Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev is a writer who lived in the 19th century. He was also a poet, translator, playwright, and publicist. Turgenev was born on November 9, 1818 and passed away on September 3, 1883.
The families of his parents belonged to the noble class. Ivan Sergeyevich greatly enriched the cultural heritage of Russia, but at the same time the writer spent a significant part of his life in France.
All his life he was against serfdom and even once defended a forced girl with a gun in her hands.
This article provides a list of the most famous works of Turgenev.
10. First love
Tale "First love" Turgenev created when he was far from a romantic young man. Ivan Sergeevich wrote it at the beginning of 1860: at that time he was already over 40 years old.
This work can be called autobiographical: the writer took the idea from his life. With the help of this story, Turgenev tried to understand where he was mistaken in the past, he wanted to rethink his youth.
The narration is conducted on behalf of an elderly person. The narrator describes his first love, which originated in his heart when he was still very young.
A sixteen-year-old boy fell in love with a twenty-year-old girl, who has a very difficult character. Zinaida really likes to play Vladimir, taunt his youth.
9. Smoke
This novel was written and published in the 60s of the XIX century. In the book "Smoke" Turgenev describes the crisis in the life of Russian people when they ceased to see clear paths and goals. From this, their lives became somehow smaller and dull. Everything seemed to be covered with smoke, because of which it is very difficult for people not to lose themselves.
This novel shows reflections on human destinies, debates of Slavophiles and Westerners, a variety of characters, an unprecedented gamut of emotions and emotions.
Grigory Litvinov is going to marry Tatyana, a modest and sweet girl. They have a very good relationship, but one day the main character meets the secular beauty Irina, his first love. Gregory is ready to dive into the whirlpool of newly awakened feelings, and it is not known where this will lead.
8. Nov
Nov - the longest novel of the writer. Ivan Sergeyevich came up with his plot in 1870, when he was in Paris. The first sketches were found in the manuscripts of those times. Turgenev finished working on the book in 1876.
The plot unfolds in the late 60s of the XIX century. In the novel, Ivan Sergeyevich showed how the movement of the Narodnik revolutionaries was born.
Having put on a cap with a broken visor, boots and a caftan, the revolutionaries began to "go to the people", but the peasants were hostile and did not understand strange speeches.
7. Notes of the hunter
Compilation "Notes of the hunter" consists of several stories that are related to each other in meaning. Turgenev worked on it in different years. “Ferret and Kalinych” is the first story from the cycle, which was written and published at the beginning of 1847.
When Ivan Sergeyevich saw that the essay was praised by critics very highly, he decided to create an entire collection.
All works from the collection are united by one idea: Turgenev demonstrated a conflict between peasants and gentlemen. At the same time, he showed ordinary people higher and poetic than nobles.
Goncharov called Turgenev a true troubadour, who wanders through the fields and villages with a lyre and a gun.
6. Spring water
Tale "Spring water" was written and published in the early 70s of the XIX century. It describes the story of the failed love of the landowner and nobleman Sanin. She happened when he traveled to Germany.
Once the landowner went into the Frankfurt confectionery and helped the young daughter of the landlady with her younger brother, who fainted.
The girl was supposed to marry a young German officer, but the situation changed: Gemma and Sanin decided to get married with each other. However, due to the weakness of his nature, the main character loses his happiness.
5. Rudin
First, Ivan Sergeyevich was going to make a book Rudin “A big story”, but he turned out to be a novel. Turgenev began working on it in the summer of 1855.
The writer was very inspired and did everything in order to fully express his thoughts in this work, so the process of writing the book turned out to be swift and stressful. Turgenev finished the novel the same summer, but various alterations and corrections continued until the end of the year.
In the book, Ivan Sergeevich evaluates the nobility, and also tries to answer the question of whether it is possible to find among the representatives of the ruling class people who can become "engines of progress."
The image of the protagonist re-embodied the qualities and properties characteristic of Pechorin and Onegin. For all its shortcomings, Rudin turned out to be a very interesting character.
4. The noble nest
"Noble Nest" - a book that was written in the second half of 1858, but Turgenev had an idea two years before.
At that time, the writer could not start working because he was struggling with a serious illness, but he continued to think about the plot for the following years.
In this work, Ivan Sergeevich talks about how the patrimonial "nests" gradually collapsed and generations in noble families changed.
Fyodor Ivanovich Lavretsky, the main character, in character and behavior can be compared with Turgenev himself. This person is very smart and intelligent.
For the sake of his beloved, Lavretsky goes to Paris, but after a while with a broken heart comes back to the "noble nest."
3. Mumu
Famous work "Mu Mu" was created in the early 50s of the XIX century. Turgenev wrote this story after the death of his close friend Gogol. Ivan Sergeyevich wrote an obituary in memory of him, which was then published in the newspaper Moskovskiye Vedomosti.
For mentioning the name of Gogol Turgenev was arrested. Not far from the police building they mocked the serfs. Ivan Sergeevich was very negative about such lawlessness, and that is what he expressed in his book.
The work “Mumu” is based on real events. In this book, Ivan Sergeyevich described people whom he knew in his youth. The lady was written off from the mother of Turgenev, who also at one time ordered to drown the dog of a silent janitor.
2. Asya
Tale Asya was created by Turgenev in mid-1857. Before that, he had been resting for almost a year from writing, because he was in Germany and was treated for neuralgia.
Taking a walk, Ivan Sergeyevich noticed a small building, from the windows of which a very nice girl and an old woman looked out. The writer began to think about what connects them, what are their fates. As a result, a new story was born.
This work tells about the unfulfilled and unhappy love of a young girl Asya. The narration is conducted on behalf of Mr. N, her lover. This work is about the predominance of reason over emotions, about indecision.
1. Fathers and children
This famous novel was created in the early 60s of the XIX century. In the book "Fathers and Sons" Turgenev considered the thoughts, characters and goals of the representatives of the “new generation”, who called themselves nihilists and denied everything old.
The main theme of the work is the confrontation between fathers and children, as well as the need to respect the cultural heritage. This book is still popular because it covers topics that are relevant at all times.