Pyetushkov

by Ivan Turgenev

Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev November 9 [O.S. October 28] 1818 – September 3, 1883) was a Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright. His first major publication, a short story collection entitled A Sportsman's Sketches (1852), was a milestone of Russian Realism, and his novel Fathers and Sons (1862) is regarded as one of the major works of 19th-century fiction. Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev was born into a family of Russian land-owners in Oryol, Russia, on November 9, 1818 (October 28 Old Style). His father, Sergei Nikolaevich Turgenev, a colonel in the Russian cavalry, was a chronic philanderer. Ivan's mother, Varvara Petrovna Lutovinova, was a wealthy heiress, who had an unhappy childhood and suffered in her marriage. Ivan's father died when Ivan was sixteen, leaving him and his brother Nicolas to be brought up by their abusive mother. Ivan's childhood was a lonely one, in constant fear of his mother who beat him often. After the standard schooling for a son of a gentleman, Turgenev studied for one year at the University of Moscow and then moved to the University of Saint Petersburg from 1834 to 1837, focusing on Classics, Russian literature, and philology. He then studied, from 1838 until 1841, at the University of Berlin to study philosophy, particularly Hegel, and history. He returned to Saint Petersburg to complete his master's examination. Turgenev was impressed with German society and returned home believing that Russia could best improve itself by incorporating ideas from the Age of Enlightenment. Like many of his educated contemporaries, he was particularly opposed to serfdom. In 1841, Turgenev started his career in Russian civil service and spent two years working for the Ministry of Interior (1843-1845). When Turgenev was a child, a family serf had read to him verses from the Rossiad of Mikhail Kheraskov, a celebrated poet of the 18th century. Turgenev's early attempts in literature, poems, and sketches gave indications of genius and were favorably spoken of by Vissarion Belinsky, then the leading Russian literary critic. During the latter part of his life, Turgenev did not reside much in he lived either at Baden-Baden or Paris, often in proximity to the family of the celebrated opera singer Pauline Viardot, with whom he had a lifelong affair.

68 pages, Paperback

First published March 11, 2014

About the author

Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (Cyrillic: Иван Сергеевич Тургенев) was a novelist, poet, and dramatist, and now ranks as one of the towering figures of Russian literature. His major works include the short-story collection A Sportsman’s Sketches (1852) and the novels Rudin (1856), Home of the Gentry (1859), On the Eve (1860), and Fathers and Sons (1862).

These works offer realistic, affectionate portrayals of the Russian peasantry and penetrating studies of the Russian intelligentsia who were attempting to move the country into a new age. His masterpiece, Fathers and Sons, is considered one of the greatest novels of the nineteenth century.

Turgenev was a contemporary with Fyodor Dostoevsky and Leo Tolstoy. While these wrote about church and religion, Turgenev was more concerned with the movement toward social reform in Russia.

Reviews

[Fernando · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pietushkov es una nouvelle de Iván Turgueniev que narra de las vicisitudes de un teniente entrado ya en años, un poco tímido él, que se enamora de una joven aldeana de dieciséis años.
Toda la historia gira en un amor no correspondido y en las fallidas relaciones humanas entre estos dos personajes, que a su vez son secundados por la tía de la joven y el asistente de Pietushkov.

[Trounin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Иван описывал банальную ситуацию, обыденную для любого периода человеческого существования. Он сообщал о случае раннего сиротства и пренебрежительного отношения опекуна. Будучи малым ребёнком, герой повествования не мог препятствовать деятельности опекавшего, приведшего порученное ему состояние в упадок. Теперь оставалось читателю внимать, как герой повествования будет себя осознавать, чувствовать обречённость, почти ничего в итоге не получив из должного к нему перейти по наследству. Теперь ему сорок лет, начинать с нуля затруднительно и маловероятно. И что из этого должно следовать? Наиболее верно считать, что в такой ситуации Тургенев предпочтёт оказаться ещё раз, изменяя условия повествования, готовый представить вниманию читателя уже другое произведение — «Дневник лишнего человека».

(c) Trounin

[Edmund Bealby-wright]

After stories with Byronic villains, in 1847 Turgenev writes a tragicomedy about a timid man who falls for the girl in the baker's shop. There is a strain of comic dialogue with his servant, but in his admirable avoidance of hackneyed plot, Turgenev is left with no-plot. Perhaps this was an essential step in the development of his art. The reader cannot point to a single incident that belongs in a storybook. The reader is hard pressed to recall any incidents at all. As with the storyline so with the characters. In his avoidance of stock personality types he has left himself with minutely observed people with almost no character. The writing is subtle and tender, but Turgenev is not going to break his readers' hearts with this tale of non-events happening to a nonentity. This is the wilderness he must cross as a writer to get to the glorious works to come.

[Keely · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not quite sure what to say. No one writes unrequieted love, longing, passion and grief quite like Ivan Turgenev. This is definitely one of the best stories/novels of his I have read. It's deeply affecting and the emotions I felt while reading it, especially during the last few chapters, are still churning within me. I feel like Pyetushkov is a character I will not forget and this is definitely a story I won't forget.