TURGENEV, IVAN SERGEYEVICH

born Oct. 28 [Nov. 9, New Style], 1818, Oryol, Russia died Aug. 22 , 1883, Bougival, near Paris, France Russian novelist, poet, and playwright, whose 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. Turgenev poured into his writings not only a deep concern for the future of his native land but also an integrity of craft that has ensured his place in Russian literature. The many years that he spent in western Europe were due in part to his personal and artistic stand as a liberal between the reactionary tsarist rule and the spirit of revolutionary radicalism that held sway in contemporary artistic and intellectual circles in Russia. Additional reading R.A. Gettman, Turgenev in England and America (1941); and R. Yachnin and D.H. Stam (comps.), Turgenev in English (1962), are recommended bibliographies. Useful translations include Turgenev's Literary Reminiscences and Autobiographical Fragments, trans. by David Magarshack, with an essay by Edmund Wilson (1958); and Turgenev's Letters: A Selection, ed. and trans. by E.H. Lehrman (1961). Leonard B. Schapiro, Turgenev: His Life and Times (1978, reissued 1982) is a well-researched biography. A. Yarmolinsky, Turgenev the Man: His Art and His Age (1926, rev. ed. 1959); David Magarshack, Turgenev: A Life (1954); and Henri Troyat, Turgenev (1988), are useful complementary biographies. See also H. Granjard, Ivan Tourgunev et les courants politiques et sociaux de son temps (1954), a valuable study of Turgenev's political evolution; R.H. Freeborn, Turgenev: The Novelist's Novelist (1960), a guide to Turgenev's novels; and Patrick Waddington, Turgenev and England (1980), a study of England's influence on the writer.