Ivan Turgenev

Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev was a Russian writer and poet, a corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1860).

Ivan Turgenev was born on November 9, 1818, in Oryol. His father, Sergei Nikolayevich, was a retired cuirassier colonel. His mother, Varvara Petrovna Lutovinova, came from a fairly wealthy noble family. Until the age of 9, Ivan Turgenev lived in the family estate of Spasskoye-Lutovinovo, 10 km from Mtsensk, in Oryol Governorate. In 1827, the Turgenevs moved to Moscow in order to provide their children with an education; they bought a house on Samotyok.

Ivan first studied at Weidenhammer’s boarding school, then was enrolled as a boarder with Krause, the director of the Lazarev Institute. In 1833, the 15-year-old Turgenev entered the Faculty of Literature at Moscow University. A year later, after Ivan’s older brother joined the guard artillery, the family moved to St. Petersburg, and Ivan Turgenev transferred to St. Petersburg University.

In 1836, Turgenev completed the course with the degree of candidate student. Dreaming of a scientific career, he took his final examinations again the following year, received the degree of candidate, and in 1838 went to Germany. Settling in Berlin, Ivan devoted himself to study. While attending university lectures on the history of Roman and Greek literature, he studied the grammar of Ancient Greek and Latin at home.

In 1841, Turgenev returned to Russia. At the beginning of 1842, he submitted a request to Moscow University to be admitted to the examination for a Master of Philosophy degree. At the same time, he began his literary career. In 1846, the novellas “Bretter” and “Three Portraits” were published. Later he wrote such works as “The Parasite” (1848), “The Bachelor” (1849), “A Provincial Woman,” “A Month in the Country,” “Breakfast at the Marshal of the Nobility’s” (1856), “Mumu” (