TURGENEV, IVAN SERGEEVIĆ. — Russian writer, b. at Orel on 28 October 1818, d. on 22 August 1883 at Bougival in France. He spent a large part of his life in France and Germany and is generally considered the most “Western” of Russian writers.
This definition, which derives partly from Dostoevskij’s polemic against him and partly from the limpid clarity of his stories, has nevertheless often been reduced to commonplace judgments: in this regard, it is enough to think of the fine and profound descriptions of Russian nature and the Russian soul contained in Memorie di un cacciatore, perhaps his most perfect work.
He was acquainted with numerous Western men of letters of his time. His narrative output is vast. Alongside novels and stories that achieved very wide circulation and fame throughout the world, such as Un nido di nobili and Padri e figli, some of his most delicate and perfect works must be recalled, such as Primo amore, Acque primaverili, Il canto dell'amore trionfante and Poemetti in prosa. A most refined narrator, he was nevertheless impelled to follow closely the development of cultural and political life in Russia, and this interest found expression in works such as Padri e figli and Terra vergine, in which, alongside artistically remarkable pages, the tone of immediate journalistic inquiry sometimes predominates. T. is responsible for the creation of the term “nihilist,” used to designate the new Russian revolutionary generation that was coming to maturity and that passionately invoked formulas drawn from rationalism and materialism, utilitarianism and socialism. A sincerely humanitarian and democratic man, T. collaborated abroad for a certain period with Herzen. Padri e figli, however, brought him into conflict with the “young generation,” which accused him of having deliberately created a caricatured character in the figure of Bazarov. From the standpoint of Dostoevskij’s nationalist vision, T. appeared, on the other hand, as the great Russian gentleman who polemicized from the West against his own country while living on the fruits of that “serfdom” which he deplored. These opposing polemics having long since subsided, T. is regarded as one of the greatest Russian writers, an almost unsurpassed master of the Russian language, and a particularly gifted and profound narrator when he distances himself from the temptation of investigation. He was balanced in every respect and kept aloof from the Russian formulas of “realism,” as from all the schemes that were gaining currency among the intellectual youth of his country. Characteristic was his position of both respect and criticism toward Belinskij.