Turgenev, Ivan Sergeëvich (1818-1883)

Turgenev, Ivan Sergeëvich (1818-1883)

Russian novelist and poet, known for the realism and local color of his portrayals of life in 19th-century Russia, especially the conflicts between young, Westernized intellectuals and their conservative fathers. He is considered to have fixed the type of introspective, nihilist hero in Russian fiction, and is believed to have influenced George Sand, Flaubert, and Henry James in the technique of the novel.

His works include A Sportsman's Sketches ( 1847-1851); Rudin ( 1856); A Nest of Gentlefolk or A Nest of Nobles, also known as Liza ( 1859); Fathers and Sons ( 1862); On the Eve ( 1860); Smoke ( 1867); Virgin Soil ( 1876). Among other titles are The Gamekeeper at Home; A Lear of the Steppes; Torrens of Spring; Clara Milch; Dream Tales and Prose Poems.

Turgenev traveled a good deal in western Europe and was influenced by the ideas and techniques he encountered there. He was interested in the attempts of his time to westernize Russia, although his art had greater attractions for him than participation in active politics. He took a brief part in the movement to free the serfs, and was exiled to his country estate for calling Gogol "a great man" in one of his articles. Nationalistic authors, most notably Dostoyevsky, scorned Turgenev for his European ways and ideas, and the character of Karmanizov in The Possessed is considered to be a satirical portrait of the novelist.