Showing results for "Ivan A Turgenev" in Art

Join the journey of Turgenevs enigmatic hero, Tchulkaturin, who embodies the quintessential Russian archetype, the superfluous man. This character is no prince, but a man of comfort living a monotonous life, aimlessly led by circumstances that threaten to consume him. This novella is structured as a diary, which Tchulkaturin begins writing after a terminal illness diagnosis. His entries, spanning a mere two weeks, encapsulate the countdown to his inevitable end. In these pages, Tchulkaturin rehashes the one meaningful event of his life - a one-sided love affair leading to a non-fatal duel that...

The title of the novella is almost an adequate summary in itself. The "boy-meets-girl-then-loses-her" story is universal but not, I think, banal - despite a surprise ending which notoriously turns out to be very little of a surprise. First Love is given its originality and poignancy by Turgenev's mastery of the piercing turning-point (akin to Joyce's "epiphanies") that transforms the character's whole being, making a tragic outcome inevitable. Even the nature symbolism is rescued from triteness by lovely poetic similes - e.g. "but at that point my attention was arrested by the appearance of a ...