Turgenev's story "First Love" was written in mature age writer in 1860. Today you can download the book absolutely free. The author described the memory of the first feeling, putting his own experiences into the work.
“First Love” is a story with an unusual plot. Compositionally, it is presented in twenty chapters with a prologue. In the backstory, the reader meets the main character named Vladimir Petrovich, who tells his story of first love. In the image of the heroes, Turgenev’s close people are clearly visible: the writer’s parents, the author himself and his first lover Ekaterina Lvovna Shakhovskaya. The author describes in detail the young man's turbulent experiences and constantly changing mood. Despite Zasekina Zinaida’s frivolous attitude towards him, Volodya is happy. But the anxiety is growing, the young man realizes that Zina loves his father. And her feelings are much stronger than the romantic passion of the young man.
With his work, Ivan Sergeevich shows readers that first love can be different and multifaceted in its manifestations. The hero does not harbor a grudge against either his father or his beloved, understanding and accepting their feelings. You can read the text “First Love” online or download it in full on our website.
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The story takes place in 1833.
Sixteen-year-old Volodya lives with his parents at a dacha near Moscow and is preparing for university exams. Princess Zasekina settles next door to them with her daughter, a girl to whom Volodya drew attention and now dreams of seeing her all the time. Volodya's mother, showing politeness and good neighborly feelings, sends Volodya to her with an invitation to come for dinner. This is how Volodya meets for the first time 21-year-old Zinaida Alexandrovna, the princess’s daughter.
During lunch, the princess gives everyone a bad impression good impression, but her daughter behaves impeccably, but she communicates mainly only with the head of the family. True, before the guests leave, Volodya completely unexpectedly receives an invitation to visit from Zinaida.
Arriving at the princess, Volodya sees that she has many admirers. But it seems to him that she sets him apart from all the young people who surround her. At home, the father asks Volodya for a long time about where he has been, and then he himself pays a visit to the Zasekins. After this, Zinaida does not communicate with Volodya for some time. He suffers both without her and in those moments when she is nearby - in a word, he is in love. When she asks him to prove his love and jump from the wall of the greenhouse, he does so without hesitation. When he hits the ground, he loses consciousness for a while, Zinaida gets scared, tries to bring him to his senses, and kisses him. But then, seeing that he is already conscious, he leaves, forbidding him to follow her.
One day Volodya meets Zinaida in the garden. He doesn’t want to approach her, but she approaches him herself and says that he could very well become her good friend and a page. And Count Malevsky, one of the princess’s admirers, explains to him that pages should always be near their “queen.” At night, Volodya, taking an English knife, goes into the Zasekins’ garden to guard Zinaida. But it is here that he almost runs into his father at night, loses his knife out of fear and runs away. Arriving at Zinaida to talk the next day, Volodya sees that her younger brother has come to see her, and she instructs Volodya to entertain his brother. But in the evening the conversation took place, and Zinaida was able to calm Volodya down.
A week later, Volodya's mother receives an anonymous letter saying that Zinaida and Volodya's father are lovers. There is a stormy showdown between the parents, and almost immediately after this, Volodin’s mother talks about moving to Moscow. Saying goodbye to Zinaida, Volodya assures her of his eternal love and devotion.
In Moscow, after a short time, Volodya and his father go for a ride on horseback; near an unfamiliar alley, his father unexpectedly asks him to wait a little, holding the horse, and goes into the alley. Volodya, trying to be unnoticed, follows him and sees his father discussing something with Zinaida, sitting at the window of the house. The father, at first speaking convincingly and calmly, then loses patience and hits her hand with his whip, which she extends to him. Instead of jumping up and screaming, Zinaida, without saying a word, kisses the place of the blow.
Volodya, together with his mother and father, moves to live in St. Petersburg and becomes a student. Soon the father receives a letter from Moscow that makes him very nervous. As a result, he suffers a stroke and dies. After her father’s funeral, my mother sends a lot of money to Moscow. 4 years pass, and at the theater Volodya meets one of Zinaida’s longtime fans, the poet Maidanov. He tells Volodya that Zinaida, despite “that story that had consequences,” got married and is very happy in her marriage. Maidanov gives Volodya Zinaida’s St. Petersburg address, but he does not immediately go to her, but after some time. Arriving at the address given by the Maidanovs, Volodya learns that Zinaida died during childbirth a few days ago.
In 1860, Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev wrote the story “First Love.” It is interesting that the author treated this work with particular trepidation, because many of the moments described in the story were taken from the biography of Ivan Sergeevich and his own father. What is it about?
Here he describes his impressions of his first deep feeling and reveals details family drama. How was his own first love reflected in the story? summary, heroes and the main idea- the topic of our article.
The images of the main characters of the work “First Love” are copied from real people:
- Volodya. This hero is the embodiment of the author himself in his youth. The experiences and feelings of Vladimir Petrovich can tell us what Ivan Sergeevich himself once experienced.
- Princess Zinaida Alexandrovna. This heroine also had real prototype. This is Ekaterina Shakhovskaya, a poetess with whom the writer was in love.
- Pyotr Vasilyevich is the father of the main character. The prototype is the father of Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev - Sergei Nikolaevich, who did not love his wife, entered into marriage because of the promise of material gain.
His wife, Varvara Petrovna, was much older. Sergei Nikolaevich had success with women during his lifetime, and with Shakhovskaya for a long time The whirlwind romance continued.
Interesting! The story was filmed four times, not only by Russian directors, but also by foreign ones. For example, a French film adaptation of the book was released in 2013.
Turgenev said that it was important for him to describe everything reliably. There was no resentment left against either the former beloved or the father. The author tried to understand their actions.
The beginning of the story
The action of Turgenev's story "First Love" takes place in 1833. The main character of the book, Vladimir Petrovich, is 16 years old.
The young man lives with his father and mother at a dacha in Moscow, preparing to become a university student.
Unexpectedly, an event occurs in the life of the main character that has a profound impact on him and the life of his entire family.
Next to the dacha of Volodya and his parents there was a poor outbuilding in which Princess Zasekina and her daughter settled.
Volodya accidentally encounters the young princess Zinaida, and he likes the girl. He dreams of getting to know her better.
This was helped by chance. The princess's mother wrote a letter to Volodya's mother. The message was not very literate and contained a request for help. Zasekina asked for patronage.
Mother young man She was not indifferent to other people’s troubles and ordered the young man to go to the Zasekins’ house and invite them to dinner.
During this visit, Volodya met Princess Zinaida. It turned out that she was twenty-one years old. The princess initially flirts with the hero of the story, but soon stops doing so.
During dinner, it becomes clear that Princess Zasekina is not very strong in manners: she sniffs tobacco loudly, cannot sit quietly in a chair, and constantly complains about her difficult financial situation.
The daughter seems to be the exact opposite- behaves with restraint, proudly. Zinaida Aleksandrovna communicates in French with Volodin’s father and at the same time looks at him incredulously. She shows no interest in Vladimir himself at dinner. And, nevertheless, before leaving, in a whisper she invites him to visit him in the evening.
The birth of first love
Arriving at the princess, the young man discovers that the girl has many admirers:
- poet by the name of Maidanov,
- Dr. Lushin,
- retired captain Nirmatsky,
- hussar named Belovzorov.
In this company the evening was very fun and noisy. The young man even manages to kiss Zasekina’s hand. The girl does not let Vladimir Petrovich leave her even one step. The young man decides that he is also not indifferent to her.
The next day, Volodin’s father asks about the princess and family, and then he himself went to the Zasekins’ wing.
After dinner, the young man also goes to visit the princess, but she doesn’t even come out. From that moment on, the girl seems to ignore him, and because of this, the hero suffers.
When Zinaida reappears, she feels happy.
So the young man becomes dependent on the presence of his beloved and experiences a feeling of jealousy towards the girl’s admirers. She soon guesses about the hero’s feelings.
Zinaida Aleksandrovna appears very rarely in the house of Volodin’s parents. The young man's mother does not like the princess, and the father sometimes communicates with the girl - little and restrainedly, in some language that the two of them understand.
Important! Wikipedia, in its article on the story, provides users with not only a summary, but also a lot interesting facts about the creation of a work.
The Mystery of Zinaida
Suddenly the princess changes dramatically - from a coquette she turns into a thoughtful girl. He walks alone for a long time and often refuses to go out when guests come.
Vladimir suddenly understands that the princess is seriously in love. But at the same time, the hero has no idea who kindled this feeling in the princess.
One day the young man was sitting in the garden, on the wall of a dilapidated greenhouse, and suddenly saw Zinaida.
The girl also noticed Vladimir and ordered him to immediately jump onto the road to prove her feelings. The young man complied with this request, but fell to the ground and lost consciousness for a moment.
Because of what happened, the girl is very scared and, in a fit of emotion, even kisses the young man, but when he comes to his senses, he leaves and does not allow him to go with her. The young man feels inspired. True, the next day, when they meet, the princess acts distantly.
Later, Volodya and Zinaida meet again in the garden. The young man wants to leave, but the princess does not allow him to do so. The girl behaves kindly and sweetly, says that she is ready to be a friend and jokes that Vladimir can become her page.
This joke is picked up by Count Malevsky, who says that the young man is now obliged to know every little thing about his “queen” and be constantly nearby.
Vladimir attaches great importance With these words, he goes into the garden at night to guard the girl, taking with him an English knife.
Suddenly he meets his father, gets scared, drops his weapon on the ground and runs away.
The next day the young man wants to discuss with his beloved what happened. But Zinaida cannot communicate face to face. Her twelve-year-old brother comes to visit the girl from cadet school, and she asks the young man to entertain the boy.
In the evening, the princess finds Volodya in the garden and asks what happened and why he is so sad. He replies that he is dissatisfied with the fact that his beloved does not take him seriously. The girl asks for forgiveness. Volodya cannot hold a grudge against his beloved, so after a quarter of an hour he is already running around the garden with all his might with the girl and her brother and enjoying life.
Resolution of the story
The hero tries to communicate with his beloved as if nothing had happened, tries not to keep it in his head bad thoughts and not suspect the girl of anything. But a week later, returning home, he witnesses a scandal between his parents.
The mother says that her husband has a relationship with Princess Zasekina: an anonymous letter has arrived with information about this. The young man cannot believe it.
The next day, the mother announces that she is moving to another city and taking her son with her.
Volodya wants to say goodbye to his beloved before leaving, confesses his love to Zinaida, and says that he cannot love anyone else.
After some time, the young man meets Zinaida again by chance. Vladimir goes horseback riding with his father. Suddenly, his father gives him the reins and disappears.
The young man goes after him and discovers that he is communicating with the princess through the window, persistently says something to the girl, and Zinaida suddenly extends her hand. The father suddenly raises his whip and strikes. The girl is scared, but silently brings her bruised hand to her lips. Volodya is very alarmed by what he sees and runs away in fright.
Some more time passes. The hero of the story moves to St. Petersburg with his parents and becomes a university student.
Six months later, his father suddenly passes away unexpectedly: he receives a letter from Moscow and then dies of a heart attack.
Afterwards, Volodya’s mother sends a substantial sum of money to Moscow.
Four years pass. Suddenly, Vladimir runs into an old acquaintance, Maidanov, in the theater. He told him that Zinaida now also lives in northern capital
. She is married and wants to move abroad.
After the loud story with Volodya’s father, it was difficult for Zinaida to find a good groom. But since the girl was smart, she was able to do it.
Important! Maidanov even tells the young man where exactly Zinaida lives. Volodya comes to the princess some time later and receives sad news on the spot. His beloved died in childbirth four days ago.
Like Turgenev’s other works, this story can be read online for free on many resources.
What is the story about? The story “First Love” almost completely reflects difficult situation which happened in the life of the author. It describes the details of a family drama. The work is written in an easy way, in simple language
, and thanks to this, the reader can feel the experiences of the characters and better understand the essence of the work.
It is impossible not to believe in the sincerity of Vladimir Petrovich’s feelings and to experience with him the stages of his growing up - from passionate and enthusiastic first love to sympathy.
The work clearly shows how the relationship between Volodya and Zinaida changes, as well as how his attitude towards his own father changes. The story also well reveals the image of Princess Zinaida Alexandrovna. We see how she transforms from a frivolous flirtatious young lady into a devoted and. In addition, here Turgenev reflects the deep feeling of Volodya's father.
He didn't love his wife, he married her for money. And he sincerely fell in love with Zinaida, but he had to suppress this feeling within himself.
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Let's sum it up
Despite what the main character had to endure, he did not hate either Zinaida or his father. On the contrary, he fell in love with his father even more.
One of the most famous works Russian classic is "First Love". Turgenev (a brief summary of the story will demonstrate this) introduces the reader to emotional experiences young character. The work was published in 1860. And its plot is based on own experience the author, on the events that took place in his family.
Meet the main character
Where does the summary of Turgenev's story begin? Events unfold in Moscow. The main character Vladimir turned sixteen years old. Together with his parents, he comes to the dacha to relax and prepare for exams. After some time, the family of Princess Zasekina settled in the neighborhood. The boy, seeing the princess, dreams of meeting her.
When Volodya's mother receives a letter from them asking for protection, she sends her son to the princess's house. He should invite this family to visit. There the teenager meets Princess Zinaida Alexandrovna.
She is five years older than Vladimir. At first she begins to flirt with the teenager, but her interest quickly fades. This is how love begins." Turgenev (the summary will continue to get acquainted with the characters) describes the Zasekin family in an extremely unflattering way.
Unpleasant experience, or return visit
When the princess and her daughter came to dinner at Volodya’s parents’ house, they did not give his mother a very good impression. pleasant impression. The eldest Zasekina constantly complained about her poverty, while constantly sniffing tobacco and fidgeting around the table. And the young princess talked with Vladimir’s father during lunch. French and behaved very proudly.
Despite the fact that during the meal she did not pay any attention to the teenager, when she left, she whispered to him to come to their house. Volodya, who came to visit, was simply happy. Although young Zasekina introduced him to several of her admirers, she nevertheless did not leave his side for a minute.
She showed her affection in every possible way and even allowed me to kiss his hand. But this is only the beginning of the story "First Love". Turgenev (the summary continues to follow his narrative) further events describes in a slightly different light.
First disappointments, or Relationship with Zinaida
The father asks the boy about his visit to the house of the princely family and goes to visit them himself. And when Volodya came the next time, Zinaida didn’t even come out to him. The teenager begins to suffer from the feelings that have taken hold of him. He is constantly jealous of her. When a girl is not around, he feels bad, but in her company Vladimir does not feel any better. Of course, the princess guessed about Volodya’s love.
She does not come to him, knowing full well that his mother did not like her. And the boy’s father is reluctant to communicate with her. Suddenly the girl completely changed. I stopped communicating with people, preferring loneliness. She walked for a long time and rarely went out to see guests. Volodya realized that Zinaida had fallen in love. But who?
"First Love": content (retelling)
Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev continues to acquaint us with how the relationships of the heroes develop. Some more time passes, and Volodya sees a girl sitting on the wall of the greenhouse. He jumped towards her and, having hit himself, lost consciousness. Zinaida got scared and began to try to bring him to his senses. The girl begins to kiss Vladimir, and when she realizes that he has already woken up, she quickly leaves. Of course, the teenager is happy.
The young princess does not stop communicating with Volodya, who is in love with her. He appoints him as his page, who must follow his lady of his heart everywhere. And one day the teenager decided to go into the garden at night to protect the girl, but saw his father there. Frightened, he ran away. What will the summary tell you next? First love (Turgenev I.S. describes in detail the emotions of the teenager) unfortunately did not bring Volodya any reciprocal feelings from the chosen one.
Family troubles, or the connection between a father and a young princess
Some more time passes, and Vladimir learns that there was a scandal between the parents, during which the mother accused her husband of treason. The culprit of the father's infidelity turned out to be the boy's beloved, Zinaida. The parents are going to return to St. Petersburg, and Volodya, before leaving the country house, says goodbye to the princess, making a promise to love her for the rest of his life.
But this was not their last meeting. When he and his father go for a walk, he witnesses some kind of conversation between him and Zinaida. The father tried to prove something to the girl, but she did not agree, and the man hit her on the hand with a whip. Frightened Volodya ran away.
The reader, of course, guessed what the author was talking about in the story “First Love”. Turgenev (the summary of his work is coming to an end) does not reveal all the details of the connections of his characters, apparently leaving the reader the opportunity to draw his own conclusions.
The last events of the work, or the Fate of the young princess
Volodya and his family return to St. Petersburg. He successfully passes his exams and enters the university. But six months pass, and his dad dies from a stroke. This happened almost immediately after my father received a letter. After reading it, he suddenly became excited. When my father was buried, Volodya’s mother sent a very large sum of money to Moscow. The teenager did not know any more details.
Four years pass. One day, going to a theatrical performance, the now matured Vladimir meets Maidanov, who once also courted Zinaida Alexandrovna. He tells Volodya that the princess has already married and will soon be leaving abroad.
Consequences of a long history, or Death of a beloved
Maidanov also added that it was very difficult for Zinaida to find her husband after the events that certain people had Negative consequences. But the girl turned out to be smart enough and still achieved her goal. The young man also said the address where Zinaida Alexandrovna now lived.
But several weeks passed before Volodya decided to pay her a visit. And when he arrived, he found out that the young woman had died in childbirth. This is how I.S. ends his first love (a brief chapter-by-chapter summary demonstrates the development of the feelings of the maturing Volodya) brought the young man nothing but bitter memories.
The story takes place in 1833 in Moscow. The main character, Volodya, is sixteen years old, he lives with his parents in the country and is preparing to enter university. Soon the family of Princess Zasekina moves into the poor outbuilding next door. Volodya accidentally sees the princess and really wants to meet her. The next day, his mother receives an illiterate letter from Princess Zasekina asking for her protection. Mother sends Volodya to Princess Volodya with a verbal invitation to come to her house. There Volodya meets the princess, Zinaida Alexandrovna, who is five years older than him. The princess immediately calls him to her room to untangle the wool, flirts with him, but quickly loses interest in him. On the same day, Princess Zasekina pays a visit to his mother and makes an extremely unfavorable impression on her. However, despite this, the mother invites her and her daughter to dinner. During lunch, the princess noisily sniffs tobacco, fidgets in her chair, spins around, complains about poverty and talks about her endless bills, but the princess, on the contrary, is dignified - the whole dinner talks to Volodin’s father in French, but looks at him with hostility. She does not pay attention to Volodya, however, when leaving, she whispers to him to come to them in the evening.
Arriving at the Zasekins, Volodya meets the princess’s admirers: Doctor Lushin, the poet Maidanov, Count Malevsky, retired captain Nirmatsky and hussar Belovzorov. The evening is stormy and fun. Volodya feels happy: he gets the lot to kiss Zinaida’s hand, all evening Zinaida does not let him go and gives him preference over others. The next day, his father asks him about the Zasekins, then he goes to see them. After lunch, Volodya goes to visit Zinaida, but she does not come out to see him. From this day Volodin's torment begins.
In the absence of Zinaida, he languishes, but even in her presence it does not make him feel better, he is jealous, offended, but cannot live without her. Zinaida easily guesses that he is in love with her. Zinaida rarely goes to Volodya’s parents’ house: her mother doesn’t like her, her father doesn’t speak to her much, but somehow in a particularly intelligent and significant way.
Unexpectedly, Zinaida changes a lot. She goes for a walk alone and walks for a long time, sometimes she doesn’t show herself to guests at all: she sits in her room for hours. Volodya guesses that she is in love, but does not understand with whom.
One day Volodya is sitting on the wall of a dilapidated greenhouse. Zinaida appears on the road below. Seeing him, she orders him to jump onto the road if he really loves her. Volodya immediately jumps and faints for a moment. Alarmed, Zinaida fusses around him and suddenly begins to kiss him, however, guessing that he has come to his senses, she gets up and, forbidding him to follow her, leaves. Volodya is happy, but...
bsp; the next day, when he meets with Zinaida, she behaves very simply, as if nothing had happened.
One day they meet in the garden: Volodya wants to pass by, but Zinaida herself stops him. She is sweet, quiet and kind to him, invites him to be her friend and grants him the title of her page. A conversation takes place between Volodya and Count Malevsky, in which Malevsky says that pages should know everything about their queens and follow them relentlessly, day and night. It is not known whether Malevsky attached special significance to what he said, but Volodya decides to go into the garden at night to keep watch, taking a small English knife with him. He sees his father in the garden, gets very scared, loses his knife and immediately returns home. The next day, Volodya tries to talk about everything with Zinaida, but her twelve-year-old cadet brother comes to her, and Zinaida instructs Volodya to entertain him. In the evening of the same day, Zinaida, having found Volodya in the garden, carelessly asks him why he is so sad. Volodya cries and reproaches her for playing with them. Zinaida asks for forgiveness, consoles him, and a quarter of an hour later he is already running around with Zinaida and the cadet and laughing.
For a week, Volodya continues to communicate with Zinaida, driving away all thoughts and memories. Finally, returning one day to dinner, he learns that a scene had taken place between father and mother, that the mother had reproached his father for his affair with Zinaida, and that she had learned about this from an anonymous letter. The next day, mother announces that she is moving to the city. Before leaving, Volodya decides to say goodbye to Zinaida and tells her that he will love and adore her until the end of his days.
Volodya once again accidentally sees Zinaida. He and his father are going for a horse ride, and suddenly his father, having dismounted and given him the reins of his horse, disappears into an alley. After some time, Volodya follows him and sees that he is talking through the window with Zinaida. The father insists on something, Zinaida does not agree, finally she extends her hand to him, and then the father raises the whip and sharply hits her on her bare arm. Zinaida shudders and, silently raising her hand to her lips, kisses the scar. Volodya runs away.
Some time later, Volodya and his parents moved to St. Petersburg, entered the university, and six months later his father died of a stroke, a few days before his death he received a letter from Moscow, which excited him extremely. After his death, his wife sent a fairly significant amount of money to Moscow.
Four years later, Volodya meets Maidanov at the theater, who tells him that Zinaida is now in St. Petersburg, she is happily married and is going abroad. Although, Maidanov adds, after that story it was not easy for her to form a party for herself; there were consequences... but with her mind anything is possible. Maidanov gives Volodya Zinaida’s address, but he goes to see her only a few weeks later and learns that she suddenly died from childbirth four days ago.
