Turgenev's personal life briefly. Life story

Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev was born on October 28 (November 9), 1818 in the city of Orel. His family, both maternal and paternal, belonged to the noble class.

The first education in Turgenev's biography was received at the Spassky-Lutovinovo estate. The boy was taught to read and write by German and French teachers. Since 1827 the family moved to Moscow. Then Turgenev's training took place in private boarding schools in Moscow, after which - at Moscow University. Without graduating from it, Turgenev transferred to the philosophical faculty of St. Petersburg University. He also studied abroad, after which he traveled around Europe.

The beginning of the literary path

Studying in the third year of the institute, in 1834 Turgenev wrote his first poem called "The Wall". And in 1838, his first two poems were published: "Evening" and "To the Venus of Medicius."

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

In 1843, Turgenev met Belinsky, they struck up friendly relations. Under the influence of Belinsky, new poems by Turgenev, poems, stories are created, printed, among which are: Parasha, Pop, Breter and Three Portraits.

The heyday of creativity

Other famous works of the writer include: the novels "Smoke" (1867) and "Nov" (1877), novels and stories "The Diary of a Superfluous Man" (1849), "Bezhin Meadow" (1851), "Asya" (1858), "Spring Waters" (1872) and many others.

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

Last years

Since 1863, he left for Germany, where he met with outstanding writers of Western Europe, promoted Russian literature. He works as an editor and consultant, he is engaged in translations 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 of Pushkin, Gogol, Lermontov, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy were translated.

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

Since 1882, the writer began to be overcome by diseases: gout, angina pectoris, neuralgia. As a result of a painful illness (sarcoma), he dies 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, spending a lot of his parents' money on entertainment. For this, his mother once taught a lesson, sending bricks instead of money in a parcel.
• The personal life of the writer was not very successful. He had many novels, but none of them ended in marriage. The greatest love in his life was the opera singer Pauline Viardot. For 38 years Turgenev knew her and her husband Louis. For their family, he traveled all over the world, lived with them in different countries. Louis Viardot and Ivan Turgenev died in the same year.
• Turgenev was a clean man, neatly dressed. The writer liked to work in cleanliness and order - without this he never began to create.
• see all

And van Turgenev was one of the most important Russian writers of the 19th century. The artistic system he created changed the poetics of the novel both in Russia and abroad. His works were praised and severely criticized, and Turgenev spent his whole life looking for a path in them that would lead Russia to well-being and prosperity.

"Poet, talent, aristocrat, handsome"

The family of Ivan Turgenev came from an old family of Tula nobles. His father, Sergei Turgenev, served in the cavalry guard regiment and led a very wasteful lifestyle. To improve his financial situation, he was forced to marry an elderly (by the standards of that time), but very wealthy landowner Varvara Lutovinova. The marriage became unhappy for both of them, their relationship did not work out. Their second son, Ivan, was born two years after the wedding, in 1818, in Orel. Mother wrote in her diary: “... on Monday, the son Ivan was born, 12 inches tall [about 53 centimeters]”. There were three children in the Turgenev family: Nikolai, Ivan and Sergey.

Until the age of nine, Turgenev lived in the Spasskoe-Lutovinovo estate in the Oryol region. His mother had a difficult and controversial character: her sincere and cordial concern for children was combined with severe despotism, Varvara Turgeneva often beat her sons. However, she invited the best French and German tutors to her children, spoke exclusively in French with her sons, but at the same time remained a fan of Russian literature and read Nikolai Karamzin, Vasily Zhukovsky, Alexander Pushkin and Nikolai Gogol.

In 1827 the Turgenevs moved to Moscow so that their children could receive a better education. Three years later, Sergei Turgenev left the family.

When Ivan Turgenev was 15 years old, he entered the verbal department of Moscow University. At the same time, the future writer fell in love with Princess Ekaterina Shakhovskaya for the first time. Shakhovskaya exchanged letters with him, but reciprocated Turgenev's father and thus broke his heart. Later, this story became the basis of Turgenev's story "First Love".

A year later, Sergei Turgenev died, and Varvara and her children moved to St. Petersburg, where Turgenev entered the Faculty of Philosophy at St. Petersburg University. Then he became seriously interested in lyrics and wrote the first work - the dramatic poem "The Wall". Turgenev spoke of her like this: "A completely absurd work in which, with furious ineptness, a slavish imitation of Byron's Manfred was expressed". In total, during the years of study, Turgenev wrote about a hundred poems and several poems. Some of his poems were published by the Sovremennik magazine.

After his studies, 20-year-old Turgenev went to Europe to continue his education. He studied ancient classics, Roman and Greek literature, traveled to France, Holland, Italy. The European way of life struck Turgenev: he came to the conclusion that Russia should get rid of unculturedness, laziness, ignorance, following the Western countries.

Unknown artist. Ivan Turgenev at the age of 12. 1830. State Literary Museum

Eugene Louis Lamy. Portrait of Ivan Turgenev. 1844. State Literary Museum

Kirill Gorbunkov. Ivan Turgenev in his youth. 1838. State Literary Museum

In the 1840s, Turgenev returned to his homeland, received a master's degree in Greek and Latin philology at St. Petersburg University, even wrote a dissertation - but did not defend it. Interest in scientific activity replaced the desire to write. It was at this time that Turgenev met Nikolai Gogol, Sergei Aksakov, Alexei Khomyakov, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Afanasy Fet and many other writers.

“The other day the poet Turgenev returned from Paris. What a man! Poet, talent, aristocrat, handsome, rich, smart, educated, 25 years old - I don’t know what nature denied him?

Fyodor Dostoyevsky, from a letter to his brother

When Turgenev returned to Spasskoe-Lutovinovo, he had an affair with a peasant woman, Avdotya Ivanova, which ended in the girl's pregnancy. Turgenev wanted to marry, but his mother sent Avdotya to Moscow with a scandal, where she gave birth to a daughter, Pelageya. Avdotya Ivanova's parents hastily married her off, and Turgenev recognized Pelageya only a few years later.

In 1843, under the initials of T. L. (Turgenez-Lutovinov), Turgenev's poem "Parash" was published. Vissarion Belinsky highly appreciated her, and from that moment their acquaintance grew into a strong friendship - Turgenev even became the godfather of the critic's son.

"This man is extraordinarily intelligent ... It is gratifying to meet a man whose original and characteristic opinion, colliding with yours, extracts sparks."

Vissarion Belinsky

In the same year, Turgenev met Pauline Viardot. Researchers of Turgenev's work are still arguing about the true nature of their relationship. They met in St. Petersburg when the singer arrived in the city on tour. Turgenev often traveled with Polina and her husband, art critic Louis Viardot, around Europe, visiting their Parisian house. His illegitimate daughter Pelageya was brought up in the Viardot family.

Fictionist and playwright

In the late 1840s, Turgenev wrote extensively for the theatre. His plays The Freeloader, The Bachelor, A Month in the Country and The Provincial Girl were very popular with the public and were warmly received by critics.

In 1847, Turgenev's short story "Khor and Kalinich" was published in the Sovremennik magazine, inspired by the writer's hunting trips. A little later, stories from the collection "Notes of a Hunter" were published there. The collection itself was published in 1852. Turgenev called him his "Annibal Oath" - a promise to fight to the end with the enemy, whom he hated since childhood - serfdom.

The Hunter's Notes is marked by such a power of talent that it has a beneficial effect on me; the understanding of nature is often presented to you as a revelation.”

Fedor Tyutchev

It was one of the first works that spoke openly about the troubles and dangers of serfdom. The censor, who allowed the "Notes of a Hunter" to be published, was dismissed from the service by personal order of Nicholas I with deprivation of his pension, and the collection itself was forbidden to be republished. The censors explained this by the fact that Turgenev, although he poeticized the serfs, criminally exaggerated their suffering from the oppression of the landlords.

In 1856, the writer's first major novel, Rudin, was published, written in just seven weeks. The name of the hero of the novel has become a household name for people whose word does not agree with the deed. Three years later, Turgenev published the novel The Nest of Nobles, which turned out to be incredibly popular in Russia: every educated person considered it his duty to read it.

“Knowledge of Russian life, and moreover, knowledge is not bookish, but experienced, taken from reality, purified and comprehended by the power of talent and reflection, is found in all the works of Turgenev ...”

Dmitry Pisarev

From 1860 to 1861, excerpts from the novel Fathers and Sons were published in Russkiy Vestnik. The novel was written on the "topic of the day" and explored the public mood of the time - mainly the views of nihilistic youth. The Russian philosopher and publicist Nikolai Strakhov wrote about him: “In Fathers and Sons, he showed more clearly than in all other cases that poetry, while remaining poetry ... can actively serve society ...”

The novel was well received by critics, however, did not receive the support of liberals. At this time, Turgenev's relations with many friends became complicated. For example, with Alexander Herzen: Turgenev collaborated with his Kolokol newspaper. Herzen saw the future of Russia in peasant socialism, believing that bourgeois Europe had outlived itself, and Turgenev defended the idea of ​​strengthening cultural ties between Russia and the West.

Sharp criticism fell upon Turgenev after the release of his novel "Smoke". It was a pamphlet novel that equally sharply ridiculed both the conservative Russian aristocracy and the revolutionary-minded liberals. According to the author, everyone scolded him: "both red and white, and from above, and from below, and from the side - especially from the side."

From "Smoke" to "Prose Poems"

Alexey Nikitin. Portrait of Ivan Turgenev. 1859. State Literary Museum

Osip Braz. Portrait of Maria Savina. 1900. State Literary Museum

Timothy Neff. Portrait of Pauline Viardot. 1842. State Literary Museum

After 1871, Turgenev lived in Paris, occasionally returning to Russia. He actively participated in the cultural life of Western Europe and promoted Russian literature abroad. Turgenev communicated and corresponded with Charles Dickens, George Sand, Victor Hugo, Prosper Merimee, Guy de Maupassant, Gustave Flaubert.

In the second half of the 1870s, Turgenev published his most ambitious novel, Nov, in which he portrayed members of the revolutionary movement of the 1870s in a sharply satirical and critical manner.

"Both novels [Smoke and Nov] only brought to light his ever-increasing alienation from Russia, the first with its impotent bitterness, the second with its lack of information and lack of any sense of reality in the depiction of the mighty movement of the seventies."

Dmitry Svyatopolk-Mirsky

This novel, like "Smoke", was not accepted by Turgenev's colleagues. For example, Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin wrote that Nov was a service to the autocracy. At the same time, the popularity of Turgenev's early stories and novels did not decrease.

The last years of the writer's life became his triumph both in Russia and abroad. Then a cycle of lyrical miniatures "Poems in Prose" appeared. The book opened with a poem in prose "The Village", and completed it with "Russian Language" - the famous anthem about faith in the great destiny of one's country: “In days of doubt, in days of painful reflections about the fate of my homeland, you are my only 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 happens at home . But it is impossible to believe that such a language was not given to a great people!” This collection became Turgenev's farewell to life and art.

At the same time, Turgenev met his last love - the actress of the Alexandrinsky Theater Maria Savina. She was 25 years old when she played the role of Verochka in Turgenev's play A Month in the Country. Seeing her on stage, Turgenev was amazed and openly confessed his feelings to the girl. Maria considered Turgenev more of a friend and mentor, and their marriage never took place.

In recent years, Turgenev was seriously ill. Parisian doctors diagnosed him with angina pectoris and intercostal neuralgia. Turgenev died on September 3, 1883 in Bougival near Paris, where lavish farewells were held. The writer was buried in St. Petersburg at the Volkovskoye cemetery. The death of the writer was a shock to his fans - and the procession of people who came to say goodbye to Turgenev stretched for several kilometers.

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.

Years of life of Ivan Turgenev:

born October 28, 1818, died August 22, 1883

Epitaph

“The days are gone. And now ten years
It's been a while since death bowed to 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 during his lifetime, became classics of 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 put him on a par with the greatest writers of 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 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 the word, Russia learned about Turgenev after the publication of fragments of his Notes of a Hunter in Sovremennik. During this period, Turgenev decided that it was his duty to fight serfdom, and therefore he went abroad again, because he could not "breathe the same air, stay close to what he hated."

Portrait of I. Turgenev by Repin, 1879

After complication of 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 that time: George Sand, Charles Dickens, William Thackeray, Victor Hugo, Prosper Merimee, 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 painful illness. Only after the death of the doctor S.P. Botkin was the true cause of death discovered - myxosarcoma (cancer 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, 1960s

life line

October 28, 1818 Date of birth of Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev.
1833 Admission to the verbal faculty of Moscow University.
1834 Moving to St. Petersburg and transfer to the Faculty of Philosophy of St. Petersburg University.
1836 Turgenev's first publication in the Journal of the Ministry of National Education.
1838 Arriving in Berlin and studying 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 "Parash", 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. Link to his native village of Spasskoe-Lutovinovo.
1852 The release of the book "Notes of a hunter".
1856 Rudin is published in Sovremennik.
1859 Sovremennik publishes The Nest of Nobles.
1860"On the Eve" is published in "Russkiy vestnik". Turgenev becomes a corresponding member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences.
1862 The Russkiy Vestnik publishes Fathers and Sons.
1863 Moving to Baden-Baden.
1879 Turgenev receives an honorary doctorate from Oxford University.
August 22, 1883 Date of Ivan Turgenev's death.
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 museum of the writer.
2. Spasskoe-Lutovinovo, where Turgenev's estate was located, now it is 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. Now - the house-museum of Turgenev.
4. House number 38 on the embankment. Fontanka River in St. Petersburg (Stepanov's tenement house), where Turgenev lived in 1854-1856.
5. House number 13 on Bolshaya Konyushennaya Street in St. Petersburg (Weber's tenement house), where Turgenev lived in 1858-1860.
6. House number 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 embankment. Turgenev in Bougival (Paris), where Turgenev lived for many years and died; now - the house-museum of the writer.
9. Volkovskoye cemetery in St. Petersburg, where Turgenev is buried.

Episodes of life

There were many hobbies in Turgenev's life, and often they were 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 the actress Polina 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's "dinners of five" - ​​monthly meetings with Flaubert, Edmond Goncourt, Daudet and Zola in Parisian restaurants or at writers' apartments.

Turgenev became one of the highest paid writers in the country, which caused rejection and envy among many - in particular, F. M. Dostoevsky. The latter considered unfair such high fees in the already excellent state of Turgenev, which he inherited after the death of his mother.

Testaments

“In days of doubt, in days of painful reflections about the fate of my homeland, you are my only 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 happens at home . But it is impossible to 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, you will never break: a sense of duty.

“Whatever a person prays for, he prays for a miracle. Every prayer boils down to the following: “Great God, make sure that twice two is not four!”

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

Documentary-journalistic 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 populist theorist

“Turgenev was also in his spirit a native Russian person. Didn't he possess the genius of the Russian language with the impeccable perfection, accessible besides him, perhaps only to Pushkin?
Dmitry Merezhkovsky, writer and critic

"If now the English novel has some manners and grace, then it is primarily due to Turgenev for this."
John Galsworthy, English novelist and playwright

Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev was born on October 28, 1818 in the Oryol province. His father, Sergei Nikolaevich, was a retired hussar officer, a participant in the Patriotic War of 1812. Mother - Varvara Petrovna (nee Lutovinskaya) - came from a wealthy landowner's family, so many said that Sergei Nikolaevich married her solely because of the money.
Until the age of 9, Turgenev lived in the family estate of his mother, Spasskoe-Lutavinovo, Oryol province. Varvara Petrovna had a tough (sometimes cruel) character, she disdained everything Russian, so little Vanya was taught three languages ​​from childhood - French, German and English. The boy received his primary education from tutors and home teachers.

Turgenev's education

In 1827, Turgenev's parents, wanting to give their children a decent education, moved to Moscow, where they sent Ivan Sergeevich to study at the Weidenhammer boarding school, and then under the guidance of private teachers.
At the age of fifteen, in 1833, Turgenev entered the verbal department of Moscow University. A year later, the Turgenevs moved to St. Petersburg, and Ivan Sergeevich transferred to St. Petersburg University. He graduated from this educational institution in 1836 with the degree of a valid student.
Turgenev was passionately passionate about science and dreamed of devoting his life to it, so in 1837 he passed the exam for the degree of candidate of science.
He received further education abroad. In 1838 Turgenev left for Germany. Having settled in Berlin, he attended lectures on classical philology and philosophy, studied the grammar of ancient Greek and Latin. In addition to his studies, Ivan Sergeevich traveled a lot in Europe: he traveled almost all of Germany, visited Holland, France, and Italy. In addition, during this period he met and became friends with T.N. Granovsky, N.V. Stankevich and M.A. Bakunin, who had a significant impact on Turgenev's worldview.
A year after returning to Russia, in 1842, Ivan Sergeevich applied for an exam at Moscow University for a master's degree in philosophy. He successfully passed the exam and hoped to get a professorship at Moscow University, but soon philosophy, as a science, fell out of favor with the emperor and the department of philosophy was closed - Turgenev failed to become a professor.

Literary activity of Turgenev

After returning from abroad, Turgenev settled in Moscow and, at the insistence of his mother, entered the official service in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. But the service did not bring him satisfaction, much more he was passionate about literature.
Turgenev began to try himself as a writer back in the mid-1830s, and his first publication took place in Sovremennik in 1838 (these were the poems “Evening” and “To Venus Mediceus”). Turgenev continued to collaborate with this publication as an author and critic for a long time.
During this period, he actively began to visit various literary salons and circles, communicated with many writers - V.G. Belinsky, N.A. Nekrasov, N.V. Gogol and others. By the way, communication with V.G. Belinsky significantly influenced Turgenev's literary views: from romanticism and poetry, he moved on to descriptive and morally oriented prose.
In the 1840s, Turgenev's stories such as Breter, The Three Little Pigs, The Freeloader and others were published. And in 1852 the first book of the writer was published - "Notes of a Hunter".
In the same year, he wrote an obituary for N.V. Gogol, which was the reason for the arrest of Turgenev and his exile to the family estate of Spassko-Lutavinovo.
The rise of the social movement that took place in Russia before the abolition of serfdom, Turgenev took it with enthusiasm. He took part in the development of plans for the upcoming reorganization of peasant life. He even became an unspoken employee of Kolokol. However, while the need for social and political reforms was obvious to everyone, the intelligentsia's opinions differed on the details of the reform process. So, Turgenev had disagreements with Dobrolyubov, who wrote a critical article on the novel "On the Eve", and Nekrasov, who published this article. Also, the writer did not support Herzen that the peasantry was capable of making a revolution.
Later, already living in Baden-Baden, Turgenev collaborated with the liberal-bourgeois Vestnik-Europe. In the last years of his life, he acted as an "intermediary" between Western and Russian writers.

Turgenev's personal life

In 1843 (according to some sources, in 1845), I.S. Turgenev met the French singer Pauline Viardot-Garcia, who was touring in Russia. The writer fell passionately in love, but he understood that it was hardly possible to build a relationship with this woman: firstly, she was married, and secondly, she was a foreigner.
Nevertheless, in 1847, Turgenev, together with Viardot and her husband, went abroad (first to Germany, then to France). Ivan Sergeevich's mother was categorically against the "damned gypsy" and deprived him of material support for her son's connection with Polina Viardot.
After returning to their homeland in 1850, relations between Turgenev and Viardot cooled. Ivan Sergeevich even started a new romance with a distant relative O.A. Turgeneva.
In 1863, Turgenev again became close to Pauline Viardot and finally moved to Europe. With Viardot, he lived first in Baden-Baden, and from 1871 in Paris.
Turgenev's popularity at that time, both in Russia and in the West, was truly colossal. Each of his visits to his homeland was accompanied by a triumph. However, the trips were becoming more and more difficult for the writer himself - in 1882 a serious illness began to appear - cancer of the spine.

I.S. Turgenev felt and realized the approaching death, but endured it, as befits a master of philosophy, without fear and panic. The writer died in Bougival (near Paris) on September 3, 1883. According to his will, Turgenev's body was brought to Russia and buried at the Volkovsky cemetery in St. Petersburg.

Brief biography of Ivan Turgenev

Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev is a 19th-century Russian realist writer, poet, translator and corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Turgenev was born on October 28 (November 9), 1818 in the city of Oryol in a noble family. The writer's father was a retired officer, and his mother was a hereditary noblewoman. Turgenev's childhood passed on the family estate, where he had personal teachers, tutors, and serf nannies. In 1827, the Turgenev family moved to Moscow in order to give their children a decent education. There he studied at a boarding school, then studied with private teachers. The writer has been fluent in several foreign languages ​​since childhood, including English, French and German.

In 1833, Ivan entered Moscow University, and a year later he transferred to St. Petersburg to the verbal department. In 1838 he went to Berlin for lectures in classical philology. There he met Bakunin and Stankevich, meetings with whom were of great importance for the writer. For two years spent abroad, he managed to visit France, Italy, Germany and Holland. The return home took place in 1841. At the same time, he began to actively attend literary circles, where he met Gogol, Herzen, Aksakov, etc.

In 1843, Turgenev joined the office of the Minister of the Interior. In the same year, he met Belinsky, who had a considerable influence on the formation of the literary and social views of the young writer. In 1846, Turgenev wrote several works: Breter, Three Portraits, Freeloader, Provincial Woman, etc. In 1852, one of the writer's best stories, Mumu, appeared. The story was written while serving a link in Spassky-Lutovinovo. In 1852, Notes of a Hunter appeared, and after the death of Nicholas I, 4 major works by Turgenev were published: On the Eve, Rudin, Fathers and Sons, and Noble Nest.

Turgenev gravitated toward the circle of Western writers. In 1863, together with the Viardot family, he left for Baden-Baden, where he actively participated in cultural life and made acquaintances with the best writers of Western Europe. Among them were Dickens, George Sand, Prosper Merimee, Thackeray, Victor Hugo and many others. Soon he became the editor of foreign translators of Russian writers. In 1878 he was appointed vice-president at an international congress on literature held in Paris. The following year, Turgenev was awarded an honorary doctorate from Oxford University. Living abroad, he was also drawn to his homeland with his soul, which was reflected in the novel Smoke (1867). The largest in volume was his novel "Nov" (1877). I. S. Turgenev died near Paris on August 22 (September 3), 1883. The writer was buried according to his will in St. Petersburg.

Video short biography of Ivan Turgenev