His first work is the dramatic poem “Stheno”, written in.
“The Life and Work of Turgenev” - Library. Having settled in Berlin, Turgenev diligently took up his studies. Issues for discussion. Last years life. The image of Turgenev's girl was not motionless. L. N. Tolstoy. I.S. Turgenev was born on October 28, 1818 in Orel. Project topics. Since 1850, Spasskoye-Lutovinovo began to belong to I. S. Turgenev.
“Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev” - mother, Varvara Petrovna, is from the wealthy landowner family of the Lutovinovs. Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev. IN noble family. Turgenev spent his childhood on the family estate Spassky-Lutovinovo. I.S. Turgenev. Great Russian writer. The shield is topped with a noble helmet and a crown with three ostrich feathers. Further education continued under the guidance of private teachers.
“Biography of the writer Turgenev” - Turgenev had a significant influence on the development of Russian and world literature. Social revival began among students and among broad sections of society. The following essays from folk life published in the same magazine for five years. Master of Language and psychological analysis. In his later years, he created the lyrical and philosophical “Poems in Prose” (1882).
“Biography and creativity of Turgenev” - Recent years. The influence of M.Yu. Lermontov. Old castle on the banks of the Rhine. Questions. Asya's story. Biography of I.S. Turgenev. "Notes of a Hunter." Years of study. Start creative activity. The story of the relationship between Asya and the narrator. Family estate. St. Petersburg University. "Turgenev's girl" The writer's childhood.
“Turgenev biography” - “Erudite”. One of the main themes in the novel is the theme of relations between generations. Heroes and works 3 (5 minds). Novel “Fathers and Sons” 1 (1 mind). Contemporaries 2 (3 minds). Pig in a poke 2 (3 minds). Heroes and works 2 (3 minds). Imposed by love. Biography 2 (3 minds). Contemporaries 3 (5 minds). Which of the heroes of the novel “Fathers and Sons” is depicted below?
“Turgenev as a writer” - I.S. Turgenev. Tombstone at the grave of I.S. Turgenev. Standing: L.N. Tolstoy, D.V. Grigorovich. Spasskoye-Lutovinovo. Gustave Flaubert. " Noble Nest"1859. "Fathers and Sons" 1862. Opening of the monument to Pushkin in Moscow. Even under Turgenev’s mother, the dining room was one of the main rooms of the house. A group of employees of the Sovremennik magazine.
There are 28 presentations in total
He understands Rus'...
V.G. Belinsky
Turgenev lived in literature great life, was familiar with all Russian writers, except Chekhov, and with many European ones.
The childhood of the future writer
By birth, Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev belonged to an old and wealthy noble family. Turgenev's ancestors were mentioned in the chronicles of the times of Ivan the Terrible. By the beginning of the 19th century, the Turgenev family became impoverished, and the young lieutenant of the cavalry regiment, Sergei Nikolaevich Turgenev, decided to improve his fortune by marrying one of the richest landowners of the Oryol province, Varvara Petrovna Lutovinova. The bride was 6 years older than the groom, was not very beautiful, but was very smart, well educated, possessed delicate taste And strong character. Perhaps these qualities, along with wealth, influenced the young officer's decision.
The Turgenevs spent the first years after their marriage in Orel. Here their first-born Nikolai was born, and two years later, on November 9 (October 28), 1818, their second son, Ivan. The future writer spent his childhood on his mother’s estate, Spassky-Lutovinovo, near the city of Mtsensk, Oryol province.
Ivan was Varvara Petrovna’s favorite son, but it was a difficult, jealous, selfish love. The mother demanded from everyone around her, especially from her son Ivan, boundless adoration, renunciation of all other interests for the sake of love for her. Until the end of her life, two feelings fought in Turgenev’s meek and tender heart: love for her mother and the desire to free herself from her tyrannical guardianship. His father, preoccupied only with himself, did not interfere in anything. Varvara Petrovna was in charge, showing her despotic character to no end. Senseless cruelty was strangely combined with a love of beauty. She loved nature very much: the luxurious Lutovinovo park had no equal in the area. Was on the estate home theater, rich library.
Education
Trying to give children best education The Turgenevs spared neither money nor their own efforts. Already in early childhood future writer spoke and wrote well in French, German, and English. Special attention in the family they paid attention to their knowledge of the Russian language.
In 1827, the parents moved to Moscow to continue their children's education. At first, Ivan Sergeevich studied in private boarding schools, then, under the guidance of teachers invited to the house, he prepared to enter the university. At the age of fifteen, Turgenev successfully passed entrance exams to Moscow University, and after completing the first year he moved to St. Petersburg. His first literary experiments: dramatic poem “Sten” and several works in a romantic spirit.
Turgenev devotes a lot of time to the study of philosophy, ancient languages, history, literature - German, French, English, Italian. He is also interested in music, painting, and theater. After graduating from St. Petersburg University, Turgenev entered Berlin University, traveled to Italy, getting acquainted with the treasures of art, walked through Switzerland... He was an erudite in the highest sense of the word.
After graduating from the University of Berlin, Turgenev returned to his homeland and took master's exams in St. Petersburg in the spring of 1842, but everything was in vain: the authorities did not allow the restoration of the department of philosophy, which was closed after the Decembrist uprising. Dreams of a scientific career were crumbling.
Service
In June 1843, Turgenev entered service in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Turgenev’s superior in service was Vladimir Ivanovich Dal, a famous writer and the greatest expert on the Russian language. However official activity did not captivate Turgenev - after a year and a half, Turgenev retired.
First works
In 1843, the first edition was published as a separate edition. significant work I.S. Turgenev's poem "Parasha". Turgenev called it a novel in verse. In the same year, the writer met the talented singer Polina Viardot, who became his closest friend for life.
Turgenev’s mother, dissatisfied with the fact that her son chose a writing career unworthy of a nobleman, in her opinion, and became interested in the “damned gypsy,” as she called Pauline Viardot, stops sending him money. However, wanting to keep her son, who was leaving her influence, she achieved the opposite: Turgenev moved even more away from his mother and became professional writer, living off his literary earnings.
Notes of a Hunter
During 1847–1851 Turgenev wrote a series of essays that made up the hunter's notes. Turgenev, the first of the Russian writers, showed the living souls of ordinary Russian peasants. Each story of Turgenev is a statement that a man is a person worthy of respect.
By order of Nicholas I, the censor who missed separate edition"Notes of a Hunter" was removed from office. Turgenev was placed under arrest at the police station. While under arrest, he writes the story “Mumu”. Portraying the old lady, the writer gives her the features of his mother, and the story is based on a real incident from her life. In its anti-serfdom orientation, Mumu is a direct continuation of Notes of a Hunter.
Turgenev is looking for ways leading to transformation social order Russia. The will and intelligence, righteousness and kindness that he discovered in the Russian peasant already seem to the writer insufficient for this purpose. Turgenev addresses people from the educated class. The peasantry is relegated to the periphery of his work.
Homework
Preparation of messages based on “Notes of a Hunter” (2–3 stories), the novels “Rudin”, “The Noble Nest”, “On the Eve”, “Smoke” (optional).
Literature
Vladimir Korovin. Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev. // Encyclopedias for children “Avanta+”. Volume 9. Russian literature. Part one. M., 1999
N.I. Yakushin. I.S. Turgenev in life and work. M.: Russian word, 1998
L.M. Lotman. I.S. Turgenev. History of Russian literature. Volume three. Leningrad: Nauka, 1982. pp. 120 – 160
Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev - famous Russian writer, poet, translator, member St. Petersburg Academy Sciences (1860).
Orel city
Lithography. 1850s
“On Monday, October 28, 1818, a son, Ivan, 12 inches tall, was born in Orel, in his house, at 12 o’clock in the morning,” Varvara Petrovna Turgeneva made this entry in her memorial book.
Ivan Sergeevich was her second son. The first - Nikolai - was born two years earlier, and in 1821 another boy appeared in the Turgenev family - Sergei.
Parents
It is difficult to imagine more dissimilar people than the parents of the future writer.
Mother - Varvara Petrovna, nee Lutovinova - was a powerful woman, intelligent and fairly educated, but did not shine with beauty. She was short, stocky, with wide face, spoiled by smallpox. And only the eyes were good: large, dark and shiny.
Varvara Petrovna was already thirty years old when she met the young officer Sergei Nikolaevich Turgenev. He came from an old noble family, which, however, had already become impoverished by that time. All that was left of the former wealth was a small estate. Sergei Nikolaevich was handsome, elegant, and smart. And it is not surprising that he made an irresistible impression on Varvara Petrovna, and she made it clear that if Sergei Nikolaevich wooed, there would be no refusal.
The young officer did not think for long. And although the bride was six years older than him and was not attractive, the vast lands and thousands of serf souls that she owned determined Sergei Nikolaevich’s decision.
At the beginning of 1816, the marriage took place, and the young couple settled in Orel.
Varvara Petrovna idolized and was afraid of her husband. She gave him complete freedom and did not restrict him in anything. Sergei Nikolaevich lived the way he wanted, without burdening himself with worries about his family and household. In 1821, he retired and moved with his family to his wife’s estate, Spasskoye-Lutovinovo, seventy miles from Orel.
The future writer spent his childhood in Spassky-Lutovinovo near the city of Mtsensk, Oryol province. Much of Turgenev’s work is connected with this family estate of his mother Varvara Petrovna, a stern and domineering woman. In the estates and estates he described, the features of his native “nest” are invariably visible. Turgenev considered himself indebted to the Oryol region, its nature and inhabitants.
The Turgenev estate Spasskoye-Lutovinovo was located in a birch grove on a gentle hill. Around the spacious two-story manor house with columns, adjoined by semicircular galleries, there was a huge park with linden alleys, orchards and flower beds.
Years of study
Raising children in early age Varvara Petrovna was mainly involved in this. Gusts of care, attention and tenderness were replaced by attacks of bitterness and petty tyranny. On her orders, children were punished for the slightest offenses, and sometimes for no reason. “I have nothing to remember my childhood,” Turgenev said many years later. “Not a single bright memory. I was afraid of my mother like fire. I was punished for every trifle - in a word, I was drilled like a recruit.”
The Turgenev house had a fairly large library. Huge cabinets contained works of ancient writers and poets, works by French encyclopedists: Voltaire, Rousseau, Montesquieu, novels by W. Scott, de Stael, Chateaubriand; works of Russian writers: Lomonosov, Sumarokov, Karamzin, Dmitriev, Zhukovsky, as well as books on history, natural science, botany. Soon the library became Turgenev’s favorite place in the house, where he sometimes spent whole days. To a large extent, the boy’s interest in literature was supported by his mother, who read quite a lot and knew well French literature and Russian poetry late XVIII - early XIX century.
At the beginning of 1827, the Turgenev family moved to Moscow: it was time to prepare the children to enter college. educational establishments. First, Nikolai and Ivan were placed in the private boarding house of Winterkeller, and then in the boarding house of Krause, later called the Lazarev Institute of Oriental Languages. The brothers did not study here for long - only a few months.
Their further education was entrusted to home teachers. With them they studied Russian literature, history, geography, mathematics, foreign languages - German, French, English - drawing. Russian history was taught by the poet I. P. Klyushnikov, and the Russian language was taught by D. N. Dubensky, a famous researcher of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.”
University years. 1833-1837.
Turgenev was not yet fifteen years old when, having successfully passed the entrance exams, he became a student in the literature department of Moscow University.
Moscow University at that time was the main center of advanced Russian thought. Among the young people who came to the university in the late 1820s and early 1830s, the memory of the Decembrists, who took up arms against the autocracy, was kept sacred. Students closely followed the events that were taking place in Russia and Europe at that time. Turgenev later said that it was during these years that he began to develop “very free, almost republican convictions.”
Of course, Turgenev had not yet developed a coherent and consistent worldview in those years. He was barely sixteen years old. It was a period of growth, a period of search and doubt.
Turgenev studied at Moscow University for only one year. After his older brother Nikolai joined the Guards Artillery stationed in St. Petersburg, his father decided that the brothers should not be separated, and therefore in the summer of 1834 Turgenev applied for a transfer to the philological department of the Faculty of Philosophy of St. Petersburg University.
Before the Turgenev family had time to settle in the capital, Sergei Nikolaevich unexpectedly died. The death of his father deeply shocked Turgenev and made him think seriously for the first time about life and death, about man’s place in the eternal movement of nature. The young man’s thoughts and experiences were reflected in a number of lyric poems, as well as in the dramatic poem “The Wall” (1834). Turgenev's first literary experiments were created under the strong influence of the then dominant romanticism in literature, and above all the poetry of Byron. Turgenev's hero is an ardent, passionate man, full of enthusiastic aspirations, who does not want to put up with the evil world around him, but cannot find use for his powers and ultimately dies tragically. Later, Turgenev spoke very skeptically about this poem, calling it “an absurd work in which, with childish ineptitude, a slavish imitation of Byron’s Manfred was expressed.”
However, it should be noted that the poem “Wall” reflected the young poet’s thoughts about the meaning of life and the purpose of man in it, that is, questions that many great poets of that time tried to resolve: Goethe, Schiller, Byron.
After Moscow, the capital's university seemed colorless to Turgenev. Here everything was different: there was no atmosphere of friendship and camaraderie to which he was accustomed, there was no desire for lively communication and debate, few people were interested in questions public life. And the composition of the students was different. Among them were many young men from aristocratic families who had little interest in science.
Teaching at St. Petersburg University was carried out according to a fairly broad program. But the students did not receive serious knowledge. Interesting teachers did not have. Only the professor of Russian literature Pyotr Aleksandrovich Pletnev turned out to be closest to Turgenev.
While studying at the university, Turgenev developed a deep interest in music and theater. He often attended concerts, opera and drama theaters.
After graduating from the university, Turgenev decided to continue his education and in May 1838 he went to Berlin.
Studying abroad. 1838-1940.
After St. Petersburg, Berlin seemed to Turgenev a prim and a little boring city. “What can you say about a city,” he wrote, “where they get up at six o’clock in the morning, have dinner at two and go to bed before the chickens, about a city where at ten o’clock in the evening only melancholic watchmen laden with beer wander through the deserted streets...”
But the university auditoriums at the University of Berlin were always crowded. The lectures were attended by not only students, but also volunteers - officers and officials who wanted to get involved in science.
Already the first classes at the University of Berlin revealed that Turgenev had gaps in his education. Later he wrote: “I studied philosophy, ancient languages, history and studied Hegel with special zeal..., but at home I was forced to cram Latin grammar and Greek, which I knew poorly. And I wasn’t one of the worst candidates.”
Turgenev diligently comprehended the wisdom of German philosophy, and in free time attended theaters and concerts. Music and theater became a true need for him. He listened to the operas of Mozart and Gluck, the symphonies of Beethoven, and watched the dramas of Shakespeare and Schiller.
Living abroad, Turgenev did not stop thinking about his homeland, about his people, about their present and future.
Even then, in 1840, Turgenev believed in the great destiny of his people, in their strength and resilience.
Finally, the course of lectures at the University of Berlin ended, and in May 1841 Turgenev returned to Russia and most seriously began to prepare himself for scientific activity. He dreamed of becoming a professor of philosophy.
Return to Russia. Service.
Enthusiasm philosophical sciences- one of characteristic features social movement in Russia in the late 1830s and early 1840s. Advanced people of that time they tried to explain with the help of abstract philosophical categories the world and the contradictions of Russian reality, to find answers to the pressing issues of our time that worried them.
However, Turgenev's plans changed. He became disillusioned with idealistic philosophy and gave up hope of resolving the issues that worried him with its help. In addition, Turgenev came to the conclusion that science was not his calling.
At the beginning of 1842, Ivan Sergeevich submitted a petition to the Minister of Internal Affairs to enlist him in the service and was soon accepted by the official special assignments to the office under the command of V.I. Dahl, famous writer and ethnographer. However, Turgenev did not serve for long and retired in May 1845.
Stay on public service gave him the opportunity to collect a lot of vital material related primarily to the tragic situation of the peasants and destructive power serfdom, since in the office where Turgenev served, cases of punishment of serfs, all kinds of abuses by officials, etc. were often considered. It was at this time that Turgenev developed a sharply negative attitude towards the bureaucratic order prevailing in government institutions, to the callousness and selfishness of St. Petersburg officials. In general, life in St. Petersburg made a depressing impression on Turgenev.
Creativity of I. S. Turgenev.
The first work I. S. Turgenev can be considered the dramatic poem “The Wall” (1834), which he wrote in iambic pentameter as a student, and in 1836 showed to his university teacher P. A. Pletnev.
The first publication in print was a short review of the book by A. N. Muravyov “Journey to Russian Holy Places” (1836). Many years later, Turgenev explained the appearance of this first printed work: “I had just turned seventeen years old, I was a student at St. Petersburg University; my relatives, in view of securing my future career, recommended me to Serbinovich, the then publisher of the Journal of the Ministry of Education. Serbinovich, whom I saw only once, probably wanting to test my abilities, handed me... Muravyov’s book so that I could sort it out; I wrote something about it - and now, almost forty years later, I find out that this “something” was worthy of embossing.”
His first works were poetic. His poems, starting from the late 1830s, began to appear in the magazines Sovremennik and Domestic notes" In them one could clearly hear the motives of the then dominant romantic movement, echoes of the poetry of Zhukovsky, Kozlov, Benediktov. Most of the poems are elegiac reflections about love, about aimlessly lived youth. They, as a rule, were permeated with motives of sadness, sadness, and melancholy. Turgenev himself was later very skeptical about his poems and poems written at this time, and never included them in his collected works. “I feel a positive, almost physical antipathy towards my poems...,” he wrote in 1874, “I would give a lot for them not to exist in the world at all.”
Turgenev was unfair in speaking so harshly about his poetic experiments. Among them you can find many talentedly written poems, many of which were highly appreciated by readers and critics: “Ballad”, “Alone again, alone...”, “Spring Evening”, “Foggy Morning, Gray Morning...” and others . Some of them were later set to music and became popular romances.
The beginning of his literary activity
Turgenev counted the year 1843, when his poem “Parasha” appeared in print, which opened whole line works dedicated to debunking romantic hero. “Parasha” met with a very sympathetic review from Belinsky, who saw in the young author “extraordinary poetic talent,” “true observation, deep thought,” “the son of our time, carrying in his chest all his sorrows and questions.”
First prose work
I. S. Turgenev - essay “Khor and Kalinich” (1847), published in the magazine “Sovremennik” and which opened a whole cycle of works under common name"Notes of a Hunter" (1847-1852). “Notes of a Hunter” was created by Turgenev at the turn of the forties and early fifties and appeared in print in the form of separate stories and essays. In 1852, they were combined by the writer into a book, which became major event in Russian public and literary life. According to M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, “Notes of a Hunter” “laid the beginning whole literature, which has as its object the people and their needs.”
"Notes of a Hunter" is a book about people's life in the era of serfdom. The images of peasants, distinguished by a sharp practical mind, a deep understanding of life, a sober view of the world around them, who are capable of feeling and understanding the beautiful, responding to others’ grief and suffering, emerge as if alive from the pages of “Notes of a Hunter.” No one had portrayed the people like this in Russian literature before Turgenev. And it is no coincidence that, after reading the first essay from “Notes of a Hunter - “Khor and Kalinich,” Belinsky noticed that Turgenev “came to the people from a side from which no one had approached him before.”
Most Turgenev wrote “Notes of a Hunter” in France.
Works by I. S. Turgenev
Stories: collection of stories “Notes of a Hunter” (1847-1852), “Mumu” (1852), “The Story of Father Alexei” (1877), etc.;
Stories:“Asya” (1858), “First Love” (1860), “ Spring waters"(1872), etc.;
Novels:“Rudin” (1856), “The Noble Nest” (1859), “On the Eve” (1860), “Fathers and Sons” (1862), “Smoke” (1867), “New” (1877);
Plays:“Breakfast at the Leader’s” (1846), “Where it’s thin, it breaks” (1847), “Bachelor” (1849), “Provincial Woman” (1850), “A Month in the Country” (1854), etc.;
Poetry: dramatic poem “Wall” (1834), poems (1834-1849), poem “Parasha” (1843), etc., literary and philosophical “Poems in Prose” (1882);
Translations Byron D., Goethe I., Whitman W., Flaubert G.
As well as criticism, journalism, memoirs and correspondence.
Love through life
With the famous French singer Turgenev met Polina Viardot back in 1843, in St. Petersburg, where she came on tour. The singer performed a lot and successfully, Turgenev attended all her performances, told everyone about her, praised her everywhere, and quickly separated himself from the crowd of her countless fans. Their relationship developed and soon reached its climax. He spent the summer of 1848 (like the previous one, like the next one) in Courtavenel, on Pauline’s estate.
Love for Polina Viardot remained both happiness and torment for Turgenev until his last days: Viardot was married, did not intend to divorce her husband, but did not drive Turgenev away either. He felt on a leash. but I was unable to break this thread. At thirty s extra years the writer, in fact, turned into a member of the Viardot family. He survived Polina's husband (a man, apparently, of angelic patience), Louis Viardot, by only three months.
Sovremennik magazine
Belinsky and his like-minded people had long dreamed of having their own press organ. This dream came true only in 1846, when Nekrasov and Panaev managed to lease the Sovremennik magazine, founded at one time by A. S. Pushkin and published after his death by P. A. Pletnev. Turgenev took a direct part in organizing the new magazine. According to P.V. Annenkov, Turgenev was “the soul of the whole plan, its organizer... Nekrasov consulted with him every day; the magazine was filled with his works.”
In January 1847, the first issue of the updated Sovremennik was published. Turgenev published several works in it: a cycle of poems, a review of the tragedy of N.V. Kukolnik “Lieutenant General Patkul...”, “Modern Notes” (together with Nekrasov). But the real highlight of the magazine’s first book was the essay “Khor and Kalinich,” which opened a whole series of works under the general title “Notes of a Hunter.”
Recognition in the West
Since the 60s, the name of Turgenev has become widely known in the West. Turgenev maintained close friendly relations with many Western European writers. He was well acquainted with P. Mérimée, J. Sand, G. Flaubert, E. Zola, A. Daudet, Guy de Maupassant, and knew closely many figures of English and German culture. They all considered Turgenev an outstanding realist artist and not only highly appreciated his works, but also studied from him. Addressing Turgenev, J. Sand said: “Teacher! “We all must go through your school!”
Turgenev spent almost his entire life in Europe, visiting Russia only occasionally. He was a prominent figure in the literary life of the West. Communicated closely with many French writers, and in 1878 he even chaired (together with Victor Hugo) the International Literary Congress in Paris. It is no coincidence that it was with Turgenev that the worldwide recognition of Russian literature began.
The greatest merit Turgenev was that he was an active promoter of Russian literature and culture in the West: he himself translated the works of Russian writers into French and German languages, edited translations of Russian authors, contributed in every possible way to the publication of the works of his compatriots in different countries Western Europe, introduced the Western European public to the works of Russian composers and artists. Turgenev said, not without pride, about this side of his activity: “I consider it the great happiness of my life that I have brought my fatherland somewhat closer to the perception of the European public.”
Connection with Russia
Almost every spring or summer Turgenev came to Russia. Each of his visits became an event. The writer was a welcome guest everywhere. He was invited to speak at all kinds of literary and charity evenings, at friendly meetings.
At the same time, Ivan Sergeevich retained the “lordly” habits of a native Russian nobleman until the end of his life. Myself appearance betrayed its origin to the inhabitants of European resorts, despite its impeccable ownership foreign languages. IN best pages his prose evokes the silence of manor life landowner Russia. Hardly any of the writers - Turgenev's contemporaries - have such a pure and correct Russian language, capable, as he himself used to say, of “performing miracles in skillful hands.” Turgenev often wrote his novels “on the topic of the day.”
Last time Turgenev visited his homeland in May 1881. To his friends, he repeatedly “expressed his determination to return to Russia and settle there.” However, this dream did not come true. At the beginning of 1882, Turgenev became seriously ill, and moving was no longer out of the question. But all his thoughts were at home, in Russia. He thought about her, bedridden with a serious illness, about her future, about the glory of Russian literature.
Shortly before his death, he expressed a wish to be buried in St. Petersburg, at the Volkov cemetery, next to Belinsky.
Last will the writer was fulfilled
"Poems in Prose".
“Poems in prose” are rightly considered the final chord of the writer’s literary activity. They reflected almost all the themes and motives of his work, as if re-experienced by Turgenev in his declining years. He himself considered “Poems in Prose” only sketches of his future works.
Turgenev named his lyrical miniatures“Selenia” (“Senile”), but the editor of “Bulletin of Europe” Stasyu-levich replaced it with another one that remained forever - “Poems in Prose”. In his letters, Turgenev sometimes called them “Zigzags,” thereby emphasizing the contrast of themes and motifs, images and intonations, and the unusualness of the genre. The writer feared that “the river of time in its flow” would “carry away these light leaves.” But “Poems in Prose” met with the most cordial reception and forever entered the golden fund of our literature. It is not for nothing that P. V. Annenkov called them “a fabric of the sun, rainbow and diamonds, women’s tears and the nobility of men’s thoughts,” expressing the general opinion of the reading public.
“Poems in prose” is an amazing fusion of poetry and prose into a kind of unity that allows you to accommodate “ the whole world"into the grain of small reflections, called by the author "the last breaths of... an old man." But these “sighs” brought to this day the inexhaustibility vital energy writer.
Monuments to I. S. Turgenev
Steno's room
Steno (one)
It's easier for me. Everything that I carried in my chest, grief and suffering, I poured into someone else’s chest. This old man - He understood me. Oh, at least 535 I will know that there is One under this sky Living being, to whom I, perhaps, can trust myself.
Until now, I trusted my suffering to the Silent Night. Oh, if only 540 She could retell everything that lies here (placing her hand on her chest) like a stone on a grave, people wouldn’t believe her. No, no, they wouldn't understand me. Me with all my heart ordinary people, 545 No - they won’t understand. I am tall to them. When I was young at heart and believed in love, I knew one creature who was equal to me. Oh, I will never forget her!
550 We were kindred souls, And we understood each other. Two We made up the world - and it was wonderful, Like everything that is not human on earth.
In her eyes I read her soul, 555 In my eyes there was my soul...
But her spirit was too wet and large for the body of a gentle maiden.
He tore with contempt the barrier of His mighty powers. And I... damned, 560 Stayed here. And from then on I searched in vain for a strong, great soul.
All this is so insignificant in front of her.
With yours petty passions people are disgusted with me. _My_ world was empty for me, 565 And this world was small for me. A proud desire arose within me so that no one would know my suffering, And I entered into a struggle with my fate, And if I fall, then people will know, 570 What the will of a person means. They put this name low, And I want to raise it - despite the fact that people are not worth it.
Silence
(Approaches the window.) There is a storm in the sky. The wind drives the clouds 575 with its black wings. Sometimes the sky explodes with lightning. The sea moves in high foamy waves.
As if indignant that he couldn’t rush to the ground. Oh, wonderful!
580 How I love it when nature, angrily, mighty, gathers all its strength and bursts into a storm. There is something dear to me in the wild torment of the sky, And inspiration will light up like lightning 585 In the sanctuary of the soul, and my heart As if it’s ready to burst out of my chest...
Oh, I love - I love destruction!
(Mattheo enters.)
Signor!.. Silent. Again! Some wanderer wants to see you.
What do people care about me 590 What do I care about them? Who is he?
He pleads with you to those who once saved you.
Oh, it's Giacoppo! Well... enter it.
(Ugh<оит>Matteo, in<одит>Giacoppo.)
Giacoppo, I wasn't waiting for you.
Giacoppo
Right, sir?
What's the question, fisherman?
Giacoppo
Yes, I'm a fisherman.
595 And thank God! I'm not like you, I don't know what's good and bad, Between people. And I'm free, sir, I'm having fun God's peace look at people too. I can live freely, 600 But I have a sister.
A! Julia!
Giacoppo
Better I swear by Saint Gennoarius (*) - it would be better, (* Saint, patron of fishermen.
(Note in the first printed text.)) If only you didn’t know her name!
Yes, sir. And you don’t look at me with such contempt and pride. I am pure 605 Before God and people, and I boldly meet your gaze. I am at peace.
Listen...
Well, continue.
Giacoppo
You may have forgotten that I once brought you into my house without life and cold. I thanked God 610 for allowing Me to do good. And, sir, you seemed kind to me. Until then we did not know grief. My Juliet was playful and cheerful. One day 615 I saw tears in her eyes and sadness on her young brow. And I found out what she loves. You... _you_, Steno, They answered her that she was sorry for you... sir. I swore by God, 620 That I would learn everything from you. I'm here and waiting for an answer.
Listen. I listened to you in cold blood. And I felt sorry for you. I understand. But I swear that Julia is innocent. I am not able 625 to love her... Giacoppo, You cannot understand me, but I don’t know love.
Giacoppo
I believe you. But my Julia...
Oh, how much trouble you have caused, Stheno!
It will kill her. And before me 630 She will wither. God! God, you sent us a time of trial, but I swear to you, if my Julia...
If she’s gone, oh then I won’t need to know who’s guilty.
635 Then let God judge me.
Jacoppo...
I feel sorry for him. I looked at him as the ideal of what man once was. And I put the fire of torment in his chest 640 And stood between him and happiness. Steno, Yes, it will be hard for you to die. . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
(Loudly and imperiously.) Matteo!
(In<одит>Matteo.)
Wall (muffled and gusty)
Ah!.. stay here!..
Stay here, Matteo... I'm scared 645 To be alone... and a secret horror is pressing and pressing in my chest... My heart is telling me that something menacing is approaching me...
My demon is coming towards me...
Signor, signor, I'm scared...
Steno (getting wilder and wilder)
The candle goes out
He's close. It blows over me, 650 Matteo... something unearthly...
Oh... shut up! He approaches with silent steps, and woe to me!.. But, Stheno, are you like a timid maiden... Oh, I’m ashamed - Let my blood freeze in my chest 655 And my eyes dry up when I meet someone who has no name... But I... here he is!
Madonna... help!
(He faints.)
A sound is heard above, as if a string has broken. A white bloody figure gradually forms in the darkness
Wall... Wall... Wall...
Steno (leaning on the table)
Silence
Oh, in the name of him 660 Who has power over you - to everyone who is higher than you, I conjure You - who are you?
Silence
By my knowledge...
With my torment I conjure You - who are you?
Your demon.
You... My demon, 665 And this blood...
I took The purest blood your chest.
Steno (whispers)
In you I saw a wondrous mind, seething with power, full of thoughts.
And I said: he won’t be great.
670 With my destructive breath I will defile his soul.
He will be mine, or I will be his... With you, it was a difficult battle for me, But I fulfilled the prediction...
675 I am your lord!
You... Lord Stheno!
And you're telling me this! Damn it!
I know - there is a secret before which You are a pale slave.
But there is no power in the world before which 680 I would kneel. And even, When the heart that suffers so much is crushed in my chest, I will be Stheno.
Everything disappears.
Oh, I feel sick! He disappeared, but I know that he is here. I don’t want 685 minutes to stoop to sorrow; But it’s hard for me to be under him forever.
Torment! and live like that! no, better, oh, better to die! It's too hard for me!
(After a minute of silence.) But, Stheno... just think... what to choose - 690 Insignificance or suffering?
