Ivan Turgenev

Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (????? ??????j???? ?????????, November 9, 1818, Orel, Russia - September 3, 1883, Bougival, near Paris, France ) was a major Russian novelist and playwright. Although his reputation has suffered some setbacks during the last century, the novel Fathers and Sons should still be regarded as one of the defining works of the 19th-century fiction.

Turgenev's life in Europe

During the latter part of his life, Turgenev did not reside much in Russia; he lived either at Baden-Baden or Paris, often in proximity to the family of the celebrated singer Pauline Viardot, for whom the author harboured a life-long but futile admiration. Turgenev never married, although as a young man he had a daughter with one of his family's serfs. Tall and broad in physical stature, Turgenev's personality was timid, restrained and soft-spoken. His closest literary friend was Gustave Flaubert. Turgenev occasionally visited England, and in 1879 the degree of D.C.L. was conferred upon him by the University of Oxford. He died at Bougival, near Paris, on the 4th of September 1883.

Related Topics:
Baden-Baden - Paris - Gustave Flaubert - University of Oxford - Bougival - 1883

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Turgenev's later novels, with their antiquated language and stilted situations, are sometimes considered inferior to his earlier efforts. Smoke (???) was published in 1867 and his last work of any length, Virgin Soil (????), was published in 1877. Aside from his longer stories, many shorter ones were produced, some of great beauty and full of subtle psychological analysis, such as Torrents of Spring (?????? ????), First Love, Asya and others. These were later collected into three volumes. The last works of the great novelist were Poetry in Prose and Clara Milich, which appeared in the European Messenger.

Related Topics:
Torrents of Spring - First Love

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