Ivan Turgenev: biography, life and creativity. Stories and stories. Personal life of I.S. Turgenev Who was Turgenev

Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev. Born October 28 (November 9) 1818 in Orel - died August 22 (September 3) 1883 in Bougival (France). Russian realist writer, poet, publicist, playwright, translator. One of the classics of Russian literature, who made the most significant contribution to its development in the second half of the 19th century. Corresponding member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in the category of Russian language and literature (1860), Honorary Doctor of Oxford University (1879).

The artistic system he created 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 begin 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's Nest", "Fathers and Sons".

The family of Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev came from the ancient family of the Tula noblemen of the Turgenevs. In a memorable book, the mother of the future writer wrote: “On October 28, 1818, on Monday, her son Ivan was born, 12 vershoks in height, 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 moved to her uncle, after whose death she became the owner of a magnificent estate and 5,000 souls.

Varvara Petrovna was a difficult woman. Serf habits coexisted in her with erudition and education, she combined concern for the upbringing of children with family despotism. Ivan was also subjected to maternal beatings, despite the fact that he was considered her favorite son. Frequently changing French and German tutors taught the boy to read and write.

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, and, 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, in order to educate their children, settled in Moscow, buying a house on Samoteok. The future writer studied first at the Weidengammer boarding school, then became a boarder with the director of the Lazarev Institute, IF Krause.

In 1833, at the age of 15, Turgenev entered the language faculty of Moscow University. At the same time, and 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 a dramatic poem with iambic pentameter "Steno"... The young author showed these attempts at writing to his teacher, professor of Russian literature P.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 signature ".... in". The debut poems were "Evening" and "To Venus 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 (the unfinished Tale of an Old Man, Calm at Sea, Phantasmagoria on a Moonlit Night, Dream).

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 ​​allowed him to freely read ancient classics.

In May 1839, the old house in Spasskoye burned down, and Turgenev returned to his homeland, but in 1840 he went abroad again, visiting Germany, Italy and Austria. Impressed by a meeting with a girl in Frankfurt am Main, Turgenev later wrote a 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 satisfactorily passed the exam for a master's degree in Greek and Latin philology in Latin at the St. Petersburg University and wrote a dissertation for the faculty of speech. But by this time the craving for scientific activity had cooled down, and more and more began to attract literary creativity.

Having refused to defend his thesis, 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 praised "Parasha", two months later he published his review in the "Notes of the Fatherland". From that time on, their acquaintance began, which later grew into a strong friendship. Turgenev was even godfather to Belinsky's son, Vladimir.

In November 1843, Turgenev created a poem "Foggy morning", set in different years to music by several composers, including A. F. Gedicke 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 definitively established. After publication, the poem was perceived as a reflection of Turgenev's love for Pauline Viardot, with whom he met at that time.

The poem was written in 1844 "Pop", 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.

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 "Contemporary Notes", began to publish the first chapters "Notes of a Hunter"... In the very first issue of Sovremennik, the story “Khor and Kalinich” was published, which opened countless editions of the famous book. The subtitle "From the Notes of a Hunter" was added by the editor I. I. Panaev in order to draw the attention of readers to the story. The success of the story turned out to be enormous, and this prompted Turgenev to write a number of others of the same kind.

In 1847, Turgenev went abroad with Belinsky and in 1848 he lived in Paris, where he witnessed revolutionary events.

Having witnessed the killing of hostages, many attacks, the construction and fall of the 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.

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 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", "Bachelor", "Provincial" and "A Month in the Country" enjoyed success thanks to excellent performances on stage.

To master the literary techniques of drama, the writer also worked on translations of 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, borrowing 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.

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.

After the death of Gogol, Turgenev wrote an obituary, which the St. Petersburg censorship did not miss. The reason for her dissatisfaction was the fact 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 V.P. 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 an obituary for 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 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.

Russian censorship has also banned the republishing of the "Hunter's Notes" explaining this step by the fact that Turgenev, on the one hand, poeticized the serfs, and on the other hand, depicted “that these peasants are in oppression, that the landowners behave indecently and illegally ... 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 her sister, who lived in Spasskoye at that time, and from time to time was raided by the police officer ...

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 poor-quality 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).

In the fall of 1855, Turgenev's circle of friends was enlarged. In September of the same year, the Sovremennik published Tolstoy's story "Cutting the Forest" with a dedication to I. S. Turgenev.

Turgenev took an ardent part in the discussion of the peasant reform that was being prepared, participated in the development of various collective letters, draft addresses addressed to the sovereign, protests, and so on.

In 1860, Sovremennik published an article "When the real day will come?" Nevertheless, Turgenev was not satisfied with Dobrolyubov's far-reaching conclusions, made by him 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.

At the end of 1862, Turgenev was involved in the trial of 32 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 sovereign, trying to convince him of the loyalty of his convictions, "quite independent, but conscientious." He asked to send the interrogation points to him in Paris. In the end, he was forced to leave for Russia in 1864 for a 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.

In 1863, Turgenev settled in Baden-Baden. The writer took an active part in the cultural life of Western Europe, establishing acquaintances with the largest 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, Henry James, Charles Saint-Beuve, Hippolyte Taine, Prosper Mérimée, Ernest Renan, Théophile Gaultier, Edmond Goncourt, Alphonse Daudet,.

Despite living abroad, all of Turgenev's thoughts were still associated with Russia. He wrote a novel "Smoke"(1867), which caused a lot of controversy in Russian society. According to the author, everyone scolded the novel: "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.

Since 1874, the famous bachelor "dinners of five" - ​​Flaubert, Edmond Goncourt, Daudet, Zola and Turgenev... 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' houses.

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.

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

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, in the novel "Demons" he portrayed Turgenev in the form of "the great writer Karmazinov" - a noisy petty, worn out 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: 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 2,000 souls, 400 each? "

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

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 Parisian doctors Charcot and Jaccot diagnosed the writer with angina pectoris. Soon intercostal neuralgia joined her. 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, since it did not relieve the pain in the thoracic spine in any way. The disease developed, in March and April the writer suffered so much that those around him began to notice momentary clouding of mind, caused in part by the intake of 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.

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 (malignant tumor of the bones of the spine). Doctor S.P.Botkin testified that the true cause of death was clarified 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, in which over four hundred people took part. 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.

Even from the border station of 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.

Not without misunderstandings. The day after the funeral service for Turgenev's body in the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral on Daru Street in Paris, on September 19, the well-known émigré populist P.L. S. Turgenev, on his own initiative, donated 500 francs to Lavrov annually for three years to help publish the revolutionary émigré 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 very much 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 officials were as inappropriate as if he accompanied the Nightingale the Robber, and not the body of the great writer.

Personal life of Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev:

The first romantic hobby of young Turgenev was falling in love with the daughter of Princess Shakhovskoy - Ekaterina Shakhovskaya(1815-1836), a young poet. The estates of their parents in the Moscow region bordered, they often exchanged visits. He was 15, she was 19.

In letters to her son, Varvara Turgeneva called Ekaterina Shakhovskaya a “poet” and “villainess”, 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 Shakhovskoy.

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 with Tatiana Bakunina(1815-1871), 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 contact 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 from Turgenev an analysis of 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 hobby. 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 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 M.N. Tolstaya had already left her husband, she took the writer's attention to herself for genuine love. But Turgenev limited himself to a platonic passion, and Maria Nikolaevna served as a prototype for Vera from the story "Faust".

In the fall of 1843, Turgenev first saw 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 admirers, she did not particularly single out Turgenev, who is better known as an inveterate 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 his affection for the "damned 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, upon learning 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 true nature of the relationship between Pauline Viardot and Turgenev is still a matter of debate. It is believed that after Louis Viardot was paralyzed as a result of a stroke, Pauline and Turgenev actually entered into a marital relationship. Louis Viardot was twenty years older than Pauline; he died the same year as I. S. Turgenev.

The last love of the writer was the actress of the Alexandrinsky Theater. 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 Verochka 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's personal life was not entirely successful. Having lived 38 years in close contact with the Viardot family, the writer felt deeply alone. In these conditions, Turgenev's image of love was formed, but love is not entirely 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 the Russian writers paid so much attention to the depiction of love, no one idealized a woman to such an extent as Ivan Turgenev.

Turgenev never got his own family. The writer's daughter from a seamstress Avdotya Ermolaevna Ivanova, married to Brewer (1842-1919), was raised from the age of eight in the family of Pauline Viardot in France, where Turgenev changed her name from Pelageya to Pauline (Paulinette), which seemed to him more euphonic.

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 was hostile to 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 entrepreneur 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. Zhanna 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.

Bibliography of Turgenev:

1855 - Rudin (novel)
1858 - Nest of Nobility (novel)
1860 - "The Eve" (novel)
1862 - Fathers and Sons (novel)
1867 - Smoke (novel)
1877 - "New" (novel)
1844 - "Andrey Kolosov" (story)
1845 - Three Portraits (story)
1846 - The Jew (story)
1847 - "Breter" (story)
1848 - "Petushkov" (story)
1849 - "Diary of an Extra Man" (story)
1852 - "Mumu" (story)
1852 - "Inn" (story)

"Notes of a Hunter": a collection of stories

1851 - "Bezhin Meadow"
1847 - "Biryuk"
1847 - "Burmister"
1848 - "Hamlet of the Shchigrovsky district"
1847 - "Two Landowners"
1847 - "Ermolai and the miller's wife"
1874 - "Living Power"
1851 - "Kasian with Beautiful Swords"
1871-72 - "The End of Tchertop-hanov"
1847 - "Office"
1847 - "Lebedyan"
1848 - "Forest and Steppe"
1847 - "Lgov"
1847 - "Raspberry Water"
1847 - "My Neighbor Radilov"
1847 - "Ovsyannikov's one-palace"
1850 - The Singers
1864 - "Pyotr Petrovich Karataev"
1850 - Date
1847 - Death
1873-74 - "Knocks!"
1847 - "Tatiana Borisovna and her nephew"
1847 - "County Doctor"
1846-47 - "Khor and Kalinych"
1848 - "Tchertop - hanov and Nedopyuskin"

1855 - "Yakov Pasynkov" (story)
1855 - Faust (story)
1856 - "Lull" (story)
1857 - "A Trip to Polesie" (story)
1858 - "Asya" (story)
1860 - "First Love" (story)
1864 - Ghosts (story)
1866 - The Brigadier (story)
1868 - "Unhappy" (story)
1870 - "A Strange Story" (short story)
1870 - King Lear of the Steppe (story)
1870 - "The Dog" (story)
1871 - "Knock ... knock ... knock! .." (story)
1872 - "Spring Waters" (story)
1874 - "Punin and Baburin" (story)
1876 ​​- "The Clock" (story)
1877 - "Sleep" (story)
1877 - "The Story of Father Alexei" (story)
1881 - "Song of Triumphant Love" (story)
1881 - "Own master's office" (story)
1883 - "After death (Klara Milich)" (story)
1878 - "In memory of Yu. P. Vrevskaya" (prose poem)
1882 - "How good, how fresh the roses were ..." (prose poem)
eighteen?? - "Museum" (story)
eighteen?? - "Farewell" (story)
eighteen?? - "The Kiss" (story)
1848 - "Where it is thin, there it breaks" (play)
1848 - "Freeloader" (play)
1849 - "Breakfast at the Leader's" (play)
1849 - The Bachelor (play)
1850 - "A Month in the Country" (play)
1851 - "Provincial" (play)
1854 - "A few words about the poems of F. I. Tyutchev" (article)
1860 - "Hamlet and Don Quixote" (article)
1864 - "Speech on Shakespeare" (article)

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.

Ivan Turgenev's life years:

born October 28, 1818, died August 22, 1883

Epitaph

“Days are passing. And now for ten years
It's been since death bowed to you.
But there is no death for your creatures,
The crowd of your visions, oh poet,
Immortality forever illumined. "
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 dissatisfaction with the censorship: the writer was exiled 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 at home and in Europe, where he continued to live permanently.

Ivan Turgenev died in the suburbs of Paris, Bougival, after several years of a painful illness. Only after death, doctor S.P.Botkin discovered the true cause of death - myxosarcoma (cancerous tumor 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 Faculty of Philosophy 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 the 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 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 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 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 dubious) episode in Turgenev's personal life, who never got his own family, was his relationship with 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" - ​​monthly meetings with Flaubert, Edmond Goncourt, Daudet and Zola in Parisian restaurants or in writers' apartments.

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! .. ... 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 man 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

CONTEMPORS unanimously admitted that she was not at all a beauty. Rather the opposite is true. The poet Heinrich Heine said that she resembled a landscape, both monstrous and exotic, and one of the artists of that era described her as not just an ugly woman, but cruelly ugly. This is how the famous singer Pauline Viardot was described in those days. Indeed, Viardot's appearance was far from ideal. She was stooped, with bulging eyes, large, almost masculine features, a huge mouth.

But when the "divine Viardot" began to sing, her strange, almost repulsive appearance was magically transformed. It seemed that before that Viardot's face was just a reflection in a crooked mirror, and only while singing did the audience see the original. At the time of one of these transformations, the novice Russian writer Ivan Turgenev saw Pauline Viardot on the stage of the opera house.

This mysterious, attractive, like a drug, woman managed to chain the writer to her for the rest of her life. Their romance took 40 long years and divided Turgenev's entire life into periods before and after meeting Polina.

Country passions

Turgenev's PERSONAL life from the very beginning evolved somehow unevenly. The young writer’s first love left a bitter residue. Young Katenka, the daughter of Princess Shakhovskoy who lived next door, captivated the 18-year-old Turgenev with her girlish freshness, naivety and spontaneity. But, as it turned out later, the girl was not at all as pure and pure as the imagination of the young man in love drew. Once Turgenev had to find out that Catherine had a constant lover for a long time, and the “heartfelt friend” of young Katya turned out to be none other than Sergei Nikolaevich - a well-known Don Juan in the district and ... Turgenev's father. Complete confusion reigned in the young man's head, the young man could not understand why Katenka preferred his father to him, because Sergei Nikolaevich treated women without any trepidation, was often rude to his mistresses, never explained his actions, could offend the girl with an unexpected word and caustic remark, while his son loved Katya with some special affectionate tenderness. All this seemed to young Turgenev a huge injustice, now, looking at Katya, he felt as if he had unexpectedly stumbled upon something vile, like a frog crushed by a cart.
Having recovered from the blow, Ivan is disappointed in the "noble maidens" and goes to seek love from simple and trusting serfs. They, not spoiled by the kind attitude of their husbands, who were overwhelmed by work and poverty, gladly accepted signs of attention from an affectionate master, it was easy for them to bring joy, to light a warm light in their eyes, and with them Turgenev felt that his tenderness had finally been appreciated. One of the serfs, the burning beauty Avdotya Ivanova, gave birth to a daughter to the writer.
Perhaps the connection with the master could play the role of a happy lottery ticket in the life of the illiterate Avdotya - Turgenev settled his daughter in his estate, planned to give her a good upbringing and, what the hell is not kidding, live a happy life with her mother. But fate decreed otherwise.

Love unanswered

TRAVELING in Europe, in 1843 Turgenev met Pauline Viardot, and since then his heart belongs to her alone. Ivan Sergeevich does not care that his love is married, he gladly agrees to meet Pauline's husband Louis Viardot. Knowing that Polina is happy in this marriage, Turgenev does not even insist on intimacy with her beloved and is content with the role of a devoted adorer.

Turgenev's mother was cruelly jealous of her son for the "singer", and therefore the trip to Europe (which soon boiled down only to visiting the cities where Viardot toured) had to continue under tight financial circumstances. But how can such trifles as the dissatisfaction of relatives and lack of money stop the feeling that befell Turgenev! The Viardot family becomes a part of his life, he is tied to Pauline, with Louis Viardot he has a kind of friendship, and their daughter has become a family for the writer. In those years, Turgenev practically lived in the Viardot family, the writer either rented houses in the neighborhood, then stayed for a long time in the house of his beloved. Louis Viardot did not interfere with his wife's meetings with the new adorer. On the one hand, he considered Polina a reasonable woman and relied entirely on her common sense, and on the other, his friendship with Turgenev promised quite material benefits: against his mother's will, Ivan Sergeevich spent a lot of money on the Viardot family. At the same time, Turgenev perfectly understood his ambiguous position in Viardot's house, more than once he had to catch the sidelong glances of his Parisian acquaintances, who shrugged their shoulders in bewilderment when Polina, introducing Ivan Sergeevich to them, said: "And this is our Russian friend, please meet me." ... Turgenev felt that he, a hereditary Russian nobleman, was gradually turning into a lap dog, which began to wag its tail and squeal happily, as soon as the hostess gave her a favorable glance or scratched behind her ear, but he could not do anything about his unhealthy feeling. Without Polina, Ivan Sergeevich felt really sick and broken: “I cannot live away from you, I must feel your closeness, enjoy it. The day when your eyes didn’t shine for me is a lost day, ”he wrote to Pauline and, without demanding anything in return, continued to help her financially, to fiddle with her children and, through force, smile at Louis Viardot.
As for his own daughter, her life on her grandmother's estate is not at all cloudless. The imperious landowner treats her granddaughter as a serf. As a result, Turgenev offers Polina to take the girl to the Viardot family. At the same time, either wishing to please his beloved woman, or seized with a love fever, Turgenev changes the name of his own daughter, and from Pelageya the girl turns into Polinette (of course, in honor of the adored Polina). Of course, Pauline Viardot's consent to raise Turgenev's daughter further strengthened the writer's feeling. Now Viardot became for him also an angel of mercy, who snatched his child from the hands of a cruel grandmother. True, Pelageya-Polinette did not at all share her father's affection for Pauline Viardot. Having lived in Viardot's house until the age of majority, Polinette kept her grudge against her father and dislike for her adoptive mother for the rest of her life, believing that she had taken away her father's love and attention.
Meanwhile, the popularity of Turgenev as a writer is growing. In Russia, no one perceives Ivan Sergeevich as a novice writer - now he is almost a living classic. At the same time, Turgenev firmly believes that he owes his fame to Viardot. Before the premieres of performances based on his works, he whispers her name, believing that it brings him good luck.
In 1852-1853, Turgenev lived on his estate practically under house arrest. The authorities really did not like the obituary he wrote after Gogol's death - in it the secret office saw a threat to the imperial power.
Learning that in March 1853 Pauline Viardot arrives with concerts in Russia, Turgenev lost his head. He manages to get a fake passport, with which the writer disguised as a bourgeoisie goes to Moscow to meet with his beloved woman. The risk was enormous, but, unfortunately, unjustified. Several years of separation cooled Polina's feelings. But Turgenev is ready to be content with simple friendship, if only from time to time to see Viardot turning his thin neck and looking at him with his mysterious black eyes.

In someone else's arms

SOME time later, Turgenev nevertheless made several attempts to improve his personal life. In the spring of 1854, the writer met with the daughter of one of Ivan Sergeevich's cousins, Olga. The 18-year-old girl captivated the writer so much that he even thought about getting married. But the longer their romance lasted, the more often the writer remembered Pauline Viardot. The freshness of the young Olga's face and her trustingly affectionate glances from under her lowered eyelashes still could not replace that opium intoxication that the writer felt at every meeting with Viardot. Finally, completely exhausted by this duality, Turgenev confessed to the girl in love with him that he could not justify her hopes for personal happiness. Olga was very upset by the unexpected breakup, and Turgenev blamed himself for everything, but he could not do anything about the newly flared love for Polina.
In 1879, Turgenev makes his last attempt to start a family. Young actress Maria Savinova is ready to become his life partner. The girl is not even afraid of the huge age difference - at that moment Turgenev was already over 60.
In 1882 Savinova and Turgenev went to Paris. Unfortunately, this trip marked the end of their relationship. In Turgenev's house, every little thing reminded of Viardot, Maria constantly felt superfluous and was tormented by jealousy. In the same year, Turgenev fell seriously ill. Doctors made a terrible diagnosis - cancer. At the beginning of 1883, he was operated on in Paris, and in April, after the hospital, before returning to his place, he asks to be escorted to Viardot's house, where Pauline was waiting for him.
Turgenev did not have long to live, but he was happy in his own way - next to him was his Polina, to whom he dictated the last stories and letters. Turgenev died on September 3, 1883. According to the will, he wanted to be buried in Russia, and on his last journey to his homeland, Claudia Viardot, the daughter of Pauline Viardot, accompanies him. Turgenev was buried not in his beloved Moscow and not in his estate in Spassky, but in St. Petersburg - the city in which he was only passing through, in the necropolis of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. Perhaps this happened due to the fact that the funeral was carried out, in essence, by almost strangers to the writer.

Russian writer Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev. Part 2: Personal life

Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev, 1872

Vasily Perov

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. The estates of their parents in the Moscow region bordered, they often exchanged visits. He was 15, she was 19. In letters to her son, Varvara Turgeneva called Ekaterina Shakhovskaya “poet” and “villainous”, 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 Shakhovskoy.

David Borovsky. Illustrations by I.S.Turgenev "First Love"

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

I.S.Turgenev at the age of 20.

Artist K. Gorbunov. 1838-1839 Watercolor

Spasskoye-Lutovinovo

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 contact with the circle of brothers and sisters of the 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.

Watercolor self-portrait of Mikhail Bakunin.

Bakunina Tatiana Alexandrovna

Evdokia Bakunina

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 from Turgenev an analysis of 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 hobby. But he could not answer with a serious feeling.

House of Bakunins in Pryamukhin

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 M.N. Tolstaya had already left her husband, she took the writer's attention to herself for genuine love. But Turgenev limited himself to a platonic hobby, and Maria Nikolaevna served as a prototype for Vera from the story "Faust"

Maria Nikolaevna Tolstaya

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.

Portrait of the singer Pauline Viardot

Karl Bryullov

Louis Viardot

Among the mass of admirers, she did not particularly single out Turgenev, who is better known as an inveterate 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.

Pauline Viardot (1821-1910).

Karl Timoleon von Neff -

For his affection for the "damned 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, upon learning 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.

Pauline Viardot

The true nature of the relationship between Pauline Viardot and Turgenev is still a matter of debate. It is believed that after Louis Viardot was paralyzed as a result of a stroke, Pauline and Turgenev actually entered into a marital relationship. Louis Viardot was twenty years older than Pauline, he died the same year as I.S.Turgenev

Pauline Viardot in Baden-Baden

Pauline Viardot's Paris Salon

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 Verochka 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

Maria Gavrilovna Savina

"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. In these conditions, Turgenev's image of love was formed, but love is not entirely 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 the 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 the literary phenomenon of the "Turgenev girl" - a typical heroine of his works. Such are Liza in the story "Diary of a Superfluous Person", 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 novel "Nov" and others.

Vasily Polenov. "Grandma's Garden", 1878

Offspring

Turgenev never got his own family. The writer's daughter from seamstress Avdotya Ermolaevna Ivanova, Pelageya Ivanovna Turgeneva, married Brewer (1842-1919), was raised from the age of eight in the family of Pauline Viardot in France, where Turgenev changed her name from Pelageya to Pauline (Paulinette), which seemed to him more euphonic. 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 was hostile to 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.

Pelageya Turgeneva (married. Buer, 1842-1918), daughter of the writer Ivan Turgenev.

At the age of seventeen, Polinette met a young entrepreneur Gaston Brewer (1835-1885), 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. Zhanna Brewer-Turgeneva never married; 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 was cut off along the line of Ivan Sergeevich

The future master of the living word was born on October 28 (November 9) 1818 of the nobles who lived in Oryol. Turgenev's father came from a very old family and at one time was a hussar officer, a captain of the Cavalry regiment. The writer's mother came from a wealthy landowner family.

Ivan Sergeevich's childhood years were spent in the family estate Spasskoye-Lutovinovo. His trustees and educators were teachers and tutors who came from Germans and Swiss. Nurses took care of the child. Little Ivan grew up in rather harsh conditions. An atmosphere of autocracy reigned in the parents' estate. A rare day for young Turgenev was without punishment from the powerful mother, who in this way taught her son to.

Personal experience and observation of the life of forced peasants from a young age awakened in Turgenev an aversion to serfdom.

As a child, Turgenev did not like to tinker with toys. He was very interested in nature, which attracted him to itself with its mystery, mystery and simplicity. Young Turgenev loved to wander through the forest and park for a long time, he often visited the pond. The hunters and foresters who lived on the estate encouraged the emerging interest of the future writer to nature, telling him about the life of birds and forest animals.

In 1827, the Turgenevs moved to Moscow, where Ivan received his education under the guidance and supervision of private teachers. Much later, the writer admitted that he was very acutely worried about breaking ties with his usual former life.

The history of the Turgenevs' house

The house and estate of the Turgenevs were located in the present Sovetsky district of the city of Orel. Since the time of its initial development, the city has been subject to frequent fires. Wooden houses were placed quite close to each other, therefore, entire city blocks often perished in the destructive fire element. Historical sources contain indications that in one of these fires the house where Turgenev was born subsequently burned down.

The Turgenevs' estate occupied almost the entire quarter entirely along the streets of Borisoglebskaya and Georgievskaya. Unfortunately, historians have not been able to find a reliable image of the writer's home.

A few years after the fire, a one-story house was built on the site of the burned-down building, which subsequently passed in turn to several owners.

In modern Oryol, on the site of the former house of the Turgenevs, there are no buildings. A memorial plaque dedicated to the writer is fortified a little in the back of the courtyard, on the wall of the administrative building.