Introduction

This chapter talks about Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev who is known for his renowned ability to describe the natural world. It discusses the three basic, interconnected Russian terms for “nature”: natura, estestvo, and priroda. Natura is the “trait, characteristic, attribute, feature; way of life, that which is natural or inborn.” Estestvo — derived from the Russian word for “is” (est') — meant “all that is; priroda, natura and its order or laws; essence.” Priroda, the dominant term today and for Turgenev, refers to the kind of “nature” that we would readily associate in English with a “nature writer.” In his fiction and nonfiction, Turgenev employed priroda and its forms frequently. The chapter discusses Turgenev's arrest and exile to his country estate in the spring of 1852 that steeped Turgenev in hunting and Aksakovian nature writing.

I. Turgenev’s novel “Rudin” in Chinese literary studies

The work of I. Turgenev was translated into Chinese in the first half of the twentieth century and later spread widely in China, having a great influence on the new generation of Chinese writers. At the same time, more and more literary critics began to study the works of Turgenev. Extensive research and analysis, as well as the study of works from different angles, contributed to a better understanding of Turgenev and Russian literature by Chinese readers. The article discusses the publications of Chinese litterateurs and critics from the second half of the 20th to beginning of the 21st century, the work of Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev, notes the enduring interest of the Chinese audience to the work of Russian prose writer, in particular, to the novel “Rudin”. Special attention is paid to the prose writer's “path” to the novel; it is proved that the high interest of scientists to Dmitry Rudin, the protagonist of this novel, caused by Chinese specifics and the relevance of many problems associated with this image. The article explains the evolution of the attitude of the Chinese to Rudin: from agreement with Russian researchers considering him as a superfl person to disagreement with them. At the same time, Rudin is compared with typically similar images in Chinese literature. An analysis of Turgenev's works by Chinese literary critics will provide detailed information for future studies in international literary circles, and can also lay the foundation for finding differences between Chinese and Russian literary criticism.

Artistic space in I.S. Turgenev’s prose poem «threshold» and in chinese literature of the XX century

The popularity of «Prose Poems» (1878–1882) by Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev dates back more than a hundred years, while they remain the very first works of the writer, translated into Chinese. The study of Turgenev has gained particular relevance in China. This article discusses the understudied issue of the influence of the Turgenev’s prose poem «Threshold» on Chinese literature through the example of the work of the classics of Chinese literature of the first half of the 20th century, such as Lu Xin (1881–1936), the father of the modern Chinese novel, Li Ni (1913–1968), the singer of «sorrow and grief», and Lu Li (1908–1942), one of the founders of the new Chinese lyrical prose. Using the comparative method, the article analyses the artistic features of the following prose poems: «The Traveler» by Lu Xin, «The Falcon Song» by Li Ni, and «The Door and the Recluse» by Lu Li. The author reveals the significant influence that the philosophical ideas of Turgenev and his creative style had on these writers and Chinese literature in general. The comparative analysis shows that in the poems of Lu Sin and Li Ni, the spatial characteristics of Turgenev's prose poem «The Threshold» are recreated, while Lu Li was inspired by the philosophical meaning of this work of art. In this way, opening a new page for Russian literary scholars in the history of the relationship between Russian and Chinese cultures, the research topic and the analysis done reveal new material for Russian literary studies about on the history of the reception of Turgenev‘s creative work in China.

On the Verge of Centuries: A Philosophical Rethinking of I.S. Turgenev

On World Philosophy Day, November 15, 2018, the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences organized the international conference on the Russian classic writer I.S. Turgenev (“Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev: A Philosophical Writer and Political Philosopher. On the 200th Anniversary of the Birth”). During the plenary and two breakout sessions, speeches were given by philosophers, cultural researchers, historians ofRussia,USA,Germany,Austria. The conference’s attitude to the consideration of the multifaceted heritage of the great Russian writer made it possible to highlight in the modern historical and cultural context many aspects of Turgenev’s work, to rethink stereotypes existing among researchers and in the mass consciousness regarding Turgenev. At the conference, Turgenev was presented as a political thinker, a liberal who embodied spiritual asceticism, a supporter of the dialogue of cultures, a “Russian European” who does not accept “new barbarism” in all its manifestations from radicalism to Russian exclusivity idea. In the reports and speeches, attention was drawn to the cultural bilingualism inherent in Turgenev, his ability of non-biased artistic and philosophical observation, which enabled him to analyze the then state of minds in Russian society, to foresee many collisions inherent in the national historical process in the 20th – early 21st centuries and world cultural trends engendered by the “uprising of the masses,” to anticipate the drama of the absurd. At the conference, among the discussed topics were the themes of nihilism and loneliness, viewed through the prism of the existential experience of the writer and world literary characters.

Ivan Turgenev’s Rome (1840)

This article examines the siginifcant role that Romeplayed in the life of Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev (1818–1883). The author researches the “Roman” preferences of young Turgenev, who specialized in ancient literature and philosophy in Moscow, St. Petersburgand Berlin. Special attention is paid to the circumstances of 21-years-old Turgenev’s stay in the Eternal City in February–April 1840 and his relationship with members of Khovrins’ salon in Rome, espesially with the eldest daughter of Khovrin, Alexandra Nikolaevna, in marriage Bakhmeteva (1823–1903), whо became later a wellknown writer on religious and philosophical topics. The author substantiates the version that it was young “Sashenka” Khovrina who became the prototype of Lisa Kalitina in the novel Home of the Gentry, started in Rome at the end of 1857. The author studies the “Italian traces” in the literary work of Turgenev: in early romantic poem Steno (1834), poem Venus of Medicis (1837), novel On the Eve (1859), etc. The author notes that the “civilizational” contrasts between the “North” and the “South”, abundantly scattered in the works of young Turgenev, suggest that in his work has found a kind of continuation of the tradition of the “Russian Northernship,” deriving in Russian literature from G.R. Derzhavin, N.M. Karamzin, Prince P.A. Vyazemsky.