A classic of Russian literature, a genius and a quiet revolutionary - Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev - significantly influenced the development of culture and thought in our country. His books inspired and taught more than one generation of the youth of our country. Although few today know what influenced the formation of the writer's worldview, how he lived, worked, and also where Turgenev was born.
Earlier childhood
It is customary to begin a study of the work of any writer with a study of his childhood, first impressions, as well as the environment that influenced him in one way or another. Ignorant people, especially schoolchildren, confuse where Turgenev was born, in which city, calling his mother’s estate the birthplace. In fact, the Russian classic, although he spent most of his childhood there, was still born in Orel.
Researchers of the work of the famous writer of the 19th century note that all the childhood impressions of the Russian classic were subsequently reflected in his works. The time and place where Turgenev was born became the determining factors in his attitude to the existing government.
Reflection of childhood memories in literature
Ivan Sergeyevich came from an ancient noble family, his father - a sophisticated, noble, favorite of women and society - in sharp contrast with the imperious and tyrannical mother, Varvara Petrovna, nee Lutovinova. Later, all the memories of where Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev was born, grew up and raised, will be included in some plots of his works. And the images of mother and grandmother will become the prototypes of the imperious and heartless landowners from the series “Notes of the hunter”.
The area where Turgenev was born was rich in true Russian traditions and ancient customs. Ivan Sergeyevich with pleasure listened to the stories of serfs of his mother, imbued with their dreams and suffering. It was here, in the family estate, that the writer realized what slavery was, and fiercely hated this phenomenon. His childhood impressions formed an unshakable position of the writer, all his life he advocated the freedom of every person, regardless of his origin.
The most striking image of Turgenev’s creativity is a withering old manor, which personified the decline of the nobility, grinding souls and deeds of the intelligentsia. All these thoughts were inspired precisely by the situation of the tribal nest.
Manor Spasskoye-Lutovinovo
When the question arises of where Turgenev was born, everyone immediately remembers the picture from the school textbook. Linden alley, rays of the setting sun penetrating through the leaves and an old house with white columns. Not everyone will remember the name of the estate where Turgenev was born, and yet the local situation greatly influenced the writer's work, one can say that Russian literary classics were born here.
Here, in forced exile, the novels The Inn and the unpublished work Two Generations, the essay On Nightingales, and the famous novel about the failed revolutionary Rudin were written. Silence and natural splendor reigned here, all this was conducive to creativity and self-criticism. It is not surprising that the classic always returned here after long trips to European countries.
Turgenev was not only a verbal opponent of slavery, after he gave freedom to his serfs (many of whom remained in the service as free people), the writer organized a school for children in the estate and a kind of home for the elderly. Until the end of his life, Ivan Sergeyevich adhered to European traditions of respecting the freedoms of every person.
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After the death of his mother, the writer ceded most of his inheritance to his brother Nikolai, but left the only place where he was happy - the Spasskoye-Lutovinovo family estate. It was here that Nicholas I sent him in the hope of reasoning the obstinate writer. But the punishment failed, Ivan Sergeevich released all his serfs and continued to write books that were objectionable to the court.
Other geniuses of Russian literature often came to the place where Ivan Turgenev was born and where he was imprisoned by decree of the emperor. To support the comrade, Nikolai Nekrasov, Athanasius Fet and Leo Tolstoy visited at Spasskoye-Lutovinovo at different times. After each trip abroad, Turgenev returns here, to the family estate. Here he writes Noble Nest, Fathers and Sons, and The Eve, and no serious philological study of these works is possible without correlating the events of the novels with the history of the Spasskoye-Lutovinovo estate.
Turgenev Museum
Today in Russia there are many abandoned and destroyed noble estates. Many of them were destroyed during the Civil War, some were nationalized or demolished, and some simply collapsed due to time and lack of repair.
The history of the estate where Ivan Turgenev was born is also quite tragic. The house burned several times, the property was confiscated, and the famous alleys were overgrown with dense grass. But thanks to connoisseurs of Russian classical literature, even in Soviet times, the estate was restored according to the remaining drawings and drawings. The garden was gradually put in order, and today the museum of Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev, a world classic and the famous genius of Russian literature, is open here.