Ivan Turgenev (1818–1883)

Ivan Turgenev (1818–1883)

The collection, dedicated to the bicentenary of the birth of Ivan S. Turgenev, classical Russian writer, novelist and poet, playwright, translator, essayist, includes digitized books, articles from periodicals, archival documents and visual materials, which shed light on the writer’s life and oeuvre, and texts of his works.

The uniqueness of Ivan Turgenev’s artistic world is the result of the writer’s sharp eye for latest trends in life. It was his novel “Fathers and Sons” that presented a new type of a person that developed in the 1860s - a nihilist - a person, who casts doubt on the generally accepted values and ideals. The term "nihilism" was popularized by Turgenev. Publication of chapters of the novel in the 1860 and 1861 issues of “Russkiy Vestnik” magazine instantly led to a discussion in print about a new type of a man. Literary and critical articles of “Russkiy Vestnik”, which spotlight this issue, are available in the collection.

The writer created unforgettable female characters. In Turgenev’s works it is usually women, superior creatures, who awake the best qualities inside male characters - Rudin, Lavretsky, Bazarov, Nezhdanov. The well-known term “Turgenev girl” was invented not by chance.

Ivan S. Turgenev’s oeuvre had an influence on the poetics of Russian novel of the second half of the 19th century and the development of Russian literature in general.

A total of 85 items build up the collection.

The collection is based on archival documents, books, visual materials from the holdings of N. K. Krupskaya Moscow Regional State Research Library, the National Library of Russia, the A. I. Herzen Russian State Pedagogical University Fundamental Library, the Ural Federal University Research Library and other sources.