career began in the 1850s with his collection of short stories titled A Sportsman's Sketches (1852). His collection of short stories came to be associated with the abolition of serfdom in 1861 by influencing public opinion. His next short story Mumu (1854) was a sensation for speaking out against the tyrannical rule. During this time Turgenev also wrote many novellas such as Faust (1856). Turgenev lived in a tumultuous time and for many Russians anxiety was high.
In the 1850s, Tsar Nicholas I was in charge of Russia. He was known for censoring and stifling many writers, particularly those that spoke out against the monarchial rule. The Intelligentsia, a group of Russian intellectuals, felt particularly stifled by the Tsar and many, including Turgenev, left for Western Europe.
In 1854, Turgenev moved to Western Europe to live closer to his lover, Pauline Viardot, an opera singer. Turgenev, during this time, began to write less Romantic style books in favor of Realism. Four of his most celebrated books were written during this time including Rudin (1856), A Nest of the Gentry (1859), On the Eve (1860), and Fathers and Sons (1862).
Turgenev spent many years living in Paris, Pixabay.
Turgenev's books were always full of social commentaries about Russian society and politics. His most famed novel, Fathers and Sons, looks at the widening gap between older and nihilistic younger generations.
Turgenev preferred to live outside of Russia in Paris and Baden-Baden, Germany. It is said his views made him quarrel with two other famed Russian authors, Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky, whose work looked more closely at morality and religion. Turgenev was lifelong friends with Gustave Flaubert, a leading Realist novelist in France.
On September 3, 1883, in his home in Bougival, France, Turgenev died of a spinal abscess caused by a metastatic liposarcoma. He is buried in the Volkovo Cemetery in St. Petersburg.
A scientific study that researched the size of brains of famous Russians concluded that Turgenev had one of the heaviest brains at 2021 g. An average male human brain weighs 1336 g.
The Works of Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev
Turgenev spent the majority of his life writing in Western Europe and embracing Western ideas and philosophy. His work was not popular with many Russian authors, such as Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, or with Russian radicals, such as the nihilists. Turgenev wrote many books and short stories over his lifetime.
Turgenev is most famous for his book Fathers and Sons (1862), Pixabay.
Ivan Turgenev's Best Books
Turgenev's first book was Rudin (1856), but he is most well known for his book Fathers and Sons (1862). Below are some of Turgenev's best and most famous books.
Rudin (1856)
Rudin follows the story of Dmitry Rudin who is a powerful orator. He passionately speaks about his beliefs about progress causing many to believe him. Natalya, a young member of the salon Rudin orates in, falls in love with him. She challenges him to take action on his words, but Rudin fails her. The book was first published in Sovremennik, a Russian magazine, in serial form in 1856. Rudin follows themes such as the power of words, ineffectiveness, and truth.
The character of Rudin is said to be based on the revolutionary Mikhail Bakunin (1814-1876). Bakunin was a Russian anarchist and political writer.
Fathers and Sons (1862)
Fathers and Sons explores the differences between generations. These differences cause conflicts between the older more traditional generation and the younger more intellectual and progressive generation. Arkady Kirsanov has just returned to his father's estate in the provinces of Russia with his friend Bazarov. Arkady conflicts with his uncle Pavel who disagrees with Arkady's new philosophy of Nihilism. Further conflicts form when Arkady has Fenichka, the servant move in with him and their son. The book contains themes of filial love, generational conflict, and familial obligation.
Torrents of Spring (1872)
Torrents of Spring focuses on Dmitry Sanin, who is a young Russian landowner. He falls madly in love with a young Italian woman named Gemma while visiting the city of Frankfurt. Torrents of Spring explores the theme of loss of innocence in love and the dangers of obsessive passions. It is considered to be highly biographical and based on Turgenev's own experience with a woman in Frankfurt.
Short stories by Ivan Turgenev
As well as writing many great books, Turgenev was also known for his short stories.
A Sportsman's Sketches (1852)
A Sportsman's Sketches contains 25 short stories that are based on Turgenev's observations while at Spasskoya, a hunting lodge. The short stories explore the abuses and injustices many peasants faced under Russia's serfdom system. The stories first appeared separately in Sovremennik, but were then sold in book form after they received high appraise, especially the story "Khor and Kalinich". The book of short stories was not popular with the Tsar, and Turgenev was placed under house arrest for publishing them.
Mumu (1854)
"Mumu" is a short story that follows Gerasim, a hard-working deaf-mute peasant, and the love for his dog, Mumu, who he finds after Tatyana, a laundress he has fallen in love with, runs off with Kapiton, the drunk shoemaker. Tatyana comes back and wants Mumu for herself, and when Mumu takes a dislike for Tatyana she orders the dog to be drowned. The short story follows themes such as the hard life of Russian peasants, love and loyalty, and bravery.
Quotes by Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev
Below are some quotes from the books and short stories written by Ivan Turgenev.
Words indeed have been my ruin; they have consumed me, and to the end, I cannot be free of them. But what I have said was not mere words" (Rudin, Epilogue).
In this quote from Turgenev's Rudin, the theme of words and their power is seen. Rudin is a passionate orator but never truly puts those words into action. In this quote, he tries to defend that despite his words being ineffectual, they were not for nothing.
But it was not Gemma’s voice—it was herself Sanin was admiring. He was sitting a little behind and on one side of her, and kept thinking to himself that no palm-tree, even in the poems of Benediktov—the poet in fashion in those days—could rival the slender grace of her figure" (Torrents of Spring, Chapter 6).
In this quote from Turgenev's Torrents of Spring, we see the protagonist falling in love with the appearance of Gemma. It shows that obsessive love which can ruin a man can sometimes be based on the romanticized appearance of the woman rather than her thoughts or mind.
A curly-headed, rosy-cheeked boy of fifteen was sitting in the cart as the driver, and with difficulty holding in the well-fed piebald horse. Round the cart stood six young giants, very like one another, and Fedya" (A Sportsman's Sketches, Khor and Kalinich).
A Sportsman's Sketches is known for displaying realistic portraits of the peasantry class in Russia under the serfdom system. In this quote, we can see just how Turgenev painted these portraits describing exactly what he saw while also describing the actions of the people.
A dead man is no companion for the living. My father will tell you what a loss I shall be to Russia... That's bosh, but don't disillusion the old man. Whatever toy comforts a child... you know..." (Chapter 27).
Major differences lie between the older generation and younger generation in Fathers and Sons by Turgenev, and here the protagonist Arkady is trying to defend his reasoning for becoming a nihilist despite it hurting his father. Arkady believes that whatever philosophical belief brings understanding to the person, they should follow it rather than stick to what is traditional or custom.
Writing Style and Genre of Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev
Ivan Turgenev wrote in the Realism genre of literature, pixabay
Turgenev wrote in the Realism genre of literature.
Realism is a literary movement from the 19th century that focuses on the everyday and mundane experiences of people. It rejected Romanticism, specifically Romanticism's focus on subjectivity, imagination, and the individual.
Turgenev's books and short stories focus on the real-life aspects of a person including labor, philosophical beliefs, and experiences. In A Sportsman's Sketches, the real, hard life of the peasantry class of Russia is fully analyzed and observed focusing objectively on their actions, feelings, and the injustices they faced under Russian Serfdom.
Turgenev's writing style is considered to be elegant and simple, as well as full of hope. He takes great care to carefully describe all of his characters and their actions in great detail. He also focuses on unique descriptions of settings and seasons, which paints a vivid and beautiful image in the reader's mind.
"Picture to yourself a tall gaunt man of forty-five, with a long thin nose, a narrow forehead, little grey eyes, a bristling head of hair, and thick sarcastic lips. This man wore, winter and summer alike, a yellow nankin coat of German cut, but with a sash round the waist; he wore blue pantaloons and a cap of astrakhan, presented to him in a merry hour by a spendthrift landowner" (A Sportsman's Sketches, "Yermolai and the Miller's Wife").
In this excerpt from the short story "Yermolai and the Miller's Wife", the reader can see Turgenev's skill as a Realist writer. He describes the man with great detail focusing on every aspect of him—from his facial features to his clothes. He doesn't add any of his own opinions on the man, he simply describes him.
Turgenev was also known for his frame story narrative style.
A frame story is a literary technique that is a story within a story, often in the form of a companion, secondary tale.
Turgenev often used frame stories, such as when a narrator looks to the past to inform a current event. This creates a sense of nostalgia and sentimentality in his work.
Turgenev's book First Love (1860) has a great example of a frame story construction. The book begins with three men relaying stories of their first loves. Two of the men have nothing amusing to offer, but Vladimir Petrovich has a full tale about his first love at the age of sixteen to a girl a few years older than him. The rest of the book is the story of his first love. This is an example of a frame story as it is a story (The three men telling tales) within a story (Vladimir's story about his first love).
Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev - Key takeaways
- Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev was born to a Russian noble family in 1818.
- Turgenev favored Western European ideals and philosophies and spent the majority of his life writing in Western Europe, particularly Paris and Baden-Baden.
- Turgenev is known for writing many books and short stories that explored many themes such as the difficult life of peasants under Russia's serfdom system, generation differences in philosophy, and the conflicts between Russian radicals and Western philosophies.
- Turgenev wrote in the Realism genre and is known for his simple and elegant writing style.
- Turgenev died in 1883 and is remembered today for being one of the greatest Russian authors of the 19th century. His most famous book is Fathers and Sons.
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