I.S. Turgenev had a huge influence not only on literature, but also on the perception of the world among his readers, it is not for nothing that the term "Turgenev's girl" tightly entered the speech of educated people and became a household name for the canonical female image in national culture. This author has created a wide variety of works, but they are united by deep poetry in every word. She is also imbued with his "First Love".

In 1844, I.S. Turgenev met French singer Pauline Viardot and fell in love. As it turned out, forever. They quarreled, reconciled, the writer followed his beloved everywhere. But this love was doomed, and at the same time selfless. It was this feeling that gave rise to a number of lyric-philosophical stories with a tragic love story, among which "First Love", published in 1860. In these works, feeling is a disease that affects a person and deprives him of will and reason.

The book was written in January-March 1860. The plot collision was based on the real story of the writer's family: a love triangle between the young writer, his father and Princess Ekaterina Shakhovskaya. The author noticed that he had nothing to hide, and as for the condemnation of Turgenev's frankness by acquaintances, he did not care.

Genre: short story or short story?

A story is a small prose work that has a single storyline, one conflict and reflects a separate episode in the life of the characters. The story is an epic genre, standing between the novel and the short story in terms of volume, has a more complex and branched plot, and the conflict is a chain of episodes.

“First Love” can be called a story, since there are several main characters (in a story, most often one or two). The work depicts not a single episode, but a chain of events connected with the development of a love conflict. Also, the genre feature of the story can be called the fact that it is a story within a story. The narrator, who is also the main character, recalls episodes of his youth, so the introduction talks about the situation that led the narrator to memories: he talked with friends about first love, and his story turned out to be the most entertaining.

What is the piece about?

In the company of friends, the narrator recalls his youth, his first love. As a 16-year-old boy, Vladimir was fascinated by his neighbor in the country, 21-year-old Zinaida. The girl enjoyed the attention of young people, but did not take anyone seriously, but spent the evenings with them in fun and games. The heroine laughed at all admirers, including Vladimir, and did not take life seriously at all. But once…

Main character noticed a change in his beloved, it soon dawned on him: she fell in love! But who is the rival? The truth turned out to be terrible, this is the father of the protagonist, Pyotr Vasilyevich, who married his mother by calculation, treats both her and his son with disdain. Pyotr Vasilievich is not interested in the scandal, because love ends quickly. Soon he dies of a stroke, Zinaida marries and also dies in childbirth.

Main characters and their characteristics

The description of the heroes of the story "First Love" is dramatic and in itself gives rise to a conflict of interest. In a family where there is no harmony, love was perceived by men as a means to forget, or to feel needed. However, in pursuit of personal happiness, they did not delve into the hidden depths of Zinaida's personality, and did not discern her essence. She poured out all the heat of her heart into an ice vessel and destroyed herself. Thus, the main characters of the work became victims of their own blindness, inspired by passion.

1. Vladimir- A 16-year-old nobleman, still under family care, but striving for independence and adulthood. He is embraced by dreams of love, happiness, harmony, he idealizes all feelings, especially love. However, for the main character himself, love became a tragedy. Vladimir forgot about everything, he was ready to be constantly at the feet of Zinaida, he was absorbed only by her. And after a dramatic denouement, he mentally aged, all dreams of a brilliant future were shattered, only the ghost of unfulfilled love remained.
2. Zinaida- 21-year-old impoverished princess. She was in a hurry and longed to live, as if she had a premonition that there was not much time left. The main character of the story "First Love" could not appease all her inner passion, around, despite the large selection of men, there was no beloved. And she chose the most unsuitable, for the sake of which she despised all prohibitions and decency, and for him she was just another entertainment. She married in a hurry to hide her shame, died giving birth to a child from an unloved one ... So ended a life full of only one, also unfulfilled love.
3. Petr Vasilievich is the father of the protagonist. He married a woman who was 10 years older, because of the money, managed and pushed her around. He watered his son with cold contempt. The family was completely superfluous in his life, all the same it did not cause him satisfaction. But the young neighbor, having fallen in love with him with all her heart, caused a taste for life for a short time. However, he could not leave his wife, it is unprofitable, to allow a scandal too. That is why the hero simply left his mistress to the mercy of fate.

Topic

• The main theme of the story is love. She is different here. And the humiliating feeling of Vladimir's mother for her husband: a woman is ready for anything, just not to lose her husband, she is afraid of him, afraid to admit to herself that he does not love her. And the hopeless, sacrificial love of Vladimir: he agrees to any role in order to be next to Zinaida, even a page, even a jester. And Zinaida herself has a passionate obsession: for the sake of Pyotr Vasilyevich, she becomes the same slave as his son before her. And love on occasion with the father of the protagonist: women liked him, a neighbor - a new hobby, an easy affair.
• The result of love is the following theme - loneliness. And Vladimir, and Zinaida, and Pyotr Vasilyevich are broken by this love triangle. After the tragic denouement, no one remained the same, they all ended up alone forever, died morally, and failed lovers later physically.
• Family Theme. Of particular importance in the work is the unfavorable climate in the home of the protagonist. It was he who made him beg for love. The complexes received from the cold rejection of the father were expressed in relation to Zinaida. This slavish worship destroyed his chances of success.

Issues

Moral problems are revealed in the work in several aspects. Firstly, does Zinaida's life deserve understanding, the crowd of admirers around her, with whom she plays like pawns? Secondly, can forbidden love, transgressing all moral norms, be happy? The plot development of events answers these questions in the negative: main character finds herself punished for her neglect of her admirers by the disregard of a loved one, and their relationship inevitably leads to a break. And indirectly led to the death of both. However, the reader sympathizes with Zinaida, she is full of a thirst for life, this causes involuntary sympathy. Moreover, she is capable of deep feeling commanding respect.

The problem of power in love is most fully expressed in the relationship between Zinaida and Pyotr Vasilyevich. The girl ruled over her past gentlemen and felt very cheerful. But came true love and with it suffering. And even suffering from a loved one is sweet. And no power is needed. Pyotr Vasilyevich hit her with a whip, and she gently raised the reddened place to her lips, because this was a trace from him.

Idea

The main idea of ​​the story is the all-consuming power of love. Whatever it is, happy or tragic, it is like a fever that suddenly seizes and does not let go, and if it goes away, it leaves devastation. Love is powerful and sometimes destructive, but this feeling is wonderful, you cannot live without it. You can only exist. The protagonist remembered his youthful emotions forever, his first love revealed to him the meaning and charm of being, even if distorted by suffering.

And the writer himself was unhappy in love, and his hero too, but even the most tragic passion is the best discovery in human life, because for the sake of those moments when you are in seventh heaven with happiness, it is worth enduring the bitterness of loss. In suffering, people are cleansed, revealing new facets of their souls. Taking into account the autobiographical nature of the story, we can say that the author, without his fatal and sad muse, as well as the pain caused by her, could not have penetrated so deeply into the essence of romantic relationships. The main idea of ​​"First Love" would be far from him, and it is necessary to suffer and learn from one's own experience, since only the one who experienced it will write convincingly about the tragedy of love.

What does the story teach?

The moral lessons in Turgenev's story consist of several points:

• Conclusion: "First Love" inspires us to be bold in expressing our emotions. There is no need to be afraid of love, because the most unrequited affection is the most beautiful memory. It is better to experience happiness for a moment than to be unhappy all your life because you preferred peace to spiritual torment.
• Moral: Everyone gets what they deserve. Zinaida played with men - and now she is a pawn in the hands of Pyotr Vasilyevich. He himself married by calculation, rejected a neighbor - died of a stroke, "burned out." But Vladimir, despite the tragedy, received the brightest memory in his life, and at the same time his conscience is calm, because he did not injure anyone and sincerely gave himself to tender affection.

"First Love" has been around for over 150 years. However, this work does not lose its relevance. How many people it was the first feelings that broke their hearts forever! But, nevertheless, everyone carefully keeps these emotions in the soul. And the beauty with which this book is written makes you re-read it many times.

Interesting? Save it on your wall!

Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev

"First love"

The action of 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 the university. Soon, the family of Princess Zasekina moves into the poor outbuilding next door. Volodya accidentally sees the princess and really wants to get to know her. The next day, his mother receives an illiterate letter from Princess Zasekina asking him to protect her. Mother sends a verbal invitation to Princess Volodya 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 unravel 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 dinner, the princess noisily sniffs tobacco, fidgets in her chair, fidgets, complains about poverty and talks about her endless bills, and the princess, on the contrary, is majestic - she talks with Volodya's father in French all dinner, but looks at him with hostility. She does not pay attention to Volodya, however, as she leaves, she whispers to him to come to them in the evening.

Appearing to the Zasekins, Volodya meets the princess's admirers: Dr. Lushin, the poet Maidanov, Count Malevsky, the retired captain Nirmatsky and the hussar Belovzorov. The evening is fast paced and fun. Volodya feels happy: he gets a 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 them himself. After dinner, Volodya goes to visit Zinaida, but she does not come out to him. From that day, Volodya's torment begins.

In the absence of Zinaida, he languishes, but even in her presence he does not 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 the house of Volodya's parents: her mother does not like her, her father speaks little to her, but somehow especially cleverly and significantly.

Zinaida suddenly 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.

Once Volodya is sitting on the wall of a dilapidated greenhouse. Zinaida appears on the road below. When she sees him, she orders him to jump onto the road if he truly loves her. Volodya immediately jumps and faints for a moment. The alarmed Zinaida fusses around him and suddenly begins to kiss him, however, guessing that he has come to his senses, gets up and, forbidding him to follow him, leaves. Volodya is happy, but the next day, when he meets with Zinaida, she keeps herself very simple, 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 bestows the title of her page. A conversation takes place between Volodya and Count Malevsky, in which Malevsky says that the pages should know everything about their queens and follow them relentlessly day and night. It is not known whether Malevsky attached particular importance to what he said, but Volodya decides to go to the garden at night to guard, taking an English knife with him. He sees his father in the garden, gets very frightened, 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. On the evening of the same day, Zinaida, finding Volodya in the garden, inadvertently 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 from himself. Finally, returning one day for dinner, he learns that a scene had taken place between his father and mother, that his mother reproached his father in connection with Zinaida, and that she learned about it 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 her days.

Volodya once again accidentally sees Zinaida. They are riding with their father for a ride, and suddenly the father, dismounting and giving him the reins of his horse, disappears into the alley. Some time later, 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 holds out her hand to him, and then the father raises the whip and sharply beats her bare arm. Zinaida shudders and, silently raising her hand to her lips, kisses the scar. Volodya runs away.

Some time later, Volodya moved with his parents to St. Petersburg, entered the university, and six months later his father died of a stroke, having received a letter from Moscow a few days before his death, which greatly excited him. After his death, his wife sends 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 the address of Zinaida, but he goes to see her only a few weeks later and finds out that she died suddenly from childbirth four days ago.

The events take place in Moscow, in 1833, when Volodya was sixteen years old. He lived with his parents in the country, and was preparing to enter the university. One day, the family of Princess Zasekina moved into a poor house next door. Volodya saw the young daughter of the princess, and wanted to get to know her.

One evening, he came to their house, and met the suitors of a young girl. The evening passed cheerfully and stormily. Zina gave Volodya attention, more than others, and he was in love with a girl. The next day, he again went to the Zasekins, but Zina refused to go out.

After that, they saw each other several times, but Volodya saw the changes that had taken place in Zinaida. He realized that the girl fell in love, but did not know with whom.

One fine day, Volodya was sitting on the wall of a dilapidated building. Zina, passing by, told him to jump if he loves her. He jumped and lost consciousness for a few moments. Zina began to kiss him, but when he woke up, the girl pulled away. The next day she acted as if nothing had happened.

Some time later, they met in the garden. Zina offers to become his page. Volodya talks to his father, Count Milevsky, who says that pages should protect their queens and know everything about them. The guy takes a knife, and the night goes into the garden. There he saw his father and quickly ran home.

He then meets Zina and says that she is just playing with him. The guy starts crying, and the girl calms him down. After that, they again run together, playing catch-up with Zinaida's younger brother.

Volodya continues to communicate with Zina, but at home he overheard a conversation between his mother and father, who suspected him of having a relationship with Zina. After that, the guy sees Zina talking through the window with his father.

After some time, mother and father decide to move to live in St. Petersburg. Volodya entered the university, a few months later his father died of a stroke. Before that, he read some letter from Moscow.

Four years later, Volodya sees in the theater with Maidanov, a friend of Zinaida, who says that Zina got married successfully, although she was already pregnant. A few weeks later, Volodya learns that Zina died in childbirth.

Compositions

When only two guests remained in the house, the owner invited them to tell about their first love. But it turned out that neither he nor Sergey Nikolaevich had a worthy story, but only Vladimir Petrovich agreed to tell about his first love, but on the condition that he write down his story on paper, and in 2 weeks he would tell it. The listeners had to agree and exactly 2 weeks later he began his story.

He was then only 16 years old, he lived in the country with his father and mother and was bored from idleness. Once an old countess came to them in the neighborhood with a young twenty-one-year-old beautiful daughter named Zinaida. They were very poor, despite the title. The next day, he was walking in the garden and accidentally saw her, after which he immediately fell in love with her. While he was thinking of a way to get to know her, his mother, fortunately for him, sent him with a note to the princess, where he met her. There he also met one of Zinaida's admirers, Belovzorov, who brought her a kitten.

The next day, the princess visited Mother Volodya, and she did not like the princess very much. And in the evening, Volodya accidentally met the princess, who was reading a book on a bench. Then his father unexpectedly approached, and Volodya noticed how carefully she looked at him, and how magnificent his handsome father looked.

The next time I came to visit with my daughter, they were all sitting at the table together. During the departure, Zina whispered to Volodya to be with her tomorrow at 8 o'clock.

He began to go to her, and found that she had a lot of admirers - the poet Maidanov, Count Malevsky, Dr. Lushin, the retired captain Nirmatsky and the hussar Belovzorov. When visiting her, they played different games with her - forfeits, rope and others. The reward, most often, was a kiss from Zina's hand. After this meeting, Volodya began a real passion for Zinaida. She only teased him, and the rest of the fans too. One day, Volodya noticed that she was in love. He began to wonder who, secretly hoping that he was the chosen one.

In the meantime, Zinaida became more and more strange - either she tore hair from Volodya's head, then she forced him to jump from a great height, that he almost crashed, then she suddenly kissed him.

One day she asked Belovzorov to get her a horse, although she had never been fond of it before. He, of course, was glad to fulfill her request. Later, Volodya was surprised to see her riding a horse with his father. After that, she avoided him for a while.

Soon, she again began to communicate with him, and even jokingly made him into her pages. Malevsky, when they accidentally left alone, told Volodya that the page should know where the queen is both day and night, highlighting the word "night". Volodya understood the hint and decided that very night to hide in the garden and find out if Zinaida met with anyone at night. He took a knife and hid in the garden. Several hours passed, he already thought that no one would come, but finally, he heard footsteps. When the man came closer, he suddenly recognized his father. Luckily, he didn't notice.

After this incident, a few days later, Volodya came home and, with surprise, found out that his father had gone home, and his mother was sick. Having found out from a friend from the servants that the mother had received an anonymous letter, where it was told about the father's connection with Zinaida. In addition, it turned out that the father had issued a large bill to the princess.

The father came back the next day and talked to his mother for a long time. behind closed doors, after which, they decided to move out of the dacha to the city in the near future. And in the evening, the father publicly kicked Count Malevsky out of the house, saying that he did not like his handwriting. Volodya could not understand how the princess decided to have a relationship with his father, burying her future, instead of marrying, for example, Count Malevsky. At parting with Volodya, Zinaida asked not to be angry with her and kissed him passionately.

Soon they moved to the city, the events began to slowly fade from his memory. One day, Volodya met Dr. Lushin, who said that Belovzorov could not stand parting with Zinaida, left for the Caucasus and disappeared there. Rejoice, he said, that you got off so lightly.

Surprisingly, Volodya did not hold a grudge against his father, but was even proud of him. Every day his father went for a horseback ride, one day Volodya asked for it. The father took him with him. After some time, near one of the lanes, my father stopped, got off his horse and told Volodya to wait for him here. After a while, he got tired of waiting and decided to look into the alley. What was his surprise when he saw his father talking with Zinaida, who was looking out of the window. Volodya accidentally heard Zina's words that it was time to part with this ..., after which his father flared up and whipped her with a whip. Then the father threw the whip aside and burst into the house. Volodya rushed back to the place where his father had left him. After a while, the father returned, and they galloped home.

After 2 months, Volodya no longer considered his first love to be true, he entered the university, he began to have other worries. Six months later, my father suddenly had a stroke and died. A few days before that, he received a letter, after reading which, he even began to cry and began to write a letter to Volodya, which began with the words - "be afraid of woman's love." After the death of his father, his mother sent a large amount to Moscow.

Four years later, Volodya accidentally met Maidanov, who told him that Zinaida had married and lived nearby. He was very happy and was about to go to her, but everything was not up to it, and when he did come, he found out that she had died a few days ago during childbirth.

Year of writing: 1860

Genre: story

Main characters: Volodya, princess Zinaida

Plot

Teenager Volodya and his family live in a dacha, next to them Princess Zasekina rents a dacha with her daughter Zinaida. After the first meeting, the young man selflessly falls in love with the girl, despite the fact that she is five years older than him. He tries to court, and the girl plays with him, flirts and flirts, as with her other numerous admirers. Volodya is sometimes seriously jealous of his beloved. And soon he learns that she has a serious affair with his father.

After an ugly scene between the parents, Volodya's family returns to Moscow, and then they change their place of residence to St. Petersburg. However, six months later, Vladimir's father suddenly died of a stroke after receiving some news.

And after some more time, Volodya finds out that Zinochka got married and died in childbirth a few months later.

Conclusion (my opinion)

The young man was disappointed in his first feeling, so he stopped trusting women, and it was difficult for him to fall in love again. It is rightly said that the first love is never forgotten.