The work of this artist is distinguished by unity, which is saturated with a rich inner meaning, reflected in the individual elements of the whole. The basis of this integrity is the visible trends that distinguish the works of Turgenev - the universalism of author's emotionality and the elegism of artistic thought.
The Beginning of the Writing Path
For I.S. Turgenev from the very beginning of the writer's journey was characterized by a desire to comprehend and perceive the surrounding world in all its diversity. In his early poem, the drama The Wall, he tried to reflect all aspects of human life. It is this “inclusiveness” that characterizes the works of Turgenev. Man's place in society as a person and individuality, his being in all manifestations - this is the key universal writer. It was she who determined his ideological and philosophical content of all creativity and all genre delights. At the beginning of his career, he tried “experimentally” to find his genre point of view, “collect” his artistic world, and the writer's “I”. Turgenev's works show how wide the genre range of the creator - he is a playwright, poet and prose writer - this is how Ivan Sergeyevich embodied the search for his ideal art form that would meet his universal task.
From lyrics to prose
Turgenev’s desire for universalization runs a red thread through all his early work, which mainly consists of lyrical works. However, neither the dramatic, nor lyrical, nor epic genres satisfied the writer, so he decided to realize himself as an artist in more suitable genres for his individuality - a novel and a story. Nevertheless, the experience of the playwright, poet and author of essays and short stories became the stylistic basis of subsequent writer's prose creations. If, while studying the genre system of Turgenev’s creativity, special attention is paid to the genre specifics of the novel and the story, then you can see that they are in a close dialectical relationship. Turgenev’s works, the list of which will be given below, indicate that prose was considered by the writer as a genre of literature that has great potential to portray the “elements of social life,” the process of development and formation of a person’s personality , in short, prose for the author opened up prospects of surprising substantial volume .
Dialogue with the novel
An analysis of the work of Turgenev, anyone related to the period of the 1840s, shows his expressive desire to conduct a “dialogue” with the genre of the novel, the image of which is invariably present in his creative mind. Even in the poetic short stories (“Andrei”, “Parasha”) one can already see the concept of the original Turgenev story, which will later be dialectically connected with the novel. Turgenev’s works (the list of which looks pretty impressive) - “The Inn”, “Mumu”, “Correspondence”, “Bretter”, “Calm”, “Two Friends”, “Diary of an Extra Person” - are formed in the artist’s artistic consciousness as a dialogue with a novel.
The story "lives" by the novel, and the novel by the story
Beginning in the 1850s, at the level of dialogue between the ideas of the novel and the novel, the intentions of works of art and their subsequent implementation, Turgenev finally managed to adequately express his initial orientation to “inclusiveness”, comprehension of human being, life. The works of Turgenev, Asya, On the Eve, Fathers and Sons, the collection of Notes of the Hunter, Rudin, among other things, prove that the author was most fully realized in the genres of the novel and story, which are developed separately each inside his own genre paradigm, remaining in close dialogue. Turgenev’s story “lives on” as a novel, and his novel as a novel, reflecting the dialectic of the writer’s artistic thoughts, they present all the main Turgenev’s motifs and themes, they are distinguished by their substantial volume.
Elegistic attitude
The elegance and world attitude united all genres in Turgenev's work, they are present in short stories, early lyrics, novels, poetic short stories and even in comedies. Turgenev's works clearly demonstrate that the palette of his work is extremely wide - elegiac in the artistic world of the author exists with tragedy in novels, dramatic in novels, satirical in his poetic short stories. This helps to express to the artist the words the beauty and value of the human person. It seems that the prevailing elegiac style of Turgenev’s work as a whole is not perceived by the reader as the “tragic face” of the author. This is due to the fact that the elegiac principle, despite the tragedy of human existence and its inseparability with the life of nature, indicates a path that will lead to harmony in the relations of man, nature, people, the universe and history.